Archives for June 2017

OVERVIEW: Mordecai and the Jews mourn over the king’s commandment to destroy them; Esther and Mordecai work a plan to save the Jews; Esther plans a banquet for the king at which she makes her request of him to save her people, the Jews; the king belatedly honors Mordecai for his service to him in uncovering the assassination plot; Esther accuses Haman before the king and Haman is executed.

HIGHLIGHTS & INSIGHTS:

In chapter 4, Mordecai grieves and weeps in sackcloth and ashes in the streets of the city over the decree issued by the king to destroy the Jewish race. He does this right in the king’s gate where everyone could see him, without fearing the consequences, and certainly without being ashamed of his God or his people. Esther, not understanding why Mordecai was expressing such extreme public emotion (and commotion!), sends a servant to find out what was wrong. Mordecai sends word back to her explaining his actions, along with a copy of the king’s decree to exterminate the Jews, so she might understand just how desperate the situation actually was. Mordecai proceeds to convince Esther that she is the one that God wants to use to deliver His people, suggesting that her rise to such an exalted position in the kingdom might well have been “for such a time as this.” (4:14) We must admire Esther, for she presents herself before the king as a “living sacrifice” (Rom. 12:1) to do God’s will, knowing she could die if the king doesn’t hold out the golden scepter to her.

Based on Mordecai and Esther’s behavior, we would do well to ask ourselves two simple but very sobering introspective questions:

• Am I like Mordecai in that I am deeply concerned for those who are condemned?
• Am I like Esther in that I am willing to sacrifice myself in order to intercede on behalf of those who are facing inevitable judgment?

Rather than just being forthright with her request to the king concerning her people, however, Esther very wisely presents herself before him, extending what might be considered somewhat of a formal invitation to attend a special banquet that she wanted to prepare for him and Haman. She was obviously keenly aware of the king’s strong affinity for food and wine, and decided her best chance for getting her request granted would be when the king was of a “merry heart.” (Pro. 15:13, 15; 17:22) At the banquet, the king asks Esther what was on her mind, and confirms his willingness to grant her petition, even if it were for half of the kingdom! Once again, rather than present such a grave and monumental request at an inappropriate or inopportune time, she chooses to invite him to yet another banquet on the following day. (Ecc. 3:11)

As Esther’s first banquet came to an end, Haman walks out feeling like he was sitting on top of the world! He ponders the fact that not only was he the king’s “right-hand man” but that he was the only man in the entire kingdom that the queen invited to her special banquet. As he walks past the king’s gate after the banquet, however, he once again finds himself enraged because of Mordecai’s refusal to do obeisance to him. When he gets home, he tells his wife and friends about the “high” of his day, with the special “honor” of his exclusive time with the king and queen, and the “low” of his day, with that “despicable Jew” not bowing to him in the gate! They suggest for Haman to command gallows to be made for Mordecai’s “terrible insurrection” and that he be hanged on them the next day.

At the same time that Haman is plotting these things against Haman in his house, for some strange reason, the king, in his house, finds himself unable to sleep. He commands that the recent chronicles of his kingship be read to him, and as they are, he is reminded of how that it was Mordecai that was used to foil the recent assassination attempt against him. He is also reminded that no kindness had been extended to Mordecai for his heroic deed, so he decides to do something special to honor him but found himself at a loss for just exactly how to do it. He hears that Haman is in the court, and calls him in to seek his counsel on what he thought would be an appropriate way for the king to bestow honor upon a very special individual. Thinking that the king must certainly have been referring to him, Haman wastes no time concocting an extravagant plan to exalt himself before all the people. The king thought Haman’s plan was absolutely perfect and was excited to see it enacted. What a humiliating shock it was to Haman when the king gave him the personal assignment to see that every last detail of his plan be lavished upon “Mordecai the Jew”! (6:10) Haman was so beside himself that he immediately goes home to tell his wife and his counselors what had unfolded in his meeting with the king, and rather than attempt to encourage him, they basically tell him that this will prove to be something he will not be able to overcome. (6:13) While they were discussing this matter, the king’s chamberlains came to tell Haman that it was time for Esther’s second banquet.

As the banquet begins in chapter 7, the king is very anxious to find out just what the request is that Esther has in her heart, and why it was that she was being so mysterious about it all. When she finally tells the king that there was a conspiracy unfolding to exterminate her and her people, the king is absolutely wroth! He wants to know immediately “who” it is that has devised such a heinous plan, and “where” he is! What an unbelievable surprise it is to the king when Esther points across the table and says, “The adversary and enemy is this wicked Haman!” The chapter ends with the king ordering that Haman be executed upon the very gallows that he had commanded to be built to hang Mordecai. As the old saying goes, “Couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy!”

