Esther 5
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This week we continue the drama that is the book of Esther. Last week, we left off with the cliffhanger of Esther and the Jews fasting for three days as Esther prepared to go before the king unannounced - something that could mean her sudden death. Let’s pick up this chapter and see where we go.
1 On the third day Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the king’s palace, in front of the king’s quarters, while the king was sitting on his royal throne inside the throne room opposite the entrance to the palace. 2 And when the king saw Queen Esther standing in the court, she won favor in his sight, and he held out to Esther the golden scepter that was in his hand. Then Esther approached and touched the tip of the scepter. 3 And the king said to her, “What is it, Queen Esther? What is your request? It shall be given you, even to the half of my kingdom.” 4 And Esther said, “If it please the king, let the king and Haman come today to a feast that I have prepared for the king.” 5 Then the king said, “Bring Haman quickly, so that we may do as Esther has asked.” So the king and Haman came to the feast that Esther had prepared. 6 And as they were drinking wine after the feast, the king said to Esther, “What is your wish? It shall be granted you. And what is your request? Even to the half of my kingdom, it shall be fulfilled.” 7 Then Esther answered, “My wish and my request is: 8 If I have found favor in the sight of the king, and if it please the king to grant my wish and fulfill my request, let the king and Haman come to the feast that I will prepare for them, and tomorrow I will do as the king has said.”
9 And Haman went out that day joyful and glad of heart. But when Haman saw Mordecai in the king’s gate, that he neither rose nor trembled before him, he was filled with wrath against Mordecai. 10 Nevertheless, Haman restrained himself and went home, and he sent and brought his friends and his wife Zeresh. 11 And Haman recounted to them the splendor of his riches, the number of his sons, all the promotions with which the king had honored him, and how he had advanced him above the officials and the servants of the king. 12 Then Haman said, “Even Queen Esther let no one but me come with the king to the feast she prepared. And tomorrow also I am invited by her together with the king. 13 Yet all this is worth nothing to me, so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king’s gate.” 14 Then his wife Zeresh and all his friends said to him, “Let a gallows fifty cubits high be made, and in the morning tell the king to have Mordecai hanged upon it. Then go joyfully with the king to the feast.” This idea pleased Haman, and he had the gallows made.
OK, so we jump right in here. Incidentally, I want you to feel the pace of the text here.
We have talked about this a little. The first chapter plays out over a 6-month time period. Then something like 3 years pass, and chapter 2 takes place over the course of a year. Then another 5 years passes, and the events of chapter three take about a year to play out. Chapter four follows right along after chapter three, and chapter 5 is the same. We went from having years in between chapters to hours in between. Again, this sort of builds the tension, as the timeline speeds up.
Did any of you ever watch the show 24? If you haven’t or maybe you don’t remember it, the premise of the show was following this government counter-terrorist agent named Jack Bauer. Each season of the show takes place over the course of one day. Each hour long episode happened “in real time.” There was a counting clock that would occasionally be shown on screen, and there was great tension in the story telling because it felt as if time was very important.
The author of Esther is doing a bit of that now. Over the last chapter or so, and into the next couple of chapters, we will see the push for some real-time type story telling. Urgency is key.
1 On the third day Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the king’s palace, in front of the king’s quarters, while the king was sitting on his royal throne inside the throne room opposite the entrance to the palace.
So we pick up with Esther, having just finished fasting, and she gets ready to go see the king. Even though she is concerned for her safety, she still prepares herself properly. I think there is a lesson in that itself.
The queen readies herself, similarly to chapter 2 when she is going to go before the king the first time. She is presenting herself as the desirable queen. And she stands in the inner court in view of the throne.
So, when Esther says in chapter 4 that if you enter the king’s presence unannounced, you are put to death. I want you to understand that this isn’t like our contemporary court system, where you would be arrested, and then put on trial, and then killed. History tells us that king Ahasuerus had guards around his throne with axes. The implication being, if you approached unannounced, your head would be removed from the confines of your neck.
Swift, unavoidable death.
And here is Esther, standing in view of the king, steeling herself, knowing that only the favor of the king can save her from certain death. And who would prompt the king to show favor on Esther? God, of course!
“Coincidence,” observed C. S. Lewis, “is God’s way of remaining anonymous.”
Alistair Begg, The Book of Esther, n.d.
2 And when the king saw Queen Esther standing in the court, she won favor in his sight, and he held out to Esther the golden scepter that was in his hand. Then Esther approached and touched the tip of the scepter.
So, Esther is standing in the entrance of the court, and the king see her. But he is glad! Imagine that? The king graciously sees and desires Esther.
