Episode 16 – Esther Part 4
Welcome to the Proverbs 9:10 podcast, No Trash, Just Truth! We’re your hosts and co-founders of Proverbs 9:10 Ministries, Rose Spiller and Chris Paxson. Continuing on in our series on the Women in Scripture, we’ll take a look at the remaining chapters in the book of Esther, starting with chapter 7. When we left last time, Haman’s pride has just been dealt a terrible blow because the king finally acknowledged Mordecai’s saving his life.
And he did it by having Haman lead Mordecai around on a horse, dressed in royal robes, while announcing to everyone that this was what the king did to people he wanted to honor!
Who said God doesn’t have a sense of humor?
He obviously does! And as Haman is in the midst of telling his family what has just happened, the king’s eunuchs show up to take him to the second feast that Esther has prepared.
Queen Esther is about to have her “coming out.” Everyone knew Mordecai was Jewish. Esther had been queen for 5 years, and the text says that her cousin Mordecai went to the gate daily to check on her, but in all of that time, no one made the connection that Esther was Jewish.
The only way that could have happened is if Esther had totally blended in with the pagan Persian culture.
We know that at the least she broke Mosaic Law by sleeping with an uncircumcised pagan who wasn’t her husband.
Right, and because of that, there are many scholars who criticize her for not being like Daniel and being forthright about her religion right from the beginning, or for not being like Shadrach, Meshack and Abednego who were willing to die rather than break God’s Law, despite the fact that she was a young Jewish girl who was conscripted into the pagan king’s harem.
Daniel and the other three were young when they were taken too. Rose, this is the problem we’ve talked about before of using people in these familiar Bible stories as examples of how we should be. Whether it’s Abraham, or David, or Daniel or Esther, all of these people were flawed. Significantly. They were all sinful people, who did sinful things. They all needed a Savior, just like you and I do. God uses sinful people to work out His plans. We shouldn’t strive to be like them – we should cooperate with the Holy Spirit to try to become more like Jesus!
Exactly! Regardless of the good any of the people you mentioned did, including Esther, or how things ended up, they are still sinful people and responsible for their sin. And Esther’s situation and her moral ambiguity leave her eventually faced with having to reveal her identity at the risk of her life. Christians have faced this problem since Jesus’ time, and we may be faced with it here in our own country some day! We need to be ready.
Maybe not that far in the future. That’s just one more reason we should be reading and studying our Bibles to become more and more familiar with God’s character. That way, when persecution or other hard times come, we have no doubts of His goodness, His faithfulness and His love for His people. Getting back to Queen Esther, she’s has already made the decision that it’s time to grow-up, be obedient, and face the consequences, and now the results of that decision are about to come to fruition.
Yes. And like we said, the eunuchs have shown up to escort Haman to the second feast. And as they’re drinking wine after the meal, the king asks Esther the same two questions he asked the day before – “What is your wish?” and “What is your request?”
And this time she tells him! She asks for her life, and then she asks for the life of her people. In Esther 7:4, Esther says, “For we have been sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be killed, and to be annihilated. If we had been sold merely as slaves, men and women, I would have been silent, for our affliction is not to be compared with the loss to the king. You know, Rose, when I first read this, I didn’t catch the fact that Esther points out to the king that the reason she wouldn’t have said anything despite their affliction if they had been just sold as slaves, was to point out to the king that this whole people group being slaughtered would be a loss to the king. Smart woman!
Yeah, she knew what she was doing. When the king asks her who would dare do this, She choses her words wisely! She says, in 7:6, “A foe and enemy! This wicked Haman!” Then Haman was terrified before the king and the queen.She even uses the words ‘foe’ and ‘enemy’ for Haman. Probably meaning not just a foe and enemy of her people, but also in reality an enemy of the king too!
And Xerxes is really angry! He’s so angry that Haman can see by the look on his face that he’s doomed. And when the king leaves the room, Haman stays behind to beg and plead for his life from Queen Esther! He must have been under the assumption that all women are weak and soft-hearted.
He didn’t know us.
Obviously not, or he would’ve known better.
Well, things only get worse for Haman, don’t they?
They do. The king walks in to find him falling on the couch where Esther is sitting while he’s doing his pleading and begging. That doesn’t sit well with the king either!
