Esther 8 - At the End of the Day
Esther 8
No title – used in place of “And the Walls..”
There is a Christian college in the US Midwest where there was once a large lovely tree that was a central part of the landscape.
It was one of the places students chose to meet and talk. For decades this giant oak brought beauty to the campus and shade to thousands of students.
Then one day, a loud crack echoed across the campus s this leafy monument of memories plunged to the ground.
When they examined it, they noticed that disease had been growing within this massive tree, to the point where all that was left was the outer trunk; inside was nothing more than an empty shell.
So, when the harsh winds blew that day, the hollow tree fell.
We are on week number 8 of our story from the book of Esther.
Next week we will conclude as we join the Jews in celebrating the certainty that in the end our God wins.
This story of Esther is told annual by the Jews in a celebration called Purim.
Esther:
She was a simple Jewish orphan girl who became Queen over the entire Medo-Persian world.
She was a teenager who maintained her faith in God and her love for her people, despite her personal rise to status and opulence.
She was a young woman who maintained her love and respect for her cousin, Mordecai, who had taken her into his own home and raised her as his own daughter.
But Esther’s story also includes that of wickedness trying to achieve the upper hand.
[That battle between good and evil has been seen throughout history – sometimes evil prevailing – sometimes the good.]
The very reason the Jewish people were in a foreign country and not in Judah was their own sin and disobedience against God. God had used a foreign army to exact his hand of discipline.
But that battle between good and evil is not only within nations but within the human heart.
When we are honest, we must admit there is evil warring in our own individual lives trying to dominate.
Sometimes it takes the form of a friend who stabs you in the back;
sometimes it comes from the evil desires that are within.
In Esther’s story, evil comes in the person of Haman, the Agagite.
For generations his people had been enemies of the Jews.
It seems nothing has changed.
Our story from Esther has marched along as Haman and Mordecai have played off against each other as rivals.
Mordecai, reminding us of the importance of worshipping God and none other, refused to honor Haman.
Haman’s anger went far beyond the rebuke he might have received.
(Anger is like that. The one who is angry is never in charge. Anger is always in charge of him and goes way beyond appropriate measure.)
Haman put into motion an edict that could not be changed or altered.
The edict commanded the citizens of all the empire to rise up on a certain day and to destroy, kill and annihilate all the Jews and to plunder their goods.
What Haman did not realize is that the edict includes the king’s beloved queen, Esther.
In a daring but well planned move, Esther invited the king and Haman to a banquet on two consecutive days after which time she would make a request of the king.
We pick up our story as the curtain rises on Act 7 Scene 1. (In your Bibles we are at chapter 8)...
The King and Queen are reclining in the banquet room of the palace.
Our narrator begins:
“That same day…”
A lot has happened on that day.
- insomnia on the part of the king
- the king’s decision to honor Mordecai.
- Haman’s suggestions as to how to honor someone.
- Haman having to carry out his own recommendations for his enemy Mordecai.
- Haman returning home in disgrace.
- Then Haman was hurried to the second banquet with the king and queen.
- After the banquet, Esther accused Haman of his wicked plot to kill all her people.
- In anger, the king ordered Haman executed on the very gallows Haman had erected to hang Mordecai.
- Now news has come back that Haman is dead.
- The king’s rage has subsided.
Vs 1a
“That same day King Exerses gave Queen Esther the estate of Haman, the enemy of the Jews.”
It was the custom that any properties of an accused man would be seized by the state.
The king gave that property to the queen.
Vs 1b
“And Mordecai was admitted into the presence of the king, for Esther had informed him how of all that he was to her.”
Mordecai was given the rare and privileged status of one who would be allowed into the kings’ presence without being summoned.
Vs 2
“The king took off his signet ring, which he had reclaimed from Haman, and presented it to Mordecai. And Esther appointed him over Haman’s estate.”
The king is now happy.
He is ready to put this unhappy business of Haman behind him.
I’m sure he was ready to go to his room and attempt to get some sleep.
But not Esther.
She was not yet ready to retire.
