A Mother’s Crown

“A Mother’s Crown”

Esther 2:15-17

 

INTRODUCTION

  A) Interesting facts about Esther

  • The author of the book of Esther is not Esther herself. It is suggested by historians that Mordecai, Ezra, or Nehemiah wrote it. There is no proof anywhere of such.
  • The book of Esther covers a ten year period between 483B.C. and 473B.C.
  • Hadassah, meaning “Myrtle” was the Hebrew name of Esther meaning “star.”
  • Esther was abandoned (orphaned) by her father Abihail and grew up in Persia with her older cousin Mordecai (Who raised her like his own daughter).
  • The book of Esther (and Exodus) chronicle (record facts) how foreign leaders of powerful kingdoms tried to eliminate the Jewish race, but God preserved His peculiar people (Keeping His promise to Abraham.)
  • The book of Esther has been accepted as canonical (writings declared as biblical words of God by the church) even though God’s name is not anywhere in its 167 verses.

B) How Esther become Queen

  • There was a King named Ahasuerus, who reigned over 127 provinces (States) from India to Ethiopia.
  • During the 3rd year of His reign, he threw a week-long festival, party, shindig, whatever you want to call it. Every single person was invited from kings to pauper.
  • The reigning queen was Vashti. Not to be out done, she created her own feast for the women in the royal palace (Which belonged to the king).The festival was called “Purim,” also referred to as the “Festival of lights.”
  • Esther 2:15…Now when the turn of Esther, the daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her for his daughter, was come to go in unto the king, she required nothing but what Hegai the king’s chamberlain, the keeper of the women, appointed. And Esther obtained favour in the sight of all them that looked upon her.
  • This means that Ester was so beautiful outwardly, and carried herself in such a way that people immediately enjoyed her presence.  
  • 16) So Esther was taken unto king Ahasuerus into his house royal in the tenth month, which is the month Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign.
  • It must be noted that any time a king took a woman in possession (As Ahasuerus did Esther) it was an act of marriage and therefore they were to be subservient to their husband.
  • Note the importance and meat of our message here…17) And the king loved Esther above all the women, and she obtained grace and favour in his sight more than all the virgins; so that he set the royal crown upon her head, and made her queen instead of Vashti.
  • When the writer of the book of Esther wrote “And the king loved Esther above all the women,” This means that he had more than one wife. It also means that the king loved Esther the most and therefore gave her the crown.
  • Now here is the point to be made in our introduction… “Crowns are given as a reward.”
  • In Esther’s case, the crown (reward) was given to her out of love and admiration that the king had for Esther.
  • It was not because Esther was a holy or virtuous woman.
  • I believe that if God was very evident or important in her life, God’s name and His Law should have been written in her book. Nothing of God or His Law was written in the book of Esther. (Song of Solomon had no mention of God or the Law of God in it.)
  • There were no miracles which occurred in the book of Esther.
  • Mordecai and Esther were very secular in their lifestyles.
  • Esther had no zeal for God as did Daniel. (Compare Esther 2:6-20 with Daniel 1:8-20)
  • The Law of God was absent in Esther’s life.
  • Once again I want to emphasize the fact that “a crown” is given as a reward for something accomplished.

I. A Mother To Be A Crown To Her Husband First

  A) To cleave, and to be one flesh,

  • Genesis 2:24…Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. 25) And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
  • This is to be physical. Both husband and wife are to be able to come in contact at any time anywhere (privately), be naked before one another without feeling shamed or in judgment of one another.
  • In I Corinthians 7:2…Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband.
  • This means that people will be tempted to have sex once they reach the age of sexuality and God expects the singles to abstain (do not engage in) from sex and focus on God.
  • If you can’t keep your mind away from the curiosity of sex then get married.
  • Sex is wrong for the single, but right for the married in God’s eyes.
  • 3) Let the husband render (deliver, perform) unto the wife due benevolence(affection): and likewise also the wife unto the husband.
  • This “benevolence” (affection) one towards another among the spouses is a command. The continual touching, feeling, caressing, is the “flesh” God is talking about where flesh meets flesh. It doesn’t mean sex always. It means intimate touching. Not a slap on the back and say… “How is it going Bubba!”
  • Pay close attention to the word “due.” When you receive a bill for services rendered to you, it will say on the bottom of the bill… “Amount due.” It is what “you owe.”
  • Now some may say… “I don’t owe my spouse diddly!” That would be a bad attitude.
  • When you are married you made your vows … “To love, and to cherish, in sickness and in health, until death do us part.” Right? That is what is “due” your spouse.
  • The “Amount due” is your complete dedication to them whether they are sick, crippled, old, lazy, worthless, workaholics, alcoholics, or whatever…until death departs you.
  • In fact, I believe that the proper interpretation of “due benevolence” is to say… Give unto your spouse what God ordained in the marriage.”
  • 4) The wife hath not power of her own body, but the husband: and likewise also the husband hath not power of his own body, but the wife.
  • When Paul said that the spouses “do not have power of their own body” means… that the souses do try to control one another using spiritual, mental, or physical strengths to get what they want, but rather come to each other in love voluntarily.
  • 5) Defraud (keep back, withhold) ye not one the other, except it be with consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again, that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency.
  • We are not to hold back from our affection towards one another.

