Redemptive Reversals: Esther Study (Part 3)
At the end of last month's blog, we were left with a sort of cliffhanger, not knowing what was going to happen to Esther, Mordecai, and the rest of the Jews. Esther and Mordecai were going to stand firm in their faith, even though it meant risking their lives to try and save their people. You can read more about that and Haman's plan to kill all the Jews in last month's blog. This month, we're going to see what happens to Esther and Mordecai as they try to reverse Haman's decree.
As a reminder, to approach the king without summons is a death sentence. At the beginning of chapter 5, we see Esther placing her life in the king's hands by approaching him without being summoned. She does this to persuade him to reverse the genocidal decree written by Haman. If the decree isn't reversed, Esther and the other Jews would be massacred. Xerxes could have had Esther killed right then and there for even approaching him; however, he decided to spare Esther's life AND he even offered her half of his kingdom. This is the first of several ironies we will see in the next couple of chapters.
The next unexpected thing we're going to see is Esther asking for a feast with the king and Haman instead of asking for her people's lives. During this feast, Esther pours wine for her king and Haman. After they are drunk, she asks them to dinner again the following day. After the dinner, Haman leaves and as he's heading home, he runs into Mordecai. Mordecai still refused to bow to his authority; however, Haman temporarily withheld his wrath towards Mordecai. When Haman returns home, he forgets about the occurrence with Mordecai and begins bragging about the treatment he's received from the king and queen. He boasts about his wealth and mentions that he’s been invited to dine with them again the next day.
While Haman is bragging, he's reminded of the anger he felt towards Mordecai earlier. When his wife hears about it, she suggests Haman impale Mordecai on a stake 75 feet in the air. This plan pleases Haman because the enormous pole matches his inflated ego. What Haman doesn't know is another reversal is coming.
After the feast, Xerxes couldn't sleep. He asks for his royal records to be read to him. When it is finished being read, he realizes that Mordecai hadn't been properly celebrated for saving his life (see Esther chapter 3). Now, we're going to see a clash between Xerxes and Haman. While Haman is coming to Xerxes to try convincing him to have Mordecai executed, Xerxes is preparing to have Mordecai celebrated.
Without giving any context, Xerxes asks Haman how he should treat a man that the king delights in. As we've seen in previous chapters, Haman thinks very highly of himself and believes the king is talking about him. Haman then starts talking about every honor and celebration he would desire, without knowing that Xerxes is really talking about doing these things for Mordecai.
Xerxes likes Haman's plan and tells him to do all those things… to Mordecai – the man Haman wants killed. Ironically, Haman's name means "celebrated one." In this moment, the one Haman is forced to celebrate is the one who refused to celebrate him earlier (see chapter 3 for when Haman was first promoted and Mordecai refused to bow down to him). After completing everything for Mordecai, Haman went home humiliated. We then see Haman’s wife interpret this as foreshadowing the outcome between Mordecai and Haman, suggesting that, "If Mordecai, before whom you have begun to fall, is of the Jewish people, you will not overcome him but will surely fall before him" (6:13b).
As the second feast is happening the next day, Esther reveals for the first time that she's a Jew. It hits Haman that he was conspiring to kill Xerxes' queen. Haman becomes fearful after finding out the queen is Jewish. He starts to beg Esther for his life; however, Xerxes sees his begging as an assault. Therefore, Xerxes demands for Haman to be immediately executed… on the stake that was built for Haman – again, another irony.
To wrap up this month's Esther study, I want to leave you with two truths to remember from these passages:
- We are responsible for obedience, and God is responsible for what follows. We see how through difficult situations, Mordecai and Esther remain obedient to God. The result of their faithful obedience? God was able to work through them and save the Jews living in exile! While there was no guarantee that Mordecai and Esther would live through these events, they still remained obedient to God. We saw the same faithful obedience in Daniel with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego from the March blog. The same thing is true for us today; we must continue to obey God's Word and trust Him for the outcome of our life.
- Anger is often driven by lack of perspective. Haman had everything he could ever want. However, he became so fixated on the one person who refused to honor him, Mordecai. He lacked humility and thought he was deserving of all the honor. He didn't see the blessings he had in his life because he was blinded by pride. Do you let your pride blind you from all the blessings in your life? God has given us so much, yet we can get caught up in what we don't have and get upset over inconsequential events.
Make sure to come back next month as we wrap up our study through Esther and find out what happens to the Jews after Haman's death.
Cornerstone Impact Update
Over the past few months, we've been going through the book by Arthur ("Art") Ally, Invested with Purpose. This book is about the birth of Biblically Responsible Investing, and what Art went through to get BRI available. Throughout this series, we've shared different things that are required if you're going to be "invested with purpose." Last month's blog was focused on having complete obedience and how Art was completely obedient in his endeavor to begin BRI.