Text: For if you remain silent at this time,
relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, and you and your father’s house will perish.
And who knows whether you have not attained royalty for such a time as this?”
(Est 4:14) “I will go in to the king, which is not
according to the law; and if I perish, I perish.” (Est 4:16b)
The theme of
the book: Courage. Faith. Betrayal. Politics. Plots of
genocide. The book of Esther is a drama about how two Jews risked everything to
save their people.
In the book of Esther, we read about four main characters:
·
Queen Esther, the
heroine. When Esther becomes queen, she keeps her Jewish heritage a secret When
she learns of a plot to kill all the Jews in the Persian provinces; she courageously uses her position to
intercede on behalf of her people-the
Protector.
·
Mordecai, Esther’s
cousin. Mordecai is a devout Jew characterized by conviction. He is loyal, reliable, and persistent. He saves the king from
an assassination plot early in the story—foreshadowing his work to save the Jewish people. Mordecai refuses to bow
to Haman, which starts the central conflict of Esther: Haman vs. Mordecai.
Mordecai is a father figure to Esther (an orphan), advising and informing her
throughout the story-the Advocate.
·
Haman, enemy of
the Jews. Mordecai refuses to bow to him. Haman intensifies the conflict by
getting the king to sign an edict against
all Jews in the empire and planning to hang Mordecai. Esther intercepts his
plans, however, and the king kills Haman instead. Haman is called an “Agagite,”
possibly referring to King Agag the Amalekite (1 Sa 15:8)—the Amalekites had
opposed Israel for hundreds of years (Dt 25:17–19). The Enemy
·
King
Ahasuerus.
The king deposes Queen Vashti when she publicly disobeys him at his banquet. He
then brings on Esther as his new queen. Ahasuerus is a very reactive character
in the story: he deposes Vashti, he goes along with Haman’s plot, he makes grand promises to Esther, he allows
Esther and Mordecai to write their own counter-laws and enact their own feasts.
Ironically, the king of 127 provinces is the weakest of the main characters.
Facts
About the Book of Esther
·
Not one time does the name of God appear in the Book of Esther.
·
The foresight of God is abundant throughout the book.
·
The chronological span for the Book of Esther is about 10 years.
·
Esther is addressed to the multitudes of Jews who did not return
to Judea
·
The providence of God is abundant throughout the book.
·
He ensures that Mordecai’s deeds are recorded in the palace
records.
·
He guides Esther’s admission to the King’s court.
·
He guides the timing of Esther’s two feasts.
·
He is involved in the King’s insomnia.
·
He sees that Haman’s gallows will be used in an unexpected way.
·
He gives Esther great favor in the sight of the king.
The Book of Esther fits between the 6th and 7th chapters of Ezra,
utilizing 10 of the 58 years during that gap, and somewhere in the 81year
period between the return led by Ezra and the one led by Zerubbabel. The Jewish Feast of Purim was begun to
remember the deliverance of the Jews from the destruction planned by Haman.
The
Story
Mordecai, the cousin of
Queen Esther of the Persian Empire (485-465 BC). Mordecai had raised Esther as
his own daughter. In a way, Mordecai is the star of the story, although he is
not talked about a lot. The first thing we see Mordecai doing is informing the
King's officials of a plot against the King’s life. Mordecai heard of the plot
as he sat in the gates of the Persian capital city of Susa, where he had been
brought as a captive from Israel. The conspirators were hanged, and the
incident was recorded in the King’s chronicles. Mordecai did not pursue the
matter, seeking any recognition or honor for himself.
As Mordecai sat in the gate, he put himself in danger of losing
his life. One of the King’s rulers frequently passed the gate, and people were
commanded to bow down to him. Mordecai refused to bow down to this ruler,
Haman, because as a Jew Mordecai could only worship the Lord, the God of
Israel.
When I read about Mordecai, I think of him as the first Quaker. One of the earliest noted
and most controversial marks of early Quakers was their refusal to show respect
to others by removing the hat or bowing. The Quaker practice of not
removing the hat, not even in church,
stemmed from their belief that all are equal. This quickly became one of the
most immediately recognizable characteristics of a Quaker and resulted in considerable
persecution being directed against them.
