Esther 7:7 – 10 “Triumph”

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.

This passage is bursting with helpful instruction if we’ll just slow down and ponder on it. Clearly this is one of the Bible’s great days of triumph, right beside the drowning of Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea or the slaying of Sennacherib’s 185,000 Assyrians. To those we could add the day Daniel was lifted alive out of the lions’ den while his accusers themselves became next on the menu. Of course, reigning above them all is the day Jesus got up out of the tomb! Add to all of those the Day of the Lord, when Jesus Himself will return and “a sharp sword will go forth out of His mouth, wherewith to slay the wicked.”

The Bible really is a book of triumph.

It needs to be. Here, contained in this story, is the seemingly cruel reality of our lives – that constant frightening awareness that we live in a world we cannot control, that dreadful realization it is a world too often controlled instead by wicked people whose goal it would seem is to destroy us and our families. How often do we all feel that “everything is against us”?

Here were Esther and Mordecai, a man and his daughter who loved each other and were trying to live humble lives. The Jewish people all throughout Persia were just a quiet people living their lives and treasuring their families, when all of a sudden Haman’s horrific decree was announced. Suddenly there was a date on the calendar when they would all be brutally murdered.

Our threats may not be that bad, but they are threats nevertheless. Herein is precisely the reason we all cling to verses like Rom. 8:28, “All things work together for good to them that love God,” and Jer. 29:11, “I know the plans I have for you, plans to do you good and not to harm you, plans to give you a future and a hope.” We desperately need the hope that we have a God who actually reigns over it all. We need the hope that there is a Power greater than the evil, a power that, at any time, can overrule the wicked, and who in fact has promised to make it all turn out well in the end. We need a Power that loves us!

I would add, once again, this is one of the beauties of this book of “A World Without God.” Esther presents to us a world that feels so much like our own – a world where it is often very hard to “see” God, where that hope we so desperately need has to be a hope of faith. However, Esther also presents to us this world where faith does triumph! The Hamans of this world do end up hanging on their very own gallows!

As I read all of this and ponder on it, I’m reminded of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. I’m reminded they got up that morning, no doubt knowing they would die that very day. Being very high up in the government of Babylon, they must have known all about Nebuchadnezzar’s plans for his golden image and his fiery furnace for all who would refuse to bow. Yet that night they put on their pajamas and went to bed, not roasted to death but instead triumphant against the very evil that had threatened them! What stuck me most about that passage was that the Lord knew all along. He knew in the morning that they would be thrown into the fire and He knew they would walk out of it unharmed. They actually could have gotten up in the morning literally excited to see what the day would bring! Because they could trust God, they could have faced that day in the confident assurance the forecast for their lives was the kindness of God!  In spite of their fears they could have literally run into their future!

As I related after studying that passage, I’ve been a terrible worry-wort my whole life. I tried and tried for years to learn to trust God and rise above all those worries but never quite seemed to get there. I’d resolve to trust Him “next time,” then get clobbered and end up back in the same place, blubbering in my terrors, only to see Him (again) turn all things to my good. Then I would want to kick myself. Why can’t I just rest in His promises and stop wasting all that emotional energy? Somehow the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego finally allowed my heart to lay hold of this amazing confidence. Even in this evil, threatening world, the forecast for our lives is the kindness of God. Even though, by all accounts, it all looks very dark and foreboding, I myself can run into that future!  I still of course feel the threats. I still sense the terror, but the boys really did help me make some kind of quantum leap forward in my faith. I honestly would no longer identify myself as a “worry-wort.”

And this story of Esther only reinforces that confidence. The Lord knew. From the very beginning. From beginning to end, He was quite in charge, in spite of how the world appeared to poor Esther and Mordecai and the Jewish people. In the world they could see, this seeming world without God, there was only great darkness and fear. Yet, the God they could not see was quite present and quite in charge. Nothing has changed in 2,500 years. Our world still threatens us, but it is also still true: the Most High rules in the nations of men.

Robert Hawker (ca. 1800) saw these things and wrote: “Oh! for grace to love Jesus, and to know Jesus as a friend, even when in His providences He seems to frown as though He was an enemy. Oh! for grace to lean on one arm, when with the other He is correcting; to cleave to Him, when we cannot take comfort from the darkness of His ways towards us. By and by (the soul saith) He will appear to my joy: I shall behold His face in righteousness. I know that all the ways of the Lord are mercy and truth. Things are now dark; but the morning will come. Oh! for grace, then, to wait the Lord's time, and to be convinced that all things must and do work together for good to them that love God, and are the called according to his purpose.”

Esther again reminds me the forecast for our lives every day is the kindness of God. Esther again reminds me that every day I can run into my future. Triumph is our destiny!

