Category: Esther

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Esther

Working for the good of the people

Esther

The book of Esther finishes with a brief passage talking about Xerxes’ greatness and of Mordecai’s.

What strikes me here is the last verse where it says,

 Mordecai the Jew was second in rank to King Xerxes, preeminent among the Jews, and held in high esteem by his many fellow Jews, because he worked for the good of his people and spoke up for the welfare of all the Jews.  (Esther 10:3)

To many people, being a leader is all about perks.  About being served.

But to Mordecai, who certainly enjoyed perks and people serving under him, leadership meant much more.

It meant serving the people.  It meant looking out for their good, not just his own.  And it meant making sure that his people were cared for.

This was what he had impressed upon Esther in chapter 4, and it was how he carried himself as a leader.

How about you?

As a husband, parent, teacher, boss, or whatever position of leadership you may hold, how do you carry yourself?

Do you look out only for yourself, demanding respect from the people around you?

Or do you work for the good of the people under your leadership?

You notice that it was because Mordecai looked after his people’s good, that he was held in high esteem.

You cannot demand respect of people.  It must be earned.  And the way to earn their respect is to look out for their good, and to care for them as Jesus did.

Paul put it this way,

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit.

Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.  (Philippians 2:3-4)

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Esther

Celebrating God’s goodness

Give thanks to the Lord

Feasting.  Joy.  Celebration.

These are words you see again and again in this chapter.

After the Jews succeeded in defending themselves against their enemies, they celebrated their salvation.

Not only that, but Mordecai and Esther started the first annual celebration not required by the law of Moses, Purim.

In commanding the start of this new holiday, they said,

These days should be remembered and observed in every generation by every family, and in every province and in every city.

And these days of Purim should never fail to be celebrated by the Jews — nor should the memory of these days die out among their descendants.  (Esther 9:28)

What can we get from all this?

Basically, we should never forget God’s goodness in our lives.

Not only that, we should pass on our stories of what he has done in our lives to the next generation.

So often we pray for things, and when God answers our prayers, we give him a brief thank you and then completely forget about it.

That was something that Mordecai and Esther didn’t want to happen.  And so they commanded that Purim be celebrated annually so that people would never forget.

When God does good things in your life, write them down.

It might be a good idea to write down your prayer requests, and to take note how God answered them.

Then, say during Thanksgiving, take the time to go over what you wrote and thank God for them during your celebration.  Or do it during Christmas, if you don’t celebrate Thanksgiving in your country.

And make sure to share with your children all God has done for you.

But above all, let us always remember and pass on what Jesus did to deliver us from our sins.

It’s so easy to start taking it for granted.

But Jesus paid such an awful price, that it’s something we should never take for granted.

During Christmas, Easter, and Thanksgiving, be especially sure to celebrate your salvation.

But let us not just do it during those times, but all throughout the year.

As David wrote,

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
his love endures forever.  (Psalm 118:1)

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Esther

The God who defends us

Esther and Xerxes

Now we come to the dramatic scene in which Esther reveals her identity and makes her plea for her people before Xerxes.

I’m guessing that by this time, most of her fears are gone, as Xerxes has by this point shown her great favor.

Still, perhaps there was a little doubt in her heart whether he would side with Haman or with her.

It must have warmed her heart to see the concern Xerxes showed when she told him that she and her people were in great danger.  Xerxes answered hotly,

Who is he? Where is he—the man who has dared to do such a thing?  (Esther 7:5)

Haman must have been stunned to hear himself named, and in the next instant must have realized that Esther was a Jew.

Xerxes made the same realization at the same time, and was so upset that he walked out of the room to clear his mind.

Haman knew he was in deep trouble and so he went to Esther to plead for his life.

Esther meanwhile, must have been terrified, thinking that Haman was coming to attack her, and it was at this point, that Xerxes came back into the room.

And when he saw Haman near Esther (a serious breach of Persian protocol; no man was to ever come within 7 steps of the queen), and perhaps seeing a look of terror on her face, he immediately exclaimed,

Will he even molest the queen while she is with me in the house?  (Esther 7:8)

One of Xerxes’ servants spoke up at that moment, telling the king about how Haman had built gallows to hang Mordecai, who had saved Xerxes’ life.

At which point, Xerxes said, “Hang him on it.”

Esther then brought Mordecai before Xerxes, and he made Mordecai prime minister in Haman’s place.

