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ESTHER – A Deeply Difficult Time… A Compellingly Courageous Woman… A Thrilling Picture of God’s Providence… (3 of 8)
A Ghastly Plot & A Vital Detail…
Text: Esther 2:19-3:15
Esther is a masterfully written account coming from a profoundly difficult time in history – on the one hand this is the story of how Esther became queen and saved her people but even more importantly this a story of how God works in incredibly difficult (and even awful) situations.
Esther 2:19-23 (ESV) –
“Now when the virgins were gathered together the second time, Mordecai was sitting at the king's gate. Esther had not made known her kindred or her people, as Mordecai had commanded her, for Esther obeyed Mordecai just as when she was brought up by him. In those days, as Mordecai was sitting at the king's gate, Bigthan and Teresh, two of the king's eunuchs, who guarded the threshold, became angry and sought to lay hands on King Ahasuerus. And this came to the knowledge of Mordecai, and he told it to Queen Esther, and Esther told the king in the name of Mordecai. When the affair was investigated and found to be so, the men were both hanged on the gallows. And it was recorded in the book of the chronicles in the presence of the king.
- Mordecai foils an assassination plot against the King… (Esther 3:19-23)
We’ve walked through the circumstances that led to Esther becoming queen. Without a doubt God was guiding the circumstances that led to an orphaned Jewish girl being selected as the new Queen of Persia. All the details that happened simply cannot be adequately described as an accident and the book makes this point without stating it directly because it – ‘goes without saying’.
Genesis 2:24 (ESV) –
“Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.”
Esther 2:10 (ESV) –
“Esther had not made known her people or kindred, for Mordecai had commanded her not to make it known.”
The story keeps moving and we’re told that Mordecai was at the King’s Gate and his presence at the gate suggests that he held some kind of government office and in one way or another his position allowed him to overhear (or otherwise be exposed to) a plot against the king.
We’re not given a lot of details but we’re supposed to detect yet another example of God’s Providence. It didn’t ‘just happen’ that Esther’s cousin who raised her overheard a plot against the king – we’re supposed to see that these events didn’t ‘just so happen’.
Esther 2:23 (ESV) –
“And it was recorded in the book of the chronicles in the presence of the king.”
We need to remember that God is arranging the circumstances and we catch a glimpse of God’s unseen hand at work here – arranging circumstances to accomplish His purposes and the detail that all this was recorded is not a coincidence and the fact that Mordecai uncovered the plot in the first place is not a coincidence either.
Jeremiah 29:7 (ESV) –
“But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.”
Mordecai was a model citizen who spoke up for the king and remember we’re talking about a pagan king. As Christians we should follow Mordecai’s example and …seek the welfare of the city… in which we live and …pray to the Lord on its behalf…
The only exception to being model ‘obedient citizens’ is when we’re called to disobey God – we must obey God first!
Esther 3:1-15 (ESV) –
“After these things King Ahasuerus promoted Haman the Agagite, the son of Hammedatha, and advanced him and set his throne above all the officials who were with him. And all the king's servants who were at the king's gate bowed down and paid homage to Haman, for the king had so commanded concerning him. But Mordecai did not bow down or pay homage. Then the king's servants who were at the king's gate said to Mordecai, “Why do you transgress the king's command?” And when they spoke to him day after day and he would not listen to them, they told Haman, in order to see whether Mordecai's words would stand, for he had told them that he was a Jew. And when Haman saw that Mordecai did not bow down or pay homage to him, Haman was filled with fury. But he disdained to lay hands on Mordecai alone. So, as they had made known to him the people of Mordecai, Haman sought to destroy all the Jews, the people of Mordecai, throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus.
“In the first month, which is the month of Nisan, in the twelfth year of King Ahasuerus, they cast Pur (that is, they cast lots) before Haman day after day; and they cast it month after month till the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar. Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom. Their laws are different from those of every other people, and they do not keep the king's laws, so that it is not to the king's profit to tolerate them. If it please the king, let it be decreed that they be destroyed, and I will pay 10,000 talents of silver into the hands of those who have charge of the king's business, that they may put it into the king's treasuries.” So the king took his signet ring from his hand and gave it to Haman the Agagite, the son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews. And the king said to Haman, “The money is given to you, the people also, to do with them as it seems good to you.”
“ Then the king's scribes were summoned on the thirteenth day of the first month, and an edict, according to all that Haman commanded, was written to the king's satraps and to the governors over all the provinces and to the officials of all the peoples, to every province in its own script and every people in its own language. It was written in the name of King Ahasuerus and sealed with the king's signet ring. Letters were sent by couriers to all the king's provinces with instruction to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate all Jews, young and old, women and children, in one day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar, and to plunder their goods. A copy of the document was to be issued as a decree in every province by proclamation to all the peoples to be ready for that day. The couriers went out hurriedly by order of the king, and the decree was issued in Susa the citadel. And the king and Haman sat down to drink, but the city of Susa was thrown into confusion.”
