Esther 3-4
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CH1 – Introduction to the king in the 3rd year of his reign
· The king (Xerxes/Ahasuerus) shows off all of his great wealth and power, first in a feast lasting 180 days for his nobles and commanders and army, the second feast lasting 7 days for all who dwelt in the city of Susa. During the 7th day of this final feast, the king desired to show off his wife/queen, Vashti, to all of the city of Susa, whenever he calls for her, she says no. Whatever the reason is, she decides not to come to the king…
· So for fear that all of the women in the kingdom would see this, the King’s wise me decide to get the king to issue a decree that the queen was not allowed to come into the kings presence any longer, and all husbands were to be honored by their wives…
CH2 – The selection process
· The King is encouraged to have the young women from all regions of his kingdom to be brought to Susa so he can select the one who pleased him the most to be his new queen…
· It is at this point are introduced to Mordecai and his cousin Esther who he had raised since her parents had died.
· Esther is among the beautiful young women who are brought into the king’s harem to be part of the selection process. Mordecai tells Esther not to tell anyone her nationality, We are not told why, but she submits to his request. Esther and the other young women go through a 12-month beautification process to prepare them to go into the king. Each would get one night with the king, and then the king would choose his new queen. The rest of the women who spent the night with him would become his concubines.
· Esther gets her opportunity to go to the king during the 10th month of 7th year of the king’s reign. She finds favor in the king’s sight and is chosen to be his new queen…
We skip ahead now about 4yrs. In 2.16, we see that Esther went in to the king and was chosen to be queen during the 7th year of his reign. In 3.7 we are told that it is now the 12th year...
The king promotes a man to basically vice-emperor… The man’s name is Haman
We know something about Haman's background: He is an Agagite… Many commentators take from this that he is a descendant of the Amalekite king Agag...
King Saul, in 1 Samual 15, was supposed to kill the Amalekite King Agag... this guy was a descendent of the Amalekites
when the Israelites left Egypt the first people in the world to attack the Israelites was the Amalekites
God put Amalek under a curse saying that HE would fight against Amalek from generation to generation, which seems in , was supposed to have it’s culmination in Saul going on a campaign to destroy the Amalekites, along with King Agag…
Saul did not kill all of the Amalekites. God told Saul to utterly exterminate the Amalekites...it looks like Saul got one of the nomadic groups of the Amalekites...wonder if God intended Saul to continue the process and kill off all of these nomadic Amalekite groups, and when he didn't that process was suspended…
So there were succeeding Amalekites even after what Saul did…
Now, King Ahasuerus commands everyone to bow down before Haman… Who doesn't? Mordecai… And he doesn't because? He's a Jew. Now we are not told exactly what Mordecai’s reasoning was behind not bowing before Haman. Jews would often bow before kings. It wasn't always wrong to bow down before a person... It depended on why it was being done…
We are not told why Mordecai would not bow and we are not told if he was doing the right thing…
There are a couple possibilities as to why he would not bow:
· Mordecai as a self-respecting, God-fearing Jew won't bow down before Haman, an Amalekite from a cursed nation...this is part of carrying out this sanction God has put against Amalek and Mordecai is possibly a descendent of Saul's family and so they are natural antagonists…
· Some speculate that maybe Haman was holding an idol or had some kind of idol attached to his clothing…
Either way, he does not bow to Haman. And the servants of the Kings gate are shocked...
What is interesting about what happens here is that it seems that Haman doesn’t even notice at first that Mordecai is not bowing before him… It seems like it wasn’t until a few days had passed, when the other servants told Haman that Mordecai, as a Jew, was not honoring Haman, that he made sure to watch Mordecai next time he saw him. He then saw Mordecai not bow, and he was infuriated about it.