Once again Esther pleaded for her people, and though Xerxes couldn’t repeal the law he had made (he was not above the law), nevertheless, he gave Mordecai and Esther the authority to at least nullify its effects.

Mordecai and Esther made a new law that said that the Jews had the right to defend themselves.

Some people have interpreted this law to mean that the Jews also had the right to exterminate the women and children of those who tried to destroy them.

But it likely means (as the NIV reflects) that the Jews could defend themselves against those who tried to attack them, their wives, and their children.

The right to take plunder was also probably added as an extra deterrent to those who would think about trying to attack the Jews.

Despite this provision, it should be noted that none of the Jews actually did plunder their enemies.

Some people have also criticized the hanging of Haman’s sons.

I should point out however, that they were actually killed while trying to destroy the Jews.  (9:5-10)

Their dead bodies were then hung as an example to all those who would try the atrocities they had tried to commit.

What can we get from all this?  Two things.

First, just as Xerxes rose up to defend his wife and her people, so God rises up to defend us.

When the Enemy comes up against us to destroy us, God doesn’t leave us helpless.  Instead he fights for us and he will cast down the enemy.  Such is the great love God has for us.

Second, although Xerxes was on their side, the Jews still had to fight.

In the same way, though God is on our side, we still have a spiritual battle to fight.  Because of this, God calls us to arm ourselves with his armor (Ephesians 6:10-18).

So when we’re under spiritual attack, let us take heart.  God is with us.

And let us gird ourselves with his armor, fighting the good fight of the faith. (1 Timothy 6:12)

Remember that because of him, we have already won the victory.

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Esther

The God who controls chance

Esther

Haman threw his lot to determine the day that he would destroy the Jews.  Then God threw his own lot into the picture.

After Haman returned from his banquet with Xerxes and the queen, he was on top of the world.

He must’ve been thinking of how important he was to be the only other person invited to Esther’s banquet besides the king.

Not only that, she seemed to have a request to make, and she so recognized Haman’s importance, she wanted his help too.

But as he was returning home, he once again passed by Mordecai, and he saw that Mordecai, despite Haman’s plan to execute the Jews, still didn’t show him any honor, nor did he show any fear.

And so upon the advice of his family and friends, he decided to go before Xerxes the next morning to ask permission to hang Mordecai.

But that night, by chance, Xerxes couldn’t sleep.  And so, by chance, he happened to ask that the record of his reign be read to him.

As it was being read, Xerxes was reminded of how Mordecai had saved his life by uncovering the plot to kill him.

But he noticed something missing in the record, namely that no reward had been given to Mordecai.

So he asked if any of his advisers were nearby, and by chance, Haman happened to have just arrived to make his request to hang Mordecai.

Xerxes asked Haman what should be done for the man that he wanted to honor, and Haman in his pride assumed that Xerxes was referring to him.

And so he thought of the grandest thing he could think of, only to find out too late that it was Mordecai that Xerxes was thinking of.

As a result, Haman was humiliated that day.  He was forced to parade Mordecai around the city shouting, “This is what is done for the man the king delights to honor!”

What can we learn from this?

There certainly were a lot of coincidences in this story.  Or were they?

I prefer to call them Godincidences.  God stepping into time and space and intervening in his creation to achieve his purposes.

Keeping Xerxes awake at night.  Putting the idea of going over the Persian chronicles.  And finally bringing Haman in at just the right time, not only to preserve Mordecai’s life, but to humble Haman.

God intervened in Esther’s time, and he still does it today.

With God, nothing is left to chance.

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Esther

Courage

Esther

If there was one quality that both Mordecai and Esther had, it was courage.

Whether you agree or not with Mordecai’s decision not to bow to Haman, it did require courage not to do so, especially in the face of the pressure he received from the royal officials.

And here, he admonished his cousin Esther to have courage too.

When Esther heard that Mordecai was in mourning, she immediately sent her servants to find out what was wrong.

Mordecai then told her of the coming disaster, and asked her to intercede for them before the king.

But there was a problem.  Esther hadn’t seen the king in a month.

Whether it was that he was simply too busy, or that perhaps his attention was being taken by one of his other concubines at the time, not only had Esther not seen Xerxes, she wasn’t sure if he wanted to see her.

One wonders what seeds of doubt might have crept into her heart at that time.

Did she start to wonder if Xerxes had found out about her Jewish background, and had passed this law in order to get rid of her?

