The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1893-02-07
Powerful Sermon Delivered by
Rev. T. L. GuIick.
published by requezt)

Sunday after the fall of the Queer
and the establishment of the Provis.
ional Government under the Presi-
dency of 5. B. Dole.
SUBJECT: ESTHER AND AHAsUE-
Rus" by Rev. Thos. L. Guliek.
Esther 2:I5. land Esther obtained
favor in the sight OF all them that
looked upon her.
Esther 4:l4. IF thou altogether
holdest thy peace at this time, then
shall there enlargement and deliver
anee arise TO the Jews from another
place; but thou and thy father
house shall be destroyed; and who
knoweth whether thou art come 10
the kingdom for such time as this?n
a beautiful woman raised out Of OBJ
scurity and suddenly made the queen
Of mighty realm is very liable TO
become proud and tyrannical; but
such was not the case with Esther.
She was not OF the number of those,
who, when they have attained TO high
position, forget their former benefac-
tors, and think themselves too wise
or too great to receive counsel from
the humble. Esther, the Queen,
shows as much Difference to Mordecai,
the humble and pious Jew, rs when
she was his dependent ward. Esther
was the Persian name of Jewish
maiden who was one OF the eaptives
in Babylon. The name means star.
Her Jewish name was HadaSSah,
which means the myrtle. Both names
were beautiful and significant OF what
she was. This sweet myrtle will
ever be kept green in the memory OF
the Jews and of Gods people while
history lasts. For her heroiSm and
devotion this 'istar'i of beauty still
continues TO shine with s. steady light.
While her remarkable physical beauty
has ages ago crumbled into dust, her
moral beauty shines with undimin-
ished splendor, and is . perpetual
witness that il is deeds of loving self
sacrifice which will preserve the
memory of the righteous and make
their names dear to their fellow men,
rather than any endowments which
they may have received, or honors to
which they may have been exalted.
Esther appears to have lived about
thirty years after the time of Daniel,
and at the beginning of the times Of
Ezra and Nehemiah.
Daniel closed his career under the
reign OF Darius, and historians are
now agreed that Esther was the queen
of Nerxes L, (called Ahasuerus in the
book of Esther who was the son of
Darius and his immediate successor.
The incidents recorded in the book of
Esther are thoroughly in keeping
with the known character OF NerXes
and the events of his reign IS recorded
in profane history.
The principal dates concur with re-
markable periods in the life of Nerxes.
The feast in the first chapter cores
ponds in point of time with the great |
council which he convened to decide
upon the invasion OF Greece, which |
the book of Esther tells US lasted q
hundred and eighty days, that is, six
months.
Other ancient writings tell Us OF |
ptotracted feasts; similar |
customs still prevail in Persia. The |
events in the second chapter coincide |
with the period of his return from |
Greece, when he is said by Herodotus
to have given himself up to unbound
ed personal indulgence, of which we
have appalling evidence in the sec
ond chapter. In the meantime he
had made his famous expedition
against Greece, in which he gathered
up host of from four TO five million
men, host made up of many differ
ent nations.
According to Herodotus there were
six millions, that Is, more than the
entire population Of Ireland, sixty
times the population of these Islands.
Grote, who discredits the immense
numbers given by Herodotus says,
nevertheless may well believe that
the number of Nerxes were greater
times, or, perhaps, az any known
epoch of history"
A bridge consisting of double line
If boats was built across the Helle-
,pont upon which the myriad host
crossed from Asia into Europe. Her
)dotus says ii took them seven days =,
md seven nights TO cross. The
and other maritime ma
ions furnished an enormous fleet Of
Zoo ships Of wal. The brave Greeks
.esisted the swarming host at Their :
nopylae, at Salamis, at Plataea and |
It Mycale; and though Athens was
)urnt, they finally drove the Persian
lost out Of Europe.
1t is this luxurious king of eastern {
lations Of whom we read in the Book S
4 Esther.
At the great council which was to '
axe action upon the invasion of
freeze, the mobiles and princes over
me hundred and twenty-seven prov I
noes of the Mede-Persian empire, ex- t
ending from India to Ethiopia, were {
together at the Shushan s
alace for one hundred and eighty ]
avs, winding up with an enormous
east. CThe gorgeous splendor Of this /
'reat festival is quite in harmony
nth historical accounts Of Persian G
1xury and magnificence.)
When the king and his lords be- t
anne merry and rude with wine, he I
ave orders to bring Vashti, the t
Ueen, before him to "show the s
rinces and the people her beauty for b
be was fair to look upon" Such an +
ppearance a the king required {
-ould be, not only according TO ORR
ltal custom, but according to true ?
omanly modesty in all ages, q de- T
l. u 4