CHRIST IS REVEALED:

Through ESTHER – Esther 5–7.  Esther goes before the king pleading for the salvation of her people knowing it may cost a very high price: her own life! Jesus goes before the Father (or King) on our behalf as our Advocate (1 John 2:1, Rev. 12:9–10) to plead our case for forgiveness in light of the very high price He had to pay to obtain it: His own life!

OVERVIEW: Vashti (a Gentile woman) is removed from her royal position as queen; Esther (a Jewish woman) is chosen to be the new queen; the evil plot of Haman against the whole Jewish race.

HIGHLIGHTS & INSIGHTS:

The events of Esther take place between Ezra 6 and 7. When verse 3 of Esther chapter 1 sets the time as the third year of Ahasuerus, the year is actually 483 B.C. Note that the term “Ahasuerus” is not a particular man’s name, but was the title used to refer to the supreme ruler in Persia at this period in history, just as “Pharaoh” was the title of the supreme ruler in Egypt.

It is interesting to note that God’s name is found nowhere in the Book of Esther, although Jewish scribes have found the name Jehovah “hidden,” as it were, in five different verses. It illustrates a beautiful spiritual lesson: when it seems that God is nowhere to be found, if we look beneath the surface, we will actually find Him working “behind the scenes” to accomplish His purposes for our lives! (Rom. 8:28)

The Book of Esther opens with the king holding a seven-day feast for all those in his palace. (1:5) After seven days of excessive drinking (1:10), Ahasuerus decides to show off Vashti, his beautiful “trophy wife” and queen, to all of his male friends. In her wisdom, however, and with her apparent high moral values, Vashti refuses to cater to the king’s selfish and carnal drunken request. This, of course, infuriates the male chauvinist king, and all his male chauvinist princes, so they collectively decide that it would be best for the king to remove her from her exalted position, and to spread the word of her removal, so that all the women in the kingdom might not follow her “rebellious example,” but would rather “learn from her mistake,” and would be sure to “honor their husbands.”

After about four years, however, the king begins to miss his wife, and regrets his rash decision to put her away. (2:1) Recognizing, not only his regret, but his loneliness, the king’s servants convince him to pick a new queen, from among the many beautiful women in his kingdom, by holding what might be considered the equivalent of a “beauty pageant”. “It just so happens,” that God had placed a Jew, a man named Mordecai, in a very important position, seated at the king’s gate. (2:21) Mordecai, a cousin of Esther, who had not only brought her up from her youth, but had actually become like a father to her (2:7), decided to enter her into this “contest” to potentially become the next queen. Per the instruction of Mordecai, Esther did not let it be known to anyone, however, that she was a Jew. (2:10,20)

In God’s sovereignty, and because of her distinct character and beauty, Esther was chosen by the king to be his new queen, and a feast was held in her honor. At the end of chapter 2, Mordecai finds out about a plot to kill the king. He notifies Esther, who in turn, tells the king in Mordecai’s name, and it all gets written down in the book of the chronicles of the king. While this may seem like a rather insignificant detail at the time, we’ll find that it ends up being the very thing that God uses to save His people from destruction! Isn’t it just like God to save His people by something written in “the Book of the King”?! (Rom. 10:17)

Chapter 3 begins with a man named Haman getting a big promotion from the king. Haman becomes the king’s “chief advisor” and “right-hand man!” It might be important to note, that he just happens to despise the Jews! Haman, as a perfect picture of the flesh, is a selfish, self-seeking, self-serving, egomaniac. When he sees that Mordecai refuses to bow to him as he passed by, he becomes incensed. (3:5) Haman decided to offer the king the equivalent of about $25 million in silver if the king would pass a law condemning the entire Jewish race to death (including women and children). This money would, no doubt, come from the revenue acquired from the sale of the property of the slain Jews, much like what has happened at other times in history, such as with Hitler during WWII, and the Roman Catholic Church during the Crusades. The king passes the law and the date for their execution was set by casting lots. (Est. 3:7, Pro. 16:33) In God’s providence, the date for the extermination of the Jews was set an entire year away (3:7), providing plenty of time for the “plan of God” to unfold through the “plan of Mordecai”, to halt this satanically generated plot against the Jewish people.

CHRIST IS REVEALED:

Through KING AHASUERUS — Esther 1–2. There is coming a day very soon when God will remove (rapture) the church (His Gentile bride and queen) off of this earth because of her unfaithfulness to Him, and replace her with the nation of Israel (His Jewish queen) for His 1000 year reign on earth as King.