Esther 7:7 – 10 “Miracles?”

Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

⁷And the king rose in his anger from the banquet of wine into the garden of the palace and Haman stood to seek upon his soul from Esther the queen because he saw that the bad from the king was finished on him. ⁸And the king returned from the garden of the palace to the house of the banquet of the wine and Haman [was] one falling on the couch which Esther [was] on, and the king said, “Will [he] also violate the queen with me in the house?” The word went out from the mouth of the king and the face of Haman was covered. ⁹And Harbona, one from the eunuchs to the face of the king, said, “Also, look! The gallows, which Haman made to Mordecai who spoke [intensely] good on the king, standing in the house of Haman fifty cubits high,” and the king said, “Hang him on it!” ¹⁰And they hung Haman on the gallows which he had caused to prepare to Mordecai and the anger of the king abated.

One last thing I’d like to note before I leave this chapter.

Generally, when we think of the Old Testament, one thing that surely comes to mind is miracles. The history of Israel, in particular, is attended with seemingly endless times when the Lord intervened in miraculous ways. All of that started with Abraham and Sarah having a baby long after it would have been humanly possible. Moses was called by a bush that burned but wasn’t consumed, then we read of all the miracles the Lord did bringing Israel out of Egypt. He parted the Red Sea, then drowned the Egyptians. He led the Israelites by a pillar of cloud by day and fire by night. He spoke in a thundering voice to them from Mt. Sinai, gave them manna to eat and water from a rock, then dropped the walls of Jericho and gave the Promised Land to Abraham’s descendants. Elishah raised the Shunamite’s son from the dead. Daniel’s friends walked out of the blazing furnace. Even Jesus’ ministry and that of His Apostles were attended with wondrous miracles.

We all would long to live in that kind of world. We’d love to see the Lord do great miracles right in front of the whole world’s eyes. In fact, we do from time to time hear about things like miraculous healings, but can we all be honest and say we see today very little of that miraculous world of the Old and even New Testaments? It is a very rare thing, in our world, if the Lord steps in and does something all can see is undeniably miraculous. We see no parting of the Red Sea or people walking out of blazing furnaces.

It would seem we live in a world without God.

Here is an interesting observation: Our two girl books, Ruth and Esther, notably record no such miracles. We all thrill to see the Lord land Ruth in Boaz’s field, then follow the story until the two are married and produce their baby Obed who would become the grandfather of King David. As believers, we would call it all miraculous, yet, may I observe it is clearly not “miraculous” in the typical Old Testament sense? No one gets raised from the dead in the book of Ruth. As we read that story, the Lord is very present, but that is mainly because Boaz, Ruth, and Naomi see Him clearly in even the seemingly mundane events of their lives, and their words are recorded like when Boaz says to Ruth, “May you be richly rewarded by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge” (2:12). Theirs was seemingly a world where God was very real, but, again, that is because these people of faith saw Him through the eyes of that faith, and their words were recorded for us to read.

In our book of Esther, we get neither. Once again, no one gets raised from the dead. No one walks out of a blazing furnace. And we aren’t even afforded the pleasure of actually hearing Mordecai or Esther express their faith. In Esther, we really do see what seems like a world without God.

May I point out again that Esther’s world looks an awful lot like ours? Esther and Mordecai didn’t get to live in Israel. They lived in a totally godless, pagan place called Persia. In order for them to “see” God, they must see Him by faith. Is our world typically any different?

Here is what I want to suggest: For most of us, we would call it “miraculous” as we read, “So they hanged Haman on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai.” Yet, can we admit that is a different kind of “miraculous”? No angels appeared. There were no loud voices from heaven. A man got hanged. In that sense, it was nothing unusual. What made it “miraculous” was the chain of otherwise seemingly mundane events which produced, in the end, a miraculous outcome. Somewhere in my life, someone called these “miracles of providence” to distinguish them from the stupendous kind of miracles which in some way supersede the normal laws of nature.