He is so angered by this Jewish man not honoring him, that he decides that he is not just going to have Mordecai killed, but he will have all of Mordecai’s people put to death. Haman makes himself miserable in all of this and Mordecai robs him of all the pleasure of the honor given to him because one man won't bow down to him...Haman is half-crazy. This is attempted genocide...to kill off a whole nation…
Ironically, Haman reverses ... now he wants to exterminate the Jews where God told Saul to exterminate the Amalekites…
Then we come to verses 7-11… So Haman has resolved to exterminate the Jews, but he is a superstitious guy and he wants to find the right time to do this so he casts lots to find out which dates the gods would chose as the lucky day to exterminate the Jews
He is in the first month, the lot falls on the 12th month... the last month of the year
This is wonderful for the Jews because they will have the maximum time to prepare. If this had fallen the next month, this would have been even worse for the Jews. It is giving the Jews 11 months to figure out something
“The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord” - the Lord's hand is in this casting of lots
And in all of this, Haman puts all of his plans together before he even approaches the King about the matter. He decides he wants to exterminate the Jews, casts lot to pick the date, and then decides how he plans to get the king to agree with his plans… Here is what he first says to the King…
– [8] “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. (ESV)
Haman is obviously concerned about the king being dishonored… right? Not really… He is using it to his advantage…
He is not completely honest in what he says...he says some things that are true...there are people dispersed around the empire, but he says that they don't obey the laws of the king… That one is probably not completely true. There was one Jew (Mordecai) who didn’t obey one law of the king… This is the only evidence that Haman had of one of the king’s laws being broken… Haman seems to be taking a calculated risk here… He is assuming that they king will not ask any questions… And he was right…
What significant things does Haman omit?
What laws are being disobeyed... it may be the case if he said "someone is not honoring me" would the king agree it's a good idea to kill a whole nation? Who they are...doesn't even mention what race this is... When he alludes to them in vague terms it makes it lots less personal...it makes them like these people...if he had said Jews, Ahasuerus may have thought of a few Jews he liked and said “no”. So Haman doesn’t do that…
Then in verse 9, He says to the king "let it be decreed"...like I'll take care of the details, you just let this happen
What does Haman offer the king for this to be done? 10,000 talents of silver! Depending on who you read, possibly about 300 tons of silver; about 2/3rds the annual tax revenue of the empire… I suspect Haman planned to get this 10,000 talents of silver from the Jews who would be killed… He probably didn’t have this kind of money himself…
This shows the intensity of his hatred of Mordecai...he is willing to pay an incredible fortune to get this entire race wiped out. It was a very expensive campaign failure against Greece...so the king needed the money. The king acts like he doesn't want it, politely refusing it, but throughout the story this is treated as what is going to happen...not a serious refusal
Then in verse 10, this is crazy… the king GIVES HAMAN HIS SIGNET RING
This is incredible...it means you write the law and I'll sign it… Pretty much giving Haman permission to write any law he wants to write!!!
Ahasuerus has so much power and so little thought behind it… He doesn't even bother to ask what race he is giving his approval to destroy! He didn't even bother to think about what he was doing.
Later on in the story, Ahasuerus won't even remember he did this... It doesn't even strike him when Esther tells him her whole race is being exterminated that he gave Haman permission to do this…
So verses 12-15, this decree was published and sent out on the 13th day of the first month... maybe about 3 months after Esther becoming queen (we aren’t given the year). This would have been the day before Passover… the day before the celebration of God delivering Israel from Egyptian bondage. This would have put a damper on enjoying Passover… There would have been a lot of questions in their minds regarding whether God was going to deliver them again. But, hopefully, observing Passover would have given them an important reminder of what their God can do…
- look at the decree... The order is for the Jew’s enemies to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate them… This is meant to destroy every single one of them
There is a reason, I believe, why this book is so important for us to have… If the Jews got exterminated here, then what does that mean for the future? No more Jews means no Messiah is going to come… God's promises to His people are on the line. This would be a serious deal to have the nation of Israel totally exterminated!
