There are many places in the Bible that
refer to the delivering power of God. One of these places is also the book of
Esther. I would like therefore to take some time today to have a look at this
book and the lesson that it offers.
The events that are described in the book of Esther
happened when the people of Israel were captive to Babylon. The place of the
story is Shushan, the city where the king of Persia and Media, the king
Ahasuerus, used to live. This king after he put
away his first wife, the queen Vashti, he was searching for a new wife to
become the queen. To find a new wife for the king, a competition was organised
where women from all over the kingdom came to Shushan with the purpose to be
the ones that would fulfil the empty place of the queen (Esther 2:1-4). Among
those women was also Esther, a Hebrew girl that was brought up by Mordecai, one
of the captives that had been carried away from Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar
(Esther 2:5-7). Finally, this girl after she obtained first the favour of "Hegai the custodian of the
women" (Esther 2:9), second the favour "of all who saw her"
(Esther 2:15) and finally and most importantly the favour of the king himself
(Esther 2:17), gained the competition. So Esther became the new queen. However,
after she was commanded accordingly by Mordecai, she did not reveal to anyone
that she was a Jew. So no-one, not even the king, knew Esther's nationality.
Though thus far everything seems to be fine, Esther
3:1 introduces a new person whose coming brought big problems. Esther 3:1-6
tells us about this person and the problem that was caused:
Esther 3:1-2, 5-6
"After these things king Ahasuerus promoted Haman, the son of Hammedatha
THE AGAGITE, and advanced him and set his seat above all the princes who were
with him. And all the king's servant who were within the king's gate bowed and
paid homage to Haman, for so the king had commanded concerning him. BUT
MORDECAI WOULD NOT BOW OR PAY HOMAGE. ......... When Haman saw that Mordecai
did not bow or pay homage, Haman was filled with wrath. But he disdained to lay
hands on Mordecai alone, for they had told him of the people of Mordecai. INSTEAD,
HAMAN SOUGHT TO DESTROY ALL THE JEWS WHO WERE THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE KINGDOM OF
AHASUERES - the people of Mordecai"
Starting from the end of the passage, it seems that we
are in the beginning of a really big problem. Haman, the man whom the king had advanced
"above all the princes that were with him" i.e. the man that was
essentially second in command, was angry with Mordecai, because the latter did
not bow to him. For this reason he wanted to destroy the whole nation of
Mordecai i.e. all the Jews. Though it is evidently paranoiac that Haman wanted
to destroy a whole nation because one man did not bow to him, there are more
spiritual insights into his actions than what a first glance reveals. Really,
since this great kingdom to which Haman was second in command, extended from
India to Ethiopia (Esther 1:1) we can understand that no Jew would survive if
Haman realised his intentions. Now if this happened, then the question is of
whom Christ would be born? God had promised initially to Abraham (Genesis 17:7
and Galatians 3:16) and later to David (Psalms 132:11-12 and Acts 2:30) that of
them he would raise up Christ. However, if Haman's intentions were realised
then no promise regarding Jesus Christ could be fulfilled and the whole plan of
God regarding salvation would fail. Haman's intentions therefore were not
simply paranoiac but absolutely devilish. It was the Devil who was acting
behind Haman, trying to cancel the coming of Christ by destroying his whole
nation, exactly as some centuries later he tried through Herod to kill him
before it was possible to accomplish his mission. To summarise therefore, the
first problem concerns the promises of God regarding Jesus Christ. Here we have
a man who has put in his mind to frustrate those promises by killing all the
Jews. The question is: will God be able to defend His promises? Generally: are
the promises of God unbreakable or they can be broken in the will of the
whatever man, even if this man is second in command in the largest kingdom of
his time?
