Esther 9 & 10 - Remembering

9:20

Mordecai saw this as a great time for rejoicing in how God has saved them.  Haman had sought to destroy the Jews, but had failed utterly. The people were to remember what God had done for them. One of the great dangers is that we forget what God has done for us. Remembering what He has done is vital for having a right relationship with Him. Esther cooperated with Mordecai in establishing this as a key time of celebration.

10:1-3

King Xerxes also remembered and honoured Mordecau, his acts were written in the official records, he was held in high esteem.

Esther Chapter 9 - Tables turned

9:1-4

In response to Esther’s request the king’s edict was carried out. On the day when the enemies of the Jews had hoped to attack them, it was they who became the victims. They were attacked by the Jews. The nobles, satraps and governors helped the Jews. Mordecai also became more powerful.

9:5-19

Many people were killed by the Jews. Now we might have an element of revulsion about this, but the key point is that Satan’s plan was turned completely around.  It is dangerous to attack Israel, for God will act on their behalf. At times He will judge them, as he did with Assyria and Babylon, but God always wants to bring them back to himself. The king reported the news to Esther and invited her to make another request; she asked for the Jews in Susa to be allowed to repeat their actions. This request was granted. There is emphasis on the fact that the Jews did not lay their hands on the plunder. After the killing they had a day of feasting and joy.

Esther 8 - Freedom for the Jews

8:1-17

Haman’s plans and work were completely undone and reversed, just as one day Satan’s plans will all be undone.The king gave Haman’s estate to Esther. Mordecai was also honoured. Esther’s prime concern was for the well being of the Jews, and this too was granted. So the Jews were allowed to protect themselves against anyone who might try to attack them. 

The edict was sent throughout the land and there was great rejoicing among the Jews. “And many people of other nationalities became Jews because fear of the Jews had seized them,

Esther 7 - Haman gets his just deserts

7:1-10

So the king and Haman went to Esther’s banquet. During the banquet the king asked Esther what her request was. She asked for her people to be spared, talking about the edict to kill all the Jews. The king wanted to know who had issued such an edict. Esther revealed that it was Haman. The king was angry and Haman was afraid, knowing where all this was going to lead, he pleaded with Esther for mercy. This just made the king even angrier. So Haman ended up being impaled on the gallows he had set up for Mordecai, so Haman was killed.

Esther 6:1-14 - Mordecai is honoured

6:1-14

God was working in the situation. The king could not sleep and decided to read the book of the chronicles. There he read about how Mordecai had exposed a plot to kill the king, and then found out that nothing had been done to reward Mordecai. Haman happened to be around and the king called him in to ask how a man who the king wants to honour should be honoured. Haman thought the king was talking about him. Pride distorts our thinking. So Haaman answered thinking that he was choosing a reward for himself. The king then tells Haman to do all these things for Mordecai. Haman followed these orders. However he was distraught and went home and told his wife and friends what had happened. His advisors and wife warned him against doing anything stupid, for it was futile to oppose the Jews. 

Esther 6 - Haman gets angry

5:1-8

So Esther went to see the king. He was pleased to see her, and asked what her request was, indicating that he would be willing to grant it. She did not ask directly for the Jews to be saved, but to have a banquet, and that Haman should be there. The king was agreeable. So the banquet went ahead, the king knew that Esther the banquet was not the real request. She said she would make known her “real” request at the banquet,

5:9-14

Haman was happy, but this changed when he saw Mordecai at the king’s gate. As usual Mordecai refused to bow down to Haman, but Haman restrained his anger. He felt honoured to be invited to the king’s banquet, and boasted about it to his family and friends, he also vented his anger about Mordecai. His wife urged him to set up an enormous gallows for Mordecai. Haman was pleased with the suggestion.

Esther Chapter 4 - For such a time as this

4:1-8

While Esther is the star of the show, Mordecai is perhaps the real star, working in the background. He became aware of what was being planned and was naturally deeply upset. In fact all the Jews became aware of the edict and were equally upset, fasting and weeping. Esther learnt about Mordecai and was in great distress. She sent clothes for him to wear, not realising why he was in sackcloth and ashes. She cared for Mordecai, but did not understand the bigger situation. So she sent one of the king’s eunuchs to find out why he was so distressed. Hathak was the one who went out and Mordecai told him everything. \he also told \hathak to tell \esther to go to the king and plead for her people.

