"What Goes Around Comes Around.”

“What Goes Around Comes Around.”

Esther 7:1-8:17

Haman, second in authority only to the Xerxes in the kingdom of Persia, is angry that Mordecai, a Jew will not show him proper respect and so he devises a plan to have the king sign into being a law, wherein not just Mordecai, but all the Jews are to be killed. When Mordecai hears of the decree he tells Queen Esther she must intercede with the King.

But to do so she has to risk her life in entering the king’s presence uninvited. After fasting (and hopefully prayer) Esther enters the kings presence, and is received by the king but she does not immediately tell the king what she wishes but instead invites the King and Haman to a banquet (5:4) at which Esther still does not reveal her request but invites the king and Haman to a second banquet (5:7). As Haman heads home from the banquet he again meets Mordecai who still refuses to honor him (5:9). He goes home to complain to his family and friends. They advise him if Mordecai is such a problem then just devise a way to get rid of him. Haman has a gallows built on which he plans to have Mordecai killed (5:14).

In Chapter six some seemingly insignificant events reveal the sovereignty of God at work. The king’s insomnia, led to him requesting that the Chronicles of his reign be read, and that reading revealed how Mordecai had saved the kings life and that nothing had been done to reward him (6:1-4). First thing the next morning Haman enters the room just in time to for the king to ask, “What shall be done for the man whom the king delights to honor?” (6:6) Haman thinking that it was himself who was to be honored had a ready-made list. He is then horrified to learn that it is Mordecai, his enemy, who is to be honored and he is to parade him through the city to see that he receive sufficient honor.

Haman returns home and the same friends who earlier advised him to build a gallows to get rid of Mordecai now tell him he is danger because of the gallows he had built. The chapter ends with the King’s eunuchs arriving to carry Haman to the second banquet with the king and Queen (6:14).

First, The King’s Quest. (7:1-4)

“So the king and Haman went to dine with Queen Esther. 2 And on the second day, at the banquet of wine, the king again said to Esther, “What is your petition, Queen Esther? It shall be granted you. And what is your request, up to half the kingdom? It shall be done!”

The king asks, “What is it that you wish?” Twice before the King has asked Esther to make her petition (5:3, 5:7). But somehow Esther sensed that the time was not right. As Solomon wrote, “…there is a time for every event under Heaven…a time to be silent and a time to speak” (Eccles. 3:1, 7). The struggle of course is to know when is the right time.

Charles Swindoll writes, “Do you know when to listen? Do you know when to speak up - and when to keep quiet? Do you know how much to say as well as when to say it? Do you have the wisdom to hold back until the tight moment? Those things make a difference, you know. Obviously, nobody bats a thousand on matters such as this, but the question is: Are you sufficiently in tune with God so read his subtle signals?” [Charles Swindoll. “A Woman of Strength and Character: Esther.” (Nashville: Word, 1997) p. 139]

So what do we do when we don’t know what to do?

Get into God’s Word.

Get on your Knees.

Seek Godly Counsel - from those you have seen exhibit biblical integrity in their own lives!

And Wait.

And while waiting Trust. [Swindoll p. 135]

But realizing that now is the time Esther speaks truth to the king. In verse three we read,

“Then Queen Esther answered and said, “If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it pleases the king, let my life be given me at my petition, and my people at my request. 4 For we have been sold, my people and I, to be destroyed, to be killed, and to be annihilated. Had we been sold as male and female slaves, I would have held my tongue, although the enemy could never compensate for the king’s loss.”

Still Esther speaks with great sensitivity and humility. As verse four records, Esther quotes the exact words of Haman’s decree (3:13) - “… we have been sold, my people and I, to be destroyed, to be killed, and to be annihilated.” She first wanted to make the king angry and then and only then reveal a target for his anger. The tactic is not unlike that of the prophet Nathan when he confronted David of his sin against Bathsheba (2 Sam 12). He aroused David anger and his resolve to see justice done before telling him who the “evil man” was.