Esther 1:8 - Homiletics

Temperance.

At the feast of Ahasuerus the provision of luxuries was profuse. The wine was choice, costly, and rare; and was served in cups of gold of various form and pattern and ornament. But it was the king's command that no guest should be compelled to drink more than he needed or wished. A wise ordinance; and one which shames many of the customs and requirements of hospitality, both ancient and modern. Observe—

I. THE TEMPTATIONS TO INTEMPERANCE . These were manifold, and all of them may not concur in ordinary experience. For example, there was—

1 . Appetite. If there were no natural instincts of hunger and thirst there would be no gluttony and no drunkenness. It does not follow that natural appetite is bad. The evil lies in over-indulgence, in permitting bodily desire to overmaster the reasonable nature.

2 . Opportunity. Some persons are sober simply because and when they have no means of procuring drink. There is little virtue in such sobriety, which only awaits the opportunity of abjuring itself. The Persians in the palace at Susa had wine in abundance set before them. As a nation they were proverbially luxurious ( Persicos odi, puer, apparatus! ) . Those of the guests who were temperate were not so because they had no option.

3 . Example. It could scarcely happen that in so vast an assemblage there were none intemperate. Whilst the society of the abstemious is a check and preservative, that of the self-indulgent is an incentive to sin. "Evil communications corrupt good manners." The Persians, who in the early period of their history had been a sober people, had, with the advance of luxury, lost their reputation for temperance. It is said that the king had, once a year, an obligation to be drunk, on the occasion of the annual sacrifice to the sun. We read that the heart of Ahasuerus was merry with wine; and with such an example before them, it would have been strange if the subjects universally maintained sobriety.

II. THE ABSENCE OF ONE GREAT TEMPTATION —Social pressure and compulsion.

1 . Remark the wisdom of the royal ordinance. The king, in the exercise, in this case, of an enlightened discretion, forbade the too frequent practice of urging the guests on to intoxication. Even if his example told against the regulation, the regulation in itself was good.

2 . Remark the consequent action of the officers in charge of the banquet. The Greeks at their feasts had a symposiarch; the Latins an arbiter bibendi; the Jews a master of the feast. Much rested with these officials with regard to the proceedings on such occasions. On this occasion they exercised their functions in accordance with directions received from the throne.

3 . Remark the consequent liberty of the guests. These were to act every man according to his pleasure. None did compel. Those who were disposed to sobriety were not urged to depart from their usual practices, to violate their convictions of what was right. The custom of constraining men to drink more than is good for them is filthy and disgraceful. Banished from decent society, it still lingers among some dissolute associations of handicraftsmen. It should be discountenanced and resisted; and, in the present state of public opinion, in a free country, it will not endure the light of day. Let it be remembered, "Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging; and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise."