Chapter 8 People in a Chapter 3 World

Haman has been hanged, in the middle of the day, on the gallows he had made, in his own backyard.

75 feet high.

It was a whole new line of patio furniture. I’ve heard of hanging baskets, but this ...

Chapter 7 ends with great relief and delight.

Mordecai, who was supposed to be hanging on the gallows Haman made … is alive … while Haman - who seemed to make happen everything that he wanted - he is dead. Esther, who was terrified to enter the king’s presence, uninvited, is fine …

A crystal clear example of God at work, when nobody else can be. God who is behind the scenes, sovereignly steering the world to best take care of His people. The Almighty power of God … in justice, in split-second timing … in all of the millions of things we see that we attribute to

How ‘ironic’ - that Haman, for all of his scheming, all of his self-promotion, all of his pushing to get himself in the best place, with the most influence … and surely, the most wealth, as well … that Haman is no more … and the king, whom he offered to pay 10 thousand talents for the sick pleasure of exterminating the Jewish race, has taken Haman’s own home and given it to his Jewish wife, Queen Esther.

How ‘ironic’, that Haman who was given the king’s signet ring, by the king himself, so that he could make an official, evil decree - that all the Jews should be killed, annihilated and destroyed … and then sign it with the king’s own ring on his finger.

And just as the guards pulled Haman’s arms behind his back and put the cloth over his head, to lead him to his own execution .... before they marched the condemned man out of the king’s presence, the king said, ‘Wait a minute’ … you have something that belongs to me … had one of the guards yank the signet ring from Haman’s finger - his pride and joy, the ring that carried with it the royal authority of the king himself, is pulled from his hand and handed back to the king.

And now the king, according to v. 2, ‘… took off his signet ring, which he had taken from Haman and gave it to Mordecai.’

But as chapter 8 begins, the story isn’t finished. The threat of Haman is gone … but while he was alive, the evil enemy of God’s people, out of spite, had set into motion a threat that still hangs over the heads of God’s people as our chapter begins.

Remember, back in chapter 5, when the king and Haman are feasting at the banquet Esther prepared, after she first dared to walk into the king’s presence, following 3 days of fasting and prayer -

the king had already offered her so much: “Up to half of my kingdom”. So he asks, : “What is your wish, Queen Esther? It shall be granted you. And what is your request?” things: What is your wish and what is your request? He asks the same thing in chapter 7:2:

“What is your ‘wish’ and what is your ‘request’.”

In , Esther gives her trembling answer … PART of her answer: “If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it please the king, let my life be granted me for my WISH and my people for MY REQUEST.”

Well, here we are in chapter 8 - the king has granted Esther her WISH - her life is secure. He now knows that she is a Jew and so is her cousin - and they are safe - they are blessed ...”

But what about Esther’s people? That was her request - the life of her people. There is still a royal edict, hanging over their heads like a great black cloud of death. No matter how good things may be for Esther and Mordecai … the Jews in the empire still aren’t safe.

What does Esther do? What do you do, when things fall for you in pleasant places - but ...

, “Then Esther spoke again to the king. She fell at his feet and wept and pleaded with him to avert the evil plan of Haman the Agagite and the plot that he had devised against the Jews.”

See the emotion here - no cool, calculating strategy here … this queen, who up until now has been the picture of self-control and dignity and poise - see her as she throws herself onto the floor at the feet of the king, like a common beggar, weeping and pleading: “Make Haman’s evil plot go away.”

: “When the king held out the golden scepter to Esther, Esther rose and stood before the king. (5) And she said, ‘If it please the king, and if I have found favor in his sight, and if the thing seems right before the king, and I am pleasing in his eyes, let an order be written to revoke the letters devised by Haman the Agagite, the son of

The king holds out his golden scepter again - points it at his wife. Another reminder that her life is in his hands. If he doesn’t want to hear her complaining … if he considers it to be ‘nagging’ - he doesn’t have to listen. He can just sit silently - give a not to his secret service … and they will carry his wife off to death. This is not a 50-50 marriage, folks. But that’s not what he does. He points the scepter in her direction. It’s an encouragment … ‘get off your face and tell me what you want - your tears are valuable to me.”