Though in the above we exposed the problem, we have
not yet said anything about the cause of the problem. Really, some of us may
wonder why Mordecai did not bow to Haman, showing respect to him. At the end of
the day, Haman was second in command, the man next to the king. Why therefore
Mordecai did not pay homage to him as the king had commanded (Esther 3:21)? Was
he that proud? The answer is negative. The reason that Mordecai did not pay
homage to Haman will be understood if we pay attention to the fact that the text
says that Haman was an AGAGITE. This means that he came from Agag, a king of
the Amalekites, which in turn means that he himself was
an Amalekite. What's wrong with this? The wrong is
that because the Amalekites fought with Israel when the latter was in its way
to the promised land (Exodus 17), they were pronounced by God as ENEMIES to
Him. Exodus 17:14-16 very plainly tells us:
Exodus 17:14-16
"Then the Lord said to Moses, "Write this for a memorial in the book
and recount it in the hearing of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the
remembrance of Amalek from under heaven." And Moses built an altar and
call his name, "the Lord is my banner" for he said, "Because a
hand was lifted up against the throne of the Lord, THE LORD WILL HAVE WAR WITH
AMALEK FROM GENERATION TO GENERATION"
Haman therefore being an Amalekite, was one with whom
God was in war. Thus Mordecai had two choices: i) to honour Haman, the enemy of
God, thus dishonouring the Word of God or ii) to honour the Word of God and
deny to pay homage to Haman. Really no one can say that stands for God when he
is ready in the first occasion to compromise with the Word of God. The only way
to know God is through His Word and the only way to stand for God is to stand
on what His Word says. Mordecai made up his mind not to compromise with the
Word of God and pay homage, by bowing to an enemy of God. In other words, he
decided to stand for God, trusting that God would deliver him as His Word
promised. The second therefore question that seeks
answer is: will God be able to deliver Mordecai, a man that stood for Him? More
generally: is God able to deliver us out of any danger when we decide to trust
in Him and to stand boldly on His Word, or we are just exposed to men's desires
and "power"?
To answer the above questions, we need to read the
remaining of Esther.
After Haman made up his mind to destroy all the Jews,
he needed to fix a date for it, and to obtain the permission of the king.
Esther 3 tells us that he fixed the date on the thirteenth day of the twelfth
month (Esther 3:13) and that, after he pretended that the Jews did not keep the
king's laws [they had God's law] and offered to the king a large amount of
money [10,000 talants of silver] he finally obtained the approval of his plans
(Esther 3:8-10). The command regarding the destruction of the Jews was written
under the guidance of Haman himself, and was sent out into all the king's
provinces causing great sorrow to all the Jews (Esther 3:12-15, 4:3). Mordocai
himself was so sorrow that "he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and
ashes, and went out into the midst of the city" crying "with a loud
and bitter cry" (Esther 4:1). Esther, who still did not know anything
about the decree, was very sad when she was told that Mordecai, her adopted
father, was very sorrow, and sent one of her servants to him to learn the
reasons (Esther 4:4-6). Through this servant, Mordecai made known to her what
had happened, asking her also to go to the king and plead him for her people
(Esther 4:7-9). As we may remember Esther, being the queen, had no small
position in the kingdom. However, she was initially reluctant to do what
Mordecai asked her since it was not permitted to anyone to go to the king
uninvited (Esther 4:10-12).
One would expect that since Esther the queen, was
reluctant to help, there was not even the slightest possibility for Mordecai
and the remaining Jews to escape from Haman's wrath. However, the things are
not like these. FOR though Esther was reluctant, the promises of God on which
Mordecai stood, did not depend on Esther but on GOD. He was responsible to find
a way out. Certainly Esther was a very good possibility and that's why Mordecai
asked her. But the thing that Mordecai asked her to help does not mean that his
trust was in her and not in God. See his reply to Esther's reluctance:
Esther 4:13-14
"Do not think in your heart that you will escape in the king's palace any
more than all the other Jews. For IF YOU REMAIN COMPLETELY
SILENT AT THIS TIME, RELIEF AND DELIVERANCE WILL ARISE FOR THE JEWS FROM
ANOTHER PLACE, but you and your father's house will perish.
Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as
this?"
Mordecai trusted in God. The question in the latter
part of his reply, shows that he was aware that GOD brought Esther to the
kingdom for this difficult time. That's why he asked her to help. However, when
he saw that she was reluctant, he told her that even without her help, God was
able to deliver the Jews "from another place". It is really amazing
how much Mordecai trusted in God.
Following his lesson, we should also trust in God and
not in men. Jeremiah 17:5-8 makes known in advance what will happen if we put
our trust in men and what will happen if we put our trust in God.
Jeremiah 17:5-8
"Thus says the Lord: "Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes
flesh his strength, whose heart departs from the Lord. For he shall be like a shrub in the desert, and shall
not see when good comes, but shall inhabit the parched places in the
wilderness, in a salt land which is not inhabited. Blessed [i.e. happy] is the man that
trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is the Lord. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters,
which spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes;
but its leaf will be green, and will not be anxious in the year of draught, nor
will cease from yielding fruit"
From the one side we have the man that trusts in men
and whose heart departs from the Lord and from the other side we have the man
that trusts in God. The one is like a shrub in the desert and the other like a
tree planted by the waters. The one inhabits in a place that is not inhabited,
while the other by the river i.e. by a place full of life.