No, it doesn’t because then Xerxes accuses him of assaulting the queen in his presence. And that was his final downfall. At that point, they cover Haman’s face. That was so that the person couldn’t look on the face of the king ever again.
Harbona, one of the king’s eunuchs, speaks up and tells the king that Haman had a 50-cubits-high (about 75 feet) gallows built at his house to have Mordecai hung on, and in explaining that, he mentions that Mordecai was the one who had saved the king. These people are really good at choosing their words!
Yeah, that was like a double-whammy of making Haman look like he was an enemy of the king!
It does! And so, they hang Haman on the gallows he built for Mordecai, Remember, those gallows were originally his wife Zeresh’s idea!
Right, and she bears the consequences of their actions too! In fact, his whole family suffers the consequences of their actions when the king confiscates all of Haman’s estate – his house, all the belongings, his attendants, his property, everything he owned, as was customary when someone was a convicted felon – and gives it all to Queen Esther. Haman’s family is left with nothing.
And later, Haman’s 10 sons are killed!
On the flip side, the king honors Mordecai! He takes the signet ring he’d given Haman, the ring that gave him the right to act basically as a representative of the king, and gives it to Mordecai, placing him in the high position Haman had held for a short time.
And Esther puts Mordecai in charge of Haman’s estate. Fitting.
Fitting indeed. There’s still one problem though. When a Persian king had given on order, it couldn’t be revoked! Not even by the king who gave the order himself!
And the order was still out there for the day the Jews were to be killed.
Right. So, Esther once again goes before the king to make a plea for the life of her and her people. And since he couldn’t revoke the first decree, he gives Mortdecai the right to write another decree in the king’s name, “as he pleased.”
King Xerxes should’ve learned to write his own decrees after what happened the first time, but maybe he trusts Mordecai, especially knowing he’s Esther’s cousin.
Maybe so, but you make a good point. Anyway, Esther 8:11 tells us that Mordecai wrote an edict that said, “the king allowed the Jews who were in every city to gather and defend their lives, to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate any armed force of any people or province that might attack them, children and women included, and to plunder their goods.” And the edict was issue throughout the land, sparing the Jews and bringing them great joy.
You know, the fact that the Persians couldn’t revoke their own decrees in a way is like God’s righteous decree against all sinners that demands our death. God is perfectly holy and He’s perfectly just. He can’t just overlook sin; His righteous decree must be satisfied.
And it is. God solves our problem for us Himself. His decree for justice is satisfied by Jesus dying on the cross and suffering the wrath of God in our place. God’s ‘counter-decree’ – that Jesus would take on the sins of His people – saves us.
He’s both the just and the justifier, according to Romans 3:36.
There are some other parallels her too. The first decree in Esther caused Mordecai to wear sackcloth and ashes, something we know from other places in the Bible is a sign of mourning. Knowing that God demands justice, we should come before God mourning our sin! This is what Jesus means in the Beatitudes when He says, “Blessed are they that mourn.”
Yes. He’s not talking about mourning over the death of a loved one. He’s talking to believers – the only people who will be blessed – about what their attitude before God should be.
Another parallel is that Mordecai is clothed in royal robes of the king, just like believers are clothed in Jesus the King’s robe of righteousness!
That’s a great parallell! And another is, just as the first decree the king issued left the people weeping and wailing, the second decree brings them joy! This is the difference we feel when we realize the state our sin has left us in, and the joy we feel when we’re saved!
Absolutely! And finally, that joy the people of the land felt came BEFORE the actual day they could defend themselves, AND they knew that they were assured victory because of the king’s second edict.
The parallel here is that believers can have joy right now, even though our course is not yet fully run, because our salvation is complete, and we know that King Jesus has already won the victory!
Amen. 1 Corinthians 15:57 says, “But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
But, Chris, the book of Esther doesn’t end with this second edict being issued. Chapter 9 begins on the day the battle is to happen. Both sides had time to prepare. The enemies of the Jews were the aggressors and had planned to massacre them. The Jews, as the edict stated they were to do, had made preparations to defend themselves all throughout the provinces.
And the Bible says, “the tables were turned, and the Jews got the upper hand over those who hated them.”
They did, and the Bible tells us three things that helped: God struck all the people with fear of the Jews; the Jewish people gathered together in their cities and prepared to defend themselves; and the princes, rulers and governors of the provinces helped the Jews.