Esther sees the scepter … she composes herself, gets up off the floor and continues: “If you value me. If you love me … If you really think I’m beautiful (That’s what she means when she says, in v. 5, ‘If I have found favor in (your) sight ...) .... then overrule Haman’s evil decree of death.”

We hear Esther’s plea and we think, ‘Well, that’s no big deal’. If the king loves her - just change the law. He’s the king. He’s considered a god-man by his people. He can make whatever rule he wants to make.

But that’s actually not true in Persia. In the Persian Empire - once a king makes a decree … it’s binding. Nobody can change it. None of his people … but he can’t even change it himself.

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Chapter 8 People in a Chapter 3 World

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Many of you are too young to remember the fall of the Berlin Wall, in December of 1989. I remember it so, so clearly - and those of you here who are in my generation or older … you remember it too. For all of my life until that point … the Berlin Wall had been the symbol of the great divide between the Communist world of the Soviet Union - and the free world of the west. The government said that the wall was there to protect its people from the pernicious influence of the west … but numerous East German citizens were shot and killed by guards as they tried to escape.

Remember seeing the images of East Germans standing in line for bread … driving their laughable cars …

…and then, the day came: December 22, 1989, and the wall started being hacked down. People were standing in the very places where just days before – they would have been shot. Now celebrating … waving flags. And through the streets of East Berlin, the shouts were loud, “Free

Haman has been hanged, in the middle of the day, on the gallows he had made, in his own backyard.

75 feet high. It was a whole new line of patio furniture. I’ve heard of hanging baskets, but this ...

Chapter 7 ends with great relief and delight.

Mordecai, who was supposed to be hanging on the gallows Haman made … is alive … while Haman - who seemed to make happen everything that he wanted - he is dead. Esther, who was terrified to enter the king’s presence, uninvited, is fine …

A crystal clear example of God at work, when nobody else can be. God who is behind the scenes, sovereignly steering the world to best take care of His people. The Almighty power of God … in justice, in split-second timing … in all of the millions of things we see that we attribute to ‘coincidence’ or ‘irony’.

For example – people may read the book of Esther and think, “How ‘ironic’ - that Haman, for all of his scheming, all of his self-promotion, all of his pushing to get himself in the best place, with the most influence … and surely, the most wealth, as well … that Haman is no more!” He went to the king and whispered an offer into his ear. “I will pay you, o king, 10 thousand talents … 2/3 of the budget for the entire Empire … for the pleasure of exterminating the Jewish race.” Now the king taken Haman’s own home and given it to his Jewish wife, Queen Esther.

Haman to whom the king gave his own signet ring, so that he could make an official, evil decree - that all the Jews should be killed, annihilated and destroyed … and then seal that edict with the king’s own ring on HIS OWN finger.

But just as the guards pulled Haman’s arms behind his back and put the cloth over his head, to lead him to his own execution .... before they marched the condemned man out of the king’s presence, the king said, ‘Wait a minute’ … you have something that belongs to me … had one of the guards yank the signet ring from Haman’s finger - his pride and joy, the ring that carried with it the royal authority of the king himself, is pulled from his hand and handed back to the king.

And now the king, according to v. 2, ‘… took off his signet ring, which he had taken from Haman and gave it to Mordecai.’ And Esther hands control of all of Haman’s estate - into the hand of Mordecai - - - the very man that Haman was so determined to wipe out. Don’t miss the rich irony.

But as chapter 8 begins, the story isn’t finished. The threat of Haman is gone … but while he was alive, the evil enemy of God’s people, out of spite, had set into motion a threat that still hangs over the heads of God’s people as our chapter begins.

