The story of Esther is a wonderful story. As she and the other ladies prepared to present themselves before king Ahasuerus, they were provided with “things for purification.” The king considered their purity extremely important. The same principle holds true for the believers today. The Bible says, “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure” (1 John 3:2-3). Christians, soon to be presented to king Jesus, should grow increasingly concerned about their purity.
The Bible provides several sources of man’s joy, but each source can in some way be directly traced back to the Lord. In today's passage, Psalm 43:4 describes God as the psalmist's “exceeding joy.” According to Psalm 16:11, there is “fulness of joy” in God’s presence. While the Bible indicates that man’s soul can be joyful in the Lord (Psalm 35:9; Isaiah 61:10), it also associates joy directly to God’s strength (Psalm 21:1). Moreover, God’s word provides a source of joy for the saint (Jeremiah 15:16). In the New Testament, the book of Romans identifies God as the saint’s source of joy, but specifically, this joy comes “through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:11). Perhaps men lack the joy of the Lord because they disregard the Lord of their joy.
Words always have associative properties with other words; the word joy is no exception. When considering a definition of joy, many people would assume it is being happy or happiness in general. However, the Bible does not associate joy primarily with being happy. God provided another word to enable the Bible student to define the word joy. In each of the three verses in our passage, the scripture makes reference to joy, either indirectly: rejoiced (Esther 8:15) or directly (Esther 8:16, 17). A careful consideration will identify that joy is associated with the words glad (Esther 8:15) and gladness (Esther 8:16, 17). This connection is consistent throughout the Bible (Psalm 51:8; Psalm 105:43; Isaiah 16:10) and is specifically connected to gladness of heart (Deuteronomy 28:47; 1 Kings 8:66; Esther 5:9).
