Shabbat shalom everyone. Please open your Bibles to the book of Esther. This Jewish woman that was used by God in a supernatural way to deliver our people of Israel from the hands of Haman, the hater, the enemies of the Jews, this one book is written to teach us the many lessons that the Lord wants to teach His own people, and specifically, it teaches us of the providence of God. And the passage we are studying today is Esther chapter 1, verse 10 to 22. And so we read, on the seventh day, when the heart of the king was merry with wine, he commanded Mehuman, Bizta, Charbona, Bigta, and Avegta, Zetar, and Karkas, the seven chamberlains that served in the presence of Achashverosh, the king.

To bring Vashti the queen before the king with the crown royal to show the people and the princess her beauty for she was fair to look on. But the queen Vashti refused to come at the king's commandment by his chamberlains. Therefore was the king very wroth and his anger burned in him. Then the king said to the wise men which knew the time for so was the king's manner toward all that knew law and judgment. And next unto him was the seven princes of Persia and Midia which saw the king's face and which set the first in the kingdom. What shall we do unto the Queen Vashti?

According to the law, because she has not performed the commandment of the king, Achashverosh, by the chamberlains. And Memuchan answered before the king and the princess. Vashti, the queen, has not done wrong to the king only, but also to all the princes and to all the people that are in all the provinces of the king Achashverosh. For this deed of the queen shall come abroad unto all women, so that they shall despise their husbands in their eyes. When it shall be reported, the king Achashverosh commanded Vashti, the queen, to be brought in before him, but she came not. Likewise shall the ladies of Persia and Midia say this day unto all the king's princes, which have heard of the deed of the queen, thus shall there arise too much contempt and wrath.

If it please the king, let there go a royal commandment from him, and let it be written among the laws of the Persians and the Medes, that it be not altered, that Vashti come no more before King Achashverosh, and let the king give her royal estate unto another that is better than she. And when the king's decree which he shall make shall be published throughout all his empire, for it is great, all the wives shall give to their husbands honor, both to great and small. And the saying pleased the king and the princess. And the king did according to the word of Memuchan. For he sent letters into all the king's provinces, into every province according to the writing thereof, and to every people after their language, that every man should bear rule in his own house, and that it should be published according to the language of every people.

I'm going to stop with the reading here, of the first chapter. Well, we have covered in our last ministry meeting the first nine verses of this chapter, and we also talked about the fact that, by way of introduction, how our own people Israel, finding themselves in Babylon, then later on Persia, and then later on by the Grecians, and ultimately by the Roman Empire, under the rulership and the control of the Gentiles. Yeshua said in the Gospel of Luke that the times of the Gentiles will begin but it will also have an end and the end will be of course we know that from Scripture at the second coming of the Mashiach the King of Israel, the King of the Jews who will rule as King of Kings and Lord of Lords over Israel a restored nation and all the nations of the world but we are living here and now today just the same like these Jewish people lived 2500 years ago this is about 521 bc these Jewish people including mordechai and Esther and many of these Jewish people lived in Persia they were under the rulership of the Persian Empire and that king was achashverosh and we know that he was Zixis the king of Persia who ruled over the then known world.

Well he wanted to make a big show off and he wanted to invite everyone to come to the palace to the capital city called Shushan and he. Invited everyone and he showed to everyone all what he has and all what he possessed. He made a great feast. We read about it in verse 5, and when these days expired, the king made a feast unto all the people that were present in Shushan, the capital city of Persia, and he made this feast as long as seven days. We also read, beloved brothers and sisters, there was plenty to drink. According to verse 7, they gave them drink in vessels of gold, royal wine they gave him, and all kind of vessel and the drinking was without limitation and everybody's drinking then the king according to Esther 1 verses 10 on wanted to continue on and to show everybody his wife the queen and here we learn some important lesson you notice first of all in verses 10 11 and 12 we have a drunken king requesting his sober queen, his sober wife to come to him and to show herself, to display herself before all those leaders who came from all the 127 provinces.

Look what we read. We read in verse 10, and on the seventh day, notice the seventh day was the last day of the feast. The king must be at that time completely under the power of the wine on that last day it says here when his heart was merry with wine that he commanded and notice we have the seven chamberlains the Hebrew word for chamberlain is sarisim and sarisims are really eunuchs people who were eunuchs his servants who serve him as they are together in his kingdom. They were his servants. So what does he do? He's asking those seven servants of him to go and bring before him his wife, Queen Vashti.