Remember, back in chapter 5, when the king and Haman are feasting at the banquet Esther prepared, after she first dared to walk into the king’s presence, following 3 days of fasting and prayer -

the king had already offered her so much: “Up to half of my kingdom”. So he asks, : “What is your wish, Queen Esther? It shall be granted you. And what is your request?” things: What is your wish and what is your request? He asks the same thing in chapter 7:2:

“What is your ‘wish’ and what is your ‘request’.”

In , Esther gives her trembling answer … PART of her answer: “If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it please the king, let my life be granted me for my WISH and my people for MY REQUEST.”

Well, here we are in chapter 8 - the king has granted Esther her WISH - her life is secure. He now knows that she is a Jew and so is her cousin - and they are safe - they are blessed ...”

But what about Esther’s people? That was her request - the life of her people. There is still a royal edict, hanging over their heads like a great black cloud of death. No matter how good things may be for Esther and Mordecai … the Jews in the empire still aren’t safe.

What does Esther do? What do you do, when things fall for you in pleasant places - but you still see so much going wrong for others - for the people you care about? Does it move you? POST-CHRISTIAN society, we are told. Implication … you keep doing your Christian thing, if you must … but recognize that most of our culture has moved beyond the old fashioned traditions.

But you recognize that without Christ, without a saving relationship with him … trusting in His finished work – every individual that you care about is on the road to a Christless eternity … We are playing for keeps, folks.

So how can you party with your lost friends and laugh at empty jokes and dreams … when hell is the end of that road?!

Queen Esther hears of the unspeakable riches that the king has awarded from Haman to her and Mordecai, her father-figure. She soaks in the good news, processes the security that now belongs to her immediate family

… then she squares her shoulders, takes a deep breath … and once again, she steps toward the king’s throne. He squints his eyes, while his mind is furiously at work, trying to figure out why she is formally approaching him AGAIN … and then his wife shocks everyone in the throne room, by falling at his feet, tears streaming down her face.

, “Then Esther spoke again to the king. She fell at his feet and wept and pleaded with him to avert the evil plan of Haman the Agagite and the plot that he had devised against the Jews.”

See the emotion here - no cool, calculating strategy here … this queen, who up until now has been the picture of self-control and dignity and poise - see her as she throws herself onto the floor at the feet of the king, like a common beggar, weeping and pleading: “Make Haman’s evil plot go away.”

: “When the king held out the golden scepter to Esther, Esther rose and stood before the king. (5) And she said, ‘If it please the king, and if I have found favor in his sight, and if the thing seems right before the king, and I am pleasing in his eyes, let an order be written to revoke the letters devised by Haman the Agagite, the son of Hammedatha, which he wrote to destroy the Jews who are in all the provinces of the king. (6) For how can I bear to see the calamity that is coming to my people? Or how can I bear to see the destruction of my kindred?”

The king holds out his golden scepter again - points it at his wife. Another reminder that her life is in his hands. If he doesn’t want to hear her complaining … if he considers it to be ‘nagging’ - he doesn’t have to listen. He can just sit silently - give a not to his secret service … and they will carry his wife off to death. This is not a 50-50 marriage, folks. But that’s not what he does. He points the scepter in her direction. It’s an encouragement … ‘get off your face and tell me what you want - your tears are valuable to me.”

Esther sees the scepter … she composes herself, pulls herself up off the floor and continues: “If you value me. If you love me … If you really think I’m beautiful (That’s what she means when she says, in v. 5, ‘If I have found favor in (your) sight ...) .... then overrule Haman’s evil decree of death.”

“What good is it for me to have all of Haman’s STUFF, when my people are still scheduled for genocide at the end of the year?” “The reality of that is so painful ...”

If watching her people being destroyed is going to cause Esther such great pain, how could anyone who loves her allow it to happen?

We hear Esther’s plea and we think, ‘Well, that’s no big deal’. “If you love her, king - just change the law. You’re the king. You’re considered a god-man by your people. What good is being a god-man king, if you can’t make whatever rule you want to make?!”

But that’s the problem. Ahasuerus may be king, he may be seen as a god-man in his empire, but he can’t just choose to erase a law he’s already made. In the Persian Empire - once a king makes a decree … it’s binding. Nobody can change it. None of his people … but he can’t even change it himself.

