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THE K I NG ' S BUS I NESS
save as faith discovers it. It is a pic ture of human life and most appropriate that in a hook illustrating God’s mys terious Providence His name should be omitted. Another striking characteristic of the book of Esther is its attention to trif ling details. Little things are the hinges upon which the story turns. A passing whim of Ahasuerus during a feast was the cause of queen Vashti being set aside and Esther, the orphan Jewess, chosen in her stead. A season of insomnia on the part of the king led to the discovery of Mor- decai’s service and enabled him to thwart the plot of Haman to destroy the Jews. History shows that the destiny of nations has been determined by the merest trifles. What is true of nations is true of individuals. The direction of a life is sometimes changed by a trivial circumstance. Despise not the day of small things. The intelligence and punctuality of Providence is clearly revealed. There is no such thing as chance, and fate is blind and dumb. Providence is full of eyes before and behind. God’s clock •is never too fast or too slow. Esther comes to the throne for just such a crisis as the Jews were passing through. Sleep is taken from the king at exactly the right time. A day sooner or later would have thrown everything out of gear. Haman cast the lot for the slaughter of the Jews on the thirteenth day of the first month. The day of exe cution was placed on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month. God ar ranged that a year should intervene that there might be ample opportunity for counteraction and deliverance. It was a law of the Medes and Per sians that a royal decree could not be changed. The only thing to be done was to authorize the Jews to defend themselves. The feast of Purim insti tuted a t.that time is still a cherished
Jewish custom and its observance to day is a proof of the historic integrity of the book. God is the opener of. doors and the giver of visions. Selfishness is despicable in His sight, and service always meets with recogni tion and reward. Suffering is second ary to the doing of His will. Fidelity bo one’s task is the only thing that counts. The value of righteousness outweighs in calculation the value of life. The glory and beauty of being second when others are first can be ap preciated and appropriated only by those who have tarried long and bowed lowly before the cross. The venture of Esther into the audience chamber of the king has been compared to the ap proach of a penitent sinner to the throne of heavenly grace. Esther 4: 16 . “ I can but perish if I go I am resolved to try, For if I stay away I know I shall forever die.” The issue of Esther’s experiment was uncertain. It was decided by royal caprice. The welcome of the sinner is assured by the promises of God. ‘‘Who soever cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out.” We do not maintain that readers of this book in early days were aware of the stores of truth which it "contained, or even that the writer of it himself knew these fully. COMMENTS FROM Of the book of MANY SOURCES Esther two things Keith L. Brooks are true: One, its utter silence bn the merest surface of the page as to spiritual things; the other, that un derneath lies the secret; and when read in the light that God elsewhere has given, the book is full of spiritual truth — of what we may call the truths of redemption. We must bring to the book of Esther much of what we learn else where, then we shall find more than we can readily carry away.— Cumming. The name of God does not once occur in the book, but in no other book of
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