Esther 2:1-4 — Same ol' Xerxes

 READ THIS: Esther 2:1-4

1 Later when King Xerxes’ fury had subsided, he remembered Vashti and what she had done and what he had decreed about her. 2 Then the king’s personal attendants proposed, “Let a search be made for beautiful young virgins for the king. 3 Let the king appoint commissioners in every province of his realm to bring all these beautiful young women into the harem at the citadel of Susa. Let them be placed under the care of Hegai, the king’s eunuch, who is in charge of the women; and let beauty treatments be given to them. 4 Then let the young woman who pleases the king be queen instead of Vashti.” This advice appealed to the king, and he followed it.  

WHAT’S THIS MEAN, ANYWAY?
 
Yesterday, we saw Xerxes made a law that removed his wife, Vashti, from her spot and queen and made men rulers over their wives. After some time to calm down, the King actually takes a second to realize the choices he made and the consequences they caused. Rather than make things right with his wife or take the blame for any of the mistakes he made, he once again turns to his advisors and follows their advice. They decide that the best decision for them to do is to search far and wide across their kingdom and search for the most beautiful one, then name that woman queen instead of Vashti. The king liked the plan, so they follow through on it!

This passage shows us that King Xerxes has not changed his ways remotely so far. From the beginning of this book, Xerxes only seemed to see value in his wife because of her beauty, and now that she is gone, he wants to replace her by looking for a woman solely based on her appearance. In chapter 1, we saw Xerxes make plenty of mistakes, but even after reflecting on the consequences of those choices, he doesn't change his ways. It may not feel as extreme, but we can be just like Xerxes! We can make decisions quickly, and even when we can see they weren't the wisest choices, we can often put off changing our ways.

THINK ABOUT IT:

1. How often do you reflect on your decisions and think about if they were Christ like?
 
2. Based on what we've seen so far, what things does Xerxes value in a person? What does Jesus value in people?

TRY THIS:

Take some time to practice question number 1 this week! When you get home and have a few minutes to reflect today, take a moment to think about some of the decisions you chose to make today. Then, think about how Jesus would have responded in those circumstances, and reflect on how you can look more like Him next time!

SONG OF THE WEEK:
 
The song of the week is called King of Humility. This week, we will learn about a not so humble king who does what they want whenever they want to. Our king, Jesus, is quite the opposite! Listen to this song this week and reflect on how Christ humbled Himself before us even when He didn't have to, then think about how we can live humbly this week! Here are the links to listen on YouTube and Spotify!

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