Esther 9:16-23 – “Celebration”

Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹⁶And the other of the Jews which [were] in the provinces of the king assembled and stood upon their soul to rest from their enemies and to kill ones hating them seventy-five thousand and in the spoil they did not send out their hand, ¹⁷in the day of the thirteenth to the month of Adar and to rest in the fourteenth in it and to make it a day of feasting and gladness, ¹⁸and the Jews which [were] in Shushan were assembled in the thirteenth in it and in the fourteenth in it to rest in the fifteenth in it and to make it a day of feasting and gladness. ¹⁹Therefore, the Jews of the rural areas, ones dwelling in the villages of the rural areas, making the day of fourteenth in the month of Adar gladness and feasting and a good day and sending portions of a man to one another, ²⁰and Mordecai wrote the things the these and he sent letters to the all of the Jews which [were] in the all of the provinces of the king, Xerxes, the near and the far ones, ²¹to confirm upon them to be making the day of the fourteenth to the month of Adar and the day of the fifteenth in it in all of a year and a year, ²²according to the days which rested in them the Jews from ones hating them and the month which was turned to them from affliction to gladness and from mourning to a day of good to make them days of feasting and gladness and sending portions a man to one another and gifts to the poor ones, ²³and the Jews took [that] which they had begun to do and [that] which Mordecai had written to them.

This is a passage you would think is just presenting the facts of the story, however, if we pause and ponder on it, I think there are actually some interesting lessons we can glean from it. First, though, just a little “housekeeping.” We have here the fact that the Jews throughout the empire followed the decree very specifically, defended themselves on the 13^th of Adar, then rested on the 14th. The Jews in Susa, however, defended themselves on both the 13^th and 14^th, then rested on the 15^th. Why didn’t the rest of the Jews also defend themselves on the 14^th? First of all, if we look closely at 9:13, we’ll see that Esther’s request only included the Jews in Susa: “If it pleases the king, give the Jews in Susa permission to carry out this day’s edict tomorrow also…” And why would Esther limit her request to only the city of Susa?

The problem, I would suggest arises from the difficulties of communication in the ancient world. By the time Xerxes asks Esther, “What is your request,” they are at the end of the day. Even if Esther had wanted the extension to include all the Jews in the entire empire, there would have been no possible way to get that message to them. Horses can only run so fast. And even if you could get the message to some of the cities or villages reasonably nearby, then how do you get the information to all the homes? There is no nightly news. It would be one thing to send out an entire army of heralds to shout the news in all the streets of Susa. The minute you leave that city, especially at that hour, the communication becomes almost impossible. In Esther’s world, it wouldn’t have been realistic to ask for anything more and it certainly wouldn’t have been possible to implement any more. So you end up with this difference of days, and this question of, “So when do we celebrate?”

Then, a “for whatever it’s worth,” I notice it says in v.20, “Mordecai recorded these events…” Commentators down through the centuries have noticed this as well. Some dismiss it as simply referring to the immediate matters of this 13^th/14^th/15^th problem. Others would suggest it’s telling us that Mordecai is the author of this book itself. There is no possible way to know which is right, but I think I’ll add my own blathering to the cacophony: I think, in fact, that Mordecai is the author of this book of Esther. It would make perfect sense that, while he’s establishing an annual celebration of the whole matter, that he would write out an account of it all. In ages to come, the Jewish people will need not only a time to celebrate, but they’ll also need a factual record to repeatedly recount the events for which that celebration exists.

To support this assertion, it is true that today, some 2,500 years later, the reading of the book of Esther is a central part of the Jewish people’s celebration of their Purim holiday.

However, I would suggest that Mordecai’s penmanship at this point also explains why there is no mention of God in the entire book. If Mordecai, as Persia’s Prime Minister, is writing this as the “official” royal account, then it would be entirely inappropriate for him to garnish it with the kind of God-references we would expect in a book of our Bible.  The minute this thought occurs to me, I personally find it absolutely familiar. I can’t even guess how many times, as an engineer, I have been tasked with writing an account of some project, how it came about, how it was accomplished, and how it all ended up. In my own mind, I may see God in it all, but I would rarely ever even mention His name. It’s not a matter that I’m somehow “afraid” to bring it up. It simply isn’t appropriate. In this “world without God,” business is conducted oblivious to His presence, and it is usually appropriate to record the facts without faith references.

