Women's Retreat Booklet 2021

leader guide

Women's Retreat OCTOBER

22-24,

2021

Callaway Gardens

schedule

Friday Night Dinner at Callaway - 6:00pm Worship Session 1 Bible Study Session 1 Participants will be given a hand treatment to take back to the cabin and do as a cabin activity before bed.

Saturday Morning

Breakfast available Worship Session 2 Bible Study Session 2

Participants will be given the option to participate in Yoga.

Saturday Afternoon

Lunch available Worship Session 3 Bible Study Session 3

Participants will participate in a self-care mission project together.

Saturday Evening

Dinner as a large group in cabin Worship Session 4 Bible Study Session 4 Participants will have a time of sharing together in the cabin.

Sunday Morning Breakfast available - 7:30-8:30 Worship Session 5 - 10:00 @ Callaway Bible Study Session 5

2021 Study of Esther

Participants will have a time of prayer together.

women's retreat

Bible Study Leader's Guide Dear Bible Study leader,

Thank you for leading one of the worship sessions during the Women's Retreat this year! We are in prayer for you as you prepare for the Bible Study.

This year, we will dive deep into the book of Esther. Each session will go chronologically through the book of Esther and we will identify key themes to use as the basis for our time together. We have put together this guide to help you as you prepare. Feel free to use it exclusively, or take the theme and go on your own journey of developing the session. We trust your own discernment on how the Scripture speaks to you, and how you want to relay that to the ladies on the retreat. Remember, this packet is just a guide. Do not feel obligated to use it word for word.

You are certainly welcome to take the theme and run with it in your own way!

Before you dive into the session you are leading, please take about 20 minutes and read the entire book of Esther. We know you've read it before, but re-famarilize yourself with the story before you read the session material.

The material provided in this packet gives you the theme, summary, and possible areas of discussion. It will be important to refer to the Scripture provided in the session.

2021 Study of Esther

Before each session, there will be a time of worship that Ellee will lead. If there are scriptures, prayers, or songs that you would like included in that time of worship, please let her know.

SUMMARY

BACKGROUND Additional Information WHO WROTE ESTHER?

The author is unknown, but most likely a Jew very familiar with the royal Persian court. The detailed descriptions of court life and traditions, as well as the events that occurred in the book, point to an eyewitness author.

WHO'S THE "STAR"?

The book is named for the “star” of the story, a young Jewish girl named Hadassah who was taken from her guardian, Mordecai, and forced to compete for the affection of the king.

This unlikely contestant for a beauty pageant was crowned queen of Persia and renamed Esther, meaning “star.”

TIME PERIOD

The events in the book of Esther occurred from 483 BC to 473 BC, during the first half of the reign of King Xerxes, who chose Esther as his queen. During this time period, the first remnant of Jews who had returned to Judah were struggling to reestablish temple worship according to the Law of Moses. But Esther and Mordecai, along with many other Jews, had chosen not to make the trek back to Judah. They seemed content to stay in Susa, the capital city of Persia, in which the story is set.

The book was written no earlier than 470 BC and probably no later than 424 BC, during the reign of Xerxes’ son Artaxerxes.

WHY IS ESTHER IMPORTANT? Esther is the only book in the Bible not to mention the name of God. But that is not to say that God was absent. His presence permeates much of the story, as though He were behind the scenes coordinating “coincidences” and circumstances to make His will happen.

Much like the book of Ruth, this book stands as one of the most skillfully written biblical books.

Using eight feasts to systematically build and resolve suspense, the author constructed the story chiastically—using a Hebrew literary device in which events mirror each other inversely. Early listeners to the story would have recognized significant events and followed the rising tension with understanding.

Haman, the king’s evil second-in-command, was a descendant of Agag, king of the Amalekites, who were ancient enemies of God’s people (Numbers 24:7; 1 Samuel 15:8). He cast the lot, called “pur,” in order to determine the day that the Jews would be exterminated (Esther 3:7–9). The feast of Purim, still celebrated by Jews today, commemorates the Jews’ deliverance from Haman’s plot (9:24–32).

SUMMARY

BACKGROUND Additional Information WHAT'S THE BIG IDEA? While the primary purpose of the book of Esther was to relate the dramatic origins of the feast of Purim, a greater theme shines through the story. The sovereignty and faithfulness of God permeate each scene. Nothing is truly coincidental, the book of Esther says to us.