According to Persian law, it was forbidden to go before the king without invitation.  To do so meant death, unless the king extended his scepter to that person.

Still, in Persian history, it was not unheard of for a person to send a letter to the king asking for an audience.

Esther could have done so, but apparently, she didn’t have enough confidence in her relationship with Xerxes to do even that.

So, with all of these things possibly running through Esther’s mind, you can understand her reluctance to go before Xerxes on behalf of her people, and she told Mordecai as much.

But Mordecai told her,

Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape.

For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish.

And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?  (Esther 4:13-14)

Hard words.  But Esther did what she had always done, and followed the words of Mordecai.  She told him,

Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me.  Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day.  I and my attendants will fast as you do.

When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law.  And if I perish, I perish.  (Esther 4:16)

People often criticize the book of Esther not mentioning the name of God, but I think there’s little doubt that this time of fasting also included seeking God’s favor.

And God answered.  She probably went before the king, heart threatening to beat right out of her chest.

But when Xerxes saw Esther, he extended his scepter to her.  And with that act began the salvation of her people.

What can we get from this?

Sometimes we face hard decisions in our lives that require courage.  Sometimes, like Esther, we face hard words that challenge us to do something that we know is right.  And it’s so much easier to just do nothing.

We make excuses for why we shouldn’t act.  Sometimes, those excuses even make a lot of sense.  There are (seemingly) good reasons for not doing what God asks us to do.

But courage means doing what God has asked us to do no matter the cost.

For Esther, it meant going before Xerxes even possibly at the cost of her life.

There were no guarantees that Xerxes would spare her life.  But Esther entrusted her life to God, doing what he wanted her to do.

We too have no guarantees that if we do God’s will, everything will turn out happily.  Sometimes life gets much harder.

Jesus lived perfectly within the will of God, but he was mocked, beaten, and killed.

Many of his followers suffered the same fate, despite being in God’s will.

But as Mordecai said, God has placed us where we are to do his will.

So let us follow him, like Esther did, no matter what.

Remember the words of Jesus who said,

Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.

For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it.  (Luke 9:23-24)

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Esther

Two proud men

God gives grace to the humble

It’s very interesting to me that one chapter after I praise Mordecai for honoring the king, I have to criticize him for his pride and stubbornness in not doing so for Haman.

The Bible is silent on why Mordecai refused to kneel before Haman, but we can make some guesses why.

This is, of course, speculation on my part so feel free to disagree with me (and more than a few do), but I find it hard to believe it was because Haman was expecting worship as God.

For one thing, Xerxes was the one who had ordered the people to pay Haman honor.  For another thing, I can’t imagine that Xerxes would order that people honor Haman in a way that he wouldn’t demand for himself.

We also see later that Xerxes raises Mordecai to second in command in the kingdom, but it seems highly unlikely that he would do so if Mordecai refused to kneel before him as he refused to do for Haman.

So what was the reason for Mordecai’s refusal?  If you look at Mordecai’s family history, it seems that he was related to King Saul, the first king of Israel.

As you may recall, God ordered Saul to destroy the Amalekites, whose king was Agag.  Saul failed to do so, and God stripped him of his kingdom for his disobedience.  (I Samuel 15).

As a result, not only was there a long history of hostility between the Jews and the Amalekites, but there was also a personal element to this hostility between Mordecai and Haman.

My guess is that it was this that caused Mordecai to balk at bowing before Haman and paying him any honor.

In short, it was his pride.

Haman, meanwhile, apparently had his nose stuck so high in the air as he walked that he didn’t even notice Mordecai’s slight until the royal officials informed him of it.  At which point, Haman became furious at this lack of respect.

And when he found out that Mordecai was a Jew, he determined not only to kill Mordecai, but to wipe out the Jews as well, probably because of the hostility between their peoples.

Haman allowed his pride to guide his actions, and it ultimately led to his downfall.

Mordecai also allowed his pride to guide his actions, and it very well could have led to the destruction of the Jews apart from God’s grace.

I wonder if Mordecai realized just how wrong his attitude had been as he wore sackcloth and ashes as he mourned by the king’s gate.  (Esther 4:1)

What about you?  What guides your actions?

Does God’s Spirit and his Word guide your actions?

Or does your pride?

If we let pride rule in our lives, it will cause ruin in our lives.

How many marriages have fallen because of pride?  How many relationships? How many careers and ministries?

Let us learn to be humble.  Humble before God.  Humble before others.