There is so much more I want to observe in this passage, but I think I’ll stop for now and come back again,

Esther 7:1-6 “That’s Our Girl!”

Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹And the king and Haman went to banquet with Esther the queen, ²and the king said to Esther again in the day of the second in the banquet of wine, “What [is] your petition, Queen Esther, and it will be given to you and what [is] your request, until the half of the kingdom and it will be done?” ³And Esther the queen answered and she said, “If I have found favor in your eyes, O king, and if upon the king it is good, let my soul be given to me in my petition and my people in my request, ⁴because I and my people have been sold to [be] exterminated, to [be] murdered, and to [be] destroyed, and if we had been sold to men-slaves and girl-slaves, I would have caused to be silent because the distress not being smooth in the loss of the king.” ⁵And Xerxes the king said and he said to Esther the queen, “Who he this? And where this he who his heart has filled him to do this?” ⁶And Esther said, “A man, an adversary, and a hating one, Haman the bad the this,” and Haman was terrified from to the faces of the king and the queen.

There are many notable observations we could take from these verses, but I mainly just want to observe what an amazing young woman Esther is. Hopefully we could all walk away encouraged to “go and do likewise.”

First notice her humility. She says to him, “If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it seems good to you…” Notice the if, if, and notice that she addresses him as “O king.” She could have addressed him as “my husband,” or started it with “As your queen…,” as if those things earned her some special favor before him. Notice too that, after her first request, each time she patiently waits until he asks her what her request is. She clearly lets him be “in charge.” Then when she does ask, she uses his exact words in her response. He had asked, "What is your petition, and what is your request?” She responds with, “Grant me my life – this is my petition, and spare my people – this is my request.” In Hebrew, the words for petition and request are the same words Xerxes had used and in the same order. Even in how she answers, she lets him be “in charge.” Then, of course, she adds, “If we had only been sold as male and female slaves, it wouldn’t have been worth bothering you over, and I would have kept silent.”

Actually, just so it is acknowledged, that last statement of hers is very difficult to translate. If you look it up in different Bibles, you will find quite a variety of wordings. However, for our purposes, no matter how it gets translated, what she is saying is that she is concerned for the king himself and wants to spare him trouble.

All of that said, remember she is very beautiful. No doubt Xerxes was used to the Persian girls whose beauty only made them haughty and presuming. Not so with Esther. Of course Esther knew she was very beautiful. She had probably known that ever since she was old enough to notice people’s attention and be told many times, “You’re so cute!” But Mordecai had somehow helped her to see her beauty as something not to be arrogant about, but rather as a gift from God. Somehow he had taught her to keep her focus on being humble and kind, to still always assume she’d have to earn people’s respect and not to use her beauty as a way to manipulate other people.

Most of us reading the text of course don’t have to struggle with how to live in this world knowing we’re stunningly beautiful or handsome! However, we are all quite capable of getting haughty and arrogant, especially when we think we deserve something. Esther didn’t, even when her very life was at stake. We might pause and ask, what makes someone humble like Esther? Here is what I would like to suggest: It is her faith that makes her humble. Once again, in this book of a world without God, we don’t get to be directly told that Esther is trusting God. However, what her faith does is it frees her from feeling she needs to somehow “control” this situation. She can trust God that somehow all of this will work out, that whether she lives or dies, she can simply entrust it all to this God who loves her and Mordecai and her people. I personally love that one of the Hebrew words for “trust” actually means to be “recklessly confident.” That is clearly what Esther is.

On the other hand, for people who have no God to trust, they must resort to some kind of manipulation to make sure this whole thing turns out the way they want it to. It is that very manipulation that inevitably expresses itself as some form of very unattractive arrogance. I think we could all agree, if a girl tried to use her beauty or position to persuade Xerxes to spare her life, no one would blame her. We would all agree that, when her life is at stake, “Hey! You gotta do what you gotta do. You have to put all your aces on the table!” We wouldn’t blame her. But Esther here teaches us a better way – the way of trusting the God who rules even over the heart of a king. What she teaches us is that, even in a totally pagan world of people who could care less about God, even with people who are totally selfish and even narcissists, and even when our very life is at stake, the humility that comes from trusting God is a beautiful thing.

Another thing that has amazed me is how she has had Haman present all along the way. It had to be very brave of her to utter those words “The adversary and enemy is this vile Haman,” and to do it right to his face! Remember he is the king’s most favored counselor. In a split second, the king has to decide which is more important to him, his queen or his favorite counselor. It would have been so easy for Esther to not have had Haman present, but somehow she knew her accusation would be far more effective if she could accuse him to his face right in front of the king.

