Esther 10:1-3 – “The Books”

Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹And the king Xerxes set a tax upon the land and the islands of the sea, ²and the all of the doings of his authority and his might and the declaration of the greatness of Mordecai whom the king had caused to grow, the not of them ones written upon the book of the matters of the days of the kings of Media and Persia, ³because Mordecai the Jew [was] second to King Xerxes and great to the Jews and one pleased to the many of his brothers, one seeking good to his people and speaking peace to the all of his descendants.

Here we have again an illustration of Jesus’ truth, “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted” (Luke 14:11) and Prov. 29:23: “A man's pride will bring him low, but a humble spirit will obtain honor.” The “star” of our show from the beginning has been our beautiful Esther. The man Mordecai has only had what might be called a “supporting role.” Yet, who gets honored in the last three verses of the book? Mordecai. And how did this man Mordecai arrive at such honor? Is it not simply by looking after the interests of others? He’s the man who took little Esther into his home. He’s the man who risked his life to save the king. Isn’t it interesting the last words of the whole book are, “because he worked for the good of his people and spoke up for the welfare of all the Jews.” I wish the whole world could look and see that, in a sense, Mordecai never changed. He was a good man doing good and he always was. And as the Proverb says, “One man gives and receives only more.”

Commentators notice the opening words, “And the king Xerxes set a tax upon the land and the islands of the sea....” They ponder the question of “What does that have to do with anything?” Good question, actually. I would suggest the statement, that a certain king imposed a tax over his entire kingdom (and add in a few islands to boot!), was an ancient way of simply emphasizing his greatness. No one wants to pay taxes. A king must have the kingdom firmly in his grasp to be able to exact taxes from literally every corner of that kingdom. And then what is the point of that, but to emphasize Mordecai’s greatness? First, the ancient writer noted just how powerful this king was, then he would have us know Mordecai was second to such a great king. The point, I think is simply to emphasize Mordecai’s greatness.

Also notice in v.2 where the writer observes all the greatness of Xerxes and of Mordecai, then says “Are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Media and Persia?” And where are those annals today? Largely lost. Buried in the sand somewhere. So, there was a time when, if you wanted to know about Mordecai’s greatness, you could go read about it in these annals of the kings of Media and Persia…or you could read about him in an obscure little scroll called the book of Esther.

Which one survived? Isn’t it interesting how the Bible has survived literally millennia, while all the “annals” of all the “great” men of this world have largely turned back to dust? As Jesus said, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away” (Matt. 24:35). Isaiah said, “The Word of our God shall stand forever” (40:8). People have mocked at the account of Esther and insisted, “We find no record of Mordecai in the ancient writings!” Of course, what they don’t tell you is that, at best, all they can find is a few obscure remnants of those writings.

The plain, simple fact is that our Bible is the most reliable and enduring record of the events even of this “great” king named Xerxes, not to mention Mordecai and Esther. People foolishly act and write like the “ancient” records are some kind of exhaustive and infallible record of history. Yeah, and the sky is green too. Sorry, but I’ll base my life on the Rock of God’s Word. Ancient writings, even intact, are at best only someone’s interpretation of history, while at worst, they are the manipulated propaganda of kings and courtesans who never hesitated to re-write history when it suited their ends (just like they do today). The only source of absolute truth in our world is our Bible. The Bible is true truth.

Then we should mention there are “books” being written far more important than any king’s “annals.” We read in Rev. 20:12, “And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the Throne, and the books were opened…The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books.” Kings and everyone else should know that, in fact, their history is being recorded. However, this history is based on the facts and will not submit to re-writing and manipulation. It is and will be the truth of all they really did, all they really said, all what were really their motives. Those are the books that ought to concern the human race. Fortunately for all of us, there is one other book, called “the Lamb’s Book of Life.” Oh yes, there will be an accurate record of my life, but my eternity won’t be based on what I did or didn’t do (which, if we’re honest, is a scary thought!). What matters is whether my name is written in that Book of Life and for that, we have Jesus to thank that we are invited freely to join that happy throng. Smart people figure out which “books” they ought to be most concerned about!

Isn’t it interesting too that this book of Esther ends with the recognition of Mordecai that “he worked for the good of his people and spoke up for the welfare of the Jews”? Now there’s a record the whole world should read. How the entire world would be transformed overnight if only its leaders read those few simple words and took them to heart! Jesus Himself came “not to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” Our world would throw away the Bible, yet its truth—even one simple verse—would change it all for the better. It’s too bad it has to be that way. “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord!”