As James wrote,

God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.  (James 4:6)

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Esther

Honoring those in authority

Esther

Having said what I did about Esther and Mordecai yesterday, some of you may think that I have little respect for them.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

While I’m not sure I can agree with all of their decisions, there is a lot to be said about their overall character.

I could say the same of many of the great characters in the Bible, including Abraham, David, and Paul, among many others.

And here we see some of the character of Mordecai.

He hears a plot against the king by two men who seemed to have a grudge against him.  He then warns Esther, who in turn warns the king, saving his life.

One wonders what Mordecai’s true feelings concerning Xerxes were.

He knew about Xerxes’ ill treatment of Vashti and of Xerxes’ attitude towards women in general.  (Just think about the number of women that passed through his bedroom doors during the contest alone).

Xerxes also certainly wasn’t a God-fearer, nor was he a peaceable man according to history.

And yet, Mordecai, regardless of his personal feelings, nevertheless respected the office of the king, something that the two would-be assassins definitely didn’t do.

So when he heard of the plot, he immediately took steps to prevent it.

We find out later that though he saved the king’s life, the king didn’t give him a second thought until much later.

Yet we see no hint of resentment or bitterness in his heart.  To him, he was only doing what was right, namely, honoring those in authority.

The apostle Peter wrote,

Show proper respect to everyone…fear God, honor the king.  (1 Peter 2:17)

Sometimes, we feel that the people in authority don’t deserve our respect.  We complain about the things our president does, or our boss does, or our parents do.

But here, God makes it clear that we are to honor them anyway.

Why?  Paul adds these words,

Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established.

The authorities that exist have been established by God.  (Romans 13:1)

In other words, we honor those in authority out of our fear of God, and the fact that he is the one that ultimately put them in authority over us.

Are there people that God has placed over you that you struggle to submit to?

God doesn’t call you to submit out of your reverence for them necessarily, although it certainly helps if you can do so.  He calls you to submit out of your reverence for God.

Submission can be a difficult thing.

But let us submit ourselves to those in authority, and in so doing, show our reverence for God.

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Esther

Working because of us or in spite of us?

Esther

As I was looking through one of my commentaries getting background for the book of Esther, one of them mentioned some of the moral issues people have had as they studied this book.

It also noted that the name of God is not mentioned once in the entire book and addressed some of the possible reasons why.

One possible reason was that it was written as an explanation to the Persians for the Feast of Purim, and that they were not so interested in the religious aspect of things.

Another interesting reason that the commentary proposed was that perhaps God really wasn’t actively involved in this entire episode.

Rather it was showing how people were trying to do things in their own wisdom and strength while pushing God to the side.

This wouldn’t be the first time we see this in the Bible.

Certainly, most of the book of Ecclesiastes was that way.  But you also see this in the life of King Saul, and even people like Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Looking at the book as a whole, I’m not convinced that God was not involved.  I personally think he was.

The question then becomes, did he sanction every action that Esther and Mordecai took?  And that, I’m not entirely certain of.

Chapter 2 includes some of my biggest concerns.

One question is how voluntary was Esther’s decision to become part of the “contest” to become queen?

Did she have a choice?  Did Mordecai push her in that direction?

If so, there is a serious issue in that God forbade this kind of marriage to heathen people.  We will see this later in the book of Ezra.

It should also be noted that once she was in this “contest,” there was no getting out even if she didn’t win.

After spending the night with the king, if she didn’t find favor with him, she would become one of the concubines of the king for life, even if she never saw him again.  And she probably would never see him again.

This is hardly the kind of situation they should have been aiming for.

If it wasn’t voluntary, then why did Mordecai insist that she hide her identity?

The only thing I can think of is that he wanted her to become the queen, and being a Jew would be a hindrance to that.

But did he really want her to be queen, considering God’s feelings on intermarriage with ungodly people?

If she had been up front with the Persians, it might have been possible she would’ve been dismissed before even seeing Xerxes, thus escaping becoming his wife, or being put into his harem.

Some might say, “But if she hadn’t become queen, the Jews would have been slaughtered.”

But there’s two points that should be made here.

Mordecai makes it crystal clear to Esther in chapter 4 that if she did nothing, deliverance for the Jews would come from somewhere else.

Wouldn’t that equally apply to the situation in which Esther did not become queen?

Second, if she had been up front with her background, would Haman still have plotted to destroy the Jews knowing that the queen was one?

