The Invisible Hand and the Royal Feast Text: Esther 2:17-18
Introduction: The God Who Hides
The book of Esther is a peculiar treasure in the canon of Scripture for a reason that makes many modern Christians nervous. The name of God is not mentioned once. There are no prophets, no miracles, no overt divine interventions. On the surface, it reads like a story of palace intrigue, political maneuvering, and sheer, dumb luck. And that is precisely the point. This book is a master class in seeing the hand of God when the hand of God is intentionally hidden. It is a story written, as it were, by God Himself, and He has chosen not to sign His name to it, so that we might learn to recognize His style.
We live in an age that craves the spectacular. We want the burning bush, the parting of the sea, the voice from Heaven. But most of our lives are lived in the Susa of our own day. We go to work, we deal with difficult bosses, we navigate complicated relationships, and we wonder where God is in the midst of it all. Esther teaches us that God is most certainly there, meticulously weaving the threads of His purpose through the most profane and unlikely of circumstances. His providence is not a sledgehammer; it is a loom. And on that loom, He weaves together the free, and often sinful, choices of men to accomplish His perfect will.
The story of Esther is a story of contrasts, a great chiasm. It begins with a feast of a proud emperor and ends with the feast of God's delivered people. It begins with a queen being deposed for her refusal to be objectified and moves to another queen being raised up through a process that was nothing less than a pagan beauty pageant. This should trouble our tidy, modern sensibilities. God is not afraid to get His hands dirty in the muck of a fallen world. He is not a celestial helicopter parent, wringing His hands over the mess. He is a sovereign, and He works all things, even the sordid business of a Persian harem, according to the counsel of His own will. In our text today, we see the hinge point where God places His chosen instrument, a Jewish orphan girl, in the most powerful position a woman could hold in the ancient world.
The Text
And the king loved Esther more than all the women, and she advanced in favor and lovingkindness before him more than all the virgins, so that he set the royal crown on her head and made her queen in place of Vashti. Then the king held a great feast, Esther’s feast, for all his princes and his servants; he also held a remission of taxes for the provinces and gave gifts according to the king’s hand.
(Esther 2:17-18 LSB)
Providential Affection (v. 17)
We begin with the king's decision, which seems entirely personal and emotional, but is in fact freighted with the destiny of God's covenant people.
"And the king loved Esther more than all the women, and she advanced in favor and lovingkindness before him more than all the virgins, so that he set the royal crown on her head and made her queen in place of Vashti." (Esther 2:17)
The first thing to notice is the language used. "The king loved Esther." This is the decision of Ahasuerus, a pagan despot, a man who ruled 127 provinces from India to Ethiopia, a man who had just discarded his previous wife over a point of wounded pride at a drunken party. His affections are not what we would call a reliable moral compass. And yet, God in His sovereignty uses the fickle affections of a pagan king to advance His eternal plan. The heart of the king is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; He turns it wherever He will (Proverbs 21:1).
This is not a fairy tale. This is not a story about a girl finding her true love. It is the story of God positioning His agent. Esther obtained "favor and lovingkindness." This is not an accident. Earlier, she found favor in the sight of Hegai, the keeper of the women (Esther 2:9). Now she finds favor with the king. When God is moving His chess pieces, He ensures they land on the right squares. This favor is a gift, a providential blessing bestowed for a strategic purpose that Esther herself does not yet understand. She is walking by faith, even if it is a faith that has to navigate the compromises and perils of a pagan court.
And so, the result is the coronation. He "set the royal crown on her head and made her queen in place of Vashti." One queen is out, another is in. The world sees a beauty contest with a fortunate winner. Heaven sees a general being positioned for a decisive battle. Vashti's disobedience, the king's rage, the foolish advice of his counselors, the nationwide search for virgins, all of it was the crooked line by which God was drawing the straight line of His redemption. God's providence is not just about the big, obvious events. It is about the small, seemingly random details, like the chemical reaction in a king's brain that we call "love" or "favor." God is the master of these details. He did not override the king's will; He steered it.
A Feast of Foreshadowing (v. 18)
Following the personal decision comes the public celebration. And in Scripture, a feast is never just a meal.
"Then the king held a great feast, Esther’s feast, for all his princes and his servants; he also held a remission of taxes for the provinces and gave gifts according to the king’s hand." (Esther 2:18 LSB)
The king throws "a great feast." The book of Esther is framed by feasts. It opens with the opulent, 180-day feast of Ahasuerus, a display of arrogant, worldly power that leads to Vashti's fall. It will end with the feast of Purim, a celebration of God's deliverance for His people. This feast, "Esther's feast," sits in the middle. It is a pagan feast, thrown by a pagan king, but it marks the installment of the very person who will be the instrument of God's salvation.
This feast is a public declaration. The entire empire is to recognize Esther as queen. The king declares a "remission of taxes" and gives out lavish gifts. This is the way of worldly kings. They display their glory through extravagance and magnanimity. Ahasuerus thinks he is celebrating his new bride and displaying his own wealth and power. But what is actually happening? God is announcing to the world, through the mouth of a pagan, that His deliverer is in place. The king is unwittingly throwing a party for God's secret weapon.
This is a beautiful picture of how God co-opts the plans of men. Ahasuerus intends to celebrate his own glory. God uses the celebration to mark a milestone in His plan of redemption. The tax holiday and the gifts bring joy and relief to the provinces, all under the banner of "Esther's feast." Her name becomes associated with blessing and royal favor throughout the land, long before her true identity and purpose are revealed. God was preparing the ground. He was making her name great in the empire, so that when the time came for her to act, she would be acting from a position of established honor and affection.
Our Place in the Story
So what does this story of a long-dead Persian king and his Jewish queen have to do with us? Everything. It teaches us how to read our own lives. We are often like Esther before she understood her calling. We are in situations that are morally complex, spiritually confusing, and we cannot see the next ten steps. We are tempted to think that our lives are just a series of random events, happy accidents, and unfortunate circumstances.
But Esther's story reminds us that there are no random events for the child of God. The boss who likes you, the promotion you got, the person you happened to sit next to, the unexpected check in the mail, the difficult trial that seems to make no sense, all of it is being woven together by the same God who orchestrated Esther's rise to the throne. He is the God who works behind the scenes. He is never mentioned in this book because He wants us to learn to trust Him when we cannot see Him, to trace His hand when He has hidden His face.
Esther was placed in the palace "for such a time as this." You have been placed in your family, your job, your neighborhood, for such a time as this. God has given you favor, resources, and relationships, not for your own comfort, but as strategic assets for the kingdom. And just as Esther's feast was a foreshadowing of the greater feast of Purim, so all the small joys and celebrations in our lives are foreshadowings of the great Marriage Supper of the Lamb.
At that feast, we will see the whole story. We will see how every seemingly random turn, every painful providence, every unexpected blessing, was part of the grand narrative He was writing. We will see that our King, King Jesus, has loved us with an everlasting love, has set a royal crown on our heads, and has made us a kingdom of priests. And He has declared a true remission, not of taxes, but of sins, and has given gifts, not according to the hand of a Persian king, but according to the infinite riches of His grace. Until that day, we are to live like Esther, faithfully and courageously in our pagan Susa, knowing that the God who is nowhere named is everywhere present.