Chapter 24 ESTHER
Many of God’s People have gone back home under the edict of Cyrus the Great. But also a large number were settled and remained. Like so many times before, a new king came to the throne who did not have the same regard for this Hebrew people. The empire now stretched from Ethiopia to India but that was not enough for king Xerxes who had called a great conference with all one-hundred-and-twenty leaders of his provinces to discuss how they might take on the rising Greek empire. But this great king who controlled half the world could not control either his temper or his wife. So when his wife refused to come and dance at the end of the end of conference farewell dinner, he called another conference with his advisors to discuss what should be done about it.
You will forgive me if I disagree with the great Martin Luther when he said the book of Esther should not be in Scripture. He was influenced by the rise in the anti-Semitism of his day. In my humble opinion, every Christian should read it one-hundred times to train the eye to see God at work in it. Esther is like a word search puzzle the sort that you might give to young folk to train the eye to look for word patterns.
I have no doubt you have been told God is not mentioned in the book, but He is, four times.261 Every young Hebrew training for his bar-mitzvah would spot these mentionings immediately. Do you have a fish symbol on one of your possessions? The fish symbol is an acrostic that persecuted Christians used in the first century to proclaim to other Christians Jesus Christ, Son & Saviour which in Greek spells fish. Hebrews were brilliant at acrostics, besides Jeremiah which we have already studied, the books of wisdom will be full of acrostics expressions. In the Hebrew, Esther has four passages that contain the acrostic YHWH which is the way Hebrews refer to God. So why would they need to be secretive? Because this was another period of anti-Semitism. The Hebrews had repented to live by the laws of God and he had blessed them as he promised. As a result, they were the subject of rising jealousy by their neighbours throughout this vast empire. The focus in miniature concentrates on the Palace but it is happening throughout this vast empire. So even the Jews that had returned to Jerusalem were under threat from Haman’s edict.
There are two Jews in the palace who have been blessed and risen to the top, Esther and Uncle Mordecai who advised her to keep quiet about her ethnicity. The “blackshirt” is Haman, the Agagite or an Amalekite- “The enemy of all Jews”. Esther is of the tribe of Benjamin, which would have really needled Haman. In fact, it worked him to a point where he wanted ethnically cleanse the world of Jews. The dispute started back in Exodus.
And the Lord said unto Moses, write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it so the people remember. Because the Lord has sworn He will war with Amalek from generation to generation.262
In particular, you may remember from Samuel263 that Saul the Benjaminite king was told to kill Agag the Amalekite.
But Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen,… But Samuel said to Agag, “Your sword took babies from their mothers. So now, your mother will lose her son.’ And Samuel cut Agag to pieces before the Lord at Gilgal.264
All these years later, the festering spiritual anger finds leave to vent itself in Haman. And another battle was about to begin. But the real battle was between God and Satan who saw another opportunity to destroy the line of the sceptre and Salvation. So The big question this book poses is where is God? It stems from the fact that he is not mentioned directly by name or nature, but He is here. The eye and ear are only as good as the trained mind when it comes to observation and the Christian life will only be as aware of God as it is trained to do. For those interested in jargon we are looking at the doctrine of God’s Providence and Sovereignty. Under any standards king Xerxes stands out as a “Big Deal”. His name is mentioned one-hundred-and-ninety times in the book. He ruled from India to Ethiopia,265 which puts the USA into perspective. He was the son of Darius the Great who had decreed anybody could go back to their own land. This of course was no big deal because he ruled their land anyway. Someone once said, ’All authorities only have authority by consent of the ultimate authority’. I don’t remember who it was but it does not matter because God said it first.
Don’t you know? Haven’t you heard? Isn’t it clear that God created the world? God is the one who rules the whole earth, and we that live here are merely insects. He spread out the heavens like a curtain or an open tent.God brings down rulers and turns them into nothing. They are like flowers freshly sprung up and starting to grow. But when God blows on them, they wilt and are carried off like straw in a storm.266
Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his anointed, saying,Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision.Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure. Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.I will declare the decree: the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.267
Esther’s original Hebrew name was Hadassah (Myrtle). Esther in Hebrew means “Hide or conceal”. In Persian, it is derived from the word for “Star”. The full reason for the change of name is not known but there was a rise in Anti-Semitism in the land on the death of Darius and may have contributed to his reason for encouraging them to go back home. Esther and Daniel and Mordecai are contemporaries. Daniel rose through the ranks despite unwillingness to compromise as did Mordecai who refused to bow before Haman. Both chose carefully what they could compromise on and what they would not. Esther and Daniel compromised on their name but Mordecai did not, Daniel and Mordecai would not compromise on diet but Esher did. Compromise has been a problem for Christians throughout history, certainly from the early church and reformation, individuals have disagreed among themselves as to “thus far and no further”.
