Esther

What do you know about Esther?

Interesting is that God is never mentioned; this is because of the author writing it in such a way to make the reader look for how God is working in the events

book is a lot like a soap opera

book starts with the king of Persia having these banquets; the banquets last a total of half a year basically

On the last day of the banquet, the king ordered his wife to come before him and she refused.

Esther 1:12 ESV

12 But Queen Vashti refused to come at the king’s command delivered by the eunuchs. At this the king became enraged, and his anger burned within him.

What we ultimately see here is a weak man. He has been given rule over 127 provinces, but cannot get his wife to listen to him. Should she have listened? Maybe that is up for debate because of what he was trying to do. He was basically bringing her in to be a piece of eye candy for everyone. So since she refused, he basically removed her from being his queen and hosted a beauty contest to find his new wife.

Esther 2:3–4 ESV

3 And let the king appoint officers in all the provinces of his kingdom to gather all the beautiful young virgins to the harem in Susa the citadel, under custody of Hegai, the king’s eunuch, who is in charge of the women. Let their cosmetics be given them. 4 And let the young woman who pleases the king be queen instead of Vashti.” This pleased the king, and he did so.

Could you imagine the outrage today if the ruler got rid of his wife and had a beauty contest to find her replacement?

Now, we are introduced to a man named Mordecai. He was raising his niece who was named Esther because her parents had died. We are told that she had a beautiful figure. So she goes and enters this beauty contest. But she doesn’t tell them that she is Jewish. And eventually, she wins and is crowned Queen.

At the end of chapter 2, we come back to Mordecai. Mordecai is at the right place at the right time. He overhears 2 of the kings eunuchs talking and they are planning on attacking the king. So Mordecai goes and tells Esther who then tells the king. So the king gives him credit for saving his life.

Now, God isn’t mentioned anywhere in this. But, how do you think God was active? Can you see it?

Now, in Chapter 3, we have this man named Haman. Haman gets a promotion from the king and is basically a second in command. He commanded all of the kings servants to bow down to him. But there was a little problem. One man refused to bow to him. And that man happened to be Mordecai, the uncle of the queen.

Remember though that she had hid the fact that she was a Jew. And in order to keep this completely hidden, they would not have known the relationship between Esther and Mordecai. When Mordecai told them that the reason he would not bow was because he was Jewish, Haman then made it his mission to destroy all of the Jews.

Haman goes to the king and convinces him to let him kill all of the Jews. He agrees. So Haman basically rolls a set of dice to determine the date that he is going to do this. So he has 11 months before he is going to do this.

If Mordecai is killed, that is not a big deal to the king. But, it could be more of a problem if it were to come out that Esther is a Jew and Haman is out to kill all of the Jews. Some messages were passed between Mordecai and Esther and even Mordecai makes this point to her.

Esther 4:13–14 ESV

13 Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, “Do not think to yourself that in the king’s palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. 14 For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”

Mordecai basically says that maybe you will be able to escape this time. But, even if you keep silent and survive, this won’t be the last attack on the Jews and they will still come after you.

He is almost a prophet in his own little way here in these verses. Telling her that she can hide her secret now, but it won’t always be that way. But at the end of verse 14, I believe this is the verse that turns the entire story of Esther. He tells her that maybe this is the reason that she is in the position she is in right now.

Although God is not mentioned, lets put it this way. Maybe God put her in the position she is in for the very reason that Haman was going to try to destroy all of the Jews.

God’s plan is playing out before our eyes. Mordecai cannot approach the king himself. God has placed Esther as his queen. Esther sees the potential of what could happen and agrees to go to the king knowing the danger it can bring upon her.

Esther 4:15–16 ESV

15 Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai, 16 “Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my young women will also fast as you do. Then I will go to the king, though it is against the law, and if I perish, I perish.”

If I die, I die. Sounds like the line from the Rocky movie. But what a brave mentality she has. Knowing that she is putting her life in danger by going and telling the king her secret. That she is a Jew. Hoping that this, knowing that his wife is a Jew, would keep him from killing them all.

I don’t know about you, but if I have to break some bad news to someone, it usually helps if it is over a meal. So that is what Esther does too. She prepares a banquet.

Esther 5:1–3 ESV

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.”

This is quite the gesture from the king. So her request was for him and Haman to come and have a feast with her. So they leave the current feast and would come to the private one later. When Haman goes out, he is completely drunk. He sees Mordecai and is reminded how much he hates him. Then he orders that a stake be put in the ground so that Mordecai could be impaled on it the next day.

At the same time, the king goes home and goes to bed but he can’t get to sleep. And just like a child who can’t go to sleep, he wants someone to read bedtime stories to him. So they bring out the royal chronicle to be read. If you remember when Mordecai saved the kings life by getting word to him that he was going to be killed, it was written in the book that Mordecai had done that for him. So they are reading the chronicle and it was read about Mordecai in it and the king asked them a question.

Esther 6:3 ESV

3 And the king said, “What honor or distinction has been bestowed on Mordecai for this?” The king’s young men who attended him said, “Nothing has been done for him.”

So he saved the life of the king and got nothing in return. It seems like God had been working all along in this event.

As this was being discussed, the king asked who might be in the kings court at the time. Well, Haman had gone to the court. So he brought Haman in. He asked him what they should do for someone that the king is to honor.

Two men are in the court. One has went with the intention of honoring Mordecai, one has went with the intention of killing Mordecai.

The king tells Haman about how Mordecai saved his life and ordered Haman to take Mordecai and parade him around the city. He told him to give him the kings robe, the kings horse, and the kings crown. Haman’s plan is falling to pieces. He does what is said of him.

Now we get to this banquet that is the king, Esther, and Haman. At this banquet, Esther tells the king that she is Jewish. Remember this is bold and dangerous for her to do so, especially with Haman. And now, the pieces are put together that Haman has the intentions of killing all of the Jews, including her and Mordecai.

Now, if you were in the kings shoes, what would you do?

Esther 7:9–10 ESV

9 Then Harbona, one of the eunuchs in attendance on the king, said, “Moreover, the gallows that Haman has prepared for Mordecai, whose word saved the king, is standing at Haman’s house, fifty cubits high.” And the king said, “Hang him on that.” 10 So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the wrath of the king abated.

The king has Haman killed the very way that he was going to kill Mordecai.

But there is still this decree. And the funny thing about a king making a decree is that he cannot go back on it. So what is going to happen?

Well, after Haman was killed, the king gave Haman’s place to Mordecai and the powers that come with it. The king then had Mordecai issue what is basically a counter-decree.

Esther 8:7–8 ESV

7 Then King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther and to Mordecai the Jew, “Behold, I have given Esther the house of Haman, and they have hanged him on the gallows, because he intended to lay hands on the Jews. 8 But 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.”

But this isn’t the wiping away of the original decree, this is a completely new one. So what does it say?

Esther 8:11–12 ESV

11 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, 12 on one day throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar.

The new decree was for the Jews to defend themselves from this attack. So the day comes and they do this. And the Jews have victory.