My point is this:  Is God working in us because we are in line with his will?  Or is he working in us in spite of our decisions?

Like I said, I do believe God was working in the situation.  And since Esther was already queen, I think he chose to use her.

But I’m equally convinced that had she not been queen, he would’ve worked out the Jews’ deliverance another way.

Am I then trying to disparage Esther and Mordecai, saying that they were terrible people?

No.  They were probably people who were trying to do their best in bad circumstances.

But just because they were doing their best doesn’t mean they were always doing what was right.

And in this case, they were probably doing what was right in their own eyes, rather than God’s, just as the people in the book of Judges did (Judges 21:25).

What can we get from all this?  Be careful about what you do.

Judge everything you do by God’s Word.  Judge things by what he says is right, and not by what you think is right.

You may justify what you do by your circumstances.  You may even point to the fact that God used you to do something good.

But again, the question is, did he use you because you were in line with his will, or in spite of the fact that you weren’t?

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Esther

Honoring your wife

Xerxes waiting for Vashti

We are now hitting the book of Esther.

I must admit it took me by surprise that assuming, as many people do, that the Xerxes mentioned in Esther is Xerxes I, that these events happened during the time of Ezra.

Somehow, I always thought it happened well after Ezra and Nehemiah.

I will say here, however, that there is some disagreement on whether it was Xerxes I or not.  Some believe he was Artaxerxes I and some believe he is Artaxerxes II.

For the purposes of this blog, I’ll go with the traditional view that it was Xerxes I.

In this passage, we see the background to Esther’s rise as queen.

Xerxes was holding a great banquet for all of his nobles and officials.  It seems that during this feast, he was attempting to impress all of these people with his wealth and power.

But in doing so, he chose to call his queen to the banquet in order to basically parade her beauty in front of them all.  But to his humiliation, she refused to come.

When he asked his advisors to advise him on what to do, they said,

Queen Vashti has done wrong, not only against the king but also against all the nobles and the peoples of all the provinces of King Xerxes.

For the queen’s conduct will become known to all the women, and so they will despise their husbands and say, ‘King Xerxes commanded Queen Vashti to be brought before him, but she would not come.’

This very day the Persian and Median women of the nobility who have heard about the queen’s conduct will respond to all the king’s nobles in the same way.  There will be no end of disrespect and discord. (Esther 1:16-18)

They then counseled him to permanently banish her from his presence in order that,

 all the women will respect their husbands, from the least to the greatest. (20)

Xerxes agreed, issuing the proclamation while adding that,

 “Every man should be ruler over his own household.” (22)

What do we get from all this?

So many husbands are like Xerxes, who treat their wives not as people, but as things.  Despite this, they demand respect from their wives, some even quoting scripture while doing so.

But while God does indeed command that wives respect their husbands, it would be much better for husbands to worry about how they’re treating their wives than how their wives are treating them.

If husbands were the kind of leaders that Jesus was, and as God has commanded us to be (Ephesians 5:25-28), do you think they would have much of a problem getting respect from their wives?

If you treat your wife not as an object, but as a person that you value highly, if you sacrifice your own needs to meet hers, if you love her as Christ does, how do you think she’ll respond?

So many people are caught in a downward spiral in their marriages.

The husbands don’t love their wives, so they don’t respect their husbands.

The husbands don’t feel respected, so they show less love.

The wives feel less love, so they show less respect.

And the cycle goes down in an endless spiral all the way to divorce.

May I suggest husbands, if you’re reading this, that as the leader in the household, God calls on you to be the one that stops that spiral downward?

That instead of showing less love because you feel no respect, you should start showing more love?

I would bet that if you start to do so, your wife will start showing you more respect.

It may take time, however, as there are probably years of wounds that have to be healed.

She’ll be wondering, “How long will this last?  Is it just a phase?  I’ve been hurt so often by him.  Can I really trust him?”

Husbands, keep at it.  Win her trust once again.

It’ll probably have to start with setting aside your pride and apologizing to her.

Tell her, “I haven’t been loving you as I should.  Will you forgive me?”

And ask for God’s help in the process.

Wives, if you are reading this, then maybe God is calling you to stop the downward spiral.

It’s not easy.  We men can be pig-headed and hard-hearted.  But pray for us.

And ask God to help you find at least one thing, however small, that you can respect him for.  Then voice that respect to your husband.

You may be amazed at how such a little thing can make such a big difference.