The Moments that Define You

Introduction

Close of Esther 2 all seemed well for Esther and Mordecai. She had won the crown. She helped Mordecai receive a royal appointment, and he in turned had saved the king’s life.

But an event that know one saw coming changed their world.

A conflict between Mordecai and Haman escalated into a royal decree that called for the extermination of all Jews.

What is a person to do? These are the moments that define you.

Esther 4

Esther 4 LEB

Mordecai learned all that had been done and he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and ashes. And he went through the middle of the city and cried out a loud and bitter cry; he went up to the entrance of the gate of the king, for he could not go to the gate of the king in sackcloth. In every province each place where the king’s edict and his law came, there was great mourning for the Jews with fasting, crying, wailing, and sackcloth; and ashes were spread out as a bed for them. And Esther’s maids and her eunuchs came and they told her, and the queen was deeply distressed; she sent garments to clothe Mordecai so that he might remove his sackcloth—but he did not accept them. Then Esther called Hathach from the king’s eunuchs who regularly attended to her, and she ordered him to go to Mordecai to learn what was happening and why. So Hathach went out to Mordecai, to the public square of the city, which was in front of the gate of the king, and Mordecai told him all that had happened to him, and the exact amount of money that Haman has promised to pay to the treasury of the king for the destruction of the Jews. And he gave him a copy of the edict of the law that had been issued in Susa for their destruction to show Esther, and to inform her, and to charge her to go to the king and make supplication to him and entreat before him for her people. And Hathach went back and told Esther the words of Mordecai. And Esther spoke to Hathach and she gave him a message for Mordecai: “All the king’s servants and the people of the king’s provinces know that if any man or woman who goes to the king to the inner courtyard, who is not called, he has one law, to be killed, except if the king extends to him the gold scepter so that he may live. I have not been called to come to the king for thirty days.” And they told Mordecai the words of Esther. Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther: “Do not think that your life will be saved in the palace of the king more than all the Jews. For if indeed you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, and you and the family of your father will perish. Who knows? Perhaps you have come to a royal position for a time such as this.” Esther replied to Mordecai: “Go, gather all the Jews that are found in Susa and fast for me; do not eat or drink for three days, both night and day. I and my young girls will fast likewise, and then I will go to the king, which is not according to the law; if I perish, I perish. And Mordecai went away and he did everything that Esther commanded him.

Visible Reaction

King Ahasuerus had only recently allowed the plans to be put into place to annihilate the Jewish people. Posters were put up throughout Persia, informing the kingdom of the date of the coming genocide.

This wasn’t a secret endeavor. It was a national affair and everyone would be expected to participate. The message is clear: Every Jew must Die. Furthermore, the Persians could pillage the victims’ homes and steal their possessions before Haman got his hands on anything. there was blood money to be had. No Doubt there were some Persian men and women circling the date on their calendar. Quick rich scheme.

When Mordecai learned all that had been done.

He ripped his clothing as a symbol of the tearing of his emotions and his broken heart. He also rubbed ashes onto his head and beard, a custom for Jews who were begging God either for repentance or deliverance.9 What a sight this must have been for those passing by.

Stephen Davey, Esther, Wisdom Commentary Series (Apex, NC: Charity House Publishers, 2012), 69–70.

He carried his mourning to the very gate of the palace, although Persian law prohibited him from entering the palace while wearing sackcloth (v. 2). Though the text does not explain why Mordecai mourned at the palace gate, it suggests that he intended to attract Esther’s attention (see v. 4).

Esther 4:3 NIV

In every province to which the edict and order of the king came, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping and wailing. Many lay in sackcloth and ashes.

Esther Scene I: Mordecai’s Demonstration

While the individual words for fasting, weeping, and wailing appear many times in the Old Testament, this appearance in Esther 4 is unique and incredibly significant. In fact, the only other time in the Hebrew Bible where you find these three verbs in exactly that identical construction is in Joel 2:12

Joel 2:12 LEB

“And even now,” declares Yahweh, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, and weeping, and wailing.”

The original readers would have immediately thought of this verse. We are foreshadowing the return of the hearts to the people through this event. Return to me declares YHWH.

Esther’s Hesitation

Esther had evidently been sequestered inside the queen’s quarters and had somehow remained ignorant of what was going on outside the palace.

When she hears of Mordecai’s laments her first response it to give him new cloths so he could enter the palace and explain his mourning to her. But he refuses so she sends Hathach, her personal servant who was probably one of the few people who knew Esther was a Jewess, and there is a a strong possibility he may have been a Jew himself.

She brings up two massive obstacles when learning what Mordecai wants her to do.

Esther 4:11 LEB

“All the king’s servants and the people of the king’s provinces know that if any man or woman who goes to the king to the inner courtyard, who is not called, he has one law, to be killed, except if the king extends to him the gold scepter so that he may live. I have not been called to come to the king for thirty days.”