What I want to observe is that that is exactly the kind of “miracles” that will attend your faith and mine. The Lord is certainly capable of doing stupendous miracles in our lives—and He might. However, what we should learn to appreciate are His miracles of providence. In other words, as we live in our own version of “a world without God,” in this basically godless, pagan society, we should expect the “norm” to be the miracles where God works through natural law. Our miracles will be seeing God do things in ways that other people may think are just coincidences, yet, as with Esther, we can see those “coincidences” are so far beyond possible, they are clearly the hand of God.

That is what I believe we all see in the book of Esther. No one rises from the dead. However, as we watch the specific chain of events that culminate in Esther’s victory and Haman hanging, it is undeniable that there is some kind of very powerful force arranging those events to bring about a wonderful conclusion. Vashti was deposed and Esther rose to be queen of all Persia. Mordecai “just happened” to be in a place to overhear Bigtha and Teresh’s plot, so he could expose them and save the king’s life. Though his loyalty was recorded, it “just happened” that all the king’s officials forgot about him and he received no reward or recognition at that time. One night it “just happened” that King Xerxes couldn’t sleep, and it “just happened” that he asked his servants to read from the royal diaries, then it “just happened” that what they read was the account of Mordecai’s loyalty. When the king wanted advice on how to reward him, who should “just happen” to be out in the court but evil Haman. When Esther finally exposes him, it “just happened” that Haman had built a gallows 75 feet high on which to hang Mordecai, and it “just happens” that Haman is the one who ends up hanging.

Every one of those events could be regarded as mere coincidences. An unbeliever can scoff and blow them off. However, with the eyes of faith, it is easy to see that that chain of events is so utterly unlikely, there is obviously some sovereign Hand guiding them. In addition, it is clear that sovereign Hand is determined to do good to Esther and Mordecai and the Jewish people.

Of that same Hand, we read in the New Testament, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God…” (Rom. 8:28).

We all know that verse and quote it often to ourselves and to each other. May we learn from the book of Esther to appreciate when we find that His “miracles” in our life, His working all things for our good, turn out to be almost always these miracles of providence. May we not be disappointed when we don’t get to see the amazing, undeniable kind of miracles so often recorded in the Bible. Even for Israelites, Boaz and Naomi and Ruth teach us to see God working miraculously in the seemingly mundane events of our daily lives. Daniel and his friends teach us that, even in a godless, pagan world, the Lord is still quite able to work His stupendous miracles. However, Esther teaches us, like Ruth, to see those miracles in the mundane of our lives.

One thing you and I can count on: the forecast for our lives is the kindness of God. Let us be thankful and acknowledge Him whether He chooses to actually do what we would call miracles or if He chooses to simply miraculously guide the mundane of our lives to do us His good. As Elijah had to learn, our Lord is often not in the wind or the earthquake or the fire. Rather we should expect He will be present as that “still, small voice.” In a sense, He is so great, He can work for our good even without stupendous miracles. His miracles may be stupendous or just providence.

May we learn to acknowledge and appreciate whichever He chooses!

Esther 7:7 – 10 “Karma?”

Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

⁷And the king rose in his anger from the banquet of wine into the garden of the palace and Haman stood to seek upon his soul from Esther the queen because he saw that the bad from the king was finished on him. ⁸And the king returned from the garden of the palace to the house of the banquet of the wine and Haman [was] one falling on the couch which Esther [was] on, and the king said, “Will [he] also violate the queen with me in the house?” The word went out from the mouth of the king and the face of Haman was covered. ⁹And Harbona, one from the eunuchs to the face of the king, said, “Also, look! The gallows, which Haman made to Mordecai who spoke [intensely] good on the king, standing in the house of Haman fifty cubits high,” and the king said, “Hang him on it!” ¹⁰And they hung Haman on the gallows which he had caused to prepare to Mordecai and the anger of the king abated.

One more thing I’d like to note before I leave this passage. There are several verses in the Bible that say something like, “Whoever digs a pit may fall into it…”  (Eccl. 10:8). It is worthwhile to stop and ponder how this is illustrated in Haman. Seeing this happen to  Haman, I also want to note how reasonable God’s judgments are. I think we naturally imagine that God sits in Heaven with His assortment of lightning bolts, ready to strike down anyone who “breaks the rules.” Let’s consider whether this is true in Haman’s case.