In the preamble we saw the long-standing dispute between Amalekites and Israelis. It is often said time is a healer but this hatred has rumbled on for some one-thousand-six-hundred years. So much so that Haman was willing to spend the equivalent of thirty-million dollars to have the Jews exterminated. He was the custodian of the Kings seal which enabled him to finalize and execute laws of Meads and Persian which, once sealed could never be revoked.
This is yet another attack on the promise of God for a direct line from Adam to Jesus and the sceptre passing down that line. See what is at stake in this battle. If Haman had succeeded the Jewish people would have simply been exterminated from history and the promise of God would have failed. Xerxes ruled the known world and every one of God’s people lived under his jurisdiction. Haman called another conference of the one-hundred-and-twenty Satraps to ensure they all understood this law, and they drew lots to decide on which month and day it should be. How is God going to get out of this one? This one clearly has the hallmark of Satan on it. Salvation comes from the Jews so Satan has a vested interest in making sure there is no salvation.
Below is a list of Circumstances and Coincidences, The circumstances look as though it is the end of the line for the promise of God and the Coincidences turn the situations around into victory. Stop after each one and consider how it might happen to you, then next time it does you can be on the lookout for the hand of God in your life:
Circumstantially, The Queen had fallen out of favour and the king had a beauty pageant to choose another.
Coincidentally, Esther was among them and became the kings favourite
Circumstantially, Two body guards, charged with looking after the life of the king, plotted to kill him.
Coincidentally, Mordecai was within ear shot and decided to report it.
Circumstantially, Procedure did not allow Mordecai to go to the king directly to tell him
Coincidentally, Esther was invited to dine with the king that night so Mordecai told her to tell the king.
Circumstantially, Mordecai had no recognition for this act and Haman was promoted instead.
Coincidentally, but the King wrote it in his diary.
Circumstantially, Mordecai refused to bow to Haman
Coincidentally, Haman heard Mordecai was a Jew which made him plot against all Jews
Circumstantially, Haman persuaded the king all Jews were anti-royalists and should be killed to raise 750,000 silver coins for your Greek war from their possessions.
Coincidentally, Mordecai heard about the letter, prayed and fasted
Circumstantially, the king could not sleep
Coincidentally, It was the night before Haman had planned to hang Mordecai.
Circumstantially, The king called for his diary because he could not sleep
Coincidentally, He happened to read the Mordecai passage
Circumstantially, Haman was not on duty to bring a different diary passage
Coincidentally, Haman did just arrive in the palace in time to advise the king about a reward
Circumstantially, The king did not mention who the reward was for
Coincidentally, Haman thought it was his reward for raising 750,000 pieces of silver
Circumstantially, Queen Esther was not entitled to go in before the King
Coincidentally, The king had just read about her part in revealing the plot and was pleased to see her
Anti-Semitism has raised its head many times in history and is always another of Satan’s repeated attempts to defeat God’s plan of salvation. Satan’s determination to try to destroy the Jews because “Salvation is of the Jews”. And God has promised they will be around when History comes to and end. But to the citizens living under the King this is just another of those, “chaotic rulers we have live under”. Life is going on, people reading newspapers and saying looks like chaos to me. One moment they decree to annihilate the entire population of the Jews. The next there is a U-turn and Mordecai is riding through the town in honour. “This is how the King Honours those who please him”, was the declaration. Honour today and annihilate tomorrow was what the people were thinking under their breath. Leaders always says one thing one moment and do another the next. Haman was impatient and planned it should all happen the day after the decree was issued and had built the gallows for that date. But the council needed more time to plan The counsel of Satraps held a lottery to determine on which date the ethnic cleansing should take place. Jews held that casting lots was the mind of God because mankind has no control over it. Jews believed if you tossed a coin, while it was spinning in the air God would flip the coin to land in line with His decision. This gave them eleven months grace to what the Jews to this day still celibate as the feast of Purim. One commentary remarks, “all of God delays are a maturing either of the time or of the person”. Romans-five says,
“While we were still weak, at the precise time Christ died”.
261 The acrostics can be found in the Hebrew of Chapter. 1: 20; Chapter 5: 4; Chapter. 5: 13 and Chapter 7: 7.
262 Exodus 17: 14
263 1 Samuel chapter 15: 9
264 1Samuel 15: 33 .
265 See .
266 Isaiah 40: 21
267 Psalm 2: 1