4:9-14

Hathak did this. Esther did not think it was possible for her to go to the king without being summoned, for she could be put to death. Now Esther was also a Jew so she too would be liable to be killed under the edict. Mordecai understood that God had placed her in this position for such a time as this. Haman had been planning, but God also had been planning, and Esther was part of that plan. We also are part of God’s plan.

4:15-171

Esther listened to this, and asked Mordecai to get all the Jews to fast and pray. She would indeed go to the king, “If I perish, I perish”. Mordecai carried out Esther’s instructions.

Esther Chapter 3 - The order goes out to kill all the Jews

3:1-15

The other key event leading up to all that happened was the honouring of Haman the Agagite, this happened about four years after the installation of Esther. The king had also commanded that everyone bow down to Haman. Maybe he was a bit like the Peter Mandelson of his day. Mordecai, however, would not bow down to him This caused talk among the royal officials, they encouraged him to comply, but he refused. tHis was reported to Haman.

Haman was enraged. He was a very proud and hateful man. He also learnt that Mordecai was Jewish, and so he was determined to destroy all the Jews. Haman sought the King’s permission to pursue his vendetta against the Jews, even offering to pay money to the royal treasury. Xerxes agreed, but declined the money. So an order was written out to go to all the provinces to kill all the Jews, and the order was sealed with the king’s seal. So the fate of the Jews seemed to be all set.

Esther 2 - A beauty contest won, and an assasination plot foiled

2:1-18

After he had calmed down a little, Xerxes decided he needed to look for a replacement queen. The prime characteristic of this new queen was that she was to be beautiful. So he appointed commissioners to gather together a harem of beauties, they were to be somewhat pampered, and then Xerxes would choose the one he liked best as the new queen. Mordecai was a Jew who had been carried into exile by Nebuchadnezzar; he was in charge of bringing up a cousin, Esther, who happened to be very beautiful. Esther was one of the bimbos taken to the palace. Esther ended up winning the beauty contest. She had kept her ethnicity secret, under Mordecai’s instruction. While she was in the palace Mordecai did his best to keep an eye on her.

Esther followed the guidance of Hegai, the king’s Eunuch who was in charge of the harem. Xerxes made Esther queen and held a great banquet in order to show off his new queen. A national holiday was declared.

2:19-23

So Esther was installed in the palace. While Mordecai was sitting at the king’s gate he became aware of a plot to kill the king. He told Esther and she reported it to the king, giving credit to Mordecai, so the plot was foiled and the plotter were put to death, details of the matter were recorded in the official records.

Esther 1 - Rebellious women!

1:1-22

The book starts by setting the scene for how the situation arose.Xerxes was the ruler over a vast empire, based in Susa. He was proud of his wealth, and held a vast banquet demonstrating his wealth. Today we still see many proud rulers. It seems that this banquet was just for men, and Queen Vashti held her own banquet for the women. It seems that Queen Vashti was something of a “trophy wife” and Xerxes wanted to show her off, but she refused to come. This made the king furious. He consulted his advisers and they agreed that she had done a terrible thing, and there was a danger that the women in general would become rebellious. So Vashti was effectively deposed from her position, and he sent out an edict to all the people that “every man should be ruler over his own household”. Women could not be allowed to get too uppity!

Esther - Introduction

Introduction

Esther, like the Song of Songs, does not mention God explicitly. However, the hand of God is definitely present. The Jews’ very existence is threatened, by people who hate them, just as many today still hate Israel and the Jews. God rescues them through Esther winning a beauty contest! God moves in mysterious ways his wonders to perform. Just because there is no obvious move of God (i.e. no prophet, no godly leader) it does not mean that God is not at work.

We don’t know who wrote the book, It is set in the period 483-473 BC. As well as God not being mentioned, the book of Esther is not quoted in the New Testament either. Nor have any copies been found among the Dead Sea Scrolls. Moreover, there is no reference to practices of the Law, though I guess it would have been difficult for them to follow Jewish practices in Persia.

Then there is the question of why the book was written. It was probably written in Israel based on reports of what had happened, or by someone who was actually an eye-witness. The purpose may have been to encourage the people in Israel that God was still working among their fellow Jews in far off lands.

Esther 9:20-10:3 - Defeat turned to victory

The festival of Purim was now established. It was a time when utter defeat was turned into complete victory, sorrow was turned into joy. Probably, like me, you find the vengeance and blood shed hard to take, but we should not let this blind us to the way that God has worked. For His work in all our lives is to transform situations, and to transform us. There were plots against the Jews, but these were turned upon their enemies instead. Many today make plots against the Jews, but they will ultimately fail. The enemy makes plots against us, but he too will fail.

