Reversal - Esther 5-7

© January 19th, 2025 by Rev. Rick Goettsche SERIES: Esther

I love movies. I love how a well-made movie can draw you into a story and cause you to be fully engrossed in what is happening onscreen. My favorite movies are those that take you by surprise. So many movies today are formulaic and predictable, so I love it when there’s a plot twist I truly didn’t expect. I feel like that’s what happens in our passage in the book of Esther today. The writer has been hinting at the fact that Esther was placed in her position by God for a reason, but we don’t know exactly what it is. We might have suspected that Esther would help to deliver the Jewish people from the threat of death, but the plot twist we get is truly unexpected.

To recap what we’ve seen so far in the book, Xerxes, the king of the Persian Empire, became unhappy with his wife, Vashti, because she wouldn’t allow herself to be used as a trophy to be paraded by her husband. Xerxes removed her as queen and spent the next 4 years searching for and auditioning women to be the new queen. Esther, a Jew and relative of Mordecai was selected to be the next queen of Persia.

Last week we looked at the disagreement between Mordecai and Haman. Haman was one of the most powerful men in Persia behind the king. Yet, Mordecai refused to bow to him. This incensed Haman, who convinced the king that he should issue an edict that would allow the execution and plundering of all the Jews living in the empire. He managed to convince the king this was a good idea, so the law was passed that in 11 months, there would be a day of slaughter of the Jewish people.

At the close of chapter 4, Mordecai came to Esther and told her she should go before the king and ask him to remedy the situation. He told her that she might have been made queen for just such a time as this. Esther asked Mordecai and the rest of the Jewish people to pray and fast for 3 days, while she contemplated what to do. That brings us to chapter 5, where we pick up today for the climax of the story.

Esther’s Plan

Esther had previously told Mordecai that she couldn’t simply go to the king to make a request, because a person who showed up at the king’s court uninvited could be put to death. We know from Xerxes’ track record that he was not shy about punishing a queen who displeased him. Esther said she had not been invited to see the king in over a month.

After spending three days fasting and praying, we see her decision.

On the third day of the fast, Esther put on her royal robes and entered the inner court of the palace, just across from the king’s hall. The king was sitting on his royal throne, facing the entrance. 2 When he saw Queen Esther standing there in the inner court, he welcomed her and held out the gold scepter to her. So Esther approached and touched the end of the scepter.

3 Then the king asked her, “What do you want, Queen Esther? What is your request? I will give it to you, even if it is half the kingdom!” 4 And Esther replied, “If it please the king, let the king and Haman come today to a banquet I have prepared for the king.” (Esther 5:1-4, NLT)

Esther dressed in her royal robes and stood in the courtyard outside the king’s hall, where he would conduct his business. This is really the first time we see Esther act as the queen, and not merely as Mordecai’s cousin. King Xerxes saw her and invited her to come and make whatever request she would like. His statement that he would give her up to half his kingdom is hyperbole—it was a common way for rulers to say they would be happy to grant a person’s request.

Esther’s request was quite simple: she would like the pleasure of hosting the king and Haman for dinner at a feast she had prepared for them that night. The king was delighted and invited Haman as well. Haman, likewise, saw this as a great honor and was excited that he would be going to feast with the king and queen.

When they had their meal, the king asked Esther what she really wanted. She demurred once more, saying she would like to host them both for dinner again the following night, at which time she would present her request. The king happily obliged, and Haman was overjoyed, seeing himself as a highly esteemed and important figure in Persia.

Haman’s Rage

Haman left the dinner feeling quite happy and proud of himself. Then he walked past Mordecai, who refused, once more, to bow before him. Though it made his blood boil, Haman refused to let that take away from the greatness of his day. He invited friends and family over to brag about the great honors that had been bestowed upon him by the royal family.

Though he hadn’t acted upon his anger yet, he did explain to those gathered that the one thing that still bugged him was that terrible man Mordecai and his refusal to recognize him as the great man he was. Haman’s wife, knowing her husband, made a suggestion. Why didn’t Haman use his position of privilege to ask for Mordecai to be killed? Clearly, with his connections and influence, this would be a trivial way to take care of such a problem.

Haman agreed and set to work preparing to execute Mordecai. He began building a gallows that was 75 feet high! We think of gallows as a place where people would be hung by the neck to be killed, but in Persia, it was more likely a pole on which a person would be impaled. Whatever the case, 75 feet was massively oversized, and was a monument to Haman’s ego and self-importance.

Reversal

We have mentioned several times before that the book of Esther is the only book of the Bible in which God’s name is never mentioned. But just because God’s name isn’t mentioned, it doesn’t mean the writer doesn’t see God’s hand at work. On the contrary. I believe the writer chooses not to mention God as a way of leaving the reader to put the pieces together on their own. The rest of the book unfolds in such a way that a series of “coincidences” come together to deliver justice and protection in a way no one could have predicted. The point, of course, is that these aren’t coincidences at all.