Just recently I was in a small city observing how badly they needed a new wastewater treatment plant. However, there is no way a few thousand people could come up with the millions of dollars it would cost. All I could do was pray for them. Then, suddenly, events transpired where the needed funding was made available and the project initiated. All along the way, we met one giant job-killing obstacle after another, yet we overcame each until finally the new plant was built, it was in operation, and a ribbon-cutting ceremony was planned to celebrate. I was asked to give an account of the project to the group. In my own mind and without the slightest question, I could see the hand of God in it all from beginning to end, yet I knew such references would be entirely inappropriate. I knew the mayor and many in the group to be devout Catholics and I might have even mentioned the Lord once in my conclusion, but I doubt it. It just simply isn’t appropriate.

Had I been giving the same speech to the believers who were involved in the project, we could have had a wonderful praise session together, however, what was called for was simply an account of the facts, and that is what I gave them. My suggestion is that is exactly what Mordecai has done. The book of Esther isn’t being written in Israel, it isn’t being written by a prophet or a priest, and it isn’t being written solely for the sake of the Jewish people. This is the royal account recorded on behalf of the king of a nation where our God simply does not exist. No one has to agree with me, but it seems patently obvious to me, this is exactly what is going on.

May I also inject (again) that I don’t necessarily think that is a bad thing either—to have this book in the Bible that so dramatically displays God’s providential care in a world that does not acknowledge Him, in a book that never so much as mentions His name. Once again, that is the world most of us have to live in. If you and I see God in our world, it will have to be because we ourselves see Him, not because anyone is pointing Him out along the way. Every other book of the Bible does exactly that—points Him out, attributes events to Him, acknowledges His presence, but not the book of Esther. In this book, you and I will have to live our faith just like Mordecai and Esther have to, in their “world without God.”

I would go so far as to suggest, out of all the books of the Bible, the book of Esther most accurately depicts your world and mine, and I would maintain that is because Mordecai wrote it for his “bosses” in the same kind of world, expressing things the same way you and I most of the time have to, whether it is at work, at school, in sports, or wherever.

Well, that’s enough blathering. Back to our story. Several lessons stand out to me. This is in fact, one of the great deliverances of the Bible, right next to the crossing of the Red Sea and the slaying of 185,000 Assyrians. The problem is, no matter how stupendous God’s deliverance may be, we are all very forgetful people. Mordecai is very wise to turn this celebration into an annual festival. He is very wise to write down this account which can be read year after year and to set very specific dates when the celebration is to occur.

Peter wrote “So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them…I think it is right to refresh your memory…and I will make every effort to see that after my departure you will always be able to remember these things” (II Pet. 1:12-15).

The Lord Himself did the same with the festivals Moses instituted, like the Passover. Not only that, but Jesus Himself did this when He instituted the Lord’s Supper. “Do this in remembrance of Me, for every time you drink this cup and eat this bread, you show the Lord’s death until He comes.” What more important “deliverance” ought we humans to celebrate than the Cross? Yet Jesus knew we are so forgetful, even that will be lost in the hurry-scurry and bustle of our busy lives, so He instituted this practice of “the Lord’s Supper.” It is then incumbent on each of us, every time we do partake of Communion, to deliberately remind ourselves of Jesus, of the sacrifice of His body and blood, and of our great deliverance. “Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin.” Mordecai wanted people to remember the deliverance of Purim. “Memory is the mother of gratitude.”

Then observe in v.22 how Mordecai included in his proclamation that the Jews should not only send gifts to one another but also to “the poor.” What a model of official sensitivity! While the Jewish people as a group are all “celebrating” this high holiday, Mordecai realizes there will be people so poor, they cannot. Have a feast? What about people who have no food? My mind goes immediately to our celebration of Christmas and how every year, while the rest of us are celebrating, there are people who cannot. That may be, like the Jews, a poverty problem, but in America it is perhaps more often a grief thing. There must be every year many, many people for whom Christmas is a reminder of their losses. Rather than joy, for many all the celebration is like rubbing salt in their wounds. I’m glad Mordecai didn’t overlook such people and neither should you or I. Lord give us all the hearts and the eyes to see when our own “good” days may be hurtful to someone else, to be sensitive enough to do whatever we can to at least try to make it a day of celebration for them too! Mordecai did. So should you and I.

 

Esther 9:15-16 – “Fighting”

Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹⁵And the Jews which [were] in Shushan assembled also in the day of the fourteenth to the month of Adar and they killed in Shushan three hundred of man and in the spoil they did not send out their hand. ¹⁶And the other of the Jews which [were] in the provinces of the king assembled and stood upon their soul to rest from their enemies and to kill ones hating them seventy-five thousand and in the spoil they did not send out their hand.