In Haman, first of all what we see is a man absolutely full of himself. In 5:11 we listened to him boasting to his wife and friends about his “vast wealth, his many sons, and all the ways the king had honored him and how he had elevated him above the other nobles and officials.” Then in v.12, he says, “And that’s not all, I’m the only person Queen Esther invited to accompany the king to the banquet she gave. And she has invited me along with the king tomorrow.” Notice that everything Haman said was true.

Wouldn’t it be interesting to know more about how Haman came about this “great wealth”? We meet him and he’s more than ready to murder people to get what he wants. I would suggest to you this isn’t the first time he’s pursued his wealth and power by literally having someone else killed. In one way or another, he is no doubt in the habit of stepping on other people to advance himself. Even the very fact that he has accumulated this “vast wealth” speaks of his insensitivity and cruelty. Back in 3:9, we noted how he offered to the king “I will put ten thousand talents of silver into the royal treasury for the men who carry out this business (annihilating the Jewish people).”

As I said, commenting on that verse, “Ten thousand talents of silver is a fantastic sum of money. There’s probably no way today to determine absolutely how much that was worth, but it is somewhere in the 100’s of millions or even billions of dollars.” Haman was so wealthy, he could give away such a fantastic sum of money and still be wealthy. Now, I ask, were there no poor people in Persia? Did everyone in the Persian empire have a nice house, closets full of clothes, and a full refrigerator? Surely everyone had access to the very best of medical care, right? We all know the answer to these questions is “No, no, no.” I realize this is very common in this world without God, but the insensitivity and cruelty I find astounding. It’s shocking to think that someone could be that wealthy, yet turn a blind eye to the desperate needs of so many people around them. Of course the world yet today is filled with such people, but that in no way diminishes the incomprehensible cruelty it exposes. Haman was just such a man.

And where does all of this get Haman? He says himself, “All this gives me no satisfaction as long as I see that Jew Mordecai sitting at the king’s gate” (5:13). Stop and think how utterly trivial this is. Here we have a man of almost unimaginable wealth and power and position, and what is it that is ruining his life? One simple man who won’t bend over at the waist. If Haman was a humble man, he probably wouldn’t even notice. He’d be too busy going about his own affairs to even care. What did David say when Abishai wanted to kill the cursing Shimei? “If he is cursing because the Lord said to him ‘Curse David,’ who can ask, ‘Why do you do this?’,,,Leave him alone; let him curse, for the Lord has told him to” (II Sam. 16:10,11). David could brush it off precisely because he wasn’t full of himself. Haman’s arrogance actually kept him from enjoying his wealth! The Lord doesn’t need to clobber him with a lightning bolt. The man’s sin beings on him his own judgment.

In that blind arrogance, he completely misinterprets Esther’s interest in him, takes her invitations as one more reason to swell up like a toad, then orders a gallows built 75 feet high to hang Mordecai. Then we hear the king say of Haman, “Hang him on it!” and we immediately read, “So they hanged Haman on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai.” The man dug a pit and now we see him fall in it.

Was there ever a more just judgment on any man? We see here again my point that the Lord didn’t have to throw any lightning bolts at all. Haman built a gallows on which to cruelly murder an innocent man and he himself ends up dangling from it. If I could peek ahead, it gets worse for Haman. See what happens to the family of this man who would “destroy, kill, and annihilate” other people’s families. In 8:14, we read, “An edict was issued in Susa, and they hanged the ten sons of Haman.” We never read again of his wife Zeresh, but if she lived, what incredible grief overtook this woman who would advise her husband to murder other people. In a moment, Haman, the man who would destroy other people’s families, has his own family utterly decimated.

In this world without God, people call it “karma.” We are all very aware of this reality in our world, that what people do will one way or another come back upon them. We’re all aware of that, but no one ever stops to ask why that would be true. If we’re all just a bunch of evolutionized amoebas living in a world subject to nothing but blind chance, why would there even be karma? If there’s no one in control, why should there be karma? On the other hand, if we believe this universe was created by a God of love and justice, then karma makes perfect sense. In a world actually run by a good God, we can all agree that Haman certainly got what he deserved.

