Fools Rush In

God Not Mentioned But His Work In Secondary Causes is Evident

Queen Vashti deposed.

Esther given the throne.

A Feud started between Mordecai & Haman

The king saved by Mordecai

Haman takes the shoving match to a new level and Pays the king about 1/3 of it’s annual budget to kill all of the Jews.

Remember, Haman sets it up as if all of the Jews are vagabonds and a draw against the kingdom. He gets the king to agree, not knowing that his queen and the man who saved his life are both Jews.

Mordecai and many Jews are mourning, but he manages to get the attention of Esther.

He tells Esther she has to take action, she has the kings ear.

Remember that Mordecai pointed out that God would keep His promise to Abraham, Moses and David. The covenant would not be broken. God would save a remnant no matter what!

BUT, what if Esther was put into her position just for this occasion?

Esther agrees and tells him to have all the Jews he can muster to fast for 3 days.

Esther is in a bad position, she will certainly die if she does nothing, and she may die if she approaches the king without being called.

Fools Rush In

C.S. Lewis says “Coincidence” is God’s way of remaining anonymous.

The coincidences and drama that builds in chapter 5 truly shows God’s hands at work.

Note that it was a banquet and heavy drinking that set up the fall of Queen Vashti and the rise of Esther to Queen, and now it is a banquet that Esther will use in her plans.

We start the chapter with Queen Esther risking her life to get the Kings attention and we will end the chapter with Haman building gallows to hang Mordecai the very next day!

In verse 6, we see that they were drinking wine when the King asks Esther “what is her request?”

And, how pride and ego have made all of this come to a head. How God is using man’s own traits and secondary causes to carry out His plan.

Fools rush in, but Queen Esther seems to understand that she probably only has one shot at saving her people.

Instead of demanding to see the King and pleading her case in a hurried duress manner, she is calculating.

Her demeanor, her dressing in her royal robe, and setting it all up at a banquet, a more relaxed atmosphere and where she may control the agenda, and not on the Kings throne, where things are formal and Haman may have allies that could derail her plans.

Remember that her request is one where she is asking the King to rescind a decree or law that has been made and cannot be rescinded. In other words, she is asking him to lose face. To admit that what he proclaimed was wrong and that it needed changed. This is not a light request, but one of life and death.

Queen Esther is granted the scepter and is able to approach the King.

Her request is that he and his prime minister, Haman, attend a feast she has prepared for only them, And she would ask the king her “real request” at that time.

The king asks her what is it that she requests and it will be granted…and she asks that they both attend another banquet tomorrow.

Now is where we see “coincidence” come in play again.

Haman is elated, leaving the first banquet and is honored that only he and the king are to attend a second banquet.

Owe how important he is. How wonderful his life is. How rich he is. He has everything…except, that he bumps into Mordecai again on his way home. He has everything except this one guy who will not bow down and show him his due respect.

Out of all of the blessings that he has, the one thing that he has to dwell on is the one person who will not cow-tail to his position of honor.

His ego will not let it go, He want’s this disrespectful man dead.

Let’s see how this plays out.

Esther Chapter 5

Esther 5:1–14 ESV

On the third day Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the king’s palace, in front of the king’s quarters, while the king was sitting on his royal throne inside the throne room opposite the entrance to the palace. And when the king saw Queen Esther standing in the court, she won favor in his sight, and he held out to Esther the golden scepter that was in his hand. Then Esther approached and touched the tip of the scepter. And the king said to her, “What is it, Queen Esther? What is your request? It shall be given you, even to the half of my kingdom.” And Esther said, “If it please the king, let the king and Haman come today to a feast that I have prepared for the king.” Then the king said, “Bring Haman quickly, so that we may do as Esther has asked.” So the king and Haman came to the feast that Esther had prepared. And as they were drinking wine after the feast, the king said to Esther, “What is your wish? It shall be granted you. And what is your request? Even to the half of my kingdom, it shall be fulfilled.” Then Esther answered, “My wish and my request is: If I have found favor in the sight of the king, and if it please the king to grant my wish and fulfill my request, let the king and Haman come to the feast that I will prepare for them, and tomorrow I will do as the king has said.” And Haman went out that day joyful and glad of heart. But when Haman saw Mordecai in the king’s gate, that he neither rose nor trembled before him, he was filled with wrath against Mordecai. Nevertheless, Haman restrained himself and went home, and he sent and brought his friends and his wife Zeresh. And Haman recounted to them the splendor of his riches, the number of his sons, all the promotions with which the king had honored him, and how he had advanced him above the officials and the servants of the king. Then Haman said, “Even Queen Esther let no one but me come with the king to the feast she prepared. And tomorrow also I am invited by her together with the king. Yet all this is worth nothing to me, so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king’s gate.” Then his wife Zeresh and all his friends said to him, “Let a gallows fifty cubits high be made, and in the morning tell the king to have Mordecai hanged upon it. Then go joyfully with the king to the feast.” This idea pleased Haman, and he had the gallows made.