God’s sovereignty is best summarized in Mordecai’s exhortation to Esther: “And who knows whether you have not attained royalty for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14).

When events seemed out of control to Esther and Mordecai, when the king dictated ruin for their people, when evil was poised to triumph . . . God was at work. He worked through their dark days (Esther was taken to the harem [2:1–16]), their faithful obedience (Esther risked her life before the king [5:1–3]), and their victories (Esther revealed Haman’s plot and the Jews’ destruction of their enemies [7–9]). This message is clear: God is sovereign even when life doesn’t make sense.

God is also the great Promise Keeper. Mordecai said to Esther: “If you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place and you and your father’s house will perish” (Esther 4:14). Mordecai’s words reflected his faith that God would honor His eternal covenant with Abraham and David.

HOW DO WE APPLY THIS? Life can be hard. Difficult times happen, and pain cannot be avoided. When life doesn’t make sense, do you turn to God or away from Him? Let the book of Esther encourage you that God is always present. Jesus called us “friends” ( John 15:15), and the Spirit is our “Helper” (14:26).

Trust and obey, as Esther did. And watch God silently weave all events for His glory . . . and for our good.

Background information taken from https://insight.org/resources/bible/the-historical-books/esther

SESSION 1 Friday evening KEY TEXTS LEADER PRE-WORK THEMES SUMMARY

POSSIBLE DISCUSSION Why might Vashti have refused

Esther 1:6-7; Esther 2:1-7; 17-19 Read all of Esther Read specifically Esther 1 and 2 Glory of God / Glory of Man / Feasting The Book of Esther opens with a description of an enormous and elaborate 180-day party thrown by King Xerxes in his 3rd year as king of the Persian Empire, ruling over 127 provinces.

Afterwards, he threw a party for 7 days inviting all the people in Susa. This is important to note because this was a massive feast showing off Xerxes' position and power.

the King's order?

What steps were involved in the selection of the new queen?

This is an important question because it centers on our selfcare mission project on Saturday.

Why would Mordecai want Esther to keep her Judaism a secret?

On a scale of 1 to 10, how haunted are you by the pictures of physical perfection that we see in the media each day?

Note: following this session, women will be given hand cream to take to their cabins to enjoy a hand treatment before bed.

As the days of feasting draw to a close, he summons his wife, Vashti, to show off her beauty - by appearing wearing only her crown! But Vashti refuses to come and the king, following his ministers’ advice, has her banished. As time passes, Xerxes realizes the consequences of his actions and misses his queen.

The deed, however, is done. Seeing that their ruler regretted the action that they suggested, the ministers propose that he find a new queen via an elaborate beauty contest of all the kingdom’s beautiful maidens. From all over the 127 provinces, beautiful women are brought to the palace for the king to select his new queen.

In Shushan, the capital city, lives a beautiful Jew named Esther.

She is an orphan who was raised by her uncle, Mordecai, one of the leaders of the Jewish people in exile. When they come to take her to the palace, Mordecai, insightfully instructs her not to reveal that she is a Jewess or who her family is. After a 12 months, Esther is deemed the fairest of them all.

SESSION 2 Saturday Morning KEY TEXTS LEADER PRE-WORK THEMES SUMMARY

POSSIBLE DISCUSSION

Who are the "certain people" Haman is describing?

How do you picture the people of Susa reacting to this edict?

Was Mordecai the only one in such grief-stricken condition?

Why did Esther think Mordecai was asking too much?

Esther 2:21-4:14; Esther 4:13-14 Read all of Esther Read specifically Esther 2 through 4 Deliverance ("For such a time as this") While Mordecai does not reveal his relationship to the new queen, he frequents the palace gates to hear news of Esther’s well being. One day he overhears two men plotting to murder the king and he quickly sends word to Esther, who reveals the plot to the king in the name of Mordecai. The plotters are caught and executed, and Mordecai's name and deed are written in the king’s book of chronicles (Esther 6:1). (The book of chronicles is similar to a daily record book/diary).

In the meantime, Xerxes appoints Haman the Agagite (an Amalekite) as Prime Minister and issues a decree that all should bow to him. Mordecai refuses to bow down before Haman. [The Midrash informs us that Haman wore a necklace with a large idol, which is one reason Mordecai refused to bow before him.] Mordecai’s refusal infuriates Haman. Already driven by his family’s historic hatred of the Jewish people, Haman goes to King Xerxes with 10,000 silver pieces, and asks for permission to destroy the Jews. He presents the issue to the king as a matter of loyalty, saying “There is a certain people, scattered and spread out among the peoples in all the states of your kingdom, their laws are different from other peoples and they do not observe the king’s laws, so it is not worth it for the king to leave them alive” (Esther 3:8).