This is a good place to remember the decree. Reflecting word for word Haman’s wicked, malignant decree, Mordecai’s “allowed the Jews who were in every city to gather and defend their lives, to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate any armed force of any people or province that might attack them, children and women included, and to plunder their goods, on one day throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar.”

Warfare. Fighting.

Frankly, I’m not sure where I’m going with this, but it strikes me that these two verses are worth some serious pondering. For some time now, it has been interesting to me to note how, throughout most of human history, for most people, fighting and the need to fight has been part and parcel of people’s daily lives. Boys used to grow up assuming they needed to know how to handle weapons, whether it was swords, or bow & arrows, or guns—all on the understanding the time might come when they would have to defend their families or that they would be expected to serve in militias or the military.

As late as my parents’ generation, practically every boy learned to box. In one sense that was a “sport,” but there was also the sense that a guy would need to know how to defend himself. As we read through the Old Testament, we read of a world where fighting and warfare were a constant reality for the Jewish people. The entire culture of the American Indians was built around war and killing ones’ enemies. Europe has been engaged in an endless blood-bath for centuries. I think of the Viking invasions of England, where they would suddenly appear along the coast or up a river, attack a farm and kill everyone, then move in.

We read these verses and others like them and may, at first glance, find them repulsive, but we need to remember, once again, this has been part and parcel of most people’s reality throughout human history. Kill or be killed. Defend your family and your farm. Take up your sword, aim your gun, pull the trigger—or else.

I’m very thankful that isn’t the world I’ve had to live in. I have lamented before the fact that I simply am not a fighter. It’s just never been in my nature to even want to hurt other people (most of the time). I really like people. I like being with people. I like getting along and getting things done together. I try hard to encourage people to get along, to respect and appreciate each other. Even physically speaking, it’s a good thing I haven’t been required to fight, as I would have been dead long ago. I have very slow reflexes and just have never excelled at anything that required speed, coordination, and power. I’ve loved running, because all I had to do was keep putting one foot in front of the other, and endurance has definitely been my strength—maybe I couldn’t do something as fast as someone else, but I can do it for a lot longer! 

When I was young, the Viet Nam War was raging. Every year they would do a lottery of birthdates to decide which guys went to the top of the list for the draft. Even though I wasn’t old enough to serve, still I’d read those newspaper articles in a terror to see where my birthday fell. I had absolutely no interest in joining the military, and especially of getting my head blown off in a jungle half-way round the world! Fortunately, just before I turned 18, that war ended and when I went to sign up for the draft (every guy had to), they told me it wasn’t necessary any more. Hallelujah. What a relief I felt driving home that day!

Growing up, pretty much every man was a WW II veteran, and then there was the Korean War which followed not long after. So war wasn’t ever very far away. On the other hand, those men had so protected our world that by the latter half of the twentieth century (I was born in 1957), war and fighting were always “far away” things. We’ve been able to live in what has been an unusually safe world. In fact, it has been so “safe,” we’ve all but lost any sense of the need to fight at all. I probably don’t even want to know the percentage of boys growing up today who don’t know how to hold a gun, much less use it with skill. Unless someone trains in martial arts (which I wish I had), few even know how to swing a punch.

I guess, on the one hand, I am thankful I haven’t had to be a fighter, while on the other hand lamenting how we have lost those skills. Somehow that just cannot be a good thing. Obviously, it was good that the Jewish men in our story knew how to handle their swords. Unfortunately, Haman’s people knew what a sword was and had every intention of using theirs! Just like most of the rest of human history, it was “kill or be killed.”

Warfare. Fighting.

I suppose I should inject here—someone will say, “Aren’t we supposed to ‘turn the other cheek’?” Two things: First of all, that is a verse about interpersonal relationships, not national politics. Once again, Romans 13 says out government doesn’t “bear the sword in vain.” If my neighbor sits on his porch and shoots at my house, I don’t shoot back. I call the police. Second of all, no one seems to notice, what Jesus is talking about is trifles. He says specifically “If someone strikes you on the right cheek…” Notice, if a normally right-handed man hits me to hurt me, he’ll strike my left cheek. A “strike” to my right cheek is a back-hand, which is an insult, not an attack. Jesus is saying, “Let it go.” “It isn’t worth fighting over.” The same is true when He says, “If he sues you for your shirt, give him your coat.” If I was actually served a summons that someone was suing me for one of my shirts, Jesus is saying, “Give them your coat and be done with it.” It isn’t worth fighting over it. Again, He’s talking about trifles.