Those thoughts probably lead to another observation I want to make, and that is how smart our Esther is. If you slow down and really think through what she’s done, how she did it, what order she did it in, what she’s said, every step of the way she has been amazingly wise. All the way back to her very first request, remember that she invited the king and Haman to her banquet which she had prepared. It's like saying to any man, I’ve got steaks on the grill. At that moment, you are already about 97% on the way to him accepting your invitation! Then we saw how two times she put off her request with an invitation to dinner. By this third time, Xerxes knows this must be something very important, so he is prepared to hear something he knows will concern far more than the color of her apartment or even a favor to a friend.

Then notice even the order of the request itself. Her very first request is to ask for her life. That no doubt in itself was shocking to the king, to think his beautiful, sweet, humble queen was in danger!  I believe in an instant, the “knight in shining armor” in his male heart arose at the thought of this “maiden in distress.” Only then does she add, “and my people,” so the king begins to realize this is way bigger than even just Esther. Then she brings in the very wording of Haman’s edict when she says, “I and my people have been sold to destruction and slaughter and annihilation.”

Haman had coined those words in the gleeful animosity of his evil heart. Now Esther turns their shock value against him as, no doubt, the king hears them for the first time. Some have suggested she uses those words to remind him of Haman’s edict. However, remember the king passed the whole thing off to Haman and said, “Do whatever you wish.” Then remember that the king cares absolutely nothing about the plight of his people. He has gone so far as to utterly insulate himself against any indication of their sorrow. Remember when the edict was issued, “all Susa was bewildered,” but he and Haman “sat down to drink.” I seriously doubt he’s ever even heard the words. It’s very likely, even today as they are seated together, he knows nothing about the whole affair.

Finally, after all her wise preparations, he exclaims, “Who is he? Where is the man who has dared to do such a thing!” In the Hebrew, it is especially clear that by this time he is actually alarmed. Then Esther arrives at the accusation itself. Even in it, she proceeds wisely. She says literally, “a man, an enemy, and a hating one.” In Hebrew, each term progressively expresses more aversion, until finally she says, “Haman, the bad, this one!”

I suspect, after all Esther’s very skillful emotional buildup, in that very moment, the king finally realizes this is what Haman’s edict was about. In a moment he realizes that Haman tricked him into issuing the edict, that Haman took advantage of his trust and used his favored position to carry out his own personal vendetta. He perhaps remembers that Haman had described them as a people “whose customs are different from those of all other people and who do not obey the king’s laws.” Now, in a flash, the king realizes he was talking about people like Esther and Mordecai, and that the accusation itself was totally untrue. One can only imagine the intensity of his anger!

Haman was certainly right by this point to be “terrified” in the presence of the king and queen. As we say, “His goose was cooked.” Good job, Esther! Once again, I am amazed how artfully she prepared and executed her case against Haman. I suspect she would have made an awesome attorney! What it teaches all of us is to consider carefully our words, especially when there are major issues at stake. If we need to go to our bosses or to someone of significant position, we need to learn from Esther not to just go in and blurt out whatever is on our mind. We should intelligently think through what we will say and how we will say it, do our best to present our case, then, like Esther, trust God with the outcome, so that, through it all, we maintain a humble, calm demeanor.

I think we can all say to her, “Esther, I’m very proud of you!”

 

Esther 6:11-14 “People of Hope”

Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹¹And Haman took the clothing and the horse and he caused to clothe Mordecai and caused him to ride in the street of the city and he called to his face, “This will be done to the man which the king delights in honoring him.” ¹²And Mordecai returned to the gate of the king and Haman hastened himself to his house mourning and head being covered. ¹³And Haman recounted to Zeresh his wife and to the all of his friends the all of which had happened to him, and his wise men and Zeresh his wife said to him, “If from the seed of the Jews Mordecai [is] whom you have begun to fall to his face, not you will be able to him because to fall you will fall to his face.” ¹⁴While ones speaking [intently] with him the eunuchs of the king arrived and they caused to hasten to go Haman to the banquet which Esther had made.

Before I leave these verses, I want to note something else. I’d like to observe the counsel one gets living in a world without God and coming from people without God. Just yesterday Zeresh and his friends flattered Haman’s pride and urged him to murder a man. Now, at this downturn in his life, they offer him no help or hope, but rather would drive him to despair. “You cannot stand against him,” they say. “You will surely come to ruin!”

Over the years, I have noticed that almost without exception, even when God has to pronounce judgment on someone, He invariably also offers hope. On the other hand, when the wicked counsel people in distress, they often only drive them further into despair. In deep remorse, Judas rushed back to the chief priests saying, “I have sinned, for I have betrayed innocent blood,” and what was their response? “What is that to us? That’s your responsibility.” And what did he do? “He threw the money into the temple and went away and hanged himself.” Even those men (who were supposed to be religious leaders) gave him no help or hope but rather drove him to despair.