B) As a help meet/servant/assistant

  • A servant does what a master tells them to do.
    • A wife and/or mother is not a slave. They are a “help meet (servant)” to their husband not the children. (Note 2:18)
  • When a woman, wife, or mother treats her husband as God ordained, she is a “crown” (a reward) to her husband. It makes her husband look good, her children look good, and God look good.
  • Proverbs 12:4…“¶ A virtuous woman is a crown to her husband: but she that maketh ashamed is as rottenness in his bones.”
  • The word “virtuous” is ḥayil in the Hebrew and it means … right actions, right thinking, ability to strengthen others, right heart, right attitude, morally correct.
  • A woman who is obedient to God and her husband will be a “crown” to her husband and give the family a good name.
  • When a mother/wife treats her children/husband badly then she shames herself, her husband and God and creates a “rottenness” or decay in their marriage, decay in their love, and decay in their spirituality.

 

II. A Mothers Crown Is Fallen Because of Sin

  A) Disobedience to God

  • Let us turn to Lamentations 5:16…The crown is fallen from our head: woe unto us, that we have sinned!
  • Now please don’t think that I am trying to single out the mothers or women in particular because this verse applies to all. It applies to men women and children.
  • But for today our focus is on the “mothers.”
  • So in looking at this verse 16, we must know that the “crown is fallen” from the Kings as a result of the people of Judah sinning.
  • Chapter 5 may be viewed as a prayer from Jeremiah for the restoration of Judah.
  • What caused them to realize their crown is fallen? What is their crown?
  • Don’t forget, that the first step in healing spiritually is to recognize your sin, recognize the fact that you have fallen. Recognize that you need God
  1. Verse 2…Our inheritance is turned to strangers, our houses to aliens. Everything they owned was being taken over by strangers.
  2. Verse 3…We are orphans and fatherless, our mothers are as widows. To be an orphan is to be without leadership, without love, without a home. It is my understanding that they felt abandoned by their Father in Heaven.
  3. Verse 4…We have drunken our water for money; our wood is sold unto us. Judah used to sell water and wood to others, now they are having to buy water and wood from others.
  4. Verse 5 …Our necks are under persecution: we labour, and have no rest. They are under persecution by bondage to working harder to get very little. (Any time the neck is involved in biblical terms it is referring to bondage as the yoke on the necks of oxen.)
  • We do not have time to go through the rest of the verses here in Lamentations this morning but, know this…When we sin, it brings God’s judgment upon us.
  • And with God’s judgment upon the sinner it carries to generation to follow unless we as parents, as mothers today repent of your sins so that your family can be spared the judgment of God “due” to those who are rebellious.

 

III. A Mother’s Crown is Received

  A) When she is in control of herself

  • I Corinthians 9:25…And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.
  • “striveth” means …to work towards. “the mastery” means… the prize.
  • In order for a mother to win at being a good mom, a good wife, a good friend to others, and a good servant of God, she must…. What? Be “temperate” (in control of herself) everything she does.
  • How does a mother gain “control of herself?” By doing that which is right in the sight of God. Being obedient to God and her husband and raising her children to be God fearing people.
  • Paul tells us to “…come out from among them and be ye separate, thus saith the Lord.”
  • A mother is to be separate from the world by the way she responds to adversity.
  • Paul told us in our previous scripture of I Corinthians 9:25b… Now they (unsaved) do it to obtain a corruptible (worthless, can be ruined) crown; but we (saved) an incorruptible (worthy, cannot be ruined).
  • In other words, the world’s theology or philosophy is that a person striving to win at anything must work to win recognition from others, to become famous, to be honored. It is all “self promotion, and glory to me.”
  • A mother who is striving for an “incorruptible crown” is one that strives to please God first. And in doing that she will strive to please her husband as well.

B) When she endures temptation

  • James 1:12…Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried (tested), he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.
  • This verse as you noticed said “Blessed is the man…” surly you are not ignorant to think that this verse applies only to a man.
  • Of course not. So since we are focused on the “mothers” this morning. Let us paraphrase this verse with God’s permission to say… “Blessed is a mother that endureth temptation.”