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, “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.”

King-husband is getting a little perturbed. Verse 7, “Behold, I have given Esther the house of Haman ...” Could also be translated: “Look! I’ve already given you the entire estate of the man who was trying to kill you and wipe out your people - a fabulously wealthy man … I thought that would make you happy. And you’re still upset?!

… Okay - Mordecai has my signet ring … you go ahead and write a new law. I can’t take back the old edict declaring war on the Jews, but what I can do is write a new law … Mordecai you go ahead and write something, whatever you want … then seal it with my ring … and it will carry as much weight as if I wrote it myself.”

Do you see what’s going on here? For one thing, the king’s character is shining through. This is an impetuous king who doesn’t like responsibility - he wants to take the easiest way out of a problem … and when people don’t see his quick solution as good enough - he would rather let somebody else fix the problem. “Mordecai: you do it. Take my ring and do what you want.” Handing his signet ring over to Mordecai is about the same as handing over his royal credit card … “Here you go - buy what you need.” Seriously?! Is this any way to run an Empire?!!

But there’s more going on here than the king’s character flaws shining brightly

… there’s also an echo here of what’s gone before, in this story.

Someone comes to the king with something they want. They want a law enacted in the empire. The king doesn’t actually do anything himself … He gives the person his ring, his authority and lets them write their own law. He’ll just rubber-stamp it.

Remember, back in chapter 3. It was Haman who started this whole mess with his visit to the king, asking for a law to be written to destroy the Jews.

, HAMAN, “If it please the king, let it be decreed that they (the Jews) be destroyed, and I will pay 10,000 talents of silver into the hands of those who have charge of the king’s business, that they may put it into the king’s treasuries.’ (10) So the king took his signet ring from his hand and gave it to Haman the Agagite, the son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews. (11) And the king said to Haman, ‘The money is given to you, the people also, to do with them as it seems good to you.”

Now, here in chapter 8, we get a do-over. Notice how close, even the very wording is to , “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.”

The law of the Medes and Persians can’t be changed. The law Haman wrote in chapter 3 has to stay on the books. But because the king’s heart has been softened by his wife’s tearful pleas - he comes up with a way to protect the Jewish people by neutralizing the threat of destruction.

MORDECAI’S MOVE

Mordecai isn’t going to wait around for the king to change his mind - - here is his opportunity to do what the king won’t and to protect his people.

, “The king’s scribes were summoned at that time, in the third month, which is the month of Sivan, on the twenty-third day.“ (This is a little over two months after Haman’s decree went out. The Jews have about 9 months before the holocaust is slated to come and wipe them out). “… the month of Sivan, on the twenty-third day. And an edict was written, according to all that Mordecai commanded concerning the Jews, to the satraps and the governors and the officials of the provinces from India to Ethiopia, 127 provinces, to each province in its own script and to each people in its own language, and also to the Jews in their script and their language. (10) And he wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus and sealed it with the king’s signet ring. then he sent the letters by mounted couriers riding on swift horses that were used in the king’s service, bred from the royal stud ...” I love that!

Verse (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. (13) A copy of what was written was to be issued as a decree in every province, being publicly displayed to all peoples, and the Jews were to be ready on that day to take vengeance on their enemies.”

How fitting! In chapter 3, the decree of death said - , “Letters were sent by couriers to all the king’s provinces .... with instruction to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate all Jews, young and old, women and children in one day … and to plunder their goods.”

And Mordecai’s new edict, in , “… the king allowed the Jews who were in every city to gather and defend their lives … to destroy to kill, and to annihilate and armed force of any people or province that might attack them, children and women included, and to plunder their goods.”

The wording is almost exactly the same - - not just kill, but ‘destroy, kill and annihilate’. Obviously that’s on purpose. Mordecai is echoing Haman’s decree.