Returning now to Mordecai, his reply changed Esther's
mind, who now decided to help:
Esther 4:15-17
"Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai: "Go, gather all the Jews
who are present in Shushan, and fast for me; neither eat nor drink for three
days, night or day. My maids and I will fast likewise. AND SO I WILL GO TO THE
KING, WHICH IS AGAINST THE LAW; AND IF I PERISH, I PERISH!" So Mordecai
went his way and did according to all that Esther commanded him."
On the third of those days Esther finally went to the
king. According to Esther 4:11, she could have died having gone there
uninvited, except if the king held out to her his golden sceptre. Verse 2 tell
us what finally happened:
Esther 5:2
"so it was, when the king saw queen Esther standing in the court, that SHE
FOUND FAVOUR IN HIS SIGHT, and the king held out to Esther the golden sceptre
that was in his hand. Then Esther went near and touched the top of the
sceptre."
God during the competition brought Esther into the
favour of the king and made her a queen (Esther 2:17), just for this difficult
time ("for such a time as this"). Now, when the time for Esther to
play her role arrived, God again brought her into the favour of the same man,
and she was not put to death having gone into his court uninvited. In this
visit to the king, Esther invited him and Haman to a banquet that she would
prepare for them that afternoon. When they went there, another banquet was
arranged for the next afternoon (Esther 5:3-8). As we will see, the time from
the one banquet to the other, was really very critical.
The invitation of the queen to another banquet the
next day made Haman very joyful (Esther 5:9) since it was really a great honour
to be feasting with royalty. However, his joyfulness turned to wrath when at
the entrance to the palace he saw Mordecai, "and that HE DID NOT STAND OR
TREMBLE BEFORE HIM" (Esther 5:9) As it is clear, despite the critical of
the situation, Mordecai was not willing to give up and pay homage to Haman. He
continued trusting in God and His Word. He continued to believe that God would
deliver him and his nation. However, Haman's wrath drove him even further. When
he returned to his home, apart from his joy regarding the invitation of the
queen, he also confessed to his wife and friends his wrath for Mordecai. Then,
his wife and friends made a suggestion to him:
Esther 5:14
"Then his wife Zeresh and all his friends said to him, "Let a gallows
be made, fifty cubits high, and in the morning suggest to the king that
Mordecai be hanged on it; then go merrily with the king to the banquet."
And the thing pleased Haman; so he had the gallows made"
As it seems the situation became even worse for
Mordecai. Haman was not going to wait until the day that was defined for the
destruction of the Jews, to see him dead. He wanted this to happen much earlier
and in fact the next morning!! Evidently, if God was to bring deliverance to
Mordecai he had to do it that night. And that's what He did:
Esther 6:1-3
"That night THE KING COULD NOT SLEEP. So one was commanded to bring the
book of the records of the chronicles; and they were read before the king. And
it was found written that Mordecai had told of Bigthans and Teresh, two of the
king's eunuchs, the doorkeepers who had sought to lay hands on king Ahasuerus.
Then the king said, "What honour or dignity has been bestowed on Mordecai
for this?" And the king's servants who attended him said, "Nothing
has been done for him."
Sometime after Esther became a queen and before
Haman's evolution to second in command, Mordecai had protected the king against
a conspiracy, planned by two of his doorkeepers, Bigthans and Teresh (Esther
2:21-23). Though this was written in the chronicles i.e. in the official diary,
nothing was done as a honour to Mordecai. However, this was not accidental
since it was through this not honoured act that God would bring deliverance to
him, exactly at the time that he needed it most. So, just in the night that was
supposed to be the last night of Mordecai, "the king could not
sleep". Though it is not said explicitly, the results will show that this
was divinely planned so that he can stay awake and do the things that followed. The first of these things was to ask for
the book of the chronicles to be brought to him. As we already know, this book
contained also the record of Mordecai's act. However, this was certainly not
the only record in this book. In contrast, a diary like this, might very well
have hundreds of entries. Nevertheless, in that night there was one entry
absolutely necessary to be read and finally it was this entry that was read.
This entry was no other than the entry regarding Mordecai and the good that he
did to the king, and for which he was not yet honoured!! After the king heard
this record and that Mordecai was not yet honoured guess what happened? He
decided to honour Mordecai the next day!! So when the morning came and Haman
arrived to ask the king to hung Mordecai, an unpleasant surprise was waiting
him:
Esther 6:4-9
"So the king said, "who is in the court?" Now Haman had just
entered the outer court of the king's palace to suggest that the king hung
Mordecai on the gallows that he prepared for him. The king's servants said to
him, "Haman is there, standing in the court." And the king said,
"Let him come in." So Haman came in, and the king asked him,
"what shall be done for the man whom the king delights to honour?"
