The Golden Scepter

Introduction

When i first heard about Purim, it came as a bit of a surprise. I remembered Sunday school lessons and sermons on Queen Esther. But I don’t think I had ever heard of Purim.

It was a strange affair listening about people dressing in Costume for the reading of the Scroll of Esther, shouting with disapproval when Haman’s name was heard, and yelling with joy at the mention of Mordecai.

Even stranger to me was learning that one ancient rabbi recommended that on Purim Jews drink wine until they cannot tell the difference between “Cursed by Haman” and “Blessed be Mordecai.” No wonder the Sunday school teachers neglected to tell us about Purim!

But Memorial are a great idea. Our calendar is dotted with dates dedicated to remembering defining moments in our nation’s history, and memorials honor war veterans, Holocaust victims, and great presidents.

These monuments give our past due significance and ultimately provide better perspective on our present.

They remind us that some things are worth remembering.

Esther 9:20-10:3

Esther 9:20–10:3 LEB

Mordecai wrote down these things and he sent letters to all the Jews who were in all of the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near and far, to impose on them to keep the fourteenth day of the month of Adar, and the fifteenth day, every year, as the day that the Jews found relief from their enemies, and the month which changed for them from sorrow to joy, and from a mourning ceremony to a festive day; to make them days of feasting and joy, and giving gifts to each other and to the poor. And the Jews adopted what they had begun to do and what Mordecai had written to them. For Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews had plotted against the Jews to destroy them, and he had cast pur, that is the lot, to rout them out and destroy them. But when it came to the attention of the king, he gave orders in writing that his evil plot that he had devised against the Jews should return on his head, and they hung him and his sons on the gallows. Therefore they called these days Purim, because of the name Pur. Thus because of all the words of this letter, and of what they faced concerning this, and of what had happened to them, the Jews established and adopted it for themselves and for their offspring, and for all who joined them. They did not neglect to observe these two days every year as it was written and appointed to them. These days are to be remembered and are to be kept in every generation, and in family, province, and city; and these days of Purim are not to be neglected among the Jews, and their memory shall not come to an end among their offspring. So Queen Esther the daughter of Abihail and Mordecai the Jew wrote in full authority to confirm this second letter of Purim. He sent letters of words of peace and truth to all the Jews, to the one hundred and twenty-seven provinces of Ahasuerus’ kingdom, to establish these days of Purim at their appointed times, just as Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther had imposed, and just as they had imposed on themselves and their offspring regulations of the fast and their lament. And the command of Esther established these practices of Purim, and it was written on the scroll. King Ahasuerus imposed forced labor on the land and islands of the sea. All the work of his authority and his powerful deeds, and the full accounting of the greatness of Mordecai, to which the king advanced him, are they not written on the scroll of the chronicles of the kings of Media and Persia? For Mordecai the Jew was second-in-command to King Ahasuerus. He was great for the Jews and popular with many of his brothers, for he sought good for his people, interceding for the welfare of all his descendants.

Secular Celebration

When we read about some of the merry making in the book of Esther many of us cringe.

H. A. Ironside criticizes the celebration of Purim as “a season of godless merry-making” that is “more patriotic than devotional in character.”

But Mordecai wrote these things to establish a celebration on Adar 14 & 15 (February/March) to remember and remind the Jews of how their sorrow had turned to joy when they defeated their enemies.

Although not stated dearly, the text implies that Mordecai’s earlier effort to establish Purim had not been completely successful. Perhaps some Jews resented his imperious attitude. This time, however, he wrote in a more irenic fashion. Verse 31 again brings in the dual authority of “Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther” in support for the founding of Purim.

They weren’t going to let their deliverance go unnoticed by future generations and so they established a memorial that Jews are still, 2,500 years later are still celebrating.

This celebration is about their deliverance.

It’s interesting that during World War II the Nazis hated any mention of the Book of Esther. In fact, one historian recorded that if a Jew arrived at one of the concentration camps with the Book of Esther in his or her possession, that Jew was immediately put to death. The Nazis wanted no message of hope or deliverance whispered inside the barracks of the death camps. Still, many of the inmates of Auschwitz, Dachau, and Treblinka produced written copies of the Book of Esther from memory and then huddled together, reading them quietly to each other in secret during the Feast days of Purim.

The memorial still gave them hope … even inside a camp that had marked them for death.