We see this all throughout this story, how God has caused king Ahasuerus to be head over heels for Esther. He’s a pagan king, so we cannot look at their “love story” like our typical stories, but we can see that when he thinks of her, or when he sees her, he is glad.
She’s standing there, he sees her, and he presents the scepter.
And I want you to see Esther’s reaction. She doesn’t rush right in and jump straight to it. She responds with dignity and propriety and submissive demeanor. And of course, in our day and time, this propriety, this “submissive, demurring” state is bemoaned as furthering the patriarchy. But in this context, Esther is recognizing that the king holds her life in his hands, and she touches the scepter to show her gratefulness.
3 And the king said to her, “What is it, Queen Esther? What is your request? It shall be given you, even to the half of my kingdom.” 4 And Esther said, “If it please the king, let the king and Haman come today to a feast that I have prepared for the king.”
The king seems clueless, though, right? Like, he is doing his kingly stuff, and he looks up, and he’s like, “Esther! My queeny-poo! Come on in here, my little sugar-plum!”
It really reminds me of the Veggie-Tales version with the big, dumb old pickle. Like, Ahasuerus does not come off as the most competent guy.
But one thing we see is that God is directing things for His glory, and that means putting this Persian king in power so that Esther can be the one God uses to save the Jews here.
I mean, look at him: “What is it you want, sweetie? I’ll give you anything you want!”
That is what that phrase “up to half of the kingdom” means. It is hyperbole intended to show that he’ll do whatever she wants.
This seems like a great time to say, “hey, can we maybe not kill the Jews, since that is my heritage?”
But that is not what Esther does. In fact, her request seems almost anti-climactic. “Hey, can you and Haman come to dinner?”
Like, what in the world?
The king says, I’ll give you whatever you want. Esther says, I want you and Haman to come to dinner.
This may seem like she is chickening out, but I think she is being careful in how she approaches the subject.
Think about it, do you think that the king would immediately look to revoke a law because she bat her eyelashes at him? No. But she needed him to spend some time with her, and she needed him to see the humanity (or inhumanity) of the choice he has made. She needs to play the long game.
5 Then the king said, “Bring Haman quickly, so that we may do as Esther has asked.” So the king and Haman came to the feast that Esther had prepared. 6 And as they were drinking wine after the feast, the king said to Esther, “What is your wish? It shall be granted you. And what is your request? Even to the half of my kingdom, it shall be fulfilled.” 7 Then Esther answered, “My wish and my request is: 8 If I have found favor in the sight of the king, and if it please the king to grant my wish and fulfill my request, let the king and Haman come to the feast that I will prepare for them, and tomorrow I will do as the king has said.”
Well, maybe Esther was known for her cooking. I’m not sure, but the king responds immediately. There is urgency in his request to Haman.
Maybe he just likes his parties, I don’t know. But Haman, the king, and Esther have their feast. And as they are sitting around drinking afterwards, the king, who isn’t an actual idiot, asks what it is that Esther truly wants.
We see that he understands that the feast was just a means to have the real conversation.
So he asks her what she really wants. And Esther is still playing the longer game. She asks for them to come to another feast tomorrow. She promises to let the king know what it is that she wants then.
Meanwhile, what do you think Haman is feeling right now?
I mean, there are only three people deemed important enough in all of Persia to be invited to these feasts, and he is one of them. I am sure he sees himself as more important than the queen, and truthfully, I’ve always thought that Haman looks at himself as more competent than the king. I made the allusion to Aladdin last week, but I do think you can see parallels. Haman is a bit like Jafar, who feels that he should be king, and has a quiet contempt for the king. That’s not in the text, but I don’t think it’s a huge leap to see that.
So Haman is proud. Proud of himself. Proud of who he is.
Until someone else doesn’t recognize his greatness.
Isn’t that exactly what pride does? It makes us all big and puffed up. But one little comment. One little person who doesn’t read our press, one person who doesn’t see how amazing we are, and it all comes crashing down.
9 And Haman went out that day joyful and glad of heart. But when Haman saw Mordecai in the king’s gate, that he neither rose nor trembled before him, he was filled with wrath against Mordecai.
I love the text here: that Mordecai “neither rose nor trembled before him.” Think about it, when someone important enters the room and you are sitting, it is an accepted practice to stand.
We saw in chapter three that Haman expected everyone to bow down to him. We get the sense here in chapter 5 that people were afraid of him, or that he thought they should be afraid.
I imagine that Haman expects Mordecai to weep at his feet and ask forgiveness for his insolence.
