Manthano

Saturday, December 4, 2021

Esther 8:7,8 “Praising in our Pajamas”

Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

⁷The king Xerxes spoke to Esther the queen and to Mordecai the Jew, “Behold! The house of Haman I have given to Esther and him they hanged upon a gallows, because he sent his hand against the Jews. ⁸And you (pl.), write upon the Jews according to good in your (pl.) eyes in the name of the king and seal in the ring of the king because a writing which [has] been written in the name of the king and [has] been sealed in the ring of the king not to bring back.

Here is one more place in the Bible where someone got up one fearful morning, with no idea how the day would turn out, only to put on their pajamas that night amazed at the goodness of God! Let us be reminded that will always be true. Let us always start our day confidently trusting the Lord, fully expecting that, no matter what, He’ll do great things, and when it’s all over, we’ll be able to look back and praise Him!

Esther and Mordecai couldn’t have dreamed of a better response from the king. He cannot directly grant Esther’s request, since she specifically said, “Let an order be written overruling the dispatches which Haman devised and wrote to destroy the Jews in all the king’s provinces.” She’s asking him to rescind the decree, but he cannot do that. What he does is the next best thing – he grants to Esther and Mordecai the power to write some new edict “as seems best to you.” Although they cannot write a law repealing the earlier one, they can craft one which they themselves are sure will secure the welfare of their Jewish people.

It is interesting to ponder Xerxes’ response. One wonders exactly why he repeats the usual “for what is written in the name of the king cannot be repealed.” Is he just adding that as an encouragement to Esther and Mordecai that, whatever they come up with will become the same unalterable law? Or is he explaining why he’s not actually repealing Haman’s decree? I’m not the first to wonder about this. Joseph Exell, in his Pulpit Commentaries, suggested what the king is saying is this: “See now, I have done what I could—I have given Esther Haman's house; I have had Haman himself executed because he put forth his hand against the Jews. What yet remains? I am asked to save your countrymen by revoking my late edict. That may not be. The writing which is written in the king's name, and sealed with the king's seal, may no man reverse. But, short of this, I give you full liberty of action. Write ye also for the Jews, as it liketh you, in the king's name, and seal it with the king's ring. Surely you can devise something which will save your people without calling on me to retract my own words, and at the same time break a great principle of Persian law.”

That does make sense, but I’m afraid, as is seemingly (for me) too often, the Hebrew itself would allow either understanding. As I’ve often lamented, Hebrew is almost a short-hand language of sorts. It’s a language of pictures, not logical statements like we prefer. It’s frequently as if “you had to be there.” On the other hand, we can all (including me) rest assured that the Lord will make crystal clear everything we actually need to know!

One thing we do learn from this passage is the practical absurdity of this Persian practice. It is utterly ludicrous to maintain that any human law, once written, can never be changed. Even the best and wisest can only establish laws based on the facts they currently possess. Only God is omniscient and the plain, simple fact is that “we ain’t Him!” Only God can give a law and then say, “Not one jot or tittle shall pass away, ’til all be fulfilled.” Interestingly, though, even God Himself may alter His own decrees when something changes to warrant it. He told Jonah, “In 40 days, Nineveh shall be destroyed.” The people of Nineveh repented, and they were not destroyed. As we see over and over in the Bible, although God Himself is immutable, yet He will change His plans based on how people respond.

So even God Himself doesn’t abide by such a ludicrous standard. It really is nothing but foolish human egos, trying to act as if they were gods, with no regard at all for its absurdity or the cruelty which it may engender. May we all be humble enough to say, “Well, I never thought of that. I never saw it that way. I guess I was wrong,” or “I guess we’d better take another look at this.”

The really good news for Esther and Mordecai is that, even living under such a foolish legal system, their God can still provide for them. Their God can still protect them. Their God can still bless them. You and I can take heart in that ourselves. Regardless how inept our government may be, regardless if our company issues ludicrous policies, you and I can still love people and do right, all the while confident our good God is ultimately in control!

As we arise in the morning, let us strive to walk in confidence in our good God, fully expecting to put on our pajamas praising Him!