And if you’re worried. “This sounds awfully bloodthirsty to me. The people of God being told to go and kill their enemies? Including WOMEN AND CHILDREN? What’s the deal?!” Don’t misunderstand this, friend. This isn’t a declaration of violence … this is a warning AHEAD OF TIME … “You better think twice before you make your battle plans to come, destroy and plunder us on that day at the end of the year … because we’re not going to lie down and passively let you stomp on our necks. We’re fighting back - and however severe you are in attacking us … we will be EXACTLY that severe in fighting back. So this is your chance - leave us alone and everything will be just fine for you.”

Like a warning sign on a fence of a house - ‘Beware of Dog’. As long as you stay on the outside of the fence - you’ve got nothing to fear … but if you are thinking of breaking into our yard and victimizing us … then prepare to be Bowser’s lunch (often it turns out the Bowser is a Chihuahua with no teeth … but the warning is there). That’s what Mordecai’s edict is doing - warning everyone with evil intentions … to think twice.

, “So the couriers, mounted on their swift horses that were used in the king’s service, rode out hurriedly, urged by the king’s command. And the decree was issued in Susa the citadel.”

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ends with verses 15-17, “Then Mordecai went out from the presence of the king IN ROYAL ROBES of blue and white, with a great golden crown and a robe of fine linen and purple, and the city of Susa shouted and rejoiced.”

Remember just a couple of days ago … much to Haman’s misery - even though he was second in command in the Empire, he had to lead this foreign ‘nobody’ through town, wearing royal robes and riding the king’s horse, while Haman had to call out, , “Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to honor!” But that was just a one day gift - a reward for one act of great service to the crown … kind of like someone getting a ride at Airshow weekend in one of the Blue Angel’s planes. It’s a great thrill, but it’s short and it ends, and you have to get out and go on with real life again ...

But now Royal Robes are Mordecai’s own clothing … and a GREAT GOLDEN CROWN - that’s even better than on his horseride.

BEHOLD - the man whom the king delights to honor.

More accurately - BEHOLD, the man whom the KING OF KINGS DELIGHTS TO HONOR!

“The kings heart is a stream of water in the hand of the LORD; he turns it wherever he will.”

(16) The Jews had light and gladness and joy and honor. (17) And in every province and in every city, wherever the king’s command and his edict reached, there was gladness and joy among the Jews, a feast and a holiday. And many from the peoples of the country declared themselves Jews, for fear of the Jews had fallen on them.”

What a contrast to chapter 3 - In chapter 3:15, The couriers take Haman’s edict to the corners of the empire, the king and Haman sit down to have a drink … and chapter 3 ends with these words: “… but the city of Susa was thrown into confusion.”

When this new edict goes out, chapter 8:15 tells us, “the city of Susa SHOUTED AND REJOICED!!”

Oh RIGHTEOUSNESS EXALTS A NATION ....

So here we are, at the end of Esther chapter 8 - and what do we see? We see all of the fears of the people of God, completely evaporated and the situation so radically turned upside down that, rather than the Jews fearing their sure destruction … now THIS chapter ends with the people of all the other nationalities FEARING the Jews and declaring that they too belong to the people of God!

Do you think that anyone saw this coming? If you are living in Persia during , What do you see? All you see is a king who has the power of life and death over everyone in the empire, but has handed his authority off to someone who hates you. With every day, this Haman’s power seems to grow more and more … He has been elevated to second in command in the whole kingdom … HE has been given the king’s own signet ring and written HIS OWN LAW - a law that you and all of your people must be destroyed, slaughtered and annihilated … HE has spread the news of the coming genocide of your people to every single corner of the kingdom … and HE has chosen the date … It’s on the calendar .... and now all you can seemingly do, is to wait. To wait for your sure death.

Would you have any idea, at the end of chapter 3, that chapter 8 is coming? That in a matter of a couple of short months, things would so radically change that the unstoppable evil of Haman will be gone, because he has been executed? That the king will be the same old king - who hands his authority off to others … but has now handed it off, not just to ANYBODY, but to a Jew. And not just any Jew, but to the Jew that Haman hated more than anyone else and was obsessed with destroying. Would you have had ANY idea that Mordecai would now be wearing the king’s signet ring, managing Haman’s estate and writing laws, spread to every corner of the kingdom to PROTECT you and your people?

