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T H E K I N G ’ S BUS I N É S S
ESTHER, THE PATRIOT QUEEN JUNE 17, 1933
Golden Text: such a tim e as this?
Who knoweth w hether thou a rt no t come to th e kingdom for
Es. 4:14.
LESSON TEXT E sther 4:13-5:3. Devotional Reading.^r—Ps. 124.
(The statem en t made in connectioni: w ith th e lesson for May 27, on Isaiah, is tru e, also, of th is lesson. We have repeated the exposition given of the lesson for August 13, 1922). Outline: (1) The Problems of Opportunity. (2) The P erils of Opportunity. (3) The Privileges of Opportunity. (4) The Productiveness of Oppor tunity. Introduction: E sth er lived 470 B. C., seventeen years before Ezra led th e second retu rn from th e captivity and about th irty years before Nehemiah visited Jerusa- • lem. and r e b u ilt. the LESSON walls. EXPOSITION Read th e whole T. C. H orton book of E sth er in or der to get in touch w ith th e characters, incidents and events. The critics tell us th a t th is book could not be inspired because the name of God is not in it. His name is not necessary for 'God Himself is th e h eart of it. His hand is behind the scenes andpresents th e characters. Moving in and th rough them all, two’ forces are a t work;-—one matched against the other— and every event dovetails definitely in such a manner th a t one is carried along w ith intensi fied in terest as we see God working against Satan and proving more than a match for him as He always doei, even when th ere is, seemingly, no hope of deliverance. P u t th is story in between th e sixth and seventh chapters of Ezra. There are four principal characters HELP SOME YOUNG
th e story. Our conscience and judg ment are n atu rally w ith two of them— Mordecai and E sther, and against the other two, Ahasuerus and Haman. Moredecai, a Jew, lived in .Shushan, the royal city of Persia, w ith his adopted ward, E sther. He probably held some government position (2 :5 , 21-23). He was of the fam ily of Kish, trib e of Benjam in,— an upright, God fearing, far-seeing man. He loved his people. He believed in th e ir destiny. He was faith fu l to th è king. E sth er, th e beautiful queen of Aha suerus, was born in Persia, her parents being among the Jews who p referred to rem ain ‘th e re ra th e r th a n to re tu rn to Palestine. H er original name, Hadas- sah (m yrtle) was changed to a Persian name, E sth er (s ta r). She was chosen as queen, in place of the deposed Yashti, for her beauty. ' Ahasuerus, or Xerxes, th e famous Persian king, reigned from 486 to 465, B. C., 21 years. He led th e unsuccess ful .expedition against Greece in which th e storm s and waves wrecked his boats. He is represented as whipping th e waves w ith whips. Hainan, th e Agagite (E sth er 3 :1 ; Num. 24:7-20) was a descendant of the Amalekites. He was a high official in Xerxes’ court. He was wealthy (5 :11 ) perhaps nearest the king. He had the k ing ’s signet ring (3:10, 12). A vain, tyrannical man, deeply prejudiced against th e Jews, an implacable foe, w ith a passionate, ungovernable disposi tion. His tru e character was revealed in his wail because Mordecai would not bow to him (5 :1 3 ). MAN OR WOMAN PREPARE
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