Esther 8:7,8 “A God to Trust”

Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

The previous verses just ended with our beautiful Esther tearfully asking the king to “let an order be written overruling the dispatches which Haman devised and wrote to destroy the Jews in all the king’s provinces.” She’s saying, “Please do something to rescue my people from Haman’s awful decree!” Let us be reminded that, in the moment, as Esther stands there looking through her tears into the eyes of the king, making this request to him, she does not know how he’ll respond. Even as she speaks, the wholesale slaughter of her people hangs in the balance. Let us also once again be reminded, this is no small matter to our Esther. “For how can I bear to see disaster fall on my people? How can I bear to see the destruction of my family?”

Here's my point: The matter is completely out of Esther’s hands. She has no control over how Xerxes will respond. Yes, she has risked her life to make these requests to start with. Yes, as I noted in the last two posts, she is a very smart girl and has used every possible influence to make it easy for Xerxes to respond positively—yet, the decision is still his. In the final wash, she has no control over how he will respond. As she stands there, he may grant her request and save her people, or he may just blow her off and in fact her family will still be annihilated. It is now out of her control.

Is this not your world and mine? Whether we want to admit it or not, in the final wash, we have no control over the very issues that matter most to us in life. A farmer may put his seeds in the ground, but he cannot make them grow. Doctors may treat my children, but they cannot heal them. How many parents in human history have buried a child even though they and their doctors did all in their power to preserve that child’s life? As a young man, I observed a beautiful girl who was a very hard worker and a sweet Christian, yet I could not make her take any interest in me. Fortunately, she did and now I’ve been married to her for almost 40 years! But the plain fact is, when a man asks a girl, “Will you marry me,” she can say, “No.” I desperately need a job, but at any given second, my bosses could decide my services are no longer needed and let me go. Then I will find I cannot make anyone hire me. I once stood at the funeral of a man who died too young. His wife sadly said, “This is not how the story was supposed to go.”

Once again, my whole point here is that, as Esther stands awaiting Xerxes’ response, your world and mine are no different. In the final wash, we do not control the issues that matter most to us in life. So what do we do? Someone will say, “You just have to do your best.” That sounds good except it still leaves us with the constant terrifying possibility it may not be enough. So what do you do?

I hope anyone reading this realizes there is no answer. We *can*not* make life turn out the way we wish. In spite of our most determined efforts, the most clever strategies, the very best market plans, the services of the best doctors and nurses—no matter what, like Esther, there comes a point where we stand, helplessly awaiting results over which we possess no final control.

So what do you do? Here is precisely where I am glad that I do not live in a “world without God.” Although the book of Esther never once mentions Him, I am quite sure Esther is very aware of His presence and power. She knows she is not alone. No, she can’t control her world, but she has a God who does. She can stay sweet. She can stay humble. She can ask respectfully. Even facing horrid threats, she can be a person of sincere hope. And why? Because she has a good and wise God to trust. Faith allows our Esther to just go on being a loving, sweet person.

I want to suggest it is a point of great wisdom when you or I come face to face with the reality of our own frailty and realize I was never born to live alone. I was born to know this God and to live my life actually in partnership with Him. Like the farmer, I can’t make it rain. But I can plow the furrow, plant the seeds, then trust my God to make the seeds germinate and grow, make the sun to shine and the rains to fall. I don’t have to go around my field pulling up on my cornstalks to try to get them to grow taller. God does that. I can keep my field weeded. I can try to protect it from pests, however, in the end, it will be up to my God whether my harvest will be lean or bountiful. Farming is a man/God business. And so is all the rest of life.

Esther knew it. You and I should too. I have been trying to practice this for some time. I’m trying to be constantly aware that I am “a man with a God.” As I’m doing my work, I’m doing “what I can,” while at the same time trying to be aware of how I am depending on God to do what I cannot. In every conversation, I am trying to remember that, in reality, I am speaking for Him. I want to say the words He would say, respond to people the way He would respond. I am a man with a God. Esther was a woman with a God.

Although the vast majority of people alive will utterly ignore the Lord, and though they may seem to “get along,” I don’t want to live in a “world without God.” I need Him. I need His hope. I need His strength. I need His love. And now I can say after more then 40 years of knowing Him, I have found Him faithful. He hasn’t always made things turn out the way I wanted, but looking back, I can now see why not. Like a good parent, He’s always been about my greater good.

Esther would teach us all to face the reality of our own impotence and embrace the man/God, woman/God existence we were born to live.

At the end of verse 6, Esther still doesn’t know. But she has a God to trust.

Saturday, November 27, 2021

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.