NOW HAMAN THOUGHT IN HIS HEART, "WHOM WOULD THE KING DELIGHT TO HONOUR
MORE THAN ME?" And Haman answered the king, "For the man whom the
king delights to honour, let the royal robe be brought which the king uses to
wear, and the horse on which the king rides, and the crown royal which is set
upon his head. Then let this robe and horse be delivered to the hand of one of
the king's most noble princes, that he may array the man whom the king delights
to honour. Then parade him on horseback through the street of the city, and
proclaim before him: "Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king
delights to honour!"
Haman said all these things, thinking that it was he
that the king wanted to honor. BUT....................
Esther 6:10-12
"Then the king said to Haman, "Hurry, take the robe and the horse, as
you have suggested, and do so FOR MORDECAI THE JEW WHO SITS WITHIN THE KING'S GATE! Leave nothing undone of all that you have
spoken." So Haman took the robe and the horse, arrayed Mordecai and led
him on horseback through the street of the city, and proclaimed before him,
"Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to honor!" Afterward Mordecai went back to the
king's gate. But Haman hurried to his house, mourning and with his head
covered."
Do you remember how it started? It started with
Mordecai in the king's gate and MOURNING for the evil that Haman planned
against him and his nation. But see how it ended up: it ended up with Mordecai,
the man that trusted in God, riding the king's horse and wearing the king's
robe, and with Haman, till then second in command, proclaiming before him and
returning to his home "MOURNING"!! However, this is not the end of
the story. There is more that happened during the banquet with the queen. During
this banquet Esther revealed to the king her nationality and that Haman planned
to destroy her whole nation. When the king heard this, he became very angry
(Esther 7:7-8), and when the kings in those days became angry with someone
then, except if he had God in his sight, the prospects for his life were very
unpleasant! This was true for Haman as well, whose gallows finally was to be
used personally!:
Esther 7:9-10
"Now Harbonah, one of the eunuchs, said to the king, "Look! the
gallows, fifty cubits high, which Haman made for Mordecai, who spoke good on
the king's behalf, is standing at the house of Haman. " THEN THE KING
SAID, "HANG HIM [Haman] ON IT!" SO THEY HANGED HAMAN ON THE GALLOWS
THAT HE HAD PREPARED FOR MORDECAI. Then the king's wrath subsided"
As it is obvious the roles of Mordecai and Haman were
reversed. Haman, the second in command and the man that planned to destroy the
whole Jewish nation and to hung Mordecai, ended up hanged in the very gallows
that he had prepared for Mordecai!! Moreover, as the last verse of the book of
Esther (Esther 10:3) tells us, Mordecai, the man that trusted in God, was made
"second to king Ahasueres", in other words he was made second in
command, taking the place of Haman!! Finally though the thirteenth of the twelfth
month was defined as the day that the Jews were to be utterly destroyed, the
king not only cancelled this command but also REVERSED it. Under the new
command:
Esther 8:11-12
"the king permitted the Jews who were in every city to gather together and
protect their lives - to destroy, kill and annihilate all the forces of any
people or province that would assault them, both little children and women, and
to plunder their possessions, on one day in all the provinces of king
Ahasueres, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of
Adar."
Really what a great delivering God He is. Mordecai the
man that trusted in God, started mourning, and under the threat to be hanged by
Haman, but he ended up, glorified by his very enemy, and taking his position as
second in command. Similarly, the Jews started "weeping and wailing"
(Esther 4:3) and they ended up feasting (Esther 8:17) and with their enemies
destroyed (Esther 9:1)
On the contrary, Haman the man that trusted in his own
power, started as second in command, joyful, and preparing to hung Mordecai but
he ended up, mourning and eventually hanged in the very gallows that he had
prepared for Mordecai!
Finishing this brief study of the book of Esther, we
could say that its lesson is the same lesson that is offered by many other
portions of the Word of God i.e. that the Word of God is a steadfast Word, a
Word that cannot be broken despite the human and devilish power that may be
exercised to the contrary. Indeed, those who, as Mordecai, trust in Him
"shall not be ashamed" (Isaiah 49:23) but they "shall be like a
tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots by the river, and will
not fear when heat comes; but its leaf will be green, and will not be anxious
in the year of draught, nor will cease from yielding fruit" (Jeremiah
17:8). To conclude therefore:
Psalm 37:3-7, 9, 11
"TRUST IN THE LORD, and do good; Dwell in the land and verily you shall be
fed. Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of
your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, Trust also in Him, and he shall bring
it to pass. He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your
justice as the noon day. Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for
Him;........those who wait on the Lord shall inherit the earth.......the meek
shall inherit the earth, and shall delight themselves in the abundance of
peace."