Esther 8-10
For Such a Time as This • Sermon • Submitted
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You can trust God to preserve his people.
Welcome back to the final act in the Book of Esther. We have seen twists and turns, honor and shame, life and death. Last week, we saw Esther take courage by risking her life to save her people from “an enemy and adversary! This vile Haman!” Our villain, Haman, was impaled upon the gallows that was created for Mordecai.
We can read in Esther 8:1 “That same day King Xerxes gave Queen Esther the estate of Haman, the enemy of the Jews. And Mordecai came into the presence of the king, for Esther had told how he was related to her.” Esther and Mordecai were given the riches of their enemy, Haman.
Despite all this good news, the Jews still had a serious problem. You are probably thinking, “they still had a problem!? How many times will there still be a problem in this story?” I promise, this is our last problem - the king had decreed that they were all to be killed, and not even the king could rescind his own decree. Next thing we know, Esther falls at the king’s feet, sobbing and pleading that he find a way to save the Jews. She could get herself killed doing that, by breaking court etiquette, but Xerxes listened.
Xerxes called for his royal secretaries and came up with another edict. This new edict tells us how the Jews were able to protect themselves from Haman’s edict. Read with me in Esther 8:11-12.
11 The king’s edict granted the Jews in every city the right to assemble and protect themselves; to destroy, kill and annihilate the armed men of any nationality or province who might attack them and their women and children, and to plunder the property of their enemies.
12 The day appointed for the Jews to do this in all the provinces of King Xerxes was the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar.
That was the same day appointed for the Jews to be killed. So basically, he said the Jews could take up arms and defend themselves.
Now if you think about it, that’s not such a great deal - since the Jews were minority - but remember what Haman’s wife had said: “Since Mordecai...is of Jewish origin, you cannot stand against him—you will surely come to ruin!” The fear of the Jews - and the Jew’s God - had a way of getting into people’s heads.
Listen to what happened several months later.
1 On the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar, the edict commanded by the king was to be carried out. On this day the enemies of the Jews had hoped to overpower them, but now the tables were turned and the Jews got the upper hand over those who hated them.
2 The Jews assembled in their cities in all the provinces of King Xerxes to attack those determined to destroy them. No one could stand against them, because the people of all the other nationalities were afraid of them.
3 And all the nobles of the provinces, the satraps, the governors and the king’s administrators helped the Jews, because fear of Mordecai had seized them.
That doesn’t mean that there weren’t any who came against the Jews. In fact, in the capital of Susa, over two days, the Jews killed 800 people who came after them - including Haman’s 10 sons. Throughout the kingdom, the Jews killed 75,000 - all in self-defense, if I read that right. Xerxes had said the Jews could plunder those they killed, but the text pointedly tells us several times that they didn’t take a thing. Their holy God wanted them to have nothing to do with the treasures of their enemies.
Then, after all this, the Jews celebrated. They are still celebrating 2,500 years later, every year at Purim. Esther is ultimately a story about why the people of God have reasons to celebrate. This book cues us to a party!
We - as the people of God, grafted into the vine of Israel by Christ - also have reason to celebrate. We can celebrate what God did for Esther, Mordecai, and the Jews, but we have an even greater story of our own: one that draws on the same reasons for the joy of the Jews.
Haman had a spiritual father - Satan. Haman, second in power only to the great king, could have anything he wanted. He could finagle the annihilation of an entire people. But what he could not tolerate was anyone who would not bow down to him. That’s the DNA of Satan. He wants all the glory - but, like Mordecai, we refuse to bow to him who will not bow to God.
We are no match for Satan, any more than the Jews could stop Haman - except through their prayers. The Lord is the strength of our lives, and he will come to our aid. We believe 1 John 4:4 “4 You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.”
One of the distinct things about the downfall of Haman is how he is ultimately trapped in his own scheme. Esther 9:25, in recapping this story, says the king “ issued written orders that the evil scheme Haman had devised against the Jews should come back onto his own head, and that he and his sons should be impaled on poles.” That is how God works. We are saved because God traps Satan in his own scheme.
Satan stage-managed the death of Jesus - Judas’s betrayal, the blind pride of the Pharisees, the violent arrogance of the Romans. He succeeded in killing the very Son of God, the hope of the world, and God’s only remedy for mankind’s sin and death. Yet as every Christian knows, Jesus did not die a victim, but a sacrifice. He did not die forever as all other mortals had, but rather he rose again, seizing the very keys of death from the grip of the devil.