As we are reminded here in the book of Esther, there is evil in this world. There will be a day when “The wolf will lie down with the lamb… They will neither harm nor destroy on all My holy mountain” (Isa. 11:6-9), however, that day is not today. In fact, today the problem is far worse than we are generally willing to acknowledge. “We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” (Eph. 6:11). Satan is still “the prince of the power of the air” and he is a murderer and a liar. He and his minions are constantly at work spreading lies, destroying relationships, and trying to kill people and get them to kill each other. As the old saying goes, “All that is required for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.”

And so, like our Jewish friends, we live in a world where sooner or later we must fight. When it comes to defending our families, we too might have to be a part of seeing 75,800 men killed. On the other hand, we have the spiritual warfare that swirls around us. In that case, “…the weapons of our warfare are not fleshly, but powerful to God for bringing down of strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (II Cor. 10:4,5).  That is the fight that calls us to “put on the full armor of God… praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication” (Eph. 6:13-18). Whether you and I ever have to take up a weapon and kill another person, we will all face the spiritual battle.

Our families and friends are in mortal danger and so we must wrestle in prayer for their lives and their souls. Fortunately, our God is far greater and stronger than all the evil in this world. As Elisha’s servant hand to learn, “More are they that are for us, than they that are against us.

Yet there is a fight to be fought. As I read these two verses over and over, I deeply admire these Jewish men. When it was time to fight, they stood their ground. Even though it’s not my nature to fight at all, I pray when these times come and when I should “fight the good fight,” that by grace I too will stand my ground and be and do whatever is right before the Lord.

Warfare. Fighting.

It is a reality the Jews could not escape and, like them, we’ll not escape either. God help us to be faithful.

Esther 9:12-14 – “Wow”

Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹²And the king said to Esther the queen, “In Shushan the citadel the Jews have killed and destroyed five hundred of man and the ten sons of Haman. In the rest of the provinces of the king, what have they done? And what [is] your petition and it will be given to you, and what [is] your further request, and it will be done.” ¹³And Esther said, “If upon the king it is good, let it be given also tomorrow to the Jews which [are] in Shushan to do according to the decree of the day and hang the ten sons of Haman on the tree,” ¹⁴and the king said to do thus and a decree was given in Shushan and the ten sons of Haman were hanged.

This is a particularly significant passage as these are the last words we’ll hear from our lovely Esther. Before I ponder on them, there are a few things I want to point out. One is another Jewish tradition that the bulk of these “enemies of the Jews” were actually, like Haman, Amalekites. That would also explain their animosity and the blind hatred that could not give up the delicious opportunity to kill Jews, even after Mordecai’s edict was issued. Certainly, since Adolf Hitler, we are all too aware one doesn’t have to be an Amalekite to hate Jewish people. On the other hand, the Lord had told the Israelites to wipe out the Amalekites, which Saul infamously failed to do. What the Rabbis suggest is that this is that final blow, that final extinction of the Amalekites. There is no way now to know if this is the case, but it certainly fits.

Also, there are always people who read into the text a spirit of vindictiveness and vengeance on the part of the Jews, including our Esther. However, we should note that no less than three times (v.10,15, 16) we are told “but they did not lay a hand on the plunder.” When Mordecai issued the second decree, he wrote it (as we noted earlier) fighting fire with fire. The first decree had given the enemies of the Jews the freedom to not only kill the men, but also the women and children, and to plunder their Jewish victims’ possessions. Mordecai wrote in the same freedoms for the Jewish people. Yet what does it say? “But they did not lay a hand on the plunder.” Also note, throughout the text, it is the men they killed, not the women and children.

What is my point? Obviously, that doesn’t sound very “vindictive.” Rather it only highlights the fact that the Jews are not being driven by vindictiveness—even when almost anyone would grant them the right. No, they were clearly acting in complete self-defense. The Jewish men stood with their swords drawn, looking into the faces of men who had resolved to kill even the Jewish women and children. Like the men and women of our armed forces, those Jewish men stood to protect their wives and children and what that required was that they kill 800 men in Susa and 75,000 throughout the rest of the empire. The brave pilots of the British RAF took to the air to shoot down the German bombers, not first of all out of vindictiveness, but rather to protect their innocent families and friends down below.

