My favorite book of the Bible is Esther because it highlights the sovereignty of God. As Christians, we know that God is in control of everything. Nothing gets by Him that He has not already allowed to happen. He orders our day-to-day steps.
When we look at the story of Esther, the providence and sovereignty of God is everywhere.
You know the story, a Jewish girl becomes queen and saves the Jews from being annihilated. But if you carefully read the story, you can see how each event in the story was placed by God, resulting in the Jews being saved.
Event one: Mordecai and Esther did not return to their homeland
Cyrus the Great had made a decree that the Jews captured during the Babylon invasion of Judah could return home to Judah if they desired. If Mordechai and Esther had returned, Esther would not have been among the virgins brought to the palace when the search for a new queen took place.
Event two: Vashti was removed from being queen. (Esther 1:10-21)
If Vashti had remained queen, Esther would not have become queen. And I have read that some scholars believe that Vashti would not have tried to stop Hamon from killing the Jews. Esther and Mordechai would have been victims of Hamon’s evil scheme.
Event three: Esther finds favor with Hegai, the king’s eunuch (Esther 2:8-9)
Because Esther finds favor with Hegai, he gives her special treatment and tells her what would please the king when it is her turn to see the king. With Hegai’s advice, Esther finds favor from the King, who chooses her to be the new queen.
Event four: Mordecai has a position at the king’s gate (Esther 2:21)
This position afforded him to be in the right place at the right time to hear and fowl a plot to kill the king. His heroic deed is written in the king’s book of chronicles.
Event five: Hamon is appointed second in command.
As second in command, the king’s servants paid homage to Hamon, but Mordechai did not. Hamon became furious when he found out that Mordechai would not bow and that he was a Jew. Hamon was an Agagite or Amalekite, a people that the Jews had encountered a number of times in their history. (Ex17:8-16 &I Sam15:7-9). Hamon wanted to kill all of the Jews in the entire empire.
This is the main plot. How will God save the Jewish people from being killed? God had already set events in motion before we know the why.
Event six: Hamon cast lots on when he should set the date to kill all Jews. (Esther 3:7)
Hamon cast the lot in the first month of the year, and the day that the lot fell on was the twelfth month! God would give the Jews a whole year to get ready to fight their enemies!
Event seven: Esther finds favor with the King (Esther 5:2-3)
It had been months since Esther had seen the king. So when she went to see him without being summoned. She was taking a risk! The King greeted her with favor.
Event eight: Esther hosted a banquet
Esther hosted a banquet and invited the king and Hamon to tell the king of the deadly plot against her people, but Esther does not say to the king of the plot at this banquet and invites them to come again the next day.
Why did Esther not tell the king? Did she chicken out? No, it was part of God’s plan. Keep reading!
Event nine: That night after the first banquet, God causes the king not to sleep. (Esther 6) Because the king could not sleep, he learned that Mordechai was never honored to save the king’s life. This makes Mordechai a hero in the eyes of the king, and Mordechai is rewarded with Hamon’s help.
Event ten: Hamon has to honor Mordechai in the city square in the morning and attend the second banquet in the afternoon. At that banquet, Esther reveals to the King that her life and her people’s lives are in danger. There the King learns that Esther is a Jew, Mordechai is her uncle, and Hamon is the one who wants them all killed! The King orders Hamon to be killed. Mordechai is appointed in Hamon’s place. The Jews can stand up and defend themselves against their enemies.
God saves the Jews from being kill and allows them to continue living in the land of Persian.
As you read through each of the ten events listed, if you removed one of them, things would not have worked out the way that they did. Do you see how only a sovereign God could have ordered people’s timing, attitudes, and events?
When you look at circumstances in your life, can you see how only God could have ordered the events in your life? Amazing, is it not?