The Bible says the nobles defended the Jews “out of fear of Mordecai” who had become powerful in the kingdom. Under the original edict, they would have been supposed to help wipe out the Jews, but with this second edict, it would have been to their own benefit to pick what would be most pleasing to the king. The Bible says the Jews struck down all of their enemies. They killed 500 men that day in the city of Susa alone, ten of which were the sons of Haman.
Right. And when that was reported to the king, he told Queen Esther, and asked her if she wanted anything else.
And she did! She asked for one more day of killing to be granted in the city of Susa, and that the bodies of the ten sons of Haman be hung on the gallows.
Those are NOT words of a weak-willed, soft-hearted woman!
No, definitely not! Haman definitely misjudged her!
And the king grants her wishes! They hung the bodies of the ten sons on the gallows as a warning, and three hundred more men were killed in Susa on the second day.
In addition to the 800 men in the city, 75,000 of their enemies were killed in the surrounding provinces. But although they were allowed to according to the edict, the Jews didn’t touch the spoil. Many commentators believe that the Jewish people did not kill the all of the women and children, even though the edict also said they could do that, and that this may be one of the reasons why they didn’t take the plunder, so that the women and children of their enemies would have something to sustain themselves.
Right. We’re not told any of that for sure, but the Bible does say they killed ‘men’, and not taking the spoil would also show that the Jews were only interested in saving their lives; they were not doing this for any sort of financial gain and wealth. Queen Esther had specifically asked for her life, and the life of her people, nothing else.
Exactly. So, to finish today, Rose, we should mention that this event is where the Jewish celebration known as Purim comes from.
Yes. For most of the provinces, the killing happened on the 13th day of the month, and they feasted on the 14th day of the month. For the city of Susa which had an extra day of killing to annihilate all of their enemies, the killing lasted for two days (the 13th and 14th), and the feasting happened on the 15th day.
Mordecai recorded the events and sent letters throughout the kingdom that these two days (the 14th and 15th days of the month of Adar) should be celebrated annually, with feasting and joy, charity, mercy, and generosity, with presents of food to one another and giving gifts to the poor. It was a time of remembrance of when the Jews got relief from their enemies. They were to explain the holiday to their children so that they might learn to hope in God and give Him honor throughout every generation.
Both Mordecai and Esther write edicts concerning this. The Bible says that Esther wrote “with full authority” making it an official celebration.
This was an important distinction because it was a not a Mosaic-originated festival. Therefore, it would not be called a “holy day”.
The feast is called ‘Purim’ which is the plural form of the word ‘pur’ which means “to cast lots” – the method that Haman had used to determine they day of their destruction, which ultimately became the day of all of their enemies’ demise!
The book of Esther ends with a very short chapter – chapter ten – where we’re told that king Xerxes imposed a tribute tax throughout the land.
We’re not told what the tax was for, just that it was imposed everywhere, not just locally. And we’re told that the acts of Xerxes’ power and might and Mordecai’s greatness and stature in the land are recorded in the annals of the kings of Media and Persia.
The book ends with these words from Esther 10:3, “Mordecai the Jew was second in rank to King Xerxes, and he was great among the Jews and popular with the multitude of his brothers, for he sought the welfare of his people and spoke peace to all his people.” You know, Rose, that reminds me of Joseph from the book of Genesis who also rose to second in power. In both these cases, righteous men are in high places in the government, and things are good for the people of the land because these are the type of men who are seeking the welfare of the people.
You’re absolutely right, Chris. Proverbs 29:2 says, “When the godly are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked are in power, the people groan.”
We could use more government officials working for the welfare of the people. That’s what government is supposed to do – work for the good of the society they’re governing.
Right. Not for themselves!
When we started this book, we mentioned that God was not mentioned in the book – not anywhere! But the providence of God is plainly traceable all the way through Esther.
Esther gives us an unmistakable view of God working in the ordinary and natural course of things to lead to the saving of the Jews. There was no extraordinary manifestation of God's power, no particular cause or agent that was miraculous, yet God used all of this to fulfill His will of events.
Absolutely! And that wraps up the book of Esther and our time for today. Join us next week for as we take a look at the book of Ruth. We hope you’re enjoying our series on women of the Bible so far. If you like what you heard, check out our website www.proverbs910ministries.com. Where you’ll find our blogs, get our updated book information, and see the conferences we offer if you are looking for a speaker at your next women’s event.
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