Again, this is clearly emphasized by the thrice-repeated “but they did not lay a hand on the plunder.” Having killed the men who threatened their families, these Jewish men simply took their swords and went home. One has to wonder what effect that had on the Persian people? I wonder that even in the case of the families of the men they killed. As news came back that the Jews were slaughtering those men, surely their families back home cringed in terror awaiting the Jewish assault on they themselves. How did it affect them when, after waiting and waiting and waiting, they finally realized the Jews weren’t coming?

And then there is our Esther. What a girl she is! First we learned she was beautiful, then we learned she was very smart, now we learn that she is a very strong woman. This passage deeply impresses me. Up to this point we have seen her sweet and humble, we’ve seen her very brave, and we’ve seen her driven by love. As much as we would admire all those qualities, there is the temptation to see weakness in it all. My father warned me once, “They may see your kindness as weakness.” For whatever reason, in this world, that is always a danger. It’s easy to see Esther as this vey beautiful, very sweet girl, but then to assume “she wouldn’t hurt a fly,” that, when it comes time to get tough on people, she’ll look to Xerxes or Mordecai to be the “strong” ones. Yet, what do we see? Now we find out she was anything but weak! Here we have an example of a woman who could be all those things she should be (sweet, humble, loving) and yet do it all out of strength, not weakness.

Jesus is that way. He came to this world and said of Himself He was “gentle and humble in heart” (Matt. 11:29). Isaiah said He’d be a man who “A bruised reed He will not break, and a smoldering wick He will not snuff out” (42:3). When the Pharisees brought to Him the woman caught in adultery, what did He say? “Neither do I condemn you. Go now and leave your life of sin” (John 8:11). Even as He was being crucified, Isaiah said it would be true of Him, “As a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He did not open his mouth” (53:7). It is easy, in this world, to interpret all of that for weakness.

Yet, when He returns, what will He be like? In Rev. 19, John tells us, “Then I saw heaven standing open, and there before me was a white horse. And its rider is called Faithful and True. With righteousness He judges and wages war. He has eyes like blazing fire, and many royal crowns on His head…He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and His name is The Word of God. The armies of heaven, dressed in fine linen, white and pure, follow Him on white horses. And from His mouth proceeds a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and He will rule them with an iron scepter. He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty” (vv.11-15). 

Jesus was and is anything but weak! In fact His gentleness and His kindness were actually strength under control. As He told Peter in the Garden, “Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and He will at once put at My disposal more than twelve legions of angels?” (Matt. 26:53). What we learn here in Esther 9:13 is that our queen is like Him! Her sweetness and kindness are qualities of strength, not weakness. When she says to Xerxes, “If it pleases the king…,” we now know that submissive spirit is not one of weakness but of strength. She knows exactly what she’s doing. She knows it is right to respect this man who is her husband and king, and so that is how she chooses to behave. It is her choice.

And now what do we find? Even after the Jews in Susa have killed five hundred cruel, malignant men, she somehow knows there are still three hundred more who will be plotting their next opportunity to kill the Jewish people—men, women, and little children. And so, she immediately requests of Xerxes that they be allowed a second day to hunt down those men and execute them. Our sweet, loving girl has a spine made of solid steel! And not only that, but she also knows that evil people need to be crushed forcefully. Even after these eight hundred men are dead, just in case anyone else has any lingering intentions to harm the Jewish people, there needs to be one last display of strength they will not miss. “Hang the ten sons of Haman on the tree,” she says. They’re already dead. However, the world needs to know they’re dead. The world needs to know such malignant men will not be tolerated. And so, Esther would have them exposed to what, in their culture, was the ultimate disgrace, to have their dead bodies hung up to rot before everyone’s eyes.

One interesting note is that, in Hebrew, it is literally the tree. This “tree” might be a cross or a gallows, but whatever it is, it is very possible it is the same place their father had built to hang Mordecai and the same place their father died. It may or may not have been, but either way, Esther would have evil crushed and crushed powerfully. Solomon warned, “When the sentence for a crime is not quickly carried out, the hearts of the people are filled with schemes to do evil” (Eccl. 8:11). Esther was wise (and strong) enough to make sure that didn’t happen.

Again, I am deeply impressed. These last words we get to hear from our Esther would leave us not only admiring her for her beauty and all her sweetness, but we’re left admiring her strength! She may be sweet, but she’s no one to mess with!

Wow.