Esther 8:3 – 6 “More Esther”

Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

³And Esther added and she spoke [intensively] to the face of the king and she fell to the face of his feet and she wept and she sought favor to him to cause to pass the evil of Haman the Agagite and his plot which he devised upon the Jews. ⁴And the king extended to Esther the scepter of the gold and Esther arose and she stood to the face of the king. ⁵And she said, “If upon the king it is pleasing and if I have found favor to his face, and the matter is proper to the face of the king and good I [am] in his eyes, let it be written to bring back the documents of the plot of Haman, son of Hamedatha the Agagite which he wrote to destroy the Jews who [are] in the all of the provinces of the king. ⁶Because how will I be able and will I see in the evil which will find my people, and how will I be able and will I see in the destruction of my family?”

In the last post, I started considering what we can learn from our brave, sweet, humble Esther. Probably what I see more than anything now is first of all that she is smart, then second she is a person driven by love.

We saw how smart she was even in approaching Xerxes the first time. Every step in her plan, every word she said made it easy for the king to see the evil Haman had implemented. Now we see those same smarts in action again. The first thing she did was to fall at his feet crying. I do not doubt for a second they were sincere tears, that she really was broken-hearted at the horrible threat hanging over her people. On the other hand, it is almost irresistible for a man to see a very beautiful girl crying. Being male myself, I can attest to how the mere thought of it melts my heart. There’s something in it that conjures from a man’s soul the white knight who suddenly must rescue the beautiful maiden in distress!

Once again I do not doubt Esther’s sincerity and I don’t think it is a matter that she is manipulating him. On the other hand, I am quite sure Esther is aware of the power her tears hold over a man. That said, she’s being smart to just let them flow. If anyone in the universe can awaken this indolent king’s heart, it will be the tears of this very beautiful, very sweet, humble young lady.

Then notice how she in no way implicates Xerxes in the crime. Technically speaking, he is the most guilty of all. He is the king. It’s his responsibility to rule. Even though it may have been Haman’s decree, and though Haman got it enacted by deceiving the king, yet he is the king and the thing went out with his name on it. One characteristic I believe is common to all good leaders and something I’ve tried to live when I was in charge, is Harry Truman’s old adage, “The buck stops here.” When I was the superintendent at A.E. Staley, when things went wrong at our plant, I didn’t blame my men. If it happened under my watch, then it was my responsibility. I might have needed to address a failure on one of the men’s part, but I’d do that personally and privately with the man. Publicly, it was my fault and I should own it. In the case before us, Xerxes should have owned Haman’s plot. He himself should have been the one most moved to undo the evil which had been set in motion. Esther, especially being raised by such a fine man as Mordecai, would instinctively know this, yet she’s smart enough to “let it go.”

How does she word it? “She begged him to put an end to the evil plan of Haman, which he had devised against the Jews.” And her request is specifically, “Let an order be written overruling the dispatches that Haman devised and wrote to the destroy the Jews.” Esther very carefully avoids anything which might arouse the pride in Xerxes’ heart. She not only doesn’t blame him, she keeps the focus totally on Haman and his evil. She refers to him as “Haman the Agagite” and “Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite.” I think she is highlighting the fact he is not a Persian. She’s driving a wedge between this king and a man who is “one of them.” She’s actually making it easy for Xerxes to distance his own heart from Haman and his evil.

She also identifies the plot as being against “the Jews in all the king’s provinces.” I wonder if the mere mention of “all the king’s provinces” doesn’t conjure in his mind the thought of taxes and resources. I wonder if it helps him to suddenly realize how much he’ll be losing, if this thing actually happens.

Then of course we can’t overlook her presentation to start with, “If it pleases the king, and if he regards me with favor and thinks it the right thing to do, and if he is pleased with me…” As always Esther goes way out of her way to speak respectfully to this king. She never demands anything. She humbly asks. She no doubt knows Prov. 21:1, “The heart of the king is in the Lord’s hand…” I believe she can stay humble, she doesn’t need to get desperate and start demanding, precisely because she has a God to trust above Xerxes. Then notice too, she’s smart enough to make it personal, “and if he is pleased with me…” Once again, he’s a man. Here he is looking straight into her very pretty, tear-filled eyes and she says, “and if he is pleased with me.” I suspect by this point, the man is already completely slain.

Then finally, she makes the whole thing intensely personal for her. I think she is still being smart, but here is where we see it is love that drives this girl’s heart. “For how can I bear to see disaster fall on my people? How can I bear to see the destruction of my family?” Once again, she’s the queen. She’s safe. She lives in a palace. She’s just been granted the unthinkable wealth of Haman’s estate. Yet she cannot stop thinking about her own people, her family. Like Jesus, twice now she has walked the Via Dolorosa, the path to the Cross. In neither case did Esther end up dead, but she didn’t know that as she walked the path. Like Jesus, she walked it driven by love. “If I perish, I perish,” she said the first time. In the New Testament we learn, “Perfect love casts out fear.”

Many times I’ve referred to her as “brave.” However, if you and I would know her courage, we must first know her love. Love is the engine that drives courage. I often think of how, in World War II, not a single shot was fired, not a single bomb was dropped here in the continental United States. Europe and much of the world was literally destroyed by the war. But it never came here. And why not? It was because our service people went there and, in essence formed a human wall which stood between the horrible war and their families back here. Sadly, of course, that wall was made of soft human flesh and many, many of them died, many were maimed for life, but the wall held and an entire nation was kept safe. Why did they do it? Of course, the word “duty” was prominent in their generation, but I want to say, underneath it all was love. Every single person, man or woman, who did their part, knew that ultimately they were protecting their own homes, their own families.

I like how Alexander MacLaren summarized it all: “Esther may well teach her sisters to-day to be brave and gentle, to use their influence over men for high purposes of public good, to be the inspirers of their husbands, lovers, brothers, for all noble thinking and doing; to make the cause of the oppressed their own, to be the apostles of mercy and the hinderers of wrong, to keep true to their early associations if prosperity comes to them, and to cherish sympathy with their nation so deep that they cannot ‘endure to see the evil that shall come unto them’ without using all their womanly influence to avert it.”

Of course it isn’t just Esther’s “sisters to-day.” All of us, male or female, young or old, rich or poor should learn from Esther to deliberately cultivate love in our hearts, certainly love for everyone, but especially love for our own people, our own families.

Lord, You are love itself. Jesus loved us all the way to the Cross. It’s Your love that buoys our hearts day by day. As we ourselves enjoy Your love, and especially as we see that love in the life of this girl Esther, may it be true, ever more and more, that it is love which drives our hearts too.