Mordecai was then promoted to high office in the kingdom, just as Joseph and Daniel before him had been.

Esther 8-9:19 - Vengeance

Esther and Mordecai now gain from the death of Haman, Esther receiving  his estate and Mordecai the signet ring.

The matter of the decree to kill all the Jews had not yet been dealt with, so Esther pleads with the king to rescind that decree. So Mordecai was given the right to override the earlier instruction to kill the Jews. In fact it went somewhat further than this, giving the Jews the right to defend themselves and to attack their enemies.

So the Jews rejoiced and many people became Jews as well (8:17). The emphasis in chapter 9 is on how there was a complete reversal of what looked like happening. In our own lives we need to be careful of thinking we can predict the future, for so often we do, and it is usually a bad future that we predict. Instead we should live our lives in ever increasing trust in the Lord.

In the midst of this many enemies were killed. This is actually a final fulfilment of the command given in Exodus to destroy the Amalekites (Ex 17:14), but note also the refusal to take any plunder from them.

Things get increasingly bloodthirsty in v 13. In v16 many enemies were killed.

Esther 7 - Hoisted by his own petard

Worse was yet to come for Haman. This was some banquet, "as they were drinking on the second day". Then the king asked Esther what her request was. 

Esther then asks the king to spare her life, and that of all her people. Note how she phrases the question in an intelligent way, putting herself first, knowing she had favour with the king, then mentioning her people. Jesus said we are to be as innocent as doves and and as wise as a serpent (Matt 10:16). Being a Christian does not mean being stupid.

The king then wants to know who caused this to happen, and Haman is now well and truly hoisted on his own petard.

Haman pleaded with Esther for mercy but only succeeded in getting himself in more trouble. So he was impaled on the device he had erected to kill Mordecai.

Esther 6 - A big surprise

Haman was about to receive something of a shock, and once again we see God working through the smallest details. The king could not sleep, so he had two books of chronicles of the kingdom brought in to read. Perhaps he thought this would help him to sleep! Now remember that back at the beginning of the book when Mordecai had reported a plot to assassinate the king it had been recorded in the chronicles. So Xerxes came upon the incident and he asked if Mordecai had ever been honoured for this action. Nothing had been done.

Now note this. Mordecai had done good, but for a time it seemed as if he he had received no reward. Yet a reward would come, and it would come at such a time as to save the whole Jewish people. We should always seek to do the right thing. Many times it can seem pointless, or we can feel so fed up and adopt a grumpy attitude, giving up on doing good. As Paul says in Galatians, we should never tire of doing good. God is always watching and knows exactly what He is doing.

The king speaks to Haman and asks him for his advice on how to honour someone, Haman thinks it he himself who will be honoured. So he thinks up a grand reward, then discovers to his horror that it is Mordecai who will receive the honour.

God is in control of all things.

Esther 5 - Haman the proud

Esther duly sought to see the king and the king acted favourably towards her. Now notice that she had no way of knowing how the king would react. When God leads us to do something there will be all sorts of things that "could go wrong", but God will have taken care of various things, and there is no way we can know that He has until we take the steps of faith.

Esther approaches the issue in a roundabout way. The direct approach is not always the best. So she plans to hold a banquet for Haman and the king. In fact she goes about it in a very indirect way. At the first banquet she invites them to come to a second banquet. Note that she does this only after they have drunk some wine, and she is seeking to intrigue them into coming.

Haman thought everything was going well. He was still incensed at Mordecai. Haman was full of himself and was boasting to his family of the favour he had been shown. His family encouraged him in this, and to take steps to deal with Mordecai. The enemy will often be full of pride and boast of his plans to do us harm. We should not fear and should not listen, it is God who determines the outcome.

Esther 4 - For such a time as this

We are not told why Mordecai thought Esther should enter the "beauty contest" in chapter 2, maybe it was just because she was beautiful and it seemed like a good idea at the time. However, the things that happen to us can sometimes be of far greater significance than we ever imagine and work out in ways we never dreamt of. In preparing for the future we like to plan and we like to know exactly what is going to happen. We like to be in control. Now it is good to look ahead and it is wise to plan, Proverbs and Jesus tell us so, but we can never know everything, never anticipate everything, never plan for every eventuality. We are not in total control. The answer is to trust God. Faith in the Lord is our security for the future.

Mordecai was deeply troubled, to say the least, about the edict, as were all the Jews. Esther heard about Mordecai's distress, but evidently did not know about the edict to kill all the Jews. Mordecai sent Esther a copy of the edict and instructed her to go to see the king to plead for mercy.

