The Pulpit Commentary — Esther — Section 11

opposition I The circumstances of most men, however, are more or less favourahle to their advo.ncement, and to make the most of them is not only allowable, hut a positive duty. 3 . .A. desire to benefit the world. The beet ambition is that which 1e furthest removed from self. The men who will be held in everlasting remem- brance o.re those who have contributed their quota to the progress of their kind. When the names of the most potent warriors shall have perished, the names of philosophers like Newton, inventors like Stephenson, and reformers like Luther, shall live in the o.ffectione of o. grateful world. But usefulness does not depend upon eminence; every man in hie own sphere may do something for the common good.-R. Vere. 1-4.-.A great/east. One peculiarity of this Book of Esther is that the name of God nowhere occurs in it; yet the reader discerns the finger of God throughout. Its story is an illustration of the Divine providence. A complicated chain of events and actions is so governed as to work out the deliverance of the exiled Jews from a plot which aimed at their destruction ; and this without any miracle or mention of Divine interposition. 1. A fact disclosed. That the Jews while in exile, under judgrnent, and without vision, were remembered and cared for by God. Outcast, they were not cast off, they were still the children of promise ; God was still faithful to them. 2. From this fact an inference may be drawn. There is a Divine providence in the world; no supernatural exercises of power are needed to enable God to effect his will; all laws and things are hie creatures, and therefore under bis control; human dramas and tragedies take place every day in which acutest plans are foiled, and, by seemingly natural processes, truth and right vindicated. Our introduction to this king is in connection with a great FEAST. Its barbaric magnificence-prodigality and waste. All the princes and governors were invited-not together, but in companies, so that the revelry continued for the long period of six months (a hundred and fourscore days). What its motive? If we take the king to have been Xerxes, it may have preceded hie expedition into Greece, as a boastful anticipation of triumph, or as a means of uniting in the monarch's resolve all the governing forces of the empire. But our story says nothing of any special purpose ; that was beside the object for which it was written. The feast itself was described only because, in connection with it, a thing occurred which had a direct influence on the subsequent rescue of the Jews from a conspiracy against their life. The lines are in God's bands. He sees the end from the beginning. Every point in the narrative is necessary to the great issue, and to the general and abiding lesson. Yet enough is said to indicate that, so far as the king was concerned, the chief motive was vanity-a childish love of display, a vainglorious desire to witness the effect of the splendours of bis person and palace on the mag- natea of his empire. During all the days of the feast "be showed the riches of bis glorious kingdom, and the honour of bis excellent majesty." His mind was puffed up by the conceit of hie high-mightiness ; be thirsted for the admiring homage of the world-not an homage attracted by mental greatness or moral worth, by elevation of character or heroism of conduct, but that low and degrading homage which fawns and flatters in presence of the vulgar ostentations of material pomp and power. This king of Persia was no Solomon, who could draw to bis capital princes from all quarters by a wisdom and worth which were not overshadowed even by an unrivalled material splendour. Let us learn- I. THAT PERSONAL VANITY IS NOT ONLY FOOLISH AND CONTEMPTIBLE IN ITSELF, BUT AN INLET ALSO OF MUCH HUMILIATION AND SIN (see Prov. xxix. 23; Matt. xxiii. 12; Jamee iv. 6). II. THA'l.' HOMAGE TO RICHES AND THE LUXURIES THEY PURCHASE IS UNWORTHY OF A HUMAN SOUL. Not confined to any condition, place, or age. As readily exacted and given now as at any time. Wealth too often goes before worth. The material receives more respect than the moral or spiritual. The unspoken language is com- mon-better be rich than good ; better be surrounded with the showy emblems of worldly prosperity than have our character and homes adorned with the Christian virtues of truth, uprightness, and charity. The power to form right estimates as between the seen and the unseen, the material and the spiritual, much needed. How acquire such a power? Only by looking and listening to Jesus Christ, by having 8 THE BOOK OF ESTHER. [en. I. 1-9.