I want to suggest for all of us that we should learn from Haman. In Matt. 7:2, Jesus said, “For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” In Luke 6:38, He said, “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” My grandfather used to recite, “There was a man, they thought him mad. The more he gave, the more he had.”

The thing about God’s world is that it works both ways. We can either be people who dig pits and fall in them, or people who sow kindness and unintentionally receive it in return. We can build gallows to hang our Mordecai’s on and end up hanging from them ourselves, or we can be Esther’s and even risk our lives for others, only to have our name go down in history for that love and courage.

How much more just can that be?

There is, in fact, such a thing as karma in our world, but it is not some arbitrary force. There is a good and loving God who very justly and logically makes it part of our lives all day every day.

Too bad Haman never learned that. Lord help us to make sure we do!

Esther 7:7 – 10 “Personalities”

Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

⁷And the king rose in his anger from the banquet of wine into the garden of the palace and Haman stood to seek upon his soul from Esther the queen because he saw that the bad from the king was finished on him. ⁸And the king returned from the garden of the palace to the house of the banquet of the wine and Haman [was] one falling on the couch which Esther [was] on, and the king said, “Will [he] also violate the queen with me in the house?” The word went out from the mouth of the king and the face of Haman was covered. ⁹And Harbona, one from the eunuchs to the face of the king, said, “Also, look! The gallows, which Haman made to Mordecai who spoke [intensely] good on the king, standing in the house of Haman fifty cubits high,” and the king said, “Hang him on it!” ¹⁰And they hung Haman on the gallows which he had caused to prepare to Mordecai and the anger of the king abated.

The next thing I’d like to do is to pause and ponder the people involved here. First off we have Xerxes. In v.7, we find before us an angry king. That is nearly always a bad thing. As it says in Prov. 16:14, “A king’s wrath is a messenger of death…” Xerxes was just broadsided by the truth that Haman has tricked him. When Haman had told him about the “wicked people in his kingdom” and proposed to dispose of them, Xerxes had assumed he could trust Haman, gave him his signet ring, and said, “Do what you think best.” He trusted him.

Now suddenly, Xerxes sees Haman has taken advantage of his trust and, as a result, his very queen and the man who spoke up for him, Mordecai, have been condemned to death. Obviously, whatever Haman had against the Jews, it is not true what he said: “There is a certain people dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom…Their customs are different from those of all other people, and they do not obey the king’s laws; it is not in the king’s best interest to tolerate them.” Esther? This beautiful, humble girl who has captured Xerxes’ heart? Mordecai? The man who risked his own life to protect him? These are the people, “It is not in the king’s best interest to tolerate them”? What Haman had told him was not true. To make matters even worse, the edict went out in his name, the name of Xerxes, to annihilate these people. Then add to this the problem that once a law was passed in Medo-Persia it could not be repealed.

The king is backed into a corner.

Kings don’t like to be backed into corners.

Back a wild animal into a corner some time and you’ll get a glimpse of what a king in that situation is like. I once suddenly had a woodchuck essentially cornered. If you ever observed them, they look like fat little jolly fellows as they work around the edge of a field eating the clover. This one was none of that. I couldn’t believe the snarling, vicious creature suddenly just a few feet from me. He may have been small, but he was in that moment a very dangerous wild animal. I shot him. Fortunately that is the end of that story. However, for me, it was “lesson learned.” Do NOT corner wild animals.

Haman hadn’t learned that about kings. Same lesson. That day the woodchuck ended up hanging dead on the fence and the hunter walked away. Haman, the hunter himself, ends up the one hanging in Esther’s story! Again, we should all observe, “Do NOT corner kings.” That applies in particular to bosses as well. Then, without trying very hard, we’ll find out it applies to all people. No one likes to be cornered. Do so and you will one way or another be dealing with a snarling, vicious wild animal. What makes kings and bosses particularly dangerous is their power to bite you. Observe Haman and say, “Lesson learned.” “Don’t corner woodchucks.” “Don’t corner kings.” “Don’t corner anyone, if you can help it!”