Once again, we are left with the realization we cannot change this world, but then we can change us. Whether we’re kings or just parents, CEO’s or principals or just in charge of the office football pool, may we all be determined ourselves to be like Mordecai and Esther—to be people like Jesus, who live and do whatever they do sincerely trying to be a blessing to the people around us.

Esther 9:24-32 – “Our Heroes”

Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

²⁴because Haman the son of Hamedatha the Agagite, one being hostile to the all of the Jews, had plotted upon the Jews to destroy them and cast [the] pur, it being the lot, to disarray them and to destroy them, ²⁵and in her coming in to the faces of the king, he said with the letter, “Let return his wicked plot which he plotted upon the Jews upon his head,” and they hung him and his sons upon the tree. ²⁶Therefore, they called the days the these “Purim” upon the name of the pur. Therefore, upon the all of the words of the letter the this and what they saw upon thus and what had reached to them, ²⁷the Jews confirmed and took upon themselves and upon their descendants and upon the all of the ones joining themselves to them, and not they failed to be ones doing the two of the days the these according to their writing and according to their set times in all of a year and a year, ²⁸and the days the these ones being remembered and ones being done in all of a generation from a family and a family, a province and a province and a city and a city, and the days of the Purim the these not they should fail from among the Jews, and this memory not it should cease from their descendants, ²⁹and Esther the queen, the daughter of Abihail wrote (and Mordecai the Jew) with all authority to confirm the letter of the Purim the this the second, ³⁰and he sent letters to all the Jews, to the seven and twenty and one hundred provinces of the kingdom of Xerxes, words of peace and truth, ³¹to confirm the days of the Purim the these in their set times according as Mordecai the Jew (and Esther the queen) confirmed them and according as they had confirmed upon themselves and upon their descendants the matters of the fastings and their crying out, ³²and the decree of Esther confirmed the matters of the Purim the these to be one written in the book.

As usual there is a lot to ponder in this passage. Esther and Mordecai put in an enormous effort to establish this Feast of Purim as a perpetual annual celebration for the Jewish people. That in itself calls for some serious pondering. As I mentioned in the last post, we are forgetful people. It is the better part of wisdom to give ourselves reminders of the good things the Lord has done for us. As David exhorted himself, “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits” (Ps. 103:2). Perhaps, like Davaid, we all need to pause, take our souls by the scruff of the neck, and tell them, “See here now! Don’t you be forgetting God’s goodness to you!”

As I mentioned last time, that is the basis of the very Lord’s Supper itself. “Do this in remembrance of Me.” I’ve been so blessed to have seen this here in the book of Esther. I have to confess, pretty much my entire life, I was never particularly fond of church communion. It’s always seemed to me like it was just an afterthought tacked on the end of a service now and then, like an OT ritual almost out of place in this NT dispensation. I knew Jesus died for me and was very thankful. In fact, I think about that often. It just seemed like I didn’t need the ritual of “Communion,” and, in a sense, I didn’t see the point.

Now I do. It is true—we are forgetful people! What we’re seeing is that Esther and Mordecai were a whole lot wiser than me. I’ll even go so far as to say they were more godly than me, or should I say, more God-like?  Literally, they are being like God. The Lord Himself set up the Passover as a perpetual reminder of the great deliverance from Egypt. Jesus set up the Lord’s Supper to remind us of our salvation. And Esther and Mordecai went to considerable effort to establish this Feast of Purim to forever hep the Jewish people remember their deliverance from Haman’s evil.

Now I see that it is a very good thing when those in leadership set up holidays and celebrations to help us all remember “good” days. I got to church last week, and what should it be but a Communion Sunday! For the first time in my life, I found I really could enjoy it. “This is a good thing,” I could tell myself and I was able to just let it “do its thing” and remind me of Jesus and the Cross! Esther and Mordecai would have never guessed all their hard work would bless a guy living 2,500 years later and halfway around the world!

Now I’d like to camp for a minute on this forgetfulness problem. I think the Lord is showing me something profound here. The admonition stands: “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits.” I note again that my soul needs to be told not to forget the Lord’s blessings. Apparently, if I don’t make the effort, that is exactly what I will do. And actually I’m quite aware it is true. Every time I get fearful or worrisome, that is exactly what I’m doing—forgetting all the times the Lord has blessed me in the past. Just in the last couple of years, it has helped me immensely to remind myself of Ruth and of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and make myself believe the same Lord who blessed them blesses me, that I have nothing to fear, that I can actually run into my future precisely because I’m remembering the Lord’s goodness!