The king agrees and issues an edict to all 127 provinces saying that on the 13th of Adar, the Jews in all the provinces are to be exterminated and their property kept as plunder. (Adar is a month in the Hebrew calendar that corresponds closely to March).

SESSION 2 continued Saturday Morning SUMMARY (CONTINUED)

IMPORTANT TAKE-AWAY

What were the consequences of not approaching the king? What were the consequences of approaching the king?

Which side seems to offer the greater risk?

*Be sure to make the point in the discussion that God was going to save his people regardless of what Esther did, but that she was put in her current situation for “such a time as this.” (God allows us to partner with him.)

Has God ever allowed the threat of trouble in your life to drive you to your knees? If so, what have you learned through the experience?

Mordecai quickly sends word to Esther that she must go to the king and stop this horrible decree from becoming reality.

Esther sends clothes to Mordecai to get him to change but he refuses. Esther, however, is afraid to approach the king. It is known that anyone who approaches the king without being summoned faces the chance of death. But Mordechai sees the bigger picture and tells Esther “Do not imagine that [you can] save yourself in the king’s palace from the fate of all the Jews.

For if you indeed keep silent at this time, relief and salvation will come to the Jews from another source, and you and your father’s household will perish. And who knows that but for a time like this you are in a royal position?”(Esther 4:13-14).

SESSION 3 Saturday Afternoon KEY TEXTS LEADER PRE-WORK THEMES

Esther 4:15-17; Chapters 5 and 6 Read all of Esther Read specifically Esther 4 through 6 Intercessory Prayer

SUMMARY These chapters attest to the power of intercessory prayer and grace. Summoning all of her courage, Esther agrees to go to the king but she first asks Mordecai to request all the Jews to fast for three days and repent for their own sins while praying for the decree against them to be reversed. With great trepidation and dressed in her most beautiful robes, Esther approaches King Xerxes. As she walks towards his throne she prays that God has taken into account the three days of fasting and repentance and has nullified His decree against the Jews. Seeing the beautiful queen, the king holds out his golden scepter, a sign that she is welcome in his court, and offers to grant her any request. Modestly, Esther requests only that Xerxes and his Prime Minister Haman join her for a private feast. Pleased at her minimal request, which shows him that she was a wise choice as queen, the King agrees. Haman is summoned and the three dine together. At the end of the feast, the king once again tells her to ask whatever she would have of him and she only requests that the king and Haman join her for a second feast on the following day.

After the private feast, Haman sets out for his home well pleased with the great favor shown to him by the queen. On his way, he passes Mordecai, who once again refuses to bow, reigniting Haman’s fury. By the time Haman reaches his home, he is crazed with anger at Mordecai’s refusal to bow – after all, he is Haman, second to the king and so beloved even by the queen! He tells his wife, Zeresh, and his gathered friends, “Even Queen Esther did not bring anyone else with the king except me, to the feast she prepared, and tomorrow as well, I am invited to her feast with the king. All this is worth nothing to me, every time I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king’s gate!” (Esther 5:12-13). Zeresh, who equals her husband in wickedness, suggests that Haman immediately build a gallows on which to hang Mordecai personally. This Haman does, with the assistance of his ten sons.

SESSION 3 continued Saturday Afternoon SUMMARY (CONTINUED)

POSSIBLE DISCUSSION TOPICS What significance did the fast have that you might not have thought about?

Why did Esther dress for the king in the way she did, and why did she request Haman's presence?

That night, King Xerxes is unable to sleep. After tossing and turning, he calls for his ministers to bring him the Book of Chronicles and read it to him. The section is read that recalls the great service rendered to him by Mordecai for uncovering the plot on the king’s life and Xerxes realizes that he has never rewarded Mordecai. Just as the king is deciding how to best reward a man who has saved his life, Haman enters. He has come, after building the gallows, to ask the king for permission to hang Mordecai. Before he can speak, the king asks his opinion on how the king can best honor a most loyal subject.

Pleased with the suggestion, he orders Haman to dress Mordecai in the finest royal robes and to lead him around Shushan on his best stallion.