There’s no way you could possibly SEE that with human eyes. All you can see with eyes of flesh, at the end of chapter 3, is that the gods of this world are BIG.

When you look around, do you feel like you’re living in an world? How much of your emotional state is driven by what you perceive with your eyes right now … rather than by faith in the Sovereign God, even when He’s silent?

When you go to the doctor for a routine physical and he says, ‘There’s a spot on the x-ray. I want you to come back in a couple of weeks for another test’ … how does your life change? It’s so easy to live in the torment, emotional stress … “that’s it … I better get my will ready. Better make funeral plans and make sure my life insurance is all paid off so the kids can keep the house.”

Then, when the second test shows that everything is normal … you want to celebrate – the GREAT NEWS – make a big purchase … like a motorcycle or something.

You health hasn’t changed at all during the weeks between the tests. But emotionally, you’ve been going up and down like a yo-yo. Why is that? Because all you can see is the Esther chapter 3 world that seems to control you.

Oh but God isn’t STUCK in chapter 3. If Esther chapter 8 tells us anything - - it tells us that God isn’t trapped in our world - - He is sovereign, standing above His creation, working all things out according to His good purpose … shaping events, listening to the prayer and fasting of His people, keeping king’s awake, directing reading materials, trapping the proud sinners in the net they have laid out for their prey … and doing everything to get glory for Himself by working for His people.

“Nothing is impossible with God”. It wasn’t a nutcase, name it and claim it preacher who said that. It was Jesus Christ himself, who made that promise. The one who spoke the universe into existence, Who had taken on our flesh and was on His way to the cross, for our sins … He wasn’t promising an easy life. He wasn’t promising that the Christian life should be free of problems and trials and crises and pain .... Far from it: “In this world you will have tribulation .... But take heart - I have OVERCOME the world.” And that means, no matter the situation you find yourself in. No matter how certain your coming death seems to be … no matter how clear and obvious it is that the god of this world - is in control … no matter how dark your day - living in an world … just know this, Christian: “Nothing is impossible with God.” Chapter 8 is coming.

Walter Mill, who was burnt at Edinburgh in the year 1558.

In his younger years, he had travelled in Germany, and on his return was installed a priest of the Church of Lunan in Angus, but, on an information of heresy … for teaching salvation by faith alone in the finished work of Christ alone … in the time of Roman Catholic Cardinal Beaton, he was forced to abandon his charge and run. But he was soon apprehended, and committed to prison.

Interrogated by Sir Andrew Oliphant, whether he would recant his opinions, he answered in the negative, saying that he would 'sooner forfeit ten thousand lives, than relinquish a particle of those heavenly principles he had received from the suffrages of his blessed Redeemer.'

In consequence of this, sentence of condemnation was immediately passed on him, and he was conducted to prison in order for execution the following day.

This steadfast believe in Christ was eighty-two years of age, and exceedingly infirm; whence it was supposed that he could scarcely be heard. However, when he was taken to the place of execution, he expressed his heart and his faith with such courage, and at the same time such composure of mind, as astonished even his enemies. As soon as he was fastened to the stake and the wood was set on fire, he addressed the spectators as follows:

"The cause why I suffer this day is not for any crime, (though I acknowledge myself a miserable sinner) but only for the defence of the truth as it is in Jesus Christ; and I praise God who hath called me, by His mercy, to seal the truth with my life; which, as I received it from Him, so I willingly and joyfully offer it up to His glory. Therefore, as you would escape eternal death, be no longer seduced by the lies of the seat of Antichrist: but depend solely on Jesus Christ, and His mercy, that you may be delivered from condemnation." And then added that he trusted he should be the last who would suffer death in Scotland upon a religious account.