But I want you just to notice that he was taken over by the wine. You know that it says in verse 10, and on the seventh day when the heart of the king was merry with wine. Apparently, you can see that the king by that time was really under the control of the alcoholic beverage, you might say, under the control of the wine. And that shows us what happened when you are under the control of alcohol. You might say, of wine. It doesn't give you any more to have a sober thinking. You don't think right. You'd say things you shouldn't say. You do things you shouldn't do because you are no longer, you might say, normally functioning.

You are under the control of the wine. So when he's happy and things are going on well for him and everybody's drunk and everybody, you might say, have a great time, then the king began to ask something that was really unreasonable. It teaches us an important lesson here, that we are to not allow ourselves to be under the control of that which will lead us astray. Let me show you, please, a verse in Proverbs for a moment. I just want to connect it with King Ahasuerus. Notice Proverbs chapter 20, what we read there by King Solomon, verse 1. King Solomon says, wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging, and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.

Is not wise. It's not an issue of getting a glass of wine and drinking it with a meal, as some do, because wine is healthy in that sense. But to be under the control of the wine, when you are no longer sober, wine is a mocker. Strong drink is raging, and whosoever is deceived thereby is a fool, is not wise. Look at chapter 31 of the same book of Proverbs, verse 1 and 4 and on. Verse 1, it says here the words of King Lamuel and the prophecy that his mother taught him. Lamuel is King Solomon. His mother was the one who taught him and spoke to him. And she said to him in verse 4, It is not for Kings, O Lamuel, to drink wine, nor for princes strong drink.

Why, he continues, lest they drink and forget the law, and pervert the judgment of any that are afflicted. Brothers and sisters, you see, this is a king that was ruling over 127 provinces. He was married, and his wife was Vashti, the queen of Persia, and instead of honoring his wife, he wanted to display her before all those drunken men who came from all over the 127 provinces in other words what we really learned from this that he was not treating his wife in a right way i mean you know remember he was a Gentile king yes he was a king of Persia media yes but nevertheless he should have treated his wife in a right way and not make her a display before all those that were drunken with the wine of the king.

And so we find out that the king is telling all his servants to go to Queen Vashti. According to Esther chapter 1 and verse 10, we have those seven names, Mehuman, Bizta, Harbona, Bikta, Avegta, Zaytar, and Karkas. These are all his servants. He's sending them to bring his wife so she will be displayed before all these drunken men. Imagine what kind of thinking that this king have had. He should have been the opposite, honoring his wife and respecting his wife. This is exactly what we are taught in the New Testament, in the Scripture, both to Israel, God have taught our people Israel, and the New Testament, the church, the assembly, God teaching us that we are to honor our wife, that we are to respect her and not to make her a public shame before the people that came there at that party.

So on the seventh day of the feast, this king who is drunk is asking his wife to come and display herself before all the people that came. Notice that he sent his eunuchs, that word for chamberlains, is come from the Hebrew word sarisim. You know, what is the sarisim, the eunuchs? The eunuchs were the servants of the king. But you see, they were castrated because he didn't want them to get involved in anything else. They were only to serve him. Yeshua taught us in Matthew chapter 19 that there are those who are, as it says here, sarisim, those who are eunuchs that made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of God.

There are those eunuchs that were born eunuchs. They were born castrated, unable to reproduce. But there were also those who were made, made by men. They were made eunuchs by force. Apparently here, those servants, they were made by force because they were to serve only the king and not to do anything else. And therefore, they were sent by him as servants of the king, as chamberlains of the king. They were going to approach Queen Vashti to come to present herself before the people at that party. Now imagine also, it says here in verse 11, he says, you bring Vashti the queen before the king. With a crown royal, in other words, she would come with her crown, she would come and she would show the people and the princes her beauty, for she was fair to look on.

So imagine what a shameful thing it would have been for her to submit to what he expected from her. It is not an issue of him calling her to come and to be with him. It's not an issue of him calling his wife to be beside him. But it was truly, you might say, a presentation of shame. It was a humiliating request that he asked from Queen Vashti to approach him. I want to remind you, Those of us who are husbands, we are called to honor our wives. We are taught in Scripture that we are to honor our wives and to respect them and to recognize them and to seek to be a blessing to them.