However, as I consider all of that, I’m somewhat surprised to realize that my “rememberer” actually works quite well in other ways. I’ve lamented before that I have this brain that seems to constantly rehearse for me all of the stupid things I’ve done and said my whole life. It’s like an endlessly looping video that just plays over and over and over, reaching all the way back to the very earliest memories of my childhood, calling to mind all of my stupidity and failures, all my regrets. I’ve lamented before that I can’t shut it off. The other day, as it played back some failure, I thought, “I should instead try to recall some goodness of the Lord.” What surprised me was a feeling of almost demonic resistance. My mind was strangely blank. Hmmmmmm. Here I am swimming in an ocean of blessing, but at that moment it was as if I couldn’t think of anything to be thankful for!

I wonder if I haven’t discovered one of those “strongholds” in my mind, one of those “high things” that “exalts itself against the knowledge of God,” if this isn’t one of those places where I need to “bring every thought into the obedience of Christ” (II Cor. 10:4,5). It is of course true that, as long as my mind is filled with all my failures, there is no room to fill it with God’s goodness. That almost demonic resistance I felt tells me I’ve struck a nerve. Hmmmmm. I’m going to try very hard to do a “Mordecai and Esther” to my soul and make it deliberately recall God’s goodness. Maybe I can make some progress getting that video to shut off!

Then I want to note again what good leaders Mordecai and Esther are being. What is all of this they’re doing? They’re doing good to the Jewish people. Here is a woman who has been raised to be the very queen of arguably the richest empire in human history and the man who is the Prime Minister of the same. Theirs is now a life of limitless luxury. Why should they bother themselves with the needs of a bunch of people, most of whom they don’t even know? Xerxes doesn’t. And he’s the king. Why should they? And yet, here we find them in the longest chapter in the whole book, doing what? Working very hard for the good of the people. My old buddy, Alexander MacLaren observed: “The political world, with its fierce struggles for personal ends, its often disregard of the public good, and its use of place and power for ‘making a pile’ or helping relations up, would be much the better for some infusion of the spirit of Mordecai.”

Can we all say, “Amen”? MacLaren’s words are a dead-ringer for the shamelessly corrupt, indolent excuse of a government we have today. Our government “of the people, by the people, and for the people,” has instead become one “of the politicians, by the politicians, and for the politicians.” It is certainly nothing new in world history. It’s just disappointing because it is exactly what our forefathers were trying to prevent, and it is very sad to me to see especially the young people suffering immensely, while the very representatives who ought to be addressing those issues are instead only busy fattening their off-shore bank accounts.

Not so Mordecai and Esther. They’re doing what godly people do, laboring hard on behalf of their people. Therein of course lies the problem. This government that lacks any sense of morality lacks first of all godliness. If even a number of them were godly (God-like), they would be working for “we the people.” But they aren’t and they won’t. No amount of political activism will fix their problem. What’s missing is God Himself. Ours is sadly a world without God. Again, not so Esther and Mordecai. Although they may not be allowed to speak of their faith, yet they obviously march to the beat of a far different drummer than the other leaders around them. Esther and Mordecai have something to live for far beyond their own personal wealth and comfort.

Note how, in v.30, it says, “Mordecai sent letters to all the Jews in the 127 provinces of the kingdom of Xerxes–words of good will and assurance…” The Hebrew is literally “words of peace and truth.” How nice would it be to have leaders who actually communicate “peace and truth” to us the people? Whether it is in the government or in our workplaces or in our schools, leaders should be as sincere and work as hard as Mordecai and Esther to do their people good. Unfortunately, we can’t change the corruption and indolence of the leadership in our generation, but we can change us. Wherever you or I would find ourselves in positions of leadership, may the Lord help us be like our heroes and actually do our jobs and do them well.

While I’m at it, I’d like to note these thoughts very specifically include our Esther. Verse 29 says, “So Queen Esther, daughter of Abihail, along with Mordecai the Jew, wrote with full authority to confirm this second letter concerning Purim.” What I want to point out is that, in Hebrew, the verb, “wrote” is a feminine singular. The text is making it clear it was Esther’s doing. Obviously, she wrote it with Mordecai’s full support, but, the Hebrew itself is making clear, it was Esther doing the writing. Then v.32 leaves no question when it says, “Esther’s decree confirmed these regulations about Purim…” It was “Esther’s decree.” From the beginning, we’ve observed her to be a selfless, giving person. Now, when we find her at the very zenith of power and authority, what does she do with it, but good for her people. Lord help us all to be like her!

 

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.