Esther 5
Esther dressed as the queen, yet she had no right to appear before the king without being invited. She was taking her life in her hands; anyone appearing before the king uninvited would be put to death unless the king granted mercy. She found favor with the king; same as her previous appearance. He extended his scepter to her, granting her mercy so the law would not be carried out. Esther touched the scepter which was probably an acknowledgment that he had authority over her life.
This is a fascinating scene. Esther appears to save the Jews; clearly and God appointed work yet we have no indication she had faith in Him in any way. In fact, there is more evidence she was living the life of a Persian woman. She stood in the court of a human king who thought he was all powerful, yet we see him for a fool. He is impulsive, his decision making is often swayed by others and poor counsel. Yet, he too is carrying out the Lord's will.
Esther has a plan. The king is most foolish when influenced by wine. She will throw a banquet with lots of wine. Haman is invited, most likely to avoid any suspicion. He takes great pride in this. As it always is with earthly possessions and power, a little more will be required before he could be content. Mordecai had to go; then all would be well – or so he thought. The advice of his wife and advisers fit his plans well; build a gallows and hand Mordecai in the morning.
We see the lack of anything solid in Haman's life; he has no integrity, no morals, no character. He only has emotions, lusts and desires. All these things keep him chasing a satisfaction that he will never arrive at, nor will it last. We see the same with the King.
Esther 6
It's no accident that the king couldn't sleep or that he resorted to the reading of the chronicles. We see God's hand all over this book, even though his name is absent. The attempted assassination that the king read about was then four years earlier. The fact that these assassins were doorkeepers is new information, revealing their access and ability to follow through with their plans. Assassination attempts seemed to be a way of life for a king; constant diligence lengthened the days of the king. Rewarding those who protected him was wisdom but the king didn't recall any reward for Mordecai.
Haman appears in the court. It's not clear if King Xerxes sought someone to advise him or Haman sought the king early in the morning. Either way, this must be seen as a divinely scheduled appointment and not a coincident. Haman's pride keeps him from considering that someone else may have pleased the king. He rose to authority by human manipulation; he should have at least been away of the possibility others could manipulate him. However, he was clueless and powerless against the plans of the Lord. Haman advises the king on the very thing he would like done for him. In doing so, he advised the king to give these to Mordecai.
Haman's twisted soul must have been tortured when he was told to go honor the very man he had made plans to kill. Haman's advisers and his wife just seem to go where the winde blows. Now they are able to see his demise come because of his evil plans. We can imagine the drama of the moment when the men arrive to bring Haman to the banquet of Esther. It was a moment of torment for Haman; looking for a way out the place he was in, looking for the death of Jews, looking to one again elevate of his life, and find a renewed favor with the king.
Esther 7
I wonder is Esther knew at this point that Mordecai had been honored?
These banquets represent the place of spontaneous and foolish decisions; Esther banks on the much of the same to present her case. It is the second day when it is less formal when she presents her request to the king. She bargains with favor she had with the king, reminding the king that she had found this favor. She uses the language of the official document sent to the kingdom regarding the king's decree arranged by Haman.
Again this scene is a defining moment of drama and intrigue. Haman the manipulator watches and Esther seems to have out-maneuvered him. Who would dare do such a thing as to threaten the queen and her people? Why that would be the wicked Haman! Imagine the shock of Haman. He had no idea the queen was a Jew; he was so focused on Mordecai he was blinded by his hatred and pride.
The king may have stepped away to consider what punishment was sufficient for Haman. This leaves Haman with the queen at which time he proceeds to beg for his life. His only hope was now found in the very people he hated and wanted killed. Haman apparently had fallen across the reclined queen giving the appearance of attacking her. This didn't help his case when the king re-entered the scene. The king gave the word and Haman's face was covered as one to be executed. The king was oblivious that a gallows was being built to hand the man who saved his life. The eunuch points out the gallows at which the king has the idea of hanging Haman on them.
Esther 8
Haman had been hanged; but this doesn't avert the crisis for the Jews. In 1:9 we were told the King's edict could not be changed. The Jews still faced annihilation. The honor and authority previously given to Haman had been stripped away and given to Mordecai.
Esther's approach to the king was similar to the first; it was bargaining with the favor shown to her. She implored Xerxes on behalf of her people. Strangely enough, Xerxes resorted to allowing someone else to write an edict in his name to resolve the problem that started the same way. Xerxes seems to be short on wisdom, accountability and leadership skills.
Mordecai dictates to the scribes a new edict to counter the previous. It is crafted and sent seventy days after the first. So, there is now about eight months to the day when the Jews were supposed to be killed. By the time the new edict arrives at the furthest parts of the kingdom, there would be only four months or so that dark day.
The new edict couldn't say 'never mind' regarding the previous. The king's edict remained as written; however, the king could then give the Jews an edict to defend themselves from anyone attacking them. This wouldn't be understood as a call to all out war but permission not to follow the first edict.
· The first decree was to kill destroy, and annihilate all the Jews on the 13th of Adar and to plunder their goods.
· The second decree was to kill, destroy and annihilate any armed forced of any nationality that attacks them and they could plunder their attackers. This was for the 13th of Adar.
Esther 9
In a situation where the future seemed to be cast, we saw the reversal of expectations; Esther's future was reversed as she was elevated to queen. We saw the reversal of Mordecai's standing in the kingdom and now we see the reversal of the future of the Jews and their enemies. When the day of the edict came, the enemies wanted to kill the Jews but instead were killed themselves. Esther was granted a second day for the city of Shushan to pursue their enemies; particularly to impale the 10 sons of Haman.
This became the observance of Purim on the 14th and 15th of Adar. Added to the list of reversed expectations was a day of celebration instead of mourning; a day of joy instead of sadness; life instead of death.
Esther 10
This odd narrative may have been to show Mordecai's rise to power and authority as second in command. This is a great contrast to his standing at the gate at the beginning of the narrative and Haman rose to power over the Jews. God's hand was on this great turnaround but He is never mentioned, never praised or thanked in the text.
Was Mordecai still in power when Artaxerxes took the throne? Esther would have been Artaxerxes step mother; Mordecai the second in command. Artaxerxes supported Ezra in a great way as shown in Ezra 7:12-26. It seems plausible that the the influence of Esther and Mordecai helped to bring support to Ezra for the rebuilding of the wall.
©2017 Doug Ford
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