Mordecai’s refusal to bow infuriated Haman, and he devised a way
to get rid not only of Mordecai but of
all of the Jews. Haman had the King order the destruction of all the Jews,
although the King did not know that Haman was talking about the Jews, and he
did not know that his Queen was a Jew.
When Mordecai heard of the plot, he went to Queen Esther and persuaded her to ask the King to
save the people. Esther asked all the people to fast and pray for her.
Meanwhile, Haman was planning the death of Mordecai
and ordered that gallows be constructed for him.
Look how this relate to Jesus Christ our LORD. That day outside
the Garden of Eden when God pronounced the promise of a Redeemer, Satan plotted
to kill Jesus. When he saw Him as an
infant in the manger, he thought if he
could kill Him and get Him in the chains of
death, what an excellent idea, or so he
thought! So he stirred up the spirit of
Herod to kill Him, but Herod failed. And
many times, Satan attempted to put the personal existence of Christ in danger so that he might get Christ to die. He seemed unable
to realize that when Christ died, he
would bruise the devil’s head. Once, you remember, when Christ was in the
synagogue, the devil stirred up the people, and made them angry; and he
thought, “Oh! This is going to be the time if I could just kill this man; then
there would be an end of Him, and I would reign supreme forever.” So, he got
the people to take Him to the edge of the cliff, and Satan in his pride thought
that surely now He would be thrown down headfirst. But Christ escaped, and
Satan failed. He tried to starve Him; he
tried to drown Him; He was in the desert
without food, and He was on the sea in a storm, but there was no starving or drowning
Him, and Satan no doubt craved for His blood
and longed that He would die. At last,
the day arrived; our LORD was taken to the court of hell that at last Christ
would die. They rung their bells with hellish happiness
and joy. Jesus would die now; “Judas has taken the thirty pieces of silver. Let
those Scribes and Pharisees get Him; they
will no more let Him go than the spider will let go of a poor unfortunate fly.
He is as good as dead.”
Are you aware that if Haman carried out his plot, he would have stopped the birth of Christ
and Satan would win?
If God gave His precise timetable to the people of Israel, through
the Prophet Daniel, in 553 BC, you be assured that Satan was determined to
prevent Jesus from appearing on this time schedule. God foretold that Messiah
would come directly from King David. [Isaiah 9:2-7; Jeremiah 33:15-17, 20-22;
Ezekiel 34:23-24; 37:24-27; Hosea 3:5; Amos 9:11; Zechariah 12:6-10].
Therefore, you could expect that Satan would try to attack the David’s lineage
in the intervening 483 years. Satan did just exactly that, with his greatest
attack coming during the reign of Queen Esther.
Esther is one of the key figures in the entire Bible. When she
became Queen of the Gentile King of Persia, her nation, Israel, lay on the
garbage heap of history. God had brought Babylon into Israel, beginning in 606
BC, to physically punish her for her national sins that had extended over 800
years. The Jews were in a hostile land, ruled over by a people of great cruelty. Satan prepared his plan of annihilation of
the Jews through the Secretary of State to the King, Haman. This plan of extermination started with all the Jews in
Persia, and would then expand outward to include every Jew in the entire world.
If ever Satan had a golden opportunity to destroy the Messianic line, this was the
time. If Satan could cut off the Davidic lineage, he could prevent Messiah from
appearing in fulfillment of God's prophecies.
But wait that is not the end of the story. One night, as this was
going on, the King was unable to sleep. He called for his chronicles. He found
the plot against his life and asked if
the man who had saved his life had been rewarded. He was told no. It so
happened that Haman was in the court at this time, and the King inquired of him
how he could honor someone he wished to honor. Haman, thinking the King wanted
to honor him—his arrogance knew no bounds—described to the King the highest honor he could imagine. He was to be
placed on one of the King’s horses, with a crown on his head. One of the King’s
nobles was to walk the honored person on the horse through the city proclaiming,
“thus it shall be done to the person whom the King wishes to honor”
(Esther 6:9). Imagine Haman’s horror when the King told him to then honor
Mordecai in that way.
Can you imagine the feel Satan had when Jesus rode into Jerusalem,
and the people honored Him as the King?