The coincidences began that very night. It “just so happened” that the king was unable to sleep. So, he asked one of his servants to pull out the book of the history of his reign and read it to him. We don’t know whether the king hoped reading his history would be so boring that it would put him to sleep, or whether he planned to do some work since he couldn’t sleep, but as the servant was reading this history, it “just so happened” that he read the account of Mordecai uncovering a plot to assassinate the king. Hearing the story, Xerxes suddenly remembered Mordecai’s faithfulness and asked if they had ever done anything to reward Mordecai for his actions. The servant informed him that they had not. He determined that something must be done for such a great hero.

Just then, Haman came strolling into the palace. His intent was to ask the king for Mordecai’s life. Little did he know what had transpired that evening. The king’s servant came out to ask for Haman’s advice on how to reward a man whom the king wished to honor. Haman’s massive ego could only imagine that the king must be wanting to honor him, so he gave an elaborate plan that would see the person escorted on the king’s horse, dressed in the king’s robes, and paraded around the city being honored by all.

The king thought this was a great plan, so he turned to Haman and asked him to ensure the plan was carried out exactly as he had envisioned…for Mordecai! Haman was forced to spend his day honoring the man he despised the most. Instead of seeing Mordecai executed, Haman had to spend the day bringing him honor! What a tremendous reversal of fortune!

You can imagine how Haman felt at this point. Here’s how the Bible records his mood.

Afterward Mordecai returned to the palace gate, but Haman hurried home dejected and completely humiliated. 13 When Haman told his wife, Zeresh, and all his friends what had happened, his wise advisers and his wife said, “Since Mordecai—this man who has humiliated you—is of Jewish birth, you will never succeed in your plans against him. It will be fatal to continue opposing him.” 14 While they were still talking, the king’s eunuchs arrived and quickly took Haman to the banquet Esther had prepared. (Esther 6:12-14, NLT)

Haman felt utterly dejected. The day was not going as he had planned. It is interesting to note that his wife began to recognize that this reversal of fortune could not simply be coincidence. She told her husband he should stop opposing Mordecai because he would never succeed in his plans because Mordecai was a Jew. In other words, she recognized that Haman was not fighting against Mordecai, but God! This woman who had proposed murder as a solution the day before had the spiritual sensitivity to recognize God was defending Mordecai, and Haman continuing his plan would be fatal.

Haman, however, didn’t have time to think too deeply about the subject, because just then the servants arrived to usher him to his second meal with the king and queen.

Esther’s Request

During this second meal, the king once more asked Esther what her request was. Finally, she revealed what she truly wanted. But her statement was measured and careful.

3 Queen Esther replied, “If I have found favor with the king, and if it pleases the king to grant my request, I ask that my life and the lives of my people will be spared. 4 For my people and I have been sold to those who would kill, slaughter, and annihilate us. If we had merely been sold as slaves, I could remain quiet, for that would be too trivial a matter to warrant disturbing the king.” (Esther 7:3-4, NLT)

There are several things to notice about the way Esther words her request. First, she makes her identity as a Jew known. To this point, it is not clear that the king knew that she was of Jewish heritage, nor that she was related to Mordecai. Mordecai had told her to keep that fact a secret. But now she identifies herself as among the Jewish people and says that her fate will be the same as theirs.

Second, she asks merely for protection, not vengeance. Esther simply asks that the lives of her and her people would be spared. She does not complain about their enslavement, but rather the threat (and promise) of murder. She didn’t ask for revenge or punishment, merely relief from the unjust situation.

Finally, she doesn’t assign blame. Esther merely reports the facts. She said that she and her people were in danger of being slaughtered and annihilated (she uses the exact words used in the edict in 3:13). She didn’t blame the king (who issued the decree) or Haman (whose plot this all was). She left it to the king to put the pieces together and reach his own conclusion.

The king seemed aghast that someone would dare to hurt his queen, and he asked who would do such a thing. Suddenly, Esther became very direct and accusatory, declaring, “This wicked Haman is our adversary and our enemy!”

You can imagine the blood draining from Haman’s face as his bad day just got much worse. The king flew into a rage and stormed out of the room to consider how to respond to this new revelation. Haman, who had worked with Xerxes for some time, knew his life was almost certainly in danger and turned to the one person who might be able to save him, the queen, Esther.

He threw himself upon the couch where she was reclining, ostensibly begging for her mercy. Unfortunately for him, the moment he threw his body toward the queen was the same moment the king walked back in. If there was any doubt in Xerxes’ mind about Haman’s fate before, it was removed now. He interpreted Haman’s actions as an attempt to harm the queen before his very eyes, so he acted swiftly, instantly condemning Haman to death.