Ephesians chapter 5 tells us, husband, love your wives. As the Messiah loved the assembly, the church, and gave himself for her. Peter says in 1 Peter 3, in verse 7, he says, treat them with honor. As a weaker vessel. Recognize that they are to be honored by you, the husbands. And as long as we do so, there is blessings from the Lord. But here is a drunken king expecting his wife to be displayed in such a humiliating way before people who came from all over the world that are merely drunk by the seventh day of this feast. So these are great lessons for us as believers in Yeshua the Messiah that we are to behave exactly the opposite.

And that's what happened. That's why in Ephesians 5 it says, Be not drunk with wine wherein there is excess, but be controlled by the Spirit of God. Because when we are not in control, we do foolish things, we say foolish things, we practice foolish things, and we don't honor the Lord, neither do we honor our very own wives whom the Lord had given unto us so what a sad state King Gachashverosh is expecting to have his wife coming before him so verse 12 we have the refusal of Queen Vashti that would cost her beloved brothers and sisters here she took a stand we don't hear of her being a disobedient wife or disobedient queen but she understood that for her to come and to be placed in the center of all these men that have been under the control of wine drunken this for her will be a humiliating experience so what we read in verse 12 but the queen Vashti refused to come at the king's commandment by his chamberlains these saracim, these eunuchs therefore was the king very wroth and his anger was burned in him.

See, now what happened? When he doesn't get his way as a drunken man, what does he do? He gets angry. He gets upset. Wow! And you see, can you imagine people who around him saw that he went to call his wife and his wife doesn't come? Those immediate circle would understand well, listen, the wife doesn't listen to her husband. The queen doesn't listen to king. Achashverosh, who is a ruler of 127 provinces. In a sense, you might say his pride and his ego was affected. And so, of course, the natural reaction when you don't get your way is that you are, as it says here, he was angry and wrath, as it says here in verse 12b.

The word in Hebrew, Vayiktsof, the wrath, it's almost like foam came out of his mouth. He was so angry that this expectation from his wife to come in a time such as this did not happen. And so he was so angry. And it says here, and his anger burned within him. In other words, the anger was like burning fire within him. And again, I would like to say, beloved brothers and sisters, When a man is under the control of an alcohol or under control of anything else, he simply doesn't think logic anymore. He does the wrong things. He says the wrong things. And then when he has been even challenged and corrected, he's even getting angry and carrying on and doing things that are not proper.

So the refusal of the queen to come because the crowd was drunk and she would be humiliated before everyone else and the king was angry because he did not get his own way. After all, whatever he says goes, whatever he wants come to pass and here Queen Vashti stood and then she says, no, I'm not going to come. Now we know in a moment we will find out that it will cost her. There is a price. Now you know we never read anything negative in the book of Esther about Vashti. We do read in verse 9 that Vashti also made a feast to all the women in the royal house which belonged to the king Ahasverosh.

But we don't read that they all got drunk and they did things that were not right. We just read that she was a beautiful woman according to this passage. She was fair to look on. He wanted to present her beauty, but we don't read anything negative about her except one single thing. And that was the refusal to come to the king's party who was a drunk king and the multitude of people there who were being drunk under the influence of the alcohol. And that is a lesson for us as believers in Yeshua the Messiah, twofold lesson. Lesson number one is let not ourselves allow to be controlled by wine because wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging, and whosoever is enticed by this is not wise.

Also we learn from Ephesians 5, 18, be not drunk with wine, but be ye controlled by the Spirit of God. Let us be led by the Spirit of God. And so that's the first verses, verses 10, 11, and 12. Well, when the king do not get his own way, he's making additional decisions. And those decisions are ultimately made because he was not thinking right, he was not sober. Then you can see in verse 13 to verse 20 that a drunken, angry king received advice from his counselors that was really unwise, that led him ultimately to divorce his wife. See, we read verse 13, it says, Then the king said unto the wise men which knew the times, for so was the king's manner towards all that knew law and judgment.

Well, the king is drunk. The king is angry. We have already read it in the previous verses. So now what does he do? He's asking for counsel. So he's calling the wise men of Medo-Persia. And we have a list of them. You notice that the first seven men in verse 10 they were eunuchs they were servants but in the next verse verse 14 we have another seven but these ones are wise men of Persia middle Persia we have the names in verse 14 it says here karshena shetar admata tarshish meres marsena and memuchan seven we call them here in verse 13 wise men of mido Persia so he's calling them to come to get counsel from them.