When the decree is read in Susa, the whole city of Susa was in an uproar. This kind of extermination was unheard of… But we see at the end of verse 15, that in this time, when the city was in an uproar, the King and Haman just sat down to drink...cold, callous, heartless... like nothing had happened... this is amazing
Look at how this is the same story as chapter 1 all over again
Think about it
1. There is a person who defies a leader
Vashti defies the king
Mordecai defies Haman
2. Both the king and Haman are filled with wrath because of sensitive ego
3. An incident that involves just two people is escalated into something empire-wide
4. There is an effort in both to punish everyone in the category
All the women
All the Jews
5. A decree is sent out…
Chapter 1 is a foreshadowing of the main story of Esther that really starts in Chapter 3
In chapter 4:1-3, we see the reaction of Mordecai to the decree… It is an understandable reaction. There is wailing and grief. He puts on sackcloth...which is typical attire to show that you are mourning...they are in mourning for their people
Mordecai can't go into the king's gate because no one who was in mourning could go in there. You didn’t want to upset the king or make his day worse… It may not end up well for you… (We see this idea in Nehemiah also. Nehemiah was sad before the king, and when the king questioned him about it, he was afraid)…
In verses 4-9, Esther finds out… How will this play out then?
Esther wants to help Mordecai… So, what does Esther try to do to help Mordecai? She sends him some new clothes… Why didn't she ask him what was wrong instead of just sending him clothes like he didn't have anything better to wear. It seems kind of superficial here...you are dealing with the outward display and not the source of the grief.
And what does Mordecai do? Refuses the clothes...the clothes are not the issue...
Esther sends Hathach to find out what Mordecai is grieved over, and Mordecai tells Hathach and gave Hathach a copy of the extermination decree to share with Esther...now Esther has documentation of the decree and she can see the seriousness of the situation herself…
And Mordecai also wants Esther to go and plead with the King on her peoples’ behalf. She obviously has influence. She's the king’s wife – the queen. Use the influence to try to persuade the king to do something to reverse the edict… That seems like a reasonable thing for Mordecai to suggest…
We see Esther’s response in verse 11. There is a problem Esther says… For a month now, he has not called on her to come to him… For whatever reason, she has not seen the king. And if she just barges in, uncalled for, what could the consequences be? Either she dies or if he holds out the golden scepter, she is spared… So, she is risking her life if she goes into him…
Mordecai responds in verse 13 by telling her that, as a Jew, her life is in danger also and that she should not just assume that she will be spared…
Then Mordecai speaks what we have in verse 14. This is probably the most well-known verse in the book: “[14] For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father's house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” (ESV)
The name of God is never spoken here, but it is safe to assume that Mordecai is talking about God in verse 14... And you see such trust in God here. Things don’t look good, but God will deliver his people… The question is, are you going to be the one God uses to deliver His people… or will he use someone else? Mordecai is trusting in the providence of God, and it seems like he believes that Esther has been given her royal position by God for such a time as this.
She listens to Mordecai and says you all fast and we'll fast and I'll go into the king and if I perish, I perish. I like that attitude.... willing to lay her life on the line for other people… She tells God’s people to fast for three full days (more than likely to humble themselves before God and to pray to Him for help)
Lord willing, we will see what happens next week…
CONCLUSION
Some concluding applications/lessons for us…
· Have you ever wondered why am I here right now in this situation and this opportunity? Could it be that God is setting it up to use you or me for His will? To talk to certain people about Jesus… to reach out and help people in need… It may be the case that we often assume that someone else will come and do the work… but it COULD BE that God has placed you in certain circumstances in your life so that you can have opportunities to serve Him and His people…
· How much do we care about our own security as to the desperate needs of the world? We don't even want to change our schedule for the Lord… Esther is willing to say whatever it costs me I am willing to do what’s necessary… Does that describe us? Does that describe our dedication to God? Or do we just not speak up… The possible consequences stop us from doing anything… Whether that be friends not liking us or making fun of us… Our coworkers or family members rejecting us or hating us… Do we allow these kind of things keep us from doing what we should be doing for God?
· Esther shows us here what it means to rise to the challenge… Will we do the same?