The Jewish people angered the Lord again and again and again from the time they left Egypt until finally He had no choice but to destroy them as a nation. For what amounted to about 800 years, He sent His prophets to warn them over and over. However, listen as the stroke of judgment finally has to fall: “Because you have not listened to My words, I will summon all the peoples of the north and My servant Nebuchadnezzar…and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants…I will completely destroy them…I will banish from them the sounds of joy and gladness…This whole country will become a desolate wasteland” (Jer. 25:8-11).

Sounds pretty bleak, yes? But then note what He adds, “And these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years…When the seventy years are completed…I will come to you and fulfill My gracious promise to bring you back to this place” (Jer. 25:11; 29:10). Even in one of the most horrible judgments in Bible history, the Lord still mingled it with hope. It seems to me, as my mind reviews the Scriptures, that God’s judgments are almost always accompanied by the invitation to repent and escape those judgments. Even the Curse itself came with the promise that the Seed of the woman would someday come and crush the head of the serpent.

But not so Haman’s friends. “You will surely come to ruin!”

What about you and me? Are we people of hope? Do we realize how important it is never to leave someone in despair? Do we choose our words carefully so that, even in dark hours, we give people hope? “Life and death are in the power of the tongue” (Prov. 18:21). Eph. 4:29 tells us, “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.”

Here is another place where we must learn to speak for God. We must learn to consciously let the Spirit of God help us form our words as we would speak even casually to other people. If we do, we’ll be people of hope—not because we’re so clever, but because that’s the kind of God He is. Just think how often you’ve heard someone speaking and you were left with that overwhelming sense of “I could never do that.” That person might be talking about some great success of theirs, but somehow it only leaves you feeling all the more hopeless. On the other hand, we have all listened to someone else and found ourselves suddenly filled with hope. “I can do that,” we say to ourselves. “That really helps!” Which do you and I want to be? People who even unknowingly sow despair or those who infuse hope? Again, if we would be people of hope, I don’t think we’ll succeed because we’re so clever. We can succeed just because we’re consciously trying to speak for God, to let Him give us the words, to say to people what He would say were He the one standing here. Rest assured He will bless us and use us even if all we can do is try.

One minor thought I want to note is how Zeresh and the friends said, “Since Mordecai is of Jewish origin, you cannot stand against him!” Isn’t it interesting they know there is something different about Jewish people? For the most part, the world has always hated the Jewish people. Just like Haman, nations and peoples all down through history have persecuted and even sought to annihilate the Jewish people, from the pogroms of the medieval world to Adolf Hitler to the Arabs of today who would “drive them into the ocean.” And yet, there is that underlying seemingly universal knowledge that they possess a power greatly to be feared.

Pharaoh’s magicians warned him, “This is the finger of God!” (Ex.8:19). At the Crossing of the Red Sea, his soldiers cried out, “Let’s get away from the Israelites! The Lord is fighting for them against Egypt!” (14:25). Later, when the Philistines knew that the Ark of the Lord had entered the Israelite’s camp, they cried to each other, “God has come into their camp! We’re in trouble! Who will deliver us from the hand of this mighty God?  This is the God who struck the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues!” (I Sam. 4:7-8). Only a hundred years before Esther’s time, the Babylonians had watched Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego walk unscathed out of the fiery furnace, and no doubt everyone heard about Daniel’s miraculous deliverance from the lions’ den.

My point is that, in spite of people’s malignity toward the Jewish people, there is also a universal realization that they are different, that they are a people to be feared. While Zeresh and the friends saw Mordecai as nothing more than “one of those despised Jews,” they were more than happy to urge Haman to murder him, but the second they saw that old Jewish power arise, they knew Haman was in big trouble. “Since Mordecai is of Jewish origin, you cannot stand against him!”

It's worth pointing out here that this is precisely one of the consequences of life in this world without God. People deliberately pretend not to know there is a God. They pretend not to know there is Truth, that there is right and wrong and consequences to pay. Yet, time and again, they will run full speed right into the granite wall of reality. One way or another they’ll be forced to acknowledge the truth they’ve known all along. The fact is God is very real and very present. The strange power that resides amongst the Jewish people is still today one of those realities which people ignore to their peril. Who knows if Adolf Hitler could have succeeded in conquering the world, if only he hadn’t set himself against the Jewish people? The Arabs keep trying to overpower the nation of Israel but only end up with things like the 1967 war where that tiny nation utterly routed the armies of the entire Middle East. This strange power of the Jewish people is there to tell the world there is a Reality. Those who are wise will consider that carefully and respond accordingly!

There is a Reality. Haman ran headlong into it. Coming from his godless friends, that Reality was only a cause for despair. But hopefully, prayerfully, that Reality will come from you and me always seasoned with hope. He who is Reality is also Love. Let us then speak for Him and sow hope, not despair, in this world!