Or, Setting Up a Story of Providence
Scripture: Esther 1:1-12
Date: August 24, 2025
Speaker: Sean Higgins
There is a phrase that describes people who live like there is no god, even if they say that there is one: practical atheism. The story of Esther is the opposite. God’s name never appears in Esther, but His hand is behind every move. We wouldn’t call it practical theism, but we could call it practical providence.
Providence is God’s sovereign and active governance of all creation, guiding everything toward His wise and loving purposes. In The Wealth of Nations Adam Smith referred to “an invisible hand.” Though we don’t see it directly, God’s hand is personal, not a force or fate, not chance or luck. Providence is the word that describes God’s work in ordinary means, though He can also work in extraordinary miracles.
The reason for reading and re-telling the story of Esther is given near the end of the book (Esther 9:23-28). It explains the origin of the Feast of Purim, and purim refers to a kind of casting of lots, similar to our dice. Proverbs 16:33 says, “The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD.” The Feast of Purim isn’t commanded in the books of Moses, but it continues to be celebrated almost 2500 years later by orthodox Jews. Esther is not only about providence, but of providential protection.
It takes place when Ahasuerus reigned over the Persian Empire. That’s his name in Hebrew, though history books typically refer to him by his Greek name, Xerxes I. This puts the story of Esther on the timeline between Ezra chapters 6 and 7. We didn’t stop in the middle of the Ezra series because, while an appropriate chronological interruption, Ezra-Nehemiah is one account and Esther probably wasn’t even written by the same author.
Remember that Cyrus decreed that captives could return home (Ezra 1:1-4), including any Jews that wanted to return to Israel and rebuild their temple. The first wave left with Zerubbabel, while Ezra and then Nehemiah came on the scene 70 years later. Ahasuerus was mentioned in Ezra 4:6, the recipient of a letter trying to stop the Jews from building in Jerusalem. And we meet Nehemiah in Susa as the cup-bearer to Xerxes’ son, Artaxerxes (Nehemiah 1:1).
The book of Esther is about 55 years after Cyrus’s decree and reminds us that most Jews did not go home. They were scattered in different places throughout the Persian Empire, including a large population in Susa, one of the capital cities. What about those Jews who stayed behind? God had promised to deliver His people from captivity and return them to the land, but would He protect Hie people who remained outside the land? Esther answers, after dramatic and perilous tension, a resounding Yes.
One of God’s frequent, and so we can surmise one of His favorite, story-telling devices is reversal of fortune. Also included are ironies, coincidences, foreshadowing, warning characters, and unlikely heroes. The story begins with a banquet, ends with a banquet, and refers to at least two or three banquets in the middle.
As for the main divisions in the book:
And again the theme of Esther is: The covenant people protected by Providence
Every good story starts with setting and backstory. This one begins with a lot of ballyhoo.
Ahasuerus inherited a huge empire; he reigned from India to Ethiopia over 127 provinces, what we know that area as modern Pakistan to northern Sudan. The Persian army swept up peoples wherever they went. There was nowhere to hide.
As we enter this story, Ahasuerus was in the third year of his rule, 483 BC, feeling so good about himself that he wanted to take over more of the world. The fact that the army of Persia and Media and the nobles and governors of the provinces were before him indicates that he was both showing off his riches and his royal glory and the splendor and pomp of his greatness, but also in the beginning stages of preparing for battle. Herodotus makes it plain, recording that Xerxes said:
“I was struck by the realization that we could gain glory; take possession of lands fully as extensive, productive, and fertile as those which we have now; and at the same time obtain vengeance and retribution, too. That is why I have assembled you here to communicate my thoughts to you. I intend to bridge the Hellespont and lead my army through Europe to Hellas, so that we can punish the Athenians for all that they did to the Persians and to my father. Now you saw how even Darius had his mind set on marching against these men, but that he did and did not have the opportunity to exact vengeance on upon them, I, however, on his behalf and that of the rest of the Persians, shall not give up until I conquer Athens and set it on fire….” (The Histories, Book 7 Section 8, found on page 496 of The Landmark edition)
Darius lost at Marathon in 490, then died in 486, after which Xerxes took power. It’s now 483. The Battle of Thermopylae took place in 480, which the Persians won, but then Xerxes lost at Salamis a couple weeks later. Xerxes married Esther in the seventh year of his reign, 479 (Esther 2:16), and the book of Esther ends with events in the twelfth year of Xerxes 473 (3:7). That means that everyone who read Esther knew that this party was exaggerated hype; a ballyhoo banquet.