As I ponder this man whose head is suddenly reeling, there is a part of me that doesn’t want to sympathize with such a wicked, selfish king. However, on the other hand, I feel I totally understand why he jumps up and goes out into the garden. We’ve all been there. We know what it feels like to suddenly be told some devastating news. Our first response is just shock. Our head spins. We need a second away. Then the full realization of what we’ve just been told and what it means for us begins to form in our minds. With that, Xerxes goes back in the room to deal with this man who has tricked him, who has cornered him.

And what meets his eyes? That man is on the couch with his beautiful queen! He immediately shouts, “Will he also violate the queen even with me in the house?” On the one hand, I doubt he really thought Haman had any designs on the queen. He’s just angry and will interpret negatively anything Haman does. On the other hand, I’m sure Persian kings had very strict rules for how any man could interact with his beautiful queen. It wouldn’t surprise me if men were absolutely forbidden from ever getting even within arm’s length of her. It wouldn’t surprise me if men weren’t even allowed to talk to her without the king’s permission. What I’m suggesting is that, even if it was obvious Haman had no lustful intentions, it is probably true that his being on Esther’s very couch and speaking with her was a total violation of Persian protocol. I’m betting that alone would have gotten him a trip to the gallows.

That brings us to Haman. Just yesterday, he was the extremely wealthy, powerful right hand man to the king, boasting to his wife and friends, and plotting the murder of an innocent man. Suddenly that man is on his knees pleading for his life to one of the very people he had plotted to kill. He had forgotten that, no matter how rich and powerful you may be, if there is someone more powerful than you, you’d better not forget it! That is, of course, one the problems with pride. When our own heart is swelled up with our vainly imagined importance, we fail to see we’re actually in a rowboat, facing a battleship. Haman failed to realize that all of his power and wealth hung literally by a thread and it was Xerxes who held that thread.

You and I need to be humble enough to remember our lives are no different. As we go to work, we’d better realize that someone signs our paychecks. For myself, it was a glorious day when I was walking across the yard at A.E. Staley and it suddenly occurred to me, “I could be fired.” For whatever reason, all in a flash, I was aware that I had a really, really good job. I had a regular (good) income coming in with health insurance and 401K benefits and all the rest. It would be a colossal disaster to me (and my wife and little baby son) if I woke up tomorrow morning no longer employed. And what made the difference? Those guys in the front office. They could be deciding at that very moment they wanted to fire me and there would be nothing I could do about it. I suddenly had the overwhelming realization that I had better do everything in my power to stay in those guys’ good graces. I’d better do my job and do it well. I needed to always work remembering in the back of my mind, “I could be fired.” I say again that was, for me, a glorious day. Haman was too proud to realize his job hung by a thread. You and I need to be different!

Then there is Esther. The poor sweetheart is in the very eye of this hurricane. When she finally said, “The adversary and enemy is this vile Haman,” she did not know if the king would take her side, or if he might immediately defend his fair-haired boy and instead turn his anger on Esther. “How dare you accuse my prime minister!” he could have shouted. Then it would have been Esther who died. Literally. That is what she had said: “If I perish, I perish.”

If I could insert a thought, I wonder if the Lord had lately allowed Xerxes to detect Haman’s ambitions? In other words, had Haman done or said some things that left even a shadow of a doubt in Xerxes’ mind about this guy Haman? Obviously, any king had to be extremely jealous of his throne, especially in the company of his richest, most powerful nobles. History is littered with the kings who weren’t quite vigilant enough. It totally would not surprise me if, for Esther’s sake, the Lord had not allowed such glimmers into Xerxes’ mind, so that, when suddenly Haman is exposed, the king is already geared to dispose of him? Just a thought but it wouldn’t surprise me. One of the nice things about knowing the Lord is that, even at work, you can be confident He goes ahead of you and does a lot of quiet unseen work in people’s hearts.