Colossians 2:15 says, “And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.”
15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.
Haman was not merely defeated; he was hoisted on the pole he had erected to disgrace and destroy Mordecai. According to Revelation 20:10, Satan, who is now the prince of the power of the air, will be “thrown into the lake of burning sulfur… to be tormented day and night for ever and ever.”
We celebrate because the ancient, vile enemy who once controlled our lives has been brought low by the might of our God. “But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 15:57)
There is another, even more wonderful reversal in this story: a condemned and helpless people are not only saved, but exalted among the nations.
That, of course, is the story of our lives, too. We are saved by a far greater edict than that of Xerxes! Jesus came, saying, “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news” (Mark 1:15). It was an edict of salvation, a turning of the tables.
There’s an interesting detail in Esther about when the king’s edict was issued. Turn with me to Esther 8:10 and 14.
10 Mordecai wrote in the name of King Xerxes, sealed the dispatches with the king’s signet ring, and sent them by mounted couriers, who rode fast horses especially bred for the king.
14 The couriers, riding the royal horses, went out, spurred on by the king’s command, and the edict was issued in the citadel of Susa.
Even though the death sentence was overruled, the condemned Jews didn’t know it. Such news couldn’t get to them soon enough! Those couriers were evangelists, of a sort. They are our models. As the prophet Isaiah exclaims:
7 How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!”
Each of us know people whose lives are heavy with death, and our Christian privilege is to tell them that God has provided for their salvation. We may not go galloping into people’s lives shouting, “You’re saved! You’re saved!” - but neither do we dare to pass silently without ever a whisper of the good news from us.
Here is another fascinating aspect of this story. Read Esther 8:15-17 with me
15 When Mordecai left the king’s presence, he was wearing royal garments of blue and white, a large crown of gold and a purple robe of fine linen. And the city of Susa held a joyous celebration.
16 For the Jews it was a time of happiness and joy, gladness and honor.
17 In every province and in every city to which the edict of the king came, there was joy and gladness among the Jews, with feasting and celebrating. And many people of other nationalities became Jews because fear of the Jews had seized them.
When God’s people were saved, the whole city of Susa held a joyous celebration. If that isn’t amazing enough, many throughout the realm became Jews. God’s name is never mentioned in this whole story, but there is no doubt about God’s presence or his saving power. Remember God’s promise to Abraham? “and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.” (Genesis 22:18 ). Here is a fulfillment of that.
If the fear of the Jews drew people to join them, how much more does the grace of God poured out on us through Jesus Christ draw people to our sovereign, saving Lord? Ultimately, our salvation is the joy and hope of the whole world. This is the very point of the gospel: “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation” (Mark 16:15). John saw a vision of our future - “a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people, and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: ‘Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb’” (Revelation 7:9-10). God not only saves us - he exalts us till we worship with the nations in his presence.
Let us celebrate as only those who have been rescued from death by God. Join me as we read Esther 9:21-22
21 to have them celebrate annually the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month of Adar
22 as the time when the Jews got relief from their enemies, and as the month when their sorrow was turned into joy and their mourning into a day of celebration. He wrote them to observe the days as days of feasting and joy and giving presents of food to one another and gifts to the poor.
Purim, which is what this celebration is called, is a kind of Jewish Mardi Gras. Eugene Peterson, in his book Five Smooth Stones for Pastoral Work, writes, “the rabis had a saying that although moderation is required throughout the year, on Purim it was permitted to drink wine ‘until you didn’t know the difference between blessed be Mordecai and cursed be Haman.’”
We don’t need to get drunk to celebrate, but we should know how to party over our salvation. Ephesians 5:18-20 says,
18 Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit,
19 speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord,
20 always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
If the Jews celebrated so exuberantly, how much more should we? If they feasted, how much more should we - at the table of the Lord where our great Savior dines with us, and in all our meals together, till we dine in glory with the Lord our Bridegroom? After all, we eat with people once condemned who will now live with us forever. Maybe between bites, we should breathe a sigh of relief and say, “Whew! That was a close one. Thank God that the good news of Jesus reached us!”
If they were generous with gifts to one another and to the poor around them, how much more should we be joyfully generous? After all, “you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9)
Let’s celebrate our salvation - our salvation from an edict of death to an edict of life. Will you pray with me?