Esther: A people redeemed, hope revealed.
Read Esther 4:9-14
The book of Esther is an account of the redemption of the Jewish people that were residing in the nation of Persia, a nation of 127 provinces. Persia or now days modern Iran stretched from India to the Mediterranean Sea, including Judah, and modern Turkey and the Upper Nile and across to Libya. It was the most powerful empire in the world at that time. The Jewish people there were in exile. “Jews trace their heritage in Iran to the Babylonian captivity of the 6th century BC and have retained their ethnic, linguistic, and religious identity.”]
The story begins with an account of the King Xerxes getting drunk on wine, upsetting his Queen; Vashti, her snubbing him, him rapidly sobering up, getting upset and talking to his advisors about the situation, them advising him that if he allows this behaviour the wives of all of all Persian men will see this as an opportunity to ignore their husbands and that he should give her the boot. He’s obviously had enough of her company, so he issues a royal decree as you did in his role that he never again wanted her in his presence again. He after all was the Emperor of all Persia not some average bloke. He then needed a new Queen as Vasthi was now redundant, like sands through the hourglass so were the days of their lives.
Being the sketchy character that he was, being a control freak and womaniser, once his anger had subsided, he had all the beautiful young single women of the land brought to his haram and placed in the care of his chief eunuch. Now you might be thinking really did this happen? Having been to the Topkapi Palace in Istanbul in Turkey where you can visit the site of the old Haram, eunuchs quarters and the emperor’s rooms, I can say this certainly did happen, Xerxes like the Ottoman Emperor’s would have had immense power and what he wanted was his for the taking.
Now this is an interesting book to have in the Bible as it doesn’t mention God. However key here is that God’s providential care of the Jewish people is in play as it had been from the time of Abraham. At play in the lives and through the lives of these two characters young Esther and her uncle Mordecai, all this happened it is believed during the third year of the reign of Xerxes, about 483BC.
So, Esther is made queen, and with instruction from her uncle Mordecai she is instructed to keep her background, her ethnicity secret, her name means interestingly enough ‘hidden.’ She takes on the role of queen and is in favour with her husband King Xerxes who is not on the list of being everyone’s favourite person. It is found out by Mordecai that a couple of the King’s officers were conspiring to bring his royal highness’s reign to an abrupt and permanent end. You could say this was hope revealed for the King. Mordecai tells Esther, who tells her husband about his impending doom and that Mordecai had passed this info on. There is an investigation, the King is saved and the bad guys disposed of. It is recorded in the big book that contained such things that Mordecai through his actions had saved King Xerxes.
However, there is a twist in the life of Mordecai, a bad bloke who is favoured by the king by the name of Haman, doesn’t like Mordecai as he won’t scrape, grovel and prostrate himself in his presence like everyone else does. So, Haman decides with a bit of advice from his wife and friends that he will have Mordecai killed, but not just him, he comes up with a plan, “lets teach everyone who belongs to Mordecai’s people group a lesson and have them all done away with, lets get rid of all the Jews in Persia,” what we would call today ethnic cleansing. However, what he doesn’t realise is that the queen is part of this people group. This was hidden information at that time.
Now there is a bit of a back story to this story, a sub plot of historical proportions, and it heads all the way back in history to Deuteronomy 25:17-20 when the Amalekites attacked the Hebrew’s from behind as they left Egypt. This leads to 1 Samuel 15:1-3, when Samuel gave instructions from God to King Saul to punish the Amalekites with destruction. At that time the Amalekites were being ruled by a bloke called King Agag. You may be wondering why have them all destroyed? Well, the commentators tell us that the Amalekites were basically, hyper-evil on steroids. We read later in Chapter 15:9 this; “But Saul and the army spared [King] Agag and the best of the sheep and cattle, the fat calves and lambs-everything that was good. These they were unwilling to destroy completely, but everything that was despised and weak they totally destroyed.” As a result the Lord talked with Samuel telling him that he was displeased he had made Saul King. So much later in history we have these two men Haman the Agagite, meaning descendant of King Agag, and Mordecai the descendant of Saul at an impasse that could cost the Jews of Persia their complete existence. Now there’s a wee lesson to be learnt here and it’s this: if God instructs us to do something and we don’t do it there will be consequences, while it may be obvious in our lifetimes, it may not always be obvious in our own lifetimes but there will be consequences, obedience to God is not just a ‘she’ll be right’ thing. Deuteronomy 1:1 tells us; “Love the LORD your God and keep his requirements, his decrees, his laws and his commands always.”
Right, let’s get back to this Haman character who is intent of killing all the Jews in Persia. I’ll go slowly because I’m covering a lot of ground in a short time: Mordecai tells Queen Esther about the plot against the Jewish people, but she is concerned and tells Mordecai, because if she approaches the King without and invitation it might be the end of her life, unless he holds out his golden sceptre, yip flashy golden baton thingy towards her. Mordecai writes her a note that says this, “ he sent back this answer: “Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:13-14). Hold onto that thought, I’m coming back to it!
So Esther arranges a feast for the King and Haman after the King allows her into his presence, Haman, builds a massive gallows to have Mordecai executed on, the King can’t sleep and realises that he never rewarded Mordecai for saving his life, The king has Haman lead Mordecai though the city on a horse telling everyone what a wonderful bloke he was for saving the kings life; literally “This is what is done for the man the king delights to honour” (Ch 6:9). Esther then tells the King that Haman is plotting to have her, and her people killed as she is Jewish and Haman wants all the Jews killed. Haman is then executed on the very gallows he had arranged for Mordecai. Esther is awarded Haman’s estate, The King declares an edict that the Jewish people can defend themselves, Mordecai become 2IC to the King. At this point I must point out that there were a number of spots where this could all have gone quite wrong, the hope of the Jewish people was Mordecai, the hope of the Jewish people was Esther, the revelation of the truth about Haman’s plot was his undoing. In this instance both are saviours of their own lives but more so the lives of all their people in Persia. While God doesn’t get any credit in the book both Mordecai and Esther are part of God’s divine deliverance for his people. They are hope revealed for the people at that time. As a result God’s people in Persia are redeemed.
So where am I going with this? How do we relate this Old Testament book to our post New Testament existence? We know that Esther was a key figure in the salvation of her people at that time who were under the authority and rule of King Xerxes.
We will all find ourselves in spaces and places where we will be called into action on behalf of ourselves or others, and we don’t always know what life will throw at us, however we know that we are like Esther’s people redeemed, however their redemption came through her and Mordecai’s actions where ours came and continues to come through Jesus act for all people. Paul tells us in Ephesian 1:7.
“In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace.” – Ephesians 1:7. This is a free gift!
As such we are called to share that hope, the redemption, meaning eternal salvation, freedom from our sins. To share our rescue with others. This is not for us alone, no more than Esther was the only one to be saved from evil in her time, we are to share this news, for God doesn’t want any to perish. We carry the hope that is to be revealed, outside the doors is our mission field and the people in need of that hope.
Today you may be new to the message of salvation etc.