So this frail, 82 year old, Christian cheerfully give up his life in defence of the truth of Christ's Gospel, not doubting but he should be made partaker of his heavenly Kingdom. It sure looked like Esther chapter 3, when old Mr. Mill was strapped to the stake, while the flames consumed his body.

But do you know that he was the last person ever martyred for his faith in the country of Scotland. The Reformation took hold, the Roman Catholic Church and the rulers lost its grip and by 1560, Scotland’s parliament decreed that the pope no longer had any authority in Scotland and instead, that all doctrine and practice had to conform to a new confession of faith, drawn up by John Knox. Scotland now was officially a country that preached Christ alone – the very message that Mr. Mill died for.

He died as a person in an world.

God is working it out. So stand tall and lift your eyes to heaven.

Haman has been hanged, in the middle of the day, on the gallows he had made, in his own backyard.

75 feet high.

It was a whole new line of patio furniture. I’ve heard of hanging baskets, but this ...

Chapter 7 ends with great relief and delight.

Mordecai, who was supposed to be hanging on the gallows Haman made … is alive … while Haman - who seemed to make happen everything that he wanted - he is dead. Esther, who was terrified to enter the king’s presence, uninvited, is fine …

A crystal clear example of God at work, when nobody else can be. God who is behind the scenes, sovereignly steering the world to best take care of His people. The Almighty power of God … in justice, in split-second timing … in all of the millions of things we see that we attribute to ‘coincidence’ or ‘irony’.

How ‘ironic’ - that Haman, for all of his scheming, all of his self-promotion, all of his pushing to get himself in the best place, with the most influence … and surely, the most wealth, as well … that Haman is no more … He went to the king and whispered an offer into his ear. “I will pay you, o king, 10 thousand talents … 2/3 of the budget for the entire Empire … for the pleasure of exterminating the Jewish race.” Now the king taken Haman’s own home and given it to his Jewish wife, Queen Esther.

Haman to whom the king gave his own signet ring, so that he could make an official, evil decree - that all the Jews should be killed, annihilated and destroyed … and then seal that edict with the king’s own ring on HIS OWN finger.

But just as the guards pulled Haman’s arms behind his back and put the cloth over his head, to lead him to his own execution .... before they marched the condemned man out of the king’s presence, the king said, ‘Wait a minute’ … you have something that belongs to me … had one of the guards yank the signet ring from Haman’s finger - his pride and joy, the ring that carried with it the royal authority of the king himself, is pulled from his hand and handed back to the king.

And now the king, according to v. 2, ‘… took off his signet ring, which he had taken from Haman and gave it to Mordecai.’ And Esther hands control of all of Haman’s estate - into the hand of Mordecai - - - the very man that Haman was so determined to wipe out. Don’t miss the rich irony.

But as chapter 8 begins, the story isn’t finished. The threat of Haman is gone … but while he was alive, the evil enemy of God’s people, out of spite, had set into motion a threat that still hangs over the heads of God’s people as our chapter begins.

Remember, back in chapter 5, when the king and Haman are feasting at the banquet Esther prepared, after she first dared to walk into the king’s presence, following 3 days of fasting and prayer -

the king had already offered her so much: “Up to half of my kingdom”. So he asks, : “What is your wish, Queen Esther? It shall be granted you. And what is your request?” things: What is your wish and what is your request? He asks the same thing in chapter 7:2:

“What is your ‘wish’ and what is your ‘request’.”

In , Esther gives her trembling answer … PART of her answer: “If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it please the king, let my life be granted me for my WISH and my people for MY REQUEST.”

Well, here we are in chapter 8 - the king has granted Esther her WISH - her life is secure. He now knows that she is a Jew and so is her cousin - and they are safe - they are blessed ...”

But what about Esther’s people? That was her request - the life of her people. There is still a royal edict, hanging over their heads like a great black cloud of death. No matter how good things may be for Esther and Mordecai … the Jews in the empire still aren’t safe.

What does Esther do? What do you do, when things fall for you in pleasant places - but you still see so much going wrong for others - for the people you care about? Does it move you?