What do we do in a case like this? I'm calling my wife and she doesn't come. You know, it's funny that sometimes instead of going to the wife and talking to the wife, we go to everybody else and we tell them private matters that I should speak with my wife. So he needs seven wise men of all mid-Operja to give him counsel of something foolish that he have done, with his very own wife, if you would approach her and talk with her, she would say, King, what do you want me to do? Do you want me to present myself and parade myself before you, drunken, and all the many of them, hundreds and thousands who came from 127 provinces, drunk under the control of the alcohol, that's what you want your wife to be?

And that's what you want your wife to do? You know how different I was talking to my wife today and I said, honey, where is it in the Bible that you have a husband that treated his wife in the right way? And we were thinking about that. And you know, brothers, this is all of us fail. We always fail in treating our wife. There's one that never fail in treating his wife and his bride. And this is Yeshua, the Messiah. He treated his wife Israel in such a special way. He loved the nation of Israel, and he treated our people Israel in such a gracious way.

But Israel failed and have gone astray. The Messiah in the Brit HaChadasha that we learn in the New Covenant, the Messiah loved the assembly, the church, and gave himself for her. But we who are part of the church have gone astray also. And when we look at the history, I was just saying, well, maybe it was Abraham he really treated his wife. Well, Abraham was a godly man, but he also failed in relationship to his wife. Maybe David. Well, David didn't necessarily dealt with his wife the way he should have. He had more than one wife anyway. Well, maybe Solomon. Well, no, I don't think Solomon treated his wife because he had 700 wives and 300 concubines.

And we were looking throughout the biblical account and really, really, really, we have to say as husbands that we had failed in many, many ways. But nevertheless, we are exhorted in the Scriptures to love our wives, to treat them well, to honor them as a weaker vessel. And when there are problems personal problems we should talk with each other and not go to seven other people and tell them give me counsel what should I do to the wife who disobeyed me because I was drunk and I asked from her to do something that was not right for her you see there are lessons to learn from Scripture what the Lord is expecting from his own though we fail him we confessed it in many many ways and so we find out beloved brothers and sisters so the king calling the closest princess of Persia they are called here in verse 13 wise men you know i was thinking also in Egypt Pharaoh had his wise men according to Exodus 7 and verse 11 the king of Babylon Nebuchadnezzar has his wise men according to Daniel chapter 2 and verse 12.

And we know of the wise men who came from the east to say where is he that was born the king of the Jews according to Matthew chapter 2 and verse 7. But we also have the wise men that Moshe called to give them instruction on how to lead the people of Israel according to Deuteronomy, chapter 1 and verse 15. There are many, many wise men that we find in the Scripture, but sometimes we have to distinguish which men we are speaking about. The wise men of Egypt, the wise men of Babylon, the wise men of Persia, or the wise men of Israel, or the people of God, the wise men that really want the mind of the Lord.

You remember we read in Matthew chapter 7 that God said, he taught us about the wise man build his house upon the rock, and when the rain descend, and when the flood rise up, the house is standing firm, because they build their house upon the rock, and the rock is the Mashiach, the Messiah Yeshua. But the foolish men build their house upon the sand, and when the rain descend, and the Flood rises up. The house that is built upon the sand ultimately is being destroyed. And here you can see that these are wise men that are really not wise men. They are not the wise men which God has intending God's people to be wise men and wise women who love the Lord, learn from the Lord and learning from His Word.

And so look the kind of a wise man that these were. They didn't come to him and say, you know, King Achashverosh, let us tell you the truth. You were not sober. You were under the control of wine. You were not thinking right what you have done to your very own wife. You really wanted her to be presenting herself in such a humiliating way before the people who came from 127 provinces. Is that what you wanted, King Ahasuerus, from the very wife that you might say that your God had given unto you? That would have been a wise counsel. But look what a counsel that they give to the king.

It's rather sad in the advice. It's such a foolish advice. In fact, they are leading him to divorce his wife. They are leading him to justify his wrongdoing and then ultimately do an additional wrongdoing by divorcing his wife and setting her aside. But again, remember, brothers and sisters, that the book of Esther teaches us the providence of God. God behind the scene, what is the providence of God? It is the means whereby God directs all things to do his very own will. In other words, God is using this occasion to bring about another queen of his own choosing in order to lead her to save his own people Israel, the Jewish people, who are being set up for destruction by Haman, the enemy of the Jews.