She is not at peace.
She still had to face an irrevocable and unchangeable edict to kill, destroy and annihilate her people.
Haman may be dead,
but the edict is still very much alive.
It has been written, it will be done!
It is irrevocable and unchangeable.
The Jews will die in December.
Today things are reversed and altered with a measure of regularity.
We hardly raise an eyebrow when someone in authority changes his or her mind.
But for the Medes and the Persians that was unheard of.
Esther knew that.
And this brought her to address the king once again, this time in tears.
Esther 8:3-8
Act 7 Scene 2
Vs. 9a
9And so the royal secretaries were summoned at that time – on the 23rd day of the 3rd month, the month of Sivan.
Note the significance of the dates.
The dates for both Haman’s edict and now Mordecai’s.
It was 70 days between the edicts.
Numbers were very significant to the Jews. 70
– the same number of days as the number of years God’s people were in the Babylonian exile.
Very intricately our storyteller wove into this story the echo of a larger story – the story of the 70-year exile in Babylon.
Yes, although God’s name in never once mentioned in the story of Esther, He is evident in every scene.
Back to our story as the scribes hold their pens ready for Mordecai’s dictation.
Vs. 9b -
“They wrote out all of Mordecai’s orders:
to the Jews,
and to the satraps, governors and nobles of the provinces:
the 127 provinces stretching from India to Cush (which is the upper Nile region of Ethiopia).
These orders were written in the script of each province and the language of each people and also to the Jews in their own script and their own language.”
Don’t you love it? Now the Jews have prominent place. This new edict, written by a Jew is first to the Jews and opposite from Haman’s this one included their own language in its translation.
[Talk about a good way to add insult to injury.
Write a document they need to know and then don’t provide a copy in their own language!]
Esther 8:10-15a
Did you catch the irony? (vs 15a)
First Haman has had to borrow royal clothes to temporarily place on Mordecai as he gave him the honor the king commanded.
Now Mordecai has been granted Haman’s esteemed position as prime minister under the king.
Remember, Esther has already placed him in charge of Haman’s vast estate. Mordecai already has the resources appropriate for his new status.
As we listen to this story we almost want to clap and cheer for the great reversal provided by God.
Evil will not get its day.
God will give His people victory.
Vs 15b
And the city of Susa held a joyous celebration.
Do you remember what happened after Haman’s edict? “Haman and the king sat down sat down to drink but all Susa was in confusion.” (3:15)
Now the city of Susa is celebrating.
After the Jews learned of the edict demanding their annihilation we were told:
“there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping, and wailing. Many lay on sackcloth and ashes.”
Now? Let’s pick up our story once again.
Vs. 16,17
16For the Jews it was a time of happiness and joy, gladness and honor.
17In every province and in every city, wherever the edict of the king went, there was joy and gladness among the Jews, with feasting and celebrating.
And many people of other nationalities professed to be Jews because fear of the Jews had seized them.”
No wonder the Jews celebrate this story of deliverance even today.
Setting: their people – their ancestors, forced to live in a foreign land, a minority people living as second-class citizens.
Then upon Haman’s edict a hate propaganda campaign would have been started:
First the false rumors and whisperings and then the name-calling.
How that hurts.
And then the waiting as the clock ticked the marching of time to the day when all would be killed.
No wonder they had turned to God in fasting and praying!
They were powerless on their own to stop this killing machine put into effect by the king’s royal command.
And God heard and answered our prayers!
Just as he had lifted his hand of discipline 70 years after the start of the Babylonian exile, he lifted the burden of the edict of death 70 days after it’s enactment into law.
In Mordecai’s edict his people, the Jews, were recognized as a people.
Written almost phrase for phrase the same as the evil edict, they now rose to prominence with a few changes to the wording.
In this new edict the Jews were named first and their own language was included.
One significant difference between the two: the Jews were not to be the aggressors.
They were only to arm themselves in defense against any who would still try to kill them.
Now they had hope.
Many of the citizens – their neighbors - chose now to join them as ‘God fearers’, and so the number of their enemies dropped.