Have you ever let your preoccupation with one solitary person steal the joy that countless others have brought to you? If so, how?

Why do you think the King could not sleep?

When have you seen intercessory prayer at work in your life?

How did God show grace to Mordecai? The Jews?

*At the end of this session, guide women into groups of 3-4

At the beginning of this session, we saw how Esther interceded for the Jewish people and how God answered that prayer.

At the end of the session, have ladies break up into groups and pray for each other.

people (intergenerational) to pray for one another.

This session will segue into the service project for Lifesong.

SESSION 4 Saturday Evening KEY TEXTS LEADER PRE-WORK THEMES SUMMARY POSSIBLE DISCUSSION TOPICS The prospect of speaking to the king was heavy enough on Esther's mind to pray for three days. Have you ever dreaded having a certain conversation with someone?

Putting yourself in Esther's shoes, how might you have approached this conversation?

Up until now, it appears as though the wicked prosper. Do the wicked prosper? How might this relate to redemption?

Why do you think Esther added the disclaimer that if they were only being sold as slaves, she would not have disturbed Xerxes?

Why did Haman stay behind when Xerxes left the room?

When the King returned, what assumption did he make? Why?

Jealousy is a problem. Is there a time when you have found this to be true?

Esther 7-8; Esther 7:7-8 Read all of Esther Read specifically Esther 7 through 8 Redemption/ Irony God works when His people pray, and Esther’s great prayer leads to redemption. There is great irony in this book and God’s redemption of his people. After returning home feeling thoroughly humiliated, Haman is summoned to the palace to dine with the King and Queen. As the banquet comes to a close, Esther tells the king that someone seeks her death and the death of her people. Outraged, the king demands to know who this man is. Esther reveals her identity as a Jew and identifies Haman as the archenemy. Overcome by anger, the king went out to the garden orchard. While Haman stood up to plead for his life from Queen Esther, the king then returned from the garden orchard to the wine feast chamber.

Simultaneously, Haman was falling on the couch on which Esther was lying. The king said, “Does he also intend to assault the queen in my presence here in the palace?'”

(Esther 7:7-8) The king will not be placated, and Haman is hanged from the very gallows that he built for Mordecai.

Xerxes now sees the damage that his late Prime Minister has caused and appoints Mordecai as his new Prime Minister.

The very first edict that Mordecai and Esther issue granted the Jews the right to defend themselves against those who try to harm them.

SESSION 5 Sunday Morning KEY TEXTS LEADER PRE-WORK THEMES SUMMARY POSSIBLE DISCUSSION TOPICS As far as Xerxes was concerned, he had offered Esther the world, but from Esther's perspective, he had not yet given her what she was after. What did she want?

How do the scriptures invite you to feel the urgency of Esther and

Esther 9-10 Read all of Esther Read specifically Esther 9 through 10 God's Sovereignty / Mourning to Celebration God is sovereign! In the book of Esther, He turned mourning into celebration.

Esther 8:1-3, 8:7-8, 8:9-13, 8:14-15, 8:15-17 When the 13th of Adar arrives, the Jews successfully defeat their enemies throughout the provinces, although in Shushan the battle continues throughout the day of the 14th of Adar. The ten sons of Haman are also killed. When their enemies are vanquished, the Jews celebrate their survival with great feasts, thus the 14th (outside of Shushan) and the 15th are the days for celebrating Purim.

Mordecai's response?

Can you think of a time God prepared you in advance to be victorious in a situation where you had to act at once?

Why might the Jews in Susa celebrate on a different day than the Jews outside the citadel?

God is bigger than our circumstances, but our circumstances are used by God for His glory. Have you noticed that through the entire book of Esther, "God" is not mentioned at all? Yet, God's sovereignty is shown.

How has God worked in your life?

Maybe it was behind the scenes, like Esther.

Mordecai declares that they celebrate annually the 14th and 15th days of the month of Adar as the time when the Jews got relief from their enemies. The 14th day of Adar shall be a day of feasting in all of the outlying provinces, and the 15th shall be a day of feasting in the city of Susa, for these were the days on which the threat was abated. This was a time of sorrow turned to joy and mourning into celebration.

Mordecai also codified the particular practices of the holiday of Purim: the reading of the Megillah, the festive meal, gifts of food and charity to the poor.

Chapter 10 is an epilogue that Mordecai rose to a great position in the Persian Empire. His advocacy for the people's welfare made him a prominent leader.