Though the book of Esther is only ten chapters in length, it’s teeming with significance and importance. The events of the book took place during the reign of Xerxes (also called Ahasuerus), king of Persia. The timeline of these events place it between Zerubbabel rebuilding the Temple, and the arrival of Ezra. While there was a remnant of Jews who returned to Jerusalem, the book of Esther is concerned with the remainder of Jews who stayed in Persia (formerly Babylon) and the surrounding regions.
King Xerxes decided to throw a party and invited all of his nobles, officials and the military officers, and leaders of many of his provinces. The party lasted for 180 days! The king wanted his wife, queen Vashti, to come to the banquet so that the nobles and all the other men could gaze upon her beauty. The queen, however, refused to come. This made the king furious (Esther 1:11-12). All of the men feared that Vashti’s actions would inspire women everywhere to revolt against their husbands (1:18). Therefore, Xerxes banished Vashti from the kingdom, which led the king to begin a search for a replacement queen.
We should pause at this moment in the story. So far nothing seems extraordinary about this event. People have been doing dumb stuff for all of history. What does this have to do with God and with His people? You may even notice that God is never mentioned in the book either. Though He isn’t mentioned by Name or action, He plays a major role in this amazing story.
Life can certainly be like that. Things can begin to look mundane and insignificant, then all of a sudden you get invited to the king’s palace to be a candidate for his new queen. That’s what happened to Esther (2:7-8). Up until this point she had been raised by her older cousin, Mordecai. Unbeknownst to them they had just been invited to God’s divine plan to save His people from destruction. For there was an evil man by the name of Haman who wanted to destroy the Jews.
All of this began when an important person refused an invitation to a party. Beloved, God is in control of the seemingly insignificant events of history. And we never know when we may get invited to be a participant in His plans. Let us not refuse, for we may have been brought to the Kingdom for such a time as this (Esther 4:14).