But God is in control. He allowed these things to happen in the providence of God. And you can see that even this, the Lord is using to have his own purposes come to fruition. And so we read, notice verse 13, the angry king called the wise men. In verse 14, the names of his closest princess of Persia. By the way, it says in verse 14, and the next unto him was. That expression, next unto him was, that means that those were the immediate individuals. You might say his counselors, his advisors. It's like a president today or a prime minister today will have an advisor or many advisors. They will give him counsel, what to do in a situation like this, how to conduct in a situation like this.

But he was unwise to ask this counsel from the wise men of Persia, instead of going to his wife and saying, Honey, I apologize. I know I'm the king, and you're the queen, and I was wrong by expecting from you to come to this party when all of us are drunk with wine. I'm sorry, that was the wisest thing that the king Achashverosh should have been doing, but he didn't. So notice, verse 15, the king is questioning his wise men. Notice what he says here, he says, what shall we do unto Queen Vashti according to the law because she has not performed the commandments of the king Achashverosh by the chamberlains now here one thing is immediately unwise that he asked them what shall we do it's not their business what do you mean what shall we do you need to talk to your wife and you can talk to your wife and you can deal with it and everything would be fine but you see what did he do he went and he asked what shall we do?

In other words, including them in his relationship with his wife, and he made a wrong decision already here by asking from their counsel. And so, you know, you make sometimes foolish mistakes when you are under the control of wine. And I want to read two verses for you in the prophet Isaiah for a moment, chapter 28, verse 1 and verse 7. Look what the Scripture shows us it says in verse 1 woe to the crown of pride to the drunkards of Ephraim whose glorious. Beauty is a fading flower which are on the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine. God is speaking about Ephraim.

This is the people of Israel, the northern kingdom. And he says, listen, woe unto you, Ephraim. You were so beautiful. Your glorious beauty is now fading like a fading flower. Why? Because instead of submitting to me, Ephraim, Israel, you have allowed yourself to be overcome with wine and you end up to be drunk and not led by the God of Israel notice verse 7 of Isaiah chapter 28 but they also have erred through wine and through strong drink are out of the way the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink they are swallowed up of wine they are out of the way through strong drink they err in vision they stumble in judgment you see you can see a right when you are under the control of a strong drink you can't have a right judgment anymore when you are under the control of wine and you see what happened here to Ephraim that God is accusing Ephraim.

You were so beautiful. You were so right and walking with me and enjoying fellowship with me. But Ephraim, listen, this glorious beauty, it will slowly, slowly fade like a flower that was. Once pretty and nice and ultimately fade away. That's what happened to Ephraim. And that's what happen to our people when they are away from the Lord and by the way that's happened to us when we are not right with God we are not enjoying that fellowship that the Lord is intending for us to enjoy when we walk with him now of course he was not a godly man he was a pagan king yes granted but nevertheless he was still supposed to be sober and right and to have some common sense in his relationship in a time unfortunately we are no different than him and so now in Esther chapter 1 verse 13 14 and 15 we find out that he's approaching the wise men of Persia to give him counsel about a private matter that could have been dealt with if he would only done the right things.

So now I want you to notice from verse 16 to verse 20, we have four advices that the counselors gave King Achashverosh. And you can see that no good counsel whatsoever was given. To the king. And you can see also that there must be a reason behind it that brought about their advice to the king. Maybe there was a friction between the queen and the counselors and they used this opportunity to do away with Queen Vashti. So notice brothers and sisters in that four advices that they give to King Achashverosh. The first one is found in verse 16. They accuse Vashti of something wrong let me read verse 16 and Memu Khan Memu Khan was the chief spokesman there out of the seven he answered before the king and the princess and he says Vashti the queen has not done wrong to the king only but also to all the princes and to all the people which are And all the provinces of King Achashverosh.

First thing that they're telling him, you know, King Achashverosh, what Vashti did was not only that she did it to you, but she did it to us. She did wrong us too, because we are the princes, and also all the people of the 127 provinces, she has done wrong to everybody else. In other words, can you imagine where the counselors give wrong advice, such as this, to the king, and saying to him, listen, your wife did something wrong, not only to you, she did it to me, she did it to him, she did it to them, and she did it to all the provinces of Persia.

That's the first thing. You can see behind the scene here, they should have told him, don't you know that we all were under such a condition that it's the right thing that she did by not coming? King Achashverosh, go to Vashti and speak with her and deal with it privately and it will be all over. But no, apparently there must have been some kind of underlying motive that these counselors must have had a reason for that. Secondly, in verse 17, they claim now that all the women will despise their husbands. You see, notice that for this deed, in other words, what she did, this deed of the queen shall come abroad unto all women so that they shall despise their husbands in their eyes when it shall be reported the king Achashverosh commanded Vashti the queen to be brought before him but she came not see here we also notice another interesting thing that apparently it was not yet publicized everywhere because it says when it shall be reported it was a private matter It was just the immediate circle of the king that knew that he called her and she didn't come.

So apparently, they gave him the counsel. Oh, you see, king, wow, wow. You know, by Vashti's action, we're all going to suffer. See what's going to happen? According to verse 17, all the women of the provinces will despise their husband in their own eyes. When it shall be reported, the king Achat Verosh called Vashti and she didn't come. Now you see, we learn from this apparently that in those days, the relationship between the husbands and the wife was much different than what we are taught in the word of God. In the word of God, the husband is the head and the wife is the heart and they are to work together and you can't have a body without the head functioning properly.

You can't have a body without a heart functioning properly. We are to complement each other. We are to help each other. We are to support each other. And you see, this is what the Bible teaches us about headship. That the man is the head, but the woman is the heart. And they have to work together. And they have to live and enjoy the things of God together. But here we can see the counselors says, Oh, King Ahasuerus, the moment everybody will know that. What's going to happen? All the wives, all the women will despise their husbands in their eyes when this thing will be made known to the 127 provinces of Persia and Media.

And so this is the second wrong advice that they have given to King Ahasuerus. In fact, can you just imagine, This is happening in the same time. He is drunk. The party is going on. It's the seventh day of the party. Everybody's under the control of wine. He's calling his wife Vashti. She doesn't come to him. He's sending his sarisim, his eunuchs, to call her. She doesn't come. Then he called the advisors and he says, listen, give me advice. You know, usually when you make a decision on divorce, maybe stop and think before you are saying you're doing something like that. But what he does, he doesn't think right.

And so he's getting ready now to divorce his wife because he gets advice from those that are his counselors. Notice the third thing that they are saying about her. Notice they didn't have a lot of love towards her because they should have just turned it all around and did the right thing. Then notice what it says in verse 18. They wrongfully advise him that even the princesses, that means their own wife, of the Persian Empire, they will bring about contempt and wrath to us if we will allow this to continue on. Look at verse 18. It says, Likewise shall the ladies of Persia and Midia say this day unto all the king's princes, that means them, which have heard of the deed of the queen, Thus shall there arise too much contempt and wrath.

In other words, now they bring it closer home. Not only all the women of Medo-Persia, but even the ladies or the princesses who are our own wives. They're going to learn from what happened with you and Vashti, and our own wife will despise us, and it will bring about contempt for us and wrath against us. Oh, king, you better listen to what we advise you. And look at the final thing that they said to him in verse 19 and verse 20. They really seal it when they give him the final bad advice to a king that is still under the control of the wine. In verses 19 and 20, they viciously advise the king to divorce his wife.

Suspiciously, and in a sneaky way, they kind of brought about the advice that he will divorce his wife. Let me read verse 19, first of all. It says, if it please the king, let there go a royal commandment from him, and let it be written among the laws of the Persian and the Medes, that it be not altered, that Vashti come no more before king Achashverosh, and let the king give her royal estate unto another that is better than she. See, in verse 19, in a sense, they seal the advice, the vicious advice that they give against Vashti to the king. You know, king Achashverosh see it was a private matter it was not yet known everywhere but they want to publicize it and send it everywhere in 127 provinces and he says let there go a royal command and what is the royal command let it be written among the laws of the Persian of the Medes that it not be altered that Vashti come no more before king Achashverosh and let the king give her royal estate.

To another. Again, beloved brothers and sisters, in the light of what the theme of the teaching of the book of Esther, the sovereignty of God and the providence of God, you can see that God behind the scene even uses the vicious counsel of these servants of King Achashverosh to give him an advice in order to remove Vashti, so another, notice as it says here, another that he's better than she will take her royal estate and so what an advice to give to someone such as this you know and you notice they ask him to write it as a law and the king could write a law and the law of the Persian and the Medes is a law that will never be able to be altered In other words, what they are really saying to him, you divorce your wife Vashti without any of the chance of reconciliation and restoration.

