Mar 21stThe Best Kind Of Fairy Tale – A True One

Once upon a time, in a place so far away, lived a very powerful King.  The name of the King was Xerxes and He was the king of Persia.  He was the most powerful king of the world. Today, because we have no Kings as powerful as him, it is very hard for us to understand how powerful this king was.  For some of you this may seem very amazing, but this king lived in a day when there were no cameras, there was no television, there were no computers, no telephones (including smart phones), and no tablet computers.  There were no pictures of this king, the most powerful man in the world, because there were no cameras.  The only way to know what the king looked like was to be fortunate enough to see him, and not many did, or to see one of the rare portraits of him that were not in his palace.  Most people did not know what the king looked like.  This king was so powerful that by his word someone could be killed and by his word someone could continue to live.  No-one was allowed to challenge what the king said.  If someone wanted to say something to the king, or wanted to meet with the king, the person would have to send a request to the king and ask to meet with him.  Common people, who were not also kings, princes or generals, were very unlikely to be given the opportunity to meet with the king.  If anyone, even another king, came to throne of the king to ask him something, and the person did not have permission to do so, the king could have him killed just because he came to visit the king without permission.  This king was scary powerful.

One day King Xerxes decided to have a big party for all nobles and military leaders of the land.  The real reason that the king wanted to have the party was so that everyone could tell him how wonderful and powerful He was.  Yes, it’s true, sometimes kings could be too proud.  The palace of the King was festively decorated so that everyone could see how rich the king was.  The king had more delicious food than all his guests could eat.  The people who were invited to the king’s party were very proud that they had been invited.

Since the King’s party was for men only, the King’s wife, Queen Vashti, had a party, at the same time, for all the women of nobility.  All the women who were at this party were also very proud to be invited to the queen’s party.

These parties lasted many days.  On the seventh day of the party, when the king had drank too much wine, he decided he wanted to brag about how beautiful his wife was, so he told his servant to bring the beautiful Queen Vashti to him.  Queen Vashti knew that King Xerxes wanted to show her to all his guests like she was a proud thing he owned and not his treasured wife.  Queen Vashti then said something to the king that no-one was ever allowed to say to the king, she said “No.”  She refused to come to him.

Queen Vashti’s refusal to obey the king caused the proud king to be embarrassed.  All the proud men who advise the king what to do said that Queen Vashti had set a very bad example for all the women of the land.  They told the king that it would be a very horrible thing if the women were to start thinking for themselves and not obey everything their husbands said to them (I know that kind of thinking seems impossible to believe but it is true!  Even more amazing, in some places today, that kind of thinking still exists.  How very silly!)  The men of the land were afraid what would happen if this came true.  They said that Queen Vashti must be punished for being a strong and intelligent woman.  So, they had her banished from the land.  I think they did Queen Vashti a very big favor!

When King Xerxes sobered up, he became sad because he no longer had his beautiful wife.  So, a search was made throughout his kingdom to find the most beautiful women in the land.  Many women were stolen from their homes because the King only cared about making himself happy.  Amongst the women was a woman named Esther.  The king thought she was the most beautiful and nicest of all the woman brought to him.  He favored her before all the other women.  This woman was a Jew, a people who God Almighty (who is truly the most powerful King) loved and consider His children.  She became Queen Esther.

Before becoming Queen Esther, she had been an orphan.  She had a very kind and wise older cousin.  He who loved Esther and made her his very own daughter.  He took very good care of her.  His name was Mordecai and he was very sad that Esther had been stolen from him.  He felt very sad for Esther. He also felt bad for himself, because he missed her.  Esther and Mordecai were sad and wondered what was the plan of God for Esther, and for His people the Jews.

Mordecai, and many Jews, had long ago been taken from their homeland by the powerful army of King Xerxes.   Mordecai, though forced from his home in Israel, was a good citizen of the land, just as all of God’s people today are to be good citizens of the lands they live in.  When Mordecai found out that some people were planning to kill King Xerxes, he saved the King by exposing the evil plan.