A Legal Problem:

Nobody just walks into the office of the king. that would be suicide even for a queen. Esther hasn’t forgotten what happened to Vashti.

2. A Personal Problem:

Many Old Testament scholars read into this that Ahasuerus’ interest in Esther was waning. It seemed that Esther’s hold on the king’s favor was slipping, while the king’s harem continued growing.

There’s an old saying that when you marry a child of the devil, you will eventually run into problems with your father-in-law.

A. Boyd Luter and Barry C. Davis. God Behind the Seen: Expositions of the Books of Ruth and Esther. Baker, 1995.

Esther Scene II: Esther’s Hesitation

3. A communication problem: This was another obstacle that many people overlook. If a person had a petition for the king, the business had to first be communicated to the supreme commander—the king’s prime minister—who arranged the appointments on the basis of priority … and that supreme commander was Haman. Esther would have to communicate her secret to him before it ever reached the ears of the king … and she certainly couldn’t give her secret away to Haman.11

Notice that the text does not criticize Ether’s hesitation. her wariness about going before the Kind does not show here weakness but her faithful employment of Jewish wisdom.

Proverbs 25:6–7 LEB

Do not promote yourself before the king, and in the place of the great ones do not stand. For it is better that he say to you, “Ascend here,” than he humble you before a noble. What your eyes have seen,

Esther Scene II: Esther’s Hesitation

Ahazuerus thought Esther was Persian. It had already been difficult enough for him that she wasn’t related to any of the seven noble families from which, according to Persian custom, the queen was supposed to come. Now he stood to face incredible humiliation and embarrassment for the fact that he had actually ordered the death of the queen’s own people … and his queen, too.

Frankly, he would look like an idiot.

God in her fear

In this time God has placed Esther, even if he is afraid. Mordecai’s suggestion that Esther had “come to the kingdom for such a time as this” reflects the confession of God’s sovereignty in Jewish wisdom.

Proverbs 16:4 LEB

All Yahweh has made is for his purpose, and even the wicked for the day of trouble.

Proverbs 16:9 LEB

The mind of a person will plan his ways, and Yahweh will direct his steps.

In Her fear for the first time in the book of Esther we have seen her step out of the role of victim to become a person of Strength, confidence and courage.

Defining moments

Esther Scene IV: Esther’s Affirmation

Defining moments are those small steps of obedience that bring us closer to becoming the disciple God wants us to be.

Christian disciple’s defining moments: the struggle between the roar of the crowd on one side and the voice of Christ on the other.

For us, a defining moment will occur when we decide whether or not we will read the Word of God or bow our head to pray at the restaurant or, when asked what we did over the weekend, tell people we went to church.

Defining moments aren’t usually all that dramatic. They are, instead, small, simple steps of obedience where we live up to our name and obey the voice of Christ.

Those small steps can lead to upheavals in our lives.

That moment where Jesus said, not mine but thine. Which lead to the cross.

The Preacher’s Commentary Series, Volume 11: Ezra / Nehemiah / Esther Chosen for an Unexpected Calling

In the spring of 1955, a brilliant twenty-six-year old student received his doctorate from Boston University after completing his thesis: “A Comparison of the Conception of God in the Thinking of Paul Tillich and Henry Nelson Wieman.” Although his professors praised his scholarly potential and colleges offered him faculty positions, this young scholar decided to prepare for his teaching career by spending a few years as a pastor. When Dexter Avenue Baptist Church extended an offer, he moved to Montgomery, Alabama, for what he expected to be a brief, quiet season of pastoral work. From his position in the church he would soon return to his first love—academia.

But history altered his plans. On December 1, 1955, a black woman named Rosa Parks refused to leave her seat in the “whites only” section of a Montgomery bus. Before the young pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist knew what had happened, he had been elected President of the Montgomery Improvement Association, an organization of African Americans committed to racial justice. From that platform he was soon catapulted into national leadership. Martin Luther King, Jr. never returned to academic life. The vicissitudes of history would not allow it. Or, as Dr. King believed, God had chosen him for an unexpected calling.

Esther Scene IV: Esther’s Affirmation

Defining moments are those small steps of faith where we trust God the way He deserves to be trusted.

Eugene Peterson, known for his paraphrase of the Bible called The Message, wrote these words about Esther:

The moment Haman surfaced, Esther began to move from being a beauty queen to becoming a [believer]; from being an empty-headed sex symbol to being a passionate intercessor; from the busy life in the harem to the high-risk venture of speaking for and identifying with the people of God.

Next Steps

So what will we do with the defining moments that come into our lives?

Will for you be that moment where you stop being a victim and take control of your life.

Will it be the moment where you tell your nieghbor

Today will it be the moment where you ABC.