As the king storms out of the house, Esther doesn’t know for sure if he’ll come back in to take her side or order her executed. Then she has blubbering, begging Haman suddenly in her face. A thousand different thoughts must have raced through her mind as suddenly the king re-enters and shouts, “Hang him!” There have apparently been writers down through the years that say she should have, in fact, pleaded with the king to spare Haman. People think that would have been the “Christian” thing to do. First of all, I doubt she had time. All in a flash the king re-enters, accuses Haman of designs on the queen, is told he’d built a gallows for Mordecai, and orders him hanged on it. They instantly cover Haman’s face and drag him out to be hung.

I doubt Esther had a chance to make any pleas at all. Also, remember, this is a king. Unlike Haman, Esther is humble enough to remember who is in charge. Xerxes has obviously already made up his mind. This is a very delicate point, but I would suggest, in this case, Esther was wise to hold her peace, even if her tender heart would have wanted to plead for Haman. I would also challenge whether pleading for Haman was in fact the “Christian” thing to do. Rom. 13:3,4 says, “Rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong…He does not bear the sword for nothing, He is God’s servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrong-doer.” In this particular case, Xerxes is actually doing his job. I would suggest the “Christian” thing to do is to let the man do his job. And I believe Esther is wise enough to know that.

One last person I’d like to observe is Harbona, the king’s eunuch. He is an important fellow. He was identified back in 1:10 as one of the “seven eunuchs who served the king.” He is the one in our story who relates to the king, “A gallows seventy-five feet high stands by Haman’s house. He had it made for Mordecai, who spoke up for the king.” He is obviously suggesting to Xerxes that he should hang Haman on those very gallows.

Others commenting on this passage are quick to point out the fickle approvals of a king’s courtiers. Yesterday they were bowing in Haman’s presence. Today they’re quick to suggest “Hang him!” Typically a king is surrounded by sycophants very quick to perceive the king’s wishes and comply with them. That may all be true and may have played centrally in this sudden turn of attitudes. However, I would like to suggest another possibility. Remember back in 2:15 we were told that Esther “won the favor of everyone who saw her.” It was said of Hegai, who had charge of the harem, “The girl pleased him and won his favor” (2:9).” Then it was said of Xerxes himself, “Now the king was attracted to Esther more than to any of the other women, and she won his favor and approval more than any of the other virgins” (2:17).

What I’d like to suggest is that Harbona likes Esther.  Just like everyone else, she has won his heart, and he is quite fond of her. If that be the case, I can imagine him being just as enraged as Xerxes that Haman could even possibly have put her life in danger. I don’t know if he actually was a physical eunuch or, if he was, what might be left of his maleness, but I can easily imagine the white knight of his male heart being immediately moved to protect this young maiden in distress. I can easily imagine him ready in any moment to defend this very sweet, very beautiful girl, of whom he (and everyone else) is quite fond. Anyone who would threaten his Esther is instantly an enemy in Harbona’s heart. Since we’re not told, we can only guess at what went on in Harbona’s heart, but I like the idea of putting the best possible spin on it all, and being male myself, I can easily imagine I’m right in this case.

For whatever it’s worth, we also need to remember Mordecai. He is at the gate, doing his job, but no doubt his heart is nearly breaking in fear for his beloved daughter and for the future of the Jewish people. He doesn’t know what’s going on. He’s not there. He simply has to trust God and wait and see. I wonder if he even knew that Haman had built a gallows for him? Whatever, what a joy it must have been for him to suddenly see the king’s eunuchs shoving Haman along with his head covered and to hear, “They’re going to hang him!” Mordecai still may not know what it all means. The edict still stands and cannot be repealed. There is still great uncertainty at that moment, yet, he is no doubt aware that the Lord is intervening in their behalf. He has reason to believe Esther has succeeded!

Lots of personalities. Lots of emotions. Everyone of these people is living real lives in a real world. If you and I are wise, we’ll see ourselves in each one of them and learn all we can. We may never face a situation so dire and consequential as this, but we face the same kinds of situations every day. Lord, help us all to face our lives wisely. May we be warned by those who’ve done wrong, but may we be instructed by the Mordecai’s and Esther’s who’ve done right!