Esther 1:1-9 - Homilies By W. Clarkson

The royal feast.

We have in the opening chapter of this Book of Esther the description of a royal feast; it may remind us of two other feasts to which we of this land and age, and they of every clime and century, are invited guests.

I. THE FEAST OF THE KING OF PERSIA . "It came to pass in the days of Ahasuerus" (verse 1),… "in the third year of his reign, he made a feast unto all his princes and his servants" (verse 3). A "great monarch" was this king, ruling "from India to Ethiopia, over a hundred and seven and twenty provinces" (verse 1). His palace at Susa (Shushan, verse 2), surrounded with beautiful gardens, was a place where labour and art had furnished everything that could minister to bodily gratification. Here he entertained "the power of Persia and Media (verse 3) for 180 days (verse 4), the guests probably coming and going, for all the satraps could hardly have been absent from their provinces at the same time. Then, after these days were expired (verse 5), the king gave a banquet of a more indiscriminate kind—"a feast unto all the people that were present in Shushan the palace, both unto great and small" (verse 5). Every possible preparation was made for the guests, a beautiful "awning of fine white cotton and violet" (verse 6; 'Speaker's Com.') being spread, the couches being of gold and silver, and placed on pavement of variously-coloured stones (verse 6); wine from the king's own cellar being served in golden goblets, with liberty for the guests to drink as they pleased (verses 7, 8). It was a feast—

1 . In which regal bounty was lavishly poured forth; no pains or expenses were spared, as these particulars show, to make the guests joyous.

2 . In which there was more of selfish ostentation than genuine kindness. The spirit of it is seen in the fact that by so doing "he showed the riches of his glorious kingdom, and the honour of his excellent majesty" (verse 4).

3 . In which there was more of short-lived gratification than lasting joy. There was, no doubt, much exhilaration expressing itself in revelry; and revelry soon ended, as it always must, in satiety and suffering. We are reminded, partly by contrast, of—

II. THE FEAST OF THE LORD OF NATURE . God, our King, who is in deed and truth the "King of kings," and not in name only, like these Persian monarchs, spreads a regal feast for his subjects. It is one that

III. THE FEAST OF THE PRINCE OF PEACE . Jesus Christ, the" King's Son," has made for us a spiritual feast ( Matthew 22:1-14 ): "royal wine in abundance" (verse 7); "bread enough and to spare" at his princely table for all thirsting and hungering souls ( Isaiah 55:1 ; John 6:35 ). In this gospel feast there is