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God:
the source of favour
Several times in the
book of Esther we are told that Esther found favour. Starting from the
first of these times, when Esther went to the competition, we read:
Esther 2:8-9
"So it was, when the king's command and decree were heard, and when
many young women were gathered at Shushan the citadel, under the
custody of Hegai, that Esther also was taken to the king's palace, into
the care of Hegai the custodian of the women. Now the young woman
pleased him, AND SHE OBTAINED HIS FAVOUR; so he readily gave
beauty preparations to her, with her allowance. Then seven choice
maidservants were provided for her from the king's palace, and he moved
her and her maidservants to the BEST place in the house of the
women."
(NKJV-KJV)
The
reason that Esther readily received beauty preparations, seven servants
from the king's palace and "the BEST place in the house of the
women" was because she obtained the FAVOUR of the person that was
responsible i.e. the favour of Hegai the custodian.
But Esther didn't obtain the favour
of Hegai only. Esther 2:15-17 tells us:
Esther 2:15-17
"Now when the turn came for Esther the daughter of Abihail the
uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her as his daughter, to go in to the
king, she requested nothing but what Hagai the king's eunuch, the
custodian of the women, advised. AND ESTHER OBTAINED FAVOUR IN
THE SIGHT OF ALL WHO SAW HER. So Esther was taken to the king Ahasuerus,
into his royal palace, in the tenth month which is the month of Tebeth,
in the seventh year of his reign. The king loved Esther more than all
the women, and SHE OBTAINED GRACE AND FAVOUR IN HIS SIGHT MORE
THAN ALL THE VIRGINS; so he set the royal crown upon her head and made
her queen instead of Vashti."
The
reason that Esther became the queen was because she "obtained
FAVOUR in the sight of ALL who saw her" and, most importantly, she
obtained the FAVOUR of the king himself.
Sometime later, Esther risked and
went to the king uninvited which was "against the law" (Esther
4:16). However she wasn't put to death for:
Esther 5:2
"when the king saw queen Esther standing in the court, SHE FOUND FAVOUR
IN HIS SIGHT, and the king held out to Esther the golden sceptre that
was in his hand."
The
reason that Esther was not put to death was because she found FAVOUR in
the sight of the king.
Apart from the above passages, the
reader may also check for himself Esther 5:8, 7:3, 8:5. He will see that
it was because Esther found favour in the king's sight i) that he
permitted her to organise the second critical banquet (Esther 5:8), ii)
that he answered her petition regarding Haman's threat (Esther 7:3) and
iii) that he cancelled the decree of Haman (Esther 8:5).
As it is evident from all the above,
Esther was an especially favoured person. In fact she was so much
favoured that she became the queen because of the favour that she found.
Since most of us I believe we do need favour in our lives, it would be
very interesting to search for the source of Esther's favour. Obviously,
if we managed to find this source, then we could go one step farther and
exploit it receiving the favour that we may need.
Who is the
source of favour?
To find the source of
favour, we should not start guessing or following the world's opinions.
It is only the Word of God that can reveal us this source and how we can
utilise it. Thus, to find the true answer regarding the source of favour
we will go to Psalms 84:11. There we read:
Psalm 84:11
"For the Lord God is a sun and a shield; THE
LORD WILL GIVE FAVOUR and glory; No good thing will He
withhold from those who walk uprightly"
(NKJV-NIV)
According
to the above passage the source of favour is not the beauty, the good
studies, the big human mediator but THE LORD. It is He who gives favour.
The previously given passages of Esther tell us that Esther indeed
obtained favour. The present passage of Psalms tells us the one that
supplied it to her. This one was no other than THE LORD, the source of
favour.
Some others
that obtained favour
Apart from Esther, there
are also some other people that the Scripture says that obtained favour.
One of the them was Joseph the son of Jacob who was initially imprisoned
in Egypt. However, see where he ended up because of the favour that the
Lord gave him:
Genesis 39:21-23
"THE LORD was with Joseph and showed him mercy, and HE
GAVE HIM FAVOUR in the sight of the keeper of the prison. And the
keeper of the prison committed to Joseph's hand all the prisoners who were
in the prison; whatever they did there, it was his doing. The keeper
of the prison did not look into anything that was under Joseph's
authority, because the Lord was with him; and whatever he did, the Lord
made it prosper"
Joseph
found so much favour in the sight of the keeper of the prison, that he
made him the head of the prison!! But HOW did he find this favour? He
found it because the supplier of favour, THE LORD, gave it to him.
Another record regarding the same
subject is in the book of Exodus. There we learn that when the
Israelites were departing from Egypt, the Egyptians gave them
"articles of silver and articles of gold and clothing" (Exodus
11:2, 3:21) i.e. very valuable gifts. Why? Exodus 3:21 tells us:
Exodus 3:21-22
"And I [THE LORD] will GIVE this people FAVOR in the sight of the
Egyptians; and it shall be when you go, that you shall not go
empty-handed. But every woman shall ask of her neighbor, namely of her
who dwells near her house, articles of silver, articles of gold and
clothing; and you shall put them on your sons and on your daughters. So
you shall plunder the Egyptians."
The
reason that the Egyptians gave to the Israelites those valuable gifts
was because the latter found favor in their sight. How did they find it?
It is simple: THE LORD, THE SOURCE OF FAVOUR, GAVE IT TO THEM.
Finally, when in Daniel 1 we learn
that Daniel decided not to defile himself with the food that the king
ate and the wine that he drank, "GOD brought Daniel into the FAVOUR
and goodwill of the chief of the eunuchs (Daniel 1:9)" and the
latter violated the king's commandment giving to Daniel and two of his
friends food that conformed with the standards of the law of Moses.
Conclusion
Having seen all the
above, it should be evident that favour does have a source which supply
it, and that this source is no other than God. Thus, it was God, the
source of favour, who made Esther to obtain readily her beauty
preparations with her allowance, who gave her the best place in the
house of the women, who brought her to the favour of all that saw her,
who made her wife of the king i.e. queen, who saved her from death when
she came to the king's court uninvited and who brought that great
deliverance to her, Mordecai and all the Jews.
To conclude therefore, to find
favour we have to go to God who supplies it. As Hebrews 4:14-16 says:
Hebrews 4:14-16
"LET US THEREFORE COME BOLDLY TO THE THRONE OF GRACE [i.e. to the
throne of God], THAT WE MAY OBTAIN MERCY AND FIND GRACE [Greek:
"charis"), meaning grace, favour1]
TO HELP IN TIME OF NEED"
In
other words let's go boldly to God and we will certainly find the favour
that we need.
Tassos Kioulachoglou
Footnotes
1. "Charis" is
the Greek word that the LXX uses to translate the Hebrew words
translated as "favour" in all the above Old Testament
passages, and it is the only word translated as "favour" in
the English New Testament (press here to return where
you stopped).
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