It is at this point that one of the king’s eunuchs helpfully speaks up,

9 Then Harbona, one of the king’s eunuchs, said, “Haman has set up a sharpened pole that stands seventy-five feet tall in his own courtyard. He intended to use it to impale Mordecai, the man who saved the king from assassination.” “Then impale Haman on it!” the king ordered. 10 So they impaled Haman on the pole he had set up for Mordecai, and the king’s anger subsided. (Esther 7:9-10, NLT)

Harbona points out that Haman had just prepared a 75-foot-tall gallows in his yard for the purpose of executing Mordecai, the man who saved the king from assassination. You can understand how the king began to connect the dots, assuming that if Haman wanted to kill Mordecai, then he must have been part of the plot to assassinate him! He ordered that Haman be impaled on his own gallows. Haman was executed, and the king felt that justice had been served.

But was justice served? Wasn’t Haman executed for a crime he didn’t commit? Yes and yes. The king had drawn incorrect conclusions about Haman in that moment. He was (probably) not trying to harm the queen, nor was there any evidence he was involved in the assassination plot. But Haman was an evil man who harbored murder in his heart. He had abused his power and used his wealth and position to settle personal scores—even ordering genocide because of a personal vendetta against one man. Though the king’s reasons were wrong, his actions were right.

There is still one problem left to be solved, however. The orders of the Persians were irrevocable. So even though Haman was dead, the law that ordered the killing of the Jewish people was still in force. Next week we’ll see how they dealt with that final problem, and how it too was a testament to the fact that God is working in all things.

Conclusion

This part of the story of Esther reads like a great movie, with some surprising twists and turns, but it was recorded not to entertain us, but to instruct us. So with that in mind, let’s draw some lessons from this passage.

First, evil will not ultimately prevail. It sure seemed like Haman had the good life, even though he was obviously an evil person. He was self-centered, self-important, and ruthless. He was willing to commit genocide over what he saw as a personal insult. And yet, everything seemed to go well for Haman. He ascended in rank in the government. He became wealthy and powerful. It seemed like Haman was allowed to live his evil life with impunity. But this story reminds us that God sees what people do, and He will ultimately do what is right. Haman’s evil was eventually punished, though not in the way or the time that those around him might have expected. Just because God hasn’t acted yet, doesn’t mean He won’t.

This should be an encouragement to us as we look at a world where evil seems to be winning. It seems that many of those who are living in outright defiance of the Lord are continuing to build power, wealth, and influence. It seems like their sin is rewarded. But when you begin to think that, remember Haman. Evil never goes unpunished.

Second, we do not need to respond in kind. This is an extension of the first lesson. If God will ensure that evil will be punished, we don’t have to worry about trying to punish it ourselves. Mordecai could have resorted to a similar level of ruthlessness as Haman. He could have begun a whisper campaign against him, could have attempted to incite a coup against him, or tried to steal pages from Haman’s playbook. But Mordecai understood that he ultimately didn’t answer to Haman; he answered to the Lord. He continued to do what was right and act honorably, even though it felt like it was getting him nowhere. He fought the battle in prayer, not with the weapons of men.

Jesus tells us to love our enemies, to pray for those who persecute us, to go the extra mile with people who don’t deserve it, to turn the other cheek, to forgive, to choose to be wronged rather than fight for our rights. None of this is the advice of the world today. The world tells us to stand up, to fight for our due, and to treat (or mistreat) people as they have treated us. If we trust in the Lord, we can follow His counter-cultural commands. We don’t have to resort to the tactics of the world, because our hope is not in our cleverness, but in our God.

Third, our behavior is a testimony of our faith. I find it interesting that Haman’s wife, in the span of just a few hours, went from telling her husband to execute Mordecai as a way of giving vent to his anger, to telling her husband he ought to back off or he would die. What happened? She saw the tides changing—and she knew it had nothing to do with Mordecai’s schemes. It had to be from the hand of God. Notice how many seeming coincidences happened in the course of a single day that came together to give Haman what he deserved. Anyone with any spiritual sensitivity, even the wife of a pagan, evil man, was able to see the hand of God acting there.

When we do what we know is right, when we refuse to adopt the tactics of the world, it makes our success that much more maddening to the world. But it also points them to the real reason for it! When we scheme and plot and work to make things happen in our own strength, it is easy for the world around us (and ourselves!) to give us credit for what happened. But when we act counter-culturally, when we do what is right even though it flies in the face of conventional wisdom, and things still go in our favor, people (including us!) have no choice but to acknowledge that God is real and He is active. We should spend more time praying and striving to do what is right than we do scheming and plotting our response. When we do, even the pagan world will have to see the hand of God.

That’s what is so fun about Esther. God’s name isn’t mentioned throughout the entire book, and yet, it’s obvious that He’s active. Everyone can see it, even the pagans. There’s a lesson for us as well. May our lives be a testimony to our God, just like Mordecai’s and Esther’s.

© January 19th, 2025 by Rev. Rick Goettsche SERIES: Esther