Turn to Daniel, please, with me, chapter 6. Notice I'm reading verses 8, 9, and 15. We read in verse 8. Now all king establish a decree and sign the writing that it be not changed according, listen, there is a law that the Medes of Persians has, it's the law that nothing can be changed and reversed anymore. According to the law of the Medes and Persians which altereth not. Wherefore king Darius signed the writing and the decree. Notice in the next verse verse 15 then these men assembled unto the king and said unto the king know o king that the law of the medes and Persian is that no decree no status which the king established may be changed now what happened in Daniel chapter 6 you see the wicked wise men of Darius the king of Persia wanted to cause Daniel to stumble and so what did they do they wanted the king to write a decree in order that whoever will not bow his knee to the king he will be cast into the lion's den that's where we get the story young people of the lion's den that Daniel find himself to be there because him and his three friends did not want to bow their knees to the king who was merely a pagan king and so there was a law that the medes and the Persian had you could never alter it and so what we find out that just like in Daniel's days it's about the.

Same timing Persia is the one who ruled in those days and king Cyrus became the king that allowed our Jewish people to return to the land in the same era in the same time the wise man of king Achashverosh, another king of Persia giving him that counsel this unwise counsel to divorce his wife and they said to him in verse 19 and I'm repeating this verse, bear with me if it please the king let there go a royal commandment from him and let it be written among the laws of the Persians and Amids that it be not altered that Vashti come no more before King Achashverosh and let the king give her royal estate unto another that is better than she.

In other words, you see how they sneak in a very vicious way. They led a drunken king to make a decision of casting his wife Vashti away for no wrongdoing except the fact that she didn't come before the king who was drunk and the thousands. Of people who are under control of wine to be there humiliated before all the people of the lands and so what a terrible counsel the law of the Medes and the Persian that cannot be altered and here they gave him that vicious advice to divorce his wife and finally notice in verse 20 they wanted him to publish throughout all his empire this law and that all the wives of the empire will give heed and honor to their own husbands you see look at this and I'm reading now verse 20 and when the king's decree which he shall make shall be published throughout all his empire for it is great king you are great king you have great empire all the wives shall give their husbands honor both to great and small see what they have done they have really in a sense manipulated this unwise king to divorce his wife and that ultimately they will take honor to themselves in a sense that the wives will be treated in such a.

Way that they will have to give honor and be submissive to their own husbands. Now, by the way, brothers and sisters, the Bible does teach us that husbands are to love their wives, but it also said, why be subject unto your own husbands? But there's a difference between the way the Lord presented it to us in Scripture and the way these vicious counselors to king hachashverosh have given this unto the king here it was by force here it was not a proper relationship between a husband and a wife here they would have to give honor unto their husbands because there is a law and you can see if you're going to do that that's what's going to happen to you like it happened to vashti the wife of King Ahasuerus.

And then they're expecting it from him to publicize that. See, they wanted him now to send this decree that everybody will hear about this event that have happened. Now if you and I would have been in this era, we can look from above and you can just imagine, you can just. See a drunken party, a drunken king, a drunken people, an unwise counselor. What a chaos in such a condition as this. And yet the hand of God is walking around, you might say, passing through, arranging everything in his providence to bring about another queen, the Queen Esther, that will ultimately be the one that will deliver our Jewish people from the destruction that the enemy of Israel had against them.

So, brothers and sisters, verses 10, 11, and 12, a drunken king requesting from a sober queen to come to him. A foolish request. Verses 13 to 20, an angry king. Counselors give him a foolish counsel to divorce his wife. Let me just conclude that first chapter in verse 21 and verse 22, the king foolishly decree is sent into all the 127 provinces that Queen Vashti will be divorced from the king. And so we read in verse 21 and verse 22, and the saying pleased the king and the princess and the king did according to the word of Memuchan. Now the king was pleased with what they said to him. Now if he was a real man that had a godly love or I should say a natural love towards his wife would he listen to this counsel?

Not at all. Would he not understand that he was at fault here? He sure would if he would have common sense. But you see he was under the control of alcohol, of wine. He was not sober. And that's why the warning is given. Be not drunk with wine wherein there is excess. But be controlled by the Spirit of God, of course. Be wise in your decision making. But no, you can be a king. You can rule over 127 provinces in the world. You can be ruling from India to Ethiopia. You can be a great king, but an unwise king. Unwise king. And so what does he do?