He wants Mordecai to stand as soon as he sees Haman, then bow down in trembling fear of the awesomeness of Haman: The Agagite!
But Mordecai basically ignores Haman. And Haman cannot abide that.
10 Nevertheless, Haman restrained himself and went home, and he sent and brought his friends and his wife Zeresh. 11 And Haman recounted to them the splendor of his riches, the number of his sons, all the promotions with which the king had honored him, and how he had advanced him above the officials and the servants of the king. 12 Then Haman said, “Even Queen Esther let no one but me come with the king to the feast she prepared. And tomorrow also I am invited by her together with the king. 13 Yet all this is worth nothing to me, so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king’s gate.” 14 Then his wife Zeresh and all his friends said to him, “Let a gallows fifty cubits high be made, and in the morning tell the king to have Mordecai hanged upon it. Then go joyfully with the king to the feast.” This idea pleased Haman, and he had the gallows made.
Haman, I guess to his credit, didn’t reach out and smack Mordecai. Thank the Lord for small victories, I guess.
But he gets home, and he calls all of his friends and family to an important meeting: The Whine-fest of a self-important Persian.
I love this. Doesn’t this sound exactly like us sometimes? “I don’t deserve to be treated like that!”
Right. You deserve so much worse. You deserve death. And so do I. We don’t deserve these good things. They are merciful blessings from a gracious God who showers love on us freely in spite of ourselves.
Yet when we start to see the stuff as ours, as our reward, or as our earned payment, then we show that we are misunderstanding how God works.
Haman calls his friends together, who I am sure know all of the things that he is telling them. “Look at my stuff! look at my riches! Look at my family!” I mean, his wife is there, for crying out loud!
I love that she is specifically mentioned, and then the text says that he “recounted…the number of his sons.” Like she didn’t know that. I mean, she is the one who actually, you know, gave birth to them! Just the over-the-top sensationalism of it all is mind-boggling.
Alistair Begg says it this way:
The Book of Esther Pride and discontentedness sleep in the same bed.
this is like a Facebook page gone crazy. This is a Christmas letter in July. This is the worst! This is the worst. He actually lives with the mistaken notion that he is the center of the universe. He’s not even the center of his own universe. His impending death is before him. He doesn’t have a clue what’s going on. He is stupidity on two legs. He is the fool, as related in the Bible. He fits perfectly in contemporary twenty-first-century Western culture.
Begg indeed makes the point that I clumsily tried to get across earlier:
The Book of Esther Pride and discontentedness sleep in the same bed.
You see, the problem is, it’s not enough for me to say, “Oh, look at the pride of Haman,” because I look into the Word, and I see my own sinful heart.
Haman is second in command. He is the only person besides the king to be invited to the queen’s feast, and he is invited back to an encore performance the next day. But it’s not enough for him. It will never be enough for him. It always has to be bigger, better, faster, more.
Look at the text:
13 Yet all this is worth nothing to me, so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king’s gate.”
He is despondent. And his counselors try to cheer him up. And what better way to cheer up a murderous lunatic than the idea of a hanging.
14 Then his wife Zeresh and all his friends said to him, “Let a gallows fifty cubits high be made, and in the morning tell the king to have Mordecai hanged upon it. Then go joyfully with the king to the feast.” This idea pleased Haman, and he had the gallows made.
“Look,” they tell him, “you are the most powerful man outside of the king. Tell the king to hang Mordecai. Build a 75ft gallows in the back yard tonight, ask the king for permission to hang the Jew tomorrow, and go to the feast a happy man.”
So simple.
And I just want to note, how quickly human beings resort to murder. Mrs. Lawanda asks us to pray about the violence in our country every week. We see this from Genesis to now. Murder, hatred, evil. Sin.
And don’t think we are exempt. We live in a culture of death. We live in a culture that celebrates the deaths of babies, of senior citizens, of the mentally challenged. If we deem them lesser, they are worthy of death.
And that is what is going on here. Haman’s friends and family see no worth in Mordecai. “Look, if he bothers you that much, kill him.”
The greatest good is Haman’s own emotional state, not the collective good of the whole.
If that doesn’t ring some contemporary bells, I don’t know what to tell you.
And I love how Haman hears this, and it just turns his frown upside down. Like, he went from Mr. Grumpy Gills to happy dance. And it just took the suggestion of murder.
So as we close tonight, we see that Esther has subtly and shrewdly gained audience with the king and is working on a plan to save her people.
Haman has stupidly let his own pride cause him grief, and the only way it can be assuaged is the death of Mordecai.
Next week, we’ll see how it plays out.