Some sort of celebration took place for 180 days, but it may have been a rotation of officials rather than six months of no one being at their posts. He was showing off, buying loyalty, gathering support. At the end of this convention he threw a feast lasting for seven days. Verse 8 is an interesting decree, that ”There is no compulsion” which may indicate that you didn’t have to drink every time the king did.
Herodotus noted that a lot of Persians made decisions drunk and then approved them sober.
“[Persians] are accustomed to deliberating on the most serious business while they are drunk, and whatever decision they reach in these sessions, it is proposed to them again the next day by the host in whose house they had deliberated the night before. Then, if the decision still pleases them when they are sober, they act on it; if not, they give it up. Conversely, whatever provisional decisions they consider while sober, they reconsider when they are drunk.” (Book 1 Section 133, page 72 of The Landmark edition)
This is a big buildup, a banquet for the army, a banquet for the citizens of Susa, a ballyhoo to psych everyone up to go to war.
Verse 9 says that Queen Vashti also gave a feast for the women, though gender segregated banquets weren’t the cultural norm. It is part of the set up.
On the last day the heart of the king was merry with wine, isn’t necessarily the same as drunk, but close enough for government work.
Something provoked Ahasuerus to send for the Queen. She was lovely to look at, and Ahasuerus wanted other other guys to have a look.
Making a judgment about whether Vashti was boldly virtuous or willfully rebellious is not the point. Did she refuse being objectified? Was she refusing a kind of ancient drunk-dial? In the end, her reasons are irrelevant.
The point is this: at the height of his power, displaying his wealth and preparing to lead his nation into battle, Ahasuerus couldn’t even get his own wife to follow orders. Mike Tyson once said that everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth. He might have also said, everyone has a plan until they try to make the queen obey. The king did not take being turned down in front of all his officials very well.
Ahasuerus’ unbelievable power was completely dependent power. This moment reveals the irony. It was embarrassing.
The author of Esther isn’t focused on the queen’s refusal as foreshadowing of the upcoming military loss, but as opening up the queen’s seat for another woman to fill.
Esther is a story of providence. There’s no naming of God, no mention of Jerusalem or the temple, no prayers, no Books of Moses. Instead, “Esther loses her virginity in the bed of an uncircumcised Gentile to whom she is not married” (Jobes), and the Jews kill almost 76,000 men. It’s not quoted in the NT. Not everyone loves the story, including maybe most famously for us, Martin Luther, who called himself an enemy of Esther and questioned Esther’s place in Scripture. But still God’s hand is all over these pages.
Esther is the narrative form of Romans 8:28. It is the story version of “don’t lose heart.”
“God was not overt, His word not direct, and His face not revealed, still, behind the veil of purim, God’s providence towards His people, would uphold them against adversary and ideological force alike, as in Passover of old.” (Abraham Cohen, quoted in Baldwin)
“Providence is God’s attention concentrated everywhere” (Augustus Strong, Systematic Theology). “Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep” (Psalm 121:4).
Remember, “Providence is God’s attention concentrated everywhere” (A. Strong). Lift up your eyes, your help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth (Psalm 121:1-2). He sees, He takes note, He strengthens the heart of those who commit themselves to Him (Psalm 10:14, 17).
Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!
“For who has known the mind of the Lord,
or who has been his counselor?”
“Or who has given a gift to him
that he might be repaid?”For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen. (Romans 11:33–36 ESV)