He listened to this wrong advice. And so it says it pleased him. And it pleased them as well, the princes. And the king did exactly as they consulted him. And he, as it says here in verse 21, he put the word that Memuchan gave him, and he put it, in fact, he kind of sealed it with his ring. Remember, beloved brothers and sisters, when the law was now brought about by the king Achashverosh, the law of the Medes and the Persians, he couldn't reverse it. He couldn't change his mind. Maybe later on, we'll find out in the next chapter, he woke up from his drunkenness and he realized the foolish thing that he had done.

And you see how we learn from this, that the Kings of this universe, even though they are great leaders in their own eyes, they are doing foolish things when they are not under the guidance of the living God. The Bible tells us in the book of Proverbs that the king's heart is in the hand of the Lord. And he does with it whatsoever he will. The Lord can change the events. Look what's going on today in the world in which we live in today. Look at the chaos. Look what's going on with many rulers who live here in this world. This one is developing an ammunition to kill mass destruction.

Unwisely. They want to show their power so they can press a button and they can shoot a racket and thousands and thousands of people will die. That's the wisdom of Kings. They don't try to make peace, to make shalom, to bring people together and to be a blessing to the world. Look what's going on in various countries in the world where there are monarchs that do as they please and get unwise counsel and does not listen to the living God and does not submit themselves to the word of God. That's the decision that they make and the rest of the world have to suffer because of their decision making.

So what does he do? Boy, he's a great king making a decision. We're going to write down what Memuhanev said. We're going to send it to everybody in 127 provinces and we're going to show them who is the king. What a sad, sad condition. And so in verse 22 it says here and he sent letters into all the king's provinces into every province according to the writing thereof and to every people after their language that every man listen to that that every man should bear rule over his own house and that it should be published according to the language of every people in other words it's really male chauvinist it's really male chauvinist had he really loved his wife He would have not expected from her to do what he expected her to do.

Had he was wise and sober, he would have not have done what he had done, ultimately putting her away and then making a law of the Medes and the Persian, which can never be altered. Even if he would later on will say, boy, I love my wife and I want to have her back. But it's too late, king, because the law of the Medes and the Persian could never be altered, could never reverse it. You know, I'm thinking about decisions that we make in our life. Sometimes foolish decisions. That later on we say, I played the fool. I should have listened to my parents. I should have listened to the Lord.

I should have submitted to His Word. But I played the fool. King Saul said to Samuel, I played the fool. He instead of submitting to the authority of the God of Israel, he made foolish decisions and ultimately he recognized that he played the fool and he lost the kingdom of Israel because he didn't lead our nation, Israel, in a godly way. And what about you and I? Don't you and I feel many times we made foolish decisions? We can't reverse it. We wish we could swallow back the words that we said. We wish that the things that we have done, that we could reverse it back and we'll stop from it and then blessing will come, but we can't.

The decree gone. The wrongdoing is gone. We harm people. We hurt others. We even hurt the people that we love the most by the way that we conducted ourselves. We all have done that. He is a king of 127 provinces. That made a foolish, foolish decision. And he wrote it down. It's all pride. Writing it down, sending it to every province. In fact, it says at the end of verse 22 that it publishes according to every language of the people. He wrote it in Hebrew. He wrote it in all Aramite or Greek and every language of the lands of the whole world that everybody will be clear.

I am this macho, King Achashverosh. I cast my wife out only because she didn't come to the party that I made. I was drunk, yes. They were all drunk, yes. But she didn't come. And I'm the king, you see. God loves one who is humble and not proud and arrogant. God resists the proud. But he gives grace to the humble. Ultimately, those that pride themselves, he will put them down. And here we learn the mistake that these men have made. And you notice that every man should bear the rule over his own house. See, that's where we get the wrong attitude as heads of home, as husbands.

And again, while we are the heads, according to the Scripture, 1 Corinthians 11 says, the head of every man is the Messiah. The head of the Messiah is God. The head of the woman is man, yes. But headship does not mean that a person should treat his wife wrongfully. The headship and the hardship are to work together. The head gives direction, the head gives nourishment, the head gives instruction, the heart is the refreshment and the love and the affection. And that's what we learn from here, the wrong way in which King Ahasuerus behaved and he set up this rule, he sent it to all the people of the world that then existed and ultimately he have wrongfully received counsel instead of from seven wise men, We can call them seven foolish men who did not give the right advice to the king of Persia.

Well, may the Lord help us, dear brothers and sisters, that we will learn from this and we will draw closer to the Lord and learn from Yeshua the Messiah and get some good advice that is found in the Word of God.