This was a very dangerous thing to so, one could not just go and see the king when one pleased, even if you were the queen. 

Mordecai has no time for this excuse. Remember that in Chapter 2 we are told that no one knew Esther was a Jew, so maybe she thought she would be safe. We might think Mordecai is being a little harsh on Esther's motives, but when we encounter deadly serious situations all sorts of things go through our minds. Mordecai believed that salvation would come to the Jews one way or another, and tells Esther that she would not escape. Also Esther would still suffer. 

When things are really difficult we need to realise that there is no easy way out. If we seek an easy way out we may find that we just run in to more trouble.

More positively, Mordecai says that maybe God had placed her in such a position for such a time as this. God controls all sorts of aspects of our lives. Now see how this works, for people get all het up about pre-destination. God had planned things, yet Esther's decision to enter the beauty contest mattered, all the preparation mattered. And now the decision that she was about to make mattered. God's decree and sovereignty does not mean that our lives do not matter, rather it gives real purpose and significance to our lives.

So Esther agrees to do as Mordecai said and asks all the people to fast and pray. This is about the nearest we get to religious content in Esther!

Esther 3 - Destruction of the Jews?

It is now four years since Esther became queen. As has been noted before, remember there were no chapter and verses in the original text, so chapter 3 flows immediately after the end of chapter 2, there is no division. So Haman's rise is contrasted with what happened to Mordecai. Mordecai had saved the king's life, but we received no immediate reward. Haman is not recorded as having done anything much. 

Haman was probably an Amalekite. They were enemies of Israel, which is the reason why Mordecai refused to bow down to him. Haman was enraged at this and decided to take out his anger on all the Jewish people, not just Mordecai. This presents us with a common dilemma. Mordecai's refusal to bow can be fully justified in isolation, but was it worth risking the lives of all Jews in the area? In our society we would probably say no, yet Mordecai is not criticised at all in the Bible, and God did rescue His people. So the lesson could be said to be that even in these situations we should choose to do the right thing, even if doing so seems to endanger many "innocent" people.

Haman then went to the king and incited him against the Jews. He turned what was a personal slight against Haman himself into a more general refusal to obey the king, which it was not. So Haman was given permission to do as he wished against the Jews. See the arbitrariness of all this and the way that kings act. We think our governments are so much more sophisticated and expect them to act is logical and reasonable ways. Often they will not, but this will not stop God's plans.

So an edict was sent out setting a date for the destruction of all the Jews. There is a long history of laws being issued against the Jews.

Esther 2 - A beauty contest

Having dispatched Vashti a new queen was needed, so a beauty contest was to be held. In fact it seems like this was a forerunner of the X-Factor. The potential winners would be looked after and given various beauty treatments, then the winner would be chosen.

Esther was one of the Jews who had been taken into exile and she had lost both her parents. So she was looked after by her cousin Mordecai.

Hegai, the chief Eunuch gave special treatment to Esther. The preparation time was twelve months, with various beauty treatments being applied. 

Esther won the contest and was the king's favourite. Esther was to be queen for about six years. It is not clear what happened after that, she may have died or fallen from favour, but during that period she was to fulfil a vital function.

Then we get another incident that was to prove vital. Mordecai became aware of a plot to kill the king. Since Esther was now queen he was able to inform the king through Esther, and this was noted in the official records.

So we see the unusual ways in which God works. 

Esther 1 - A right royal row

Why did God put this book in the Bible when He doesn't get so much as a mention? The fact that God isn't mentioned, and that neither is prayer nor worship has led some to dismiss the book as being of little value. Such an approach is garbage. This book is a reminder that God does not always act in a "religious" way in our lives. He guides us in many ways. He speaks to us through His word. We know we should love, we should worship, we should pray, we should witness, we should give, we should forgive, and so on. And if we do these things we will find that we are in the will of God. Occasionally God will speak to us directly, be it through the inner witness of the Spirit, a word of prophecy, a vision or whatever. But at other times things will just seem pretty random, there will be no clear indication that God is in the midst of it all, and yet He is there achieving His purposes, sometimes through you and me. Esther is such an occasion.

The king was holding a prolonged celebration, largely of his own wealth and greatness. Then he had a row with his queen. This angered the king and Vashti banished from his presence. Moreover an edict was sent around the kingdom that a man should ruler over his own household.

So this is how things began to unfold. God works in mysterious ways!