There was also an evil and proud man who lived in the land (It seems like there were a lot of those!).  His name was Haman.  Haman was not as interested in the welfare of anybody else as much as he was interested in trying to be important and make people admire and look up to him.  He did not care if he did bad things to people if what he did made him more rich and powerful.

Because Haman was a proud man, he did not like Mordecai.  He held a grudge against Mordecai because Mordecai would not bow to Haman.  Haman became so angry with Mordecai that he wanted to have Mordecai killed.  But, although Mordecai was not a powerful man in the kingdom, like Haman was, Haman could not kill him because of the time Mordecai had saved the king’s life.  Because Haman could not murder Mordecai, he thought of a sneaky way to hurt Mordecai. He thought of a way more evil than just murdering Mordecai.  He lied to King Xerxes.  He told King Xerxes that the Jews were bad people who did not obey the laws of king.  Haman told King Xerxes that all the Jews should be killed.  Haman was very evil and thought if the King agreed to kill all the Jews, then Haman, being a Jew, would also be killed.  Evil Haman was very happy that not only would Mordecai be killed, but Mordecai would suffer because all his family and friends would also be killed.  The King, not knowing that Haman had lied to him, agreed that all the Jews should be killed.  King Xerxes signed a law that set a day that all Jews could be killed and the property of the Jews could be taken from them by whoever wanted to do it.  All the Jews were very frightened.

What Haman did not know was that Queen Esther was a Jew.   Mordecai asked Queen Esther to ask King Xerxes to spare the lives of the Jews.  Queen Esther was afraid to do that.  She knew that King Xerxes loved her very much, but she knew that she might be put to death in making the request.  Mordecai told Queen Esther that she would also not be safe, even if she was the Queen.  He also told her that God loves the Jews and even if Queen Esther would not help, God would find some other way to save the Jews.  He told Esther that it was very likely that it was God’s exact plan to allow Esther to become an orphan, to be stolen away from her home and then to be selected to be Queen for this exact moment.   God had placed Esther as Queen so she could be used to save the lives of the Jews, whom God loved.

Queen Esther became brave and realized that she must do what God had planned for her to do.  Queen Esther was very smart, so she made a plan to show that Haman had lied to and tricked the king into signing an evil law. When King Xerxes learned of the evil plan of Haman he became very mad.  Because Haman had lied to the king and tricked the king into signing an evil plan, Haman was executed in a way that Haman had wanted to kill Mordecai.  The King found a way to save the Jews from being killed and having their land taken from them.  God made the Jews strong and successful so that anyone who tried to kill or steal from the Jews were defeated.

Haman’s very honored position was taken from Him and given to Mordecai.  So, God had used Mordecai and Queen Esther to save the Jews.  Queen Esther, Mordecai, and the Jews then lived in peace and happiness.  The End.

The moral to the story.  God is faithful to all of His people.  As He was faithful to the Jews then, He still is.  As He was faithful to the Jews, He is faithful to all people who love and serve Jesus, the Savior and King to all people.

Another moral to the story.  Like Queen Esther, and Mordecai, we must be willing to do what God had called us to do.  God uses all of His people to help and save other people.  Wherever all of God’s people are, God had it planned.  When God’s people are obedient and, wherever they are, live out the plan that God has for them, they then teach people that God is the most loving and greatest of everybody.  He is the best ever was and always will be.

Another important moral to the story.  King Xerxes divorced Queen Vashti because she was intelligent and strong.  Instead of allowing her to help him, he followed the advice of weak men who were frightened by how strong and smart Queen Vashti was.  It was a sad day for Persia, but it was a day of liberty for the beautiful, smart and strong Queen Vashti.  But the King of kings, God Almighty, who is not afraid of, but values strong and smart women, used Queen Esther to save the Jews.  Men should learn to value and be happy about being married to strong and wise women.  They can help him to lead a life that God will bless for as long as they live.

Final moral to the story.  When things look as if they can be no worse, trust God.  He is always able to save.  He does it every day.  Praise God!

Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.  Praise the Lord!  Psalm 150:6

But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.  Micah 7:7

He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?  Micah 6:8

IHS 3/21/17