Great Reversal

Introduction

The Greek historian Herodotus recorded that the Persian Empire was connected by postal stations every 14 miles.1 In speaking of this ancient postal service, Herodotus marveled:

Nothing travels as fast as these Persian messengers. The entire plan is a Persian invention. Along the whole trail there are men stationed with horses and they will not be hindered from accomplishing at their best speed the distance which they have to travel.2

Esther Posting by Pony

It was Herodotus’ description of the Persian Pony Express that gave us the famous saying, “Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night stays these courageous couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.”

While the US Postal Service has no official motto, the popularly held belief is that it does, and that’s because those words are chiseled in gray granite over the entrance to the New York City Post Office on 8th Avenue—the same words that came from Book 8, Paragraph 98, of The Persian Wars by Herodotus.

https://about.usps.com/who-we-are/postal-history/mission-motto.pdf

the Persian government relied heavily on this nationwide service to communicate in a kingdom that stretched from modern-day Pakistan to North Africa. It was this postal Service that had sent word to the people that to every Jew. wealthy or poor. The word travelled as swiftly as the riders on their galloping horses, bringing news of unspeakable terror, grief, and despair.

In the last chapter we read that when the tables were suddenly turned and Esther had risked her life to get the king’s attention. Within 24 hours Haman’s plot was uncover and he was hung on his own gallows.

Most people tend to stop reading the Book of Esther at this part of the story. Thinking that her work was over, mission accomplished people saved. But though Haman was dead his edict of death was still very much alive. Carried to the corners of the empire by this Persian pony express. Sealed with the king’s royal insignia now the Law and irreversible. Esther and Mordecai are needed now more than ever.

Esther 8

Esther 8 LEB

1 On that day King Ahasuerus gave Queen Esther the house of Haman, the enemy of the Jews; and Mordecai came before the king, for Esther had told what he was to her. 2 And the king removed his signet ring that he had taken away from Haman, and he gave it to Mordecai. So Esther set Mordecai over the house of Haman. 3 And Esther again spoke before the king, and she fell before his feet and wept, pleading for his grace to avert Haman the Agagite’s evil plan and the plot that he devised against the Jews. 4 And the king held out to Esther the scepter of gold, and Esther rose and stood before the king, 5 and she said, “If it is good to the king, and if I have found favor before him, and if the king is pleased with this matter, and I have his approval, let an edict be written to revoke the letters of the plans of Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, which he wrote to destroy the Jews that are in all the provinces of the king. 6 For how can I bear to look on the disaster that will find my people, and how can I bear to look on the destruction of my family?” 7 And King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther and to Mordecai the Jew, “Look, I have given Haman’s house to Esther, and they have hanged him on the gallows because he plotted against the Jews. 8 Write as you see fit concerning the Jews in the name of the king, and seal it with the king’s signet ring; for a decree that is written in the name of the king and sealed with the king’s signet ring cannot be revoked.” 9 And the secretaries of the king were summoned at that time, in the third month, which is in the month of Sivan on the twenty-third day, and an edict was written according to all that Mordecai commanded, to the Jews and to the governors and satraps and officials of the provinces from India to Cush—one hundred and twenty-seven provinces—each province according to its own script and to every people in their own language, and to the Jews in their own script and language. 10 And he wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus, and he sealed the letters with the king’s signet ring and sent them by couriers on horses, riding on royal horses bred by racing mares. 11 In them the king allowed the Jews who were in every city to assemble and defend their lives, to destroy and kill and annihilate any army of any people or province attacking them, including women and children, and to plunder their spoil, 12 in one day in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar. 13 A copy of the edict was to be given as law in each province to inform all the people, so that the Jews would be ready on that day to avenge themselves from their enemies. 14 The mounted couriers on the royal horses went out without delay, urged by the king’s word. The law was given in the citadel of Susa. 15 Mordecai went out from the presence of the king in royal clothing of blue cloth and white linen, and a great crown of gold and a robe of fine white linen and purple, and the city of Susa was shouting and rejoicing. 16 For the Jews, there was light and gladness, joy and honor. 17 In every province and city, wherever the king’s edict and his law came, there was gladness and joy for the Jews, a banquet and a holiday, and many of the people from the country were posing as Jews because the fear of the Jews had fallen on them.

On that day

The very day of Esther’s banquet Haman was hung from the Gallows. The king gave Esther the house of Haman the enemy of the Jews. This shouldn’t surprise us Given the emphasis on Wisdom of the LORD

Proverbs 13:22 LEB

22 He who is good will leave an inheritance to his grandchildren, and stored up for the righteous is the wealth of a sinner.

Josephus informs us that in the late kingdom of Persia, treason and felony resulted in the forfeiture of property and wealth to the crown.6 This forfeiture included houses, property, possessions, and even bank accounts.

When King Ahasuerus gave all Haman’s property and possessions to Esther, we find that she gave it into the hands of Mordecai, who was suddenly the second most-wealthy person in the kingdom.

Just imagine, those two Jewish cousins occupied the two most powerful positions in the Persian Empire, other than the king himself.