- We meet a new character, Haman and he slyly plots the murder of the entire Jewish people… (Esther 3:1-15)
The focus in the story shifts from Mordecai to an official of King Ahasuerus (or Xerxes) named Haman who is highly honored and he is the villain!
Esther 3:1 (ESV) –
“After these things King Ahasuerus promoted Haman the Agagite, the son of Hammedatha, and advanced him and set his throne above all the officials who were with him.”
And we should feel a sense of surprise because after all it was Mordecai who should be honored by the king – Who is this Haman? And what’s more everyone (or almost everyone) kneels down to Haman because the king himself commanded this act of reverence.
Mordecai refused to kneel and not surprisingly Haman was furious. There was ‘bad blood’ between God’s people and the Amalekites and the story went back centuries and many suggest that this explains the problems between Haman and Mordecai but I’m not convinced it does, I’m inclined to see that that this is only part of the problem.
I’m inclined to detect that Haman wants to be worshiped and in saying that I realize that bowing before royalty is not necessarily worship it can simply be an act of respect.
If Mordecai was refusing to worship Haman all this makes sense but if that’s not what this was Mordecai’s actions seem inconsistent because he was such a model citizen living in a pagan land. It seems strange to suggest that he would refuse to honor the prime minister unless he had a very good reason.
I’m suggesting that Mordecai found himself facing a situation similar to what Peter, John and the rest of the Apostles faced in Acts 4-5. I’m suggesting it is also similar to what Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego and Daniel faced.
The apostles rightly choose to obey God and disobey the orders of men that were in conflict with faithfulness to God.
Acts 4:18-20 (ESV) –
“So they called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered them, ‘Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.’”
Acts 5:29 (ESV) –
“But Peter and the apostles answered, ‘We must obey God rather than men.’”
They were ordered not to teach about Jesus and they refused to obey that specific command and proclaimed that they will obey God. Every minute somewhere Christians have to make this choice and we need to accept that following Jesus has a cost.
As Christians we should seek to be ‘model citizens’ like Mordecai but there are limits – we must obey God first.
Haman was so furious that he decided to murder the Jewish people (genocide), not just Mordecai. They cast lots (Hebrew ‘pur’) to select a day to carry out the plan and the ‘pur’ fell in such a way that the day chosen was almost a full year away.
And we’ll see throughout the book of Esther that God is in control and that He determines the destiny of His people, not the roll of a dice.
Haman goes and presents his plan to the King – accusing the Jews of being ‘different’ but he doesn’t mention them by name, it’s just a ‘certain people’.
Esther 3:8 (ESV) –
“There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom.”
Esther and Mordecai were certainly ‘different’ but if the way they lived is any indication – the Jews would certainly be the people you’d want in your kingdom, Mordecai was a model citizen. He was the one to spoke up and saved the king’s life and if you were king you’d want people like this as citizens of your empire even if you totally disagreed with their religious beliefs.
Haman cleverly and easily convinces the King into signing on to an appalling plan and he even offers to bring an enormous amount of money into the royal treasury through this ‘business’. It’s not ‘business’ – it’s genocide.
Proverbs 6:16-19 (ESV) –
“There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to Him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.”
And just when you think things can’t get any worse, the King gives his signet ring to Haman and the whole plan is put in motion and the King’s signet ring on Haman’s finger seals the orders.
Esther 3:15 (ESV) –
“And the king and Haman sat down to drink, but the city of Susa was thrown into confusion.”
No-doubt people in Susa were thinking – What in the world? And that there was sympathy toward Jewish neighbors but probably the bigger question was – Who is going to be next?
Looking at Haman’s wicked plan gives us front row seats on the spiritual battle that rages all around us all the time.
God promised Abraham that all the peoples of the world are to be blessed through his descendants and God promised King David that a king from his line would rein on the throne forever. So – what we have is front row seats on Satan’s attempt to wipe out the Messianic line – if all the Jews were wiped out then the line of the promised Messiah would be wiped out.
If the plan to send the Savior was wiped out then the Gospel would be wiped out and there would be no Good News. In a real sense that’s what was ultimately behind this extermination plot but remember God is never caught off guard and His victory is certain!
It wasn’t an accident that Mordecai found out about the plot and exposed it, it wasn’t an accident that the whole situation got recorded in the annals of the King. It wasn’t a coincidence that Esther became Queen. God saved His people through Esther and Mordecai – He placed them in their positions – … for such a time as this…
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