Secular celebration in a secular world

Designed to celebrate the liberation of a people group Saved by a courageous woman allowing God to work through her, going before a king who stretched out his golden scepter and in wisdom they saved a nation

The concluding epilogue of Esther begins, as did the prologue in chapter 1, by noting the wealth and power of King Ahasuerus, who levied taxes on land and sea (v. 1) and whose “acts of his power and his might” were recorded in “the book of the chronicles of the kings of Media and Persia” (v. 2). We do not know whether this book actually existed as one of the sources used by the author of Esther, or whether he in vented the book as part of his literary fiction. No historical record by this name has been found to date.

Unlike the prologue of Esther, however, in this epilogue another man shares the spotlight with the king. The royal records also include “the account of the greatness of Mordecai” (v. 2). Verse 3 summarizes his stature: he was second only to the king; he was great and well-liked among the Jews; and he sought good for his people, both in deed and in word.

Probably the closest most American (non-Jewish) Christians will come to celebrating Purim is the Fourth of July, when once a year we become unabashedly patriotic. We celebrate our national freedom and independence much as the Jews celebrate their deliverance from the evil plot of Haman.

God does not approve of sinful behavior though some made Purim about sin. We know that we are not to engage in “filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting” (Eph. 5:4). Paul urges his Ephesian readers not to “be drunk with wine,” but to “be filled with the Spirit” (Eph. 5:18). And to the Romans he advises: “Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy” (Rom. 13:13).

Christians walk a fine line when it comes to the world. On the one hand, John charges: “Do not love the world or the things in the world” (1 John 2:15). Similarly, Paul calls us not to be “conformed to this world” (Rom 12:2). On the other hand, Jesus sends His disciples into the world as His representatives (John 17:15–18). Jesus himself confounded His Jewish critics by living in a way they considered too worldly. His association with questionable people in questionable contexts led them to complain: “Look, a glutton and a winebibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!” (Matt. 11:19). According to his critics, Jesus compromised His holiness by touching a leper (Mark 1:40–41) and by allowing Himself to be touched by a prostitute

Sometimes we need to be a bit more secular in our thinking. Trapped behind bible studies not in groups in the secular civic arena. We look down upon ourselves when we do. We we work outside of the church we see am I less then say the pastor but instead we are in position to do the most good where we can point others to the King.

As we have our minds transformed we cannot think like the world yet we need to engage the world.

Not God helping us in this world but God working through us.

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The Gospel According to Esther

When we read about the celebration of God’s work we remember that we are common sinners alienated from God. But then God allows us to be adopted as sons and daughters into His royal family, where we’re given full rights and privileges as though we were part of his biological family all along (Ephesians 1:5).

And if that isn’t enough, He will also crown us as His bride and let us reign with Him in His future eternal kingdom (2 Timothy 2:12; Revelation 22:5).

From commoner to royalty … talk about a great reversal.

•You’ll trade the common clothes of mortality for the royal robes of immortality.

•You’ll trade the body of failure and imperfection for a glorified body that is sinless and perfected in holiness.

•You’ll trade the sorrow and sadness of earth for the joy and pleasure of heaven.

•You’ll trade the fear and uncertainty of speaking to an invisible God for the thrill and wonder of speaking to God … face-to-face.

How is this possible? Because the King of kings has chosen you, a commoner, to be His bride.

Saved as a King stretched out his golden scepter shaped like a cross

Martin Luther wrote these profound words about this parallel between Esther and Christ:

On the third day after judgment transpired on the cross, Jesus Christ arose, guaranteeing safety to enter God’s presence to all who reach out in faith to touch the scepter which is in the shape of a cross. - Martin Luther

It’s true, isn’t it? The Father gladly receives the petition of the Son and welcomes all those who come through Him. Jesus, our Intercessor, says, “[N]o one comes to the Father, but through Me” (John 14:6b).

In the last chapter of Esther, we’re told that Mordecai is second only to the king himself, and he used that power to promote the good of his people and seek the welfare of his whole nation (Esther 10:3).

That phrase literally reads he spoke shalom, which means he spoke peace. What a great way to summarize the interceding work of both Esther and Mordecai on behalf of their people.

That word says it all: shalom … peace.

The only place you’ll find real peace on this planet is in the heart of someone who has been redeemed by Christ and reconciled to God. It’s not a state of never-ending ecstasy or a happy thrill every day you climb out of bed;

Next Steps

What is your next steps?

Gospel

Need the king to reach out the septer

To heavenly to be any earthly good.

— Bibliography--

Jobes, Karen H. NIV Application Commentary: Esther. Zondervan, 1999.

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

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.

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

Dallas Theological Seminary. Bibliotheca Sacra Volume 137. Dallas Theological Seminary, 1980.