But still they prepared to protect themselves against any enemy who might yet rise up on that fated day.
What about you?
Do you sometimes feel you are under the heavy hand of God’s discipline?
Do you cry out with the prophet Isaiah – ‘how long, O Lord, how long will we suffer for our sins?’
This is an opportunity to examine yourself and ask God if there is something in my life that needs to be repented of.
The Jewish people, as a nation, had spurned God.
Repeatedly they had rejected him.
Don’t you wonder how long our country will continue to see the blessings God has poured down upon us?
Blatantly we have shut God out of one public place after another.
We see disasters coming upon the US in the form of terrorist attacks and natural disasters. Many have asked: ‘Is this the hand of God?’
Billy Graham's daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson asked her 'How could God let something like this happen?'(regarding 9-11 > Twin Towers – New York)
Clayson: There’s such a sense of anger among so many people and rightfully so.
I’ve heard people say — those who are religious, those who are not —
“If God is good, how could God let this happen?”
To that, you say . . . ?
Lotz: God is also angry when he sees something like this.
And I would say also that for several years now, Americans, in a sense, have shaken their fists at God and said,
“God, we want You out of the schools, we want You out of our government, we want You out of our business, we want You out of our marketplace.”
And God, who is a gentleman, has quietly backed out of our national and political life, our public life, removing His hand of blessing and protection.
And we need to turn to God, first of all, and say, “God, we’re sorry that we have treated You this way, and we invite You now to come into our national life.
We put our trust in You.”
We have our Trust in God on our coins. We need to practice it.
Has that happened in your life?
Are you like that great oak tree?
To everyone else your life seems in great shape.
You can give the right answers.
You live a moral life.
But you know.
The source, the motivation, the life has gone.
You are empty inside.
How long can you live this way?
And then something comes along
- what some might call a testing of your faith
- what others might calling a molding of character
Whatever name we give it, you do not have the strength to cope.
Here’s the good news.
Here’s the invitation.
God is waiting to come to your side
He’s simply waiting for you to make the first move.
“God, I’ve wandered away from you, please accept me back into your arms.”
The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,
the God of Mordecai and Esther and the Jews,
the God who has completed His self-revelation in His Son, Jesus Christ,
- our God – does hear your tears of repentance,
· your cries of pain and sorrow, your heartaches,
our God does hear and answer the prayers of His people.
But He does not answer necessarily according to our timetable or in ways we might expect. But He will answer.
“Weeping may last for the night,
But a shout of joy comes in the morning.” Psalm 30:5
Hurting people gain a perspective that those who have not been hurt lack. Listen to the words of David:
“Before I was afflicted, I went astray,
But now I keep your word.
(Psalm 119 67)
It is good for me that I was afflicted,
That I many learn Your statutes.
(vs. 71)
I know, o Lord, that Your judgments are righteous,
And that in faithfulness You have afflicted me.”
(vs. 75)
What we need is both the presence of the Savior and the perspective of the cross alive and at work in our lives.
His cross casts its shadow across all of life, and makes it bearable.
You need the Lord God living in your life, operating in masterful control.
You need Him there to prompt perspective and to give endurance, or you will fade in anxiety, and your enemy will win the day.
We can place our faith securely in His loving and sovereign plan for us. He is moving behind the scenes to work His kingdom purposes out. We are called to remain faithful.
The victory is God’s.
And as we live in this confidence our lives will be different, others will sit up and take notice, and many will desire to be God fearers too.
In our story within one day the scene has changed in every way as now Esther returns to her bedchamber.
She had done what needed to be done.
She had ignored protocol and interrupted the king.
She had waited until the time was best to say what she had to say.
She boldly stood against wickedness and courageously exposed Haman’s cruel plan.
She then pled for her people, whom God preserved through the new royal edict.
She did what was right, and as she lay down that night, exhausted, she could hear the music and laughter from the Jews in the streets of Susa.
With the cares of the day finally behind her, Esther listened to her people as they celebrated.
She smiled in the night and fell fast asleep.