What a crazy turn of events. Certain and scheduled to die now the queen and the prime minister are Jews

Esther 8:3–7 LEB

3 And Esther again spoke before the king, and she fell before his feet and wept, pleading for his grace to avert Haman the Agagite’s evil plan and the plot that he devised against the Jews. 4 And the king held out to Esther the scepter of gold, and Esther rose and stood before the king, 5 and she said, “If it is good to the king, and if I have found favor before him, and if the king is pleased with this matter, and I have his approval, let an edict be written to revoke the letters of the plans of Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, which he wrote to destroy the Jews that are in all the provinces of the king. 6 For how can I bear to look on the disaster that will find my people, and how can I bear to look on the destruction of my family?” 7 And King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther and to Mordecai the Jew, “Look, I have given Haman’s house to Esther, and they have hanged him on the gallows because he plotted against the Jews.

Instead of going and out celebrating their good fortune for a week or two, they were immediately interceding for the lives of the Jewish people

Esther was once again risking the king’s displeasure by asking him to grant another request. The heart of her request is found in this sentence, as she made the plea,

Esther 8:5 CSB

5 She said, “If it pleases the king and I have found favor before him, if the matter seems right to the king and I am pleasing in his eyes, let a royal edict be written. Let it revoke the documents the scheming Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite wrote to destroy the Jews who are in all the king’s provinces.

“Let it be written to revoke the letters devised by Haman” (Esther 8:5b).

In other words the king would have to admit that his first edict was ill-advised and wrong. No leader relishes the prospect of waffling on the issues. On the other hand, as the Book of Esther has already clarified, once a piece of legislation was sealed with the king’s ring, it was irrevocable (v. 8; see also 1:19). In essence, Esther was asking the king to break the law by revoking Haman’s decree.

The king didn’t go for that. He wouldn’t admit that his first edict was ill-advised, but he suggested something that would exonerate himself from any embarrassment. send out a second edict.

This second edict copied Haman’s but allowed the Jews to defend themselves. The mention of Women and Children to plunder their spoil was exactly taken from Haman’s edict.

It was Haman who had demanded the killing of “little children and women” (3:12). The Persian women and children would be attacked only if they first attacked the Jews

Great Reversal

I can’t imagine the dancing and celebrating of the Jews in the streets throughout the kingdom. Their day of death had been turned into a day of deliverance. This was their first ray of hope in months.

The new edict also sent a message to the Persian people that things had changed dramatically. All they needed to do now was restrain themselves and no one would get hurt—they would just lay off killing the Jews. If they kept their greed and animosity in check, no one would die.

Another thing this new law did was warn the Persians that they were no longer allowed to kill and steal from unarmed Jews. There wouldn’t be a picnic of plundering. They would be risking their own lives

We’re even told that many of the people of the land became Jews (Esther 8:17b). The Persians literally aligned themselves in solidarity alongside the Jews.

Some commentators believe this to mean that many Persians began following God, as well—the way that Rahab, the Gentile who abandoned her people in Jericho, became a proselyte Jew centuries later; or Ruth, who left her pagan idolatry, married a Jewish man, and later became the grandmother of King David.

The theme of reversal is prominent throughout the Bible. As we have seen, many Proverbs predict the rise of the righteous and the fall of the wicked.

Isaiah 40:3–5 LEB

3 A voice is calling in the wilderness, “Clear the way of Yahweh! Make a highway smooth in the desert for our God! 4 Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill shall become low, And the rough ground shall be like a plain, and the rugged ground like a valley-plain. 5 And the glory of Yahweh shall be revealed, and all humankind together shall see it, for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken.”

The prophet Isaiah looks ahead to a great day of reversal:

Mark 9:35 LEB

35 And he sat down and called the twelve and said to them, “If anyone wants to be first, he will be last of all and servant of all.”

Jesus confounded them with the logic of reversal: “If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all” (Mark 9:35).

Philippians 2:5–11 LEB

5 Think this in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, existing in the form of God, did not consider being equal with God something to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself by taking the form of a slave, by becoming in the likeness of people. And being found in appearance like a man, 8 he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, that is, death on a cross. 9 Therefore also God exalted him and graciously granted him the name above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven and of those on earth and of those under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Paul describes the ministry of Jesus in one of the most dramatic biblical statements of inversion:

As Christian readers, however, we can see in the story of Esther the same principles at work throughout the Bible: the way down is the way up; the first shall be last; the way to glory is the way of the Cross.

Next Steps

The way of the Cross

Great reversal

Funny how we often ask Jesus to change our lives as long as we don’t have to change

When we follow the Way of the Cross not the way of the world we must see a great reversal in our own lives. In what way do you need to reverse the direction you are heading?

—Bibliography__

https://about.usps.com/who-we-are/postal-history/mission-motto.pdf

Mark Roberts and Lloyd J. Ogilvie, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, vol. 11, The Preacher’s Commentary Series (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc, 1993), 412.

Davey, Stephen. Esther. Wisdom Commentary Series. Apex, NC: Charity House Publishers, 2012.

Harris, W. Hall, III, Elliot Ritzema, Rick Brannan, Douglas Mangum, John Dunham, Jeffrey A. Reimer, and Micah Wierenga, eds. The Lexham English Bible. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012.

Josephus, William Whiston. The Works of Josephus. Hendrickson Publication Date: 1987

Herodotus. Herodotus, with an English Translation by A. D. Godley. Edited by A. D. Godley. Medford, MA: Harvard University Press, 1920.