Meanwhile, the Queen had devised a plan whereby she might save her
people and trap Haman. When the King discovered Haman’s treachery, he ordered
that he be hanged on the gallows Haman had constructed for Mordecai. What
happened to Mordecai? We are told at one point that he had become great in the
King’s house. Later, we learn that he was second only to the King, and “great
among the Jews, and in favor with the multitude of his kinsmen, one who sought
the good of his people and one who spoke for the welfare of his whole
nation" (Esther 10:3).
The day our LORD was caught up into heaven and was seated at the
right hand of the Father, he became the greatest
King of Kings and LORD or Lords. He
became the desire of all nations, the Savior of all mankind. He is our heavenly advocate. As John write
“And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also
for the
sins of the whole world.” Why is this? Because as John writes, My, little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin
not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the
righteous:
Look at the message Mordecai gave to Esther:
For
if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the
Jews from another place, and you and your
father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not attained royalty
for such a time as this?”
Today, God is saving people through the gospel of Jesus Christ.
You and I can choose to be part of it, or
we can choose to stand back. We can align
our interests with God's, or we can go our own way and die.
There is a parallel between Mordecai's words and our own situation. God is transforming lives all over the world:
but he's mostly doing it a long way from here. Christians in America have
chosen the path of silence. We have become so identified with our culture that
we have not spoken out; we have not dared
to join in God's transforming work. Churches in America are by and large
perishing. We are no longer fishers of
men but swappers of aquariums. We have
been in the world so long we have become part of the world.
Esther, too, had become thoroughly part of the Persian culture.
Esther was her Persian name: she didn't use her Jewish name any more. She spent a year in the king's harem learning
Persian beauty treatments before becoming his queen. She lived isolated from her people. But when it came to the crunch,
Mordecai reminded her that she belonged to God's chosen people, and she acted
accordingly.
Unless we do the same, then, in fulfilment of Mordecai's words, we
will just die out. God will continue to
save people, but he will do it in other places, without us.
How can you and I be part of God's saving work? Well, Mordecai's question rings in our ears:
And who knows but that you have come to this royal position for such a time as
this?
God has placed each one of us is in a unique position of
influence. He has put each of us in a specific work context; in a family; with one particular group of friends; with a unique
set of neighbors. Among people, he wants
to bring to saving knowledge of Jesus. It's a terrifically encouraging thought,
isn't it, that God could have a purpose for you in his saving plans, where you
are, what you are doing now. He's worked behind the scenes for years to put you
in just the right place at just the right
time.
Is God today asking you to be part of his work? Is he challenging
you to do something bold, something dangerous to your reputation, or your
finances or your security or your relationships?
You have a choice, just as Esther did. You can remain silent; you
can put your own interests ahead of God's and go your own way. It won't hinder
God's plans: he will continue to transform the lives of people. But it won't do
you any good. Your faith will dim; your love will grow cold; your relationship
with him will perish, if not die entirely.
Or you can do something! And who knows but that you have come to
this royal position for such a time as this? You don't need to be highly
religious or an expert in the Bible; Esther certainly
wasn't. You just need the eye of faith to spot where God is at work, and the guts to be part of it.
Are you, like Esther, God's person, in God's place, at God's time
for God's people?
On hearing Mordecai's reply, Esther gathered the people to fast,
and presumably to pray. And then she acted. And, as a result, she was
privileged to be right at the center of God's astonishing work as he moved to save his people.
God is at work, transforming his people. Will you be part of it?
It's an extraordinary invitation from an extraordinary God. He doesn't need us,
but he invites us to work with him.
1.
Settle it in your mind that the Lord has called you to the work
and then advance without question or fear.
2.
Put your mind to the task and never stop.
3.
Do the work with all your, might
and soul.
4.
Do not stand asking how: do it as you can.
5.
Do not stand asking when: do
it directly!
6.
Do not say, "But I am weak": The Lord is strong!
7.
Do not say, "But I must devise methods." Follow the Holy Spirit
8.
Do not concoct schemes or try
to perfect your methods: throw yourself into the work with all your might.
9.
When you run out of weapons,
pick up the rock and stones from the road of life and throw them.
When you have nothing else to hurl at the enemy, nothing will be
more effectual than the hurling of your whole being into the conflict.
Are you ready to do what God is calling you to do?
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