Good Triumphs Over Evil
Notes
Transcript
Today we’re wrapping up our series in the book of Esther, a book as we’ve learned that never mentions God, though we can see his providential hand working in the background throughout the text. Throughout the text the storyline unwinds like a classic soap opera with the story line interwoven with stories of tragedy, hope, evil plots, drama, selfless sacrifice, mourning, celebration, and more.
Where we left it last week Haman, the villain of our story and his vanity were revealed to the king and his outright hatred for Mordecai that burned him so deeply he plotted to not only wipe out Mordecai but his entire race. Mordecai was jewish and refused to bow to Haman, for that, and seemingly for that alone Haman sought out to destroy Mordecai and his people.
What Haman did not seem to recognize was that Esther was also a Jew. We remember that the Jews are God’s chosen people - as stated throughout the Old Testament, and we are very much aware that the entire story is told from the Jewish perspective.
We also recognized that Haman always saw himself as the victim, rather than looking at events as things that had happened they alway were personal and “happened to him.”
Last week we ended with Haman on the gallows that he had constructed for Mordecai.
And so it would have seemed that Haman’s evil plot had been destroyed, but it’s not finished. We remember now that the edict that Haman had convinced the king to instate still remains in effect.
An edict that allows for every jew to be completely wiped out, the edict stated to all the king’s provinces to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate all jews, young and old, women and children…and to plunder their goods.
Letters were sent by couriers to all the king’s provinces with instruction to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate all Jews, young and old, women and children, in one day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar, and to plunder their goods.
That edict was written on the first month of the year. Now that edict needs to be reversed if the jews are to be spared. The problem is an edict of the king is irreversible with the exception of another edict. The challenge is the size of the kingdom. Remember it includes all of Persia and Media. The kingdom is large, so large that Haman had made sure the provinces had advanced notice for the annihilation - almost a year’s worth.
So now it’s important to get the rescind that order. Now on the same day that Haman is hung on the very gallows he constructed for Mordecai. The king gave Queen Esther the house of Haman,. and Mordecai his signet ring. And Esther sets Mordecai over the house of Haman.
So queen Esther pleads before the king regarding the edict:
And she said, “If it please the king, and if I have found favor in his sight, and if the thing seems right before the king, and I am pleasing in his eyes, let an order be written to revoke the letters devised by Haman the Agagite, the son of Hammedatha, which he wrote to destroy the Jews who are in all the provinces of the king.
And the king response is likely more than they could ask for:
Esther 8:8 (ESV)
You may write as you please with regard to the Jews, in the name of the king, and seal it with the king’s ring, for an edict written in the name of the king and sealed with the king’s ring cannot be revoked.”
So they summon the kings scribes and they write a new edict sealed with the kings ring. It’s two months later, time is running out
The king’s scribes were summoned at that time, in the third month, which is the month of Sivan, on the twenty-third day. And an edict was written, according to all that Mordecai commanded concerning the Jews, to the satraps and the governors and the officials of the provinces from India to Ethiopia, 127 provinces, to each province in its own script and to each people in its own language, and also to the Jews in their script and their language.
And he wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus and sealed it with the king’s signet ring. Then he sent the letters by mounted couriers riding on swift horses that were used in the king’s service, bred from the royal stud,
saying that 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,
on one day throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar.
When we get to chapter 9 we see the reversal of the edict that had previously been written. On the very day that the Jews were to be destroyed the Jews were the ones who gained mastery over their enemies.
This is the climax of the story - the tables are totally turned, and so you see the providence of God watching over His chosen people.
How often have the Jewish people faced annihilation?
How often have they come up against overwhelming odds?
Yet, just as we see in the book of Esther, God has watched over them.
It sounds trite to say, but it’s true: God watches over the ones he loves.
The book of Esther ends with a celebration of how the Jews had been saved.
God’s chosen people...
The Jews, those who are seeking after God.
So what does this say to us as those who are living post New Testament?
The reversal that we see happening in Esther anticipates the reversal of positions with Christ’s coming and the justice of God’s final judgment.
The world may have it against those who follow God or seek after Christ, but in the end we have the hope that God will make it right. Even more so, we see in the Old Testament much being made of the judgment of Israel for its sins, yet with the coming of Christ we see those wrongs made right and a cause for celebration.
In 1 Peter, the apostle writes:
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
Throughout the Old Testament, the Jews announce their intentions to follow God’s ways only to (in the next few verses or chapters) once again turn away from God and His laws.
This is not to be taken as just God’s sovereignty simply protects his people, we have to also recognize that Mordecai and Esther both acted in humility and sought to do the right things.
In the Old Testament we see God’s sovereignty, God watching over his chosen people. In the New Testament, race is set aside and it’s no longer only about race - it’s about God’s choosing.
Peter is speaking of the church, the church is a royal priesthood and God’s holy nation. A people for God’s possession with the purpose of proclaiming the excellencies of God who called us out of darkness and into the light.