The Names of the Feast

There are three basic names for this feast. The most common name by far today is Purim. This is the biblical name according to Esther 9:26. It is the plural form of the singular word pur, meaning lot. Therefore, Purim means lots, or the Feast of Lots. The reason this name was used is given in Esther 9:24, because Haman had cast the pur (that is the lot) to determine the day to destroy the Jews.

A second name is Mordecai’s Day. This is a name given to the feast in early Jewish writings between the TaNaKh and the B’rit Chadashah and is found in one of the apocryphal books, Second Maccabees 15:36. It was given this name because it was actually Mordecai who inaugurated the feast (Esther 9:20-21).

The third name is Id El Sukar. This is Arabic, meaning the sweet festival. The Arabs of Jerusalem gave this name during the Turkish period (1517 to 1917). It became the Jewish custom in Jerusalem to give sugar candies to Moslem authorities on this day, thus, the Arabs began calling this feast the Sweet Festival.¹¹³

The Feast of Purim

With these verses the author returns his original readers to their own time, decades after the developments in Persia had taken place. King Ahasuerus had been assassinated in his bedroom by his royal bodyguard. Esther and Mordecai had long since passed away and Purim was becoming an annual celebration of the Jewish calendar. It is as if the author is saying to us, “See, this is why we celebrate Purim as we do!” He clarifies that Mordecai recorded these events, and . . . sent letters to all the Jews . . . to have them celebrate annually so that future generations could remember the historic deliverance of their ancestors that allowed each subsequent generation to exist.

It is fitting that the fulfillment of ADONAI’s promise to the Jews in Persia should also be written down and memorialized. When God promised to obliterate the memory of the Amalekites, He told Moses to write down on a scroll as something to be remembered (Exodus 17:14). And many centuries later, the events of Esther’s story fulfilled this promise. In sharp contrast to the empty words of today’s so-called leaders, our Lord is a promise keeper who is able to accomplish what He has said He will do.

Purim joined the other five Jewish feasts that were commanded by Moses in the Torah (Leviticus 23:4-44), and celebrated incredible events surrounding the creation of the nation of Isra’el as ADONAI’s covenant people. Purim celebrates the survival of the Jews, even though it was dispersed in judgment of the Babylonian exile centuries later. By the time of Jesus, the feast of Hanukkah had also been inserted into the Jewish religious calendar as a reminder of their deliverance from the tyranny of Antiochus Epiphanies in the second century BC. Judas Maccabeus led that deliverance that was orchestrated by the hand of God. (see my commentary on The Life of Christ, to see link click Hj – Then Came Hanukkah at Jerusalem, and It Was Winter).

Purim, however, was based on a different authority than the Torah. Mordecai was not a prophet or a miracle worker, nor did he rule in Jerusalem. He wore the signet ring of the Persian king, not the ephod of the high priest. Mordecai simply wrote a decree that was distributed to the Jews throughout Persia, which led to their deliverance. Then, because of everything written in this letter and because of what they had seen and what had happened to them, the Jews took it upon themselves to establish the custom that they and their descendents and all who join them should without fail observe these two days every year, in the way prescribed and at the time appointed (Esther 9:26b-27). Consequently, the celebration of Purim, rather than being imposed on the Jews by ADONAI, began as a spontaneous response of God’s people to His continued faithfulness to the promises of the covenant.¹¹²

The Jews Struck Down All Their Enemies with the Sword,
Killing and Destroying Them
9: 5-19

The Jews struck down all their emenies with the sword, killing and destroying them DIG: What does they did as they pleased mean in the context here? What happened in the fortress of Susa? Why? What did the Jews do with the plunder? Why? What did Queen Esther ask for and receive from King Ahasuerus? How was it possible that the Jews killed seventy-five thousand of their enemies? Why are there two different dates for the observance of Purim?

REFLECT: What is the difference between killing and murder (see my commentary on Exodus, to see link click Dp – You Shall Not Murder)? What do you do that’s not for money? Even though you know you will be criticized, will you do something tough for the LORD in your life (that you know needs to be done)? Or do you usually pass? Do you know why? Are you feeling like you are living in a walled (protected) city today, or do you feel like you are living in an unwalled (unprotected) city? Why?

On the day of the battle, on the twenty-third day of the third month, the month of Sivan, 474 BC, the Jews struck down all their enemies with the sword, killing and destroying them, and they did what they pleased to those who hated them (9:5). Perhaps the words, they did as they pleased to those who hated them, suggests a frenzy of wild vengeance because of the combination of the verbs. In the wider context, however, the inference is that the Jews were given a free hand to defend themselves without official interference from the government.

The Jews must have had many enemies in the fortress of Susa, because they killed and destroyed five hundred men plus Haman’s ten sons (9:6). Maybe Haman had influenced them. Probably the Jews of Susa concentrated on the enemies that were found in the fortress as being the most dangerous, or perhaps the known enemies of the Jews sought refuge in the fortress to try to protect themselves. Although five hundred sounds like a lot, it was not a high percentage of the population. This points to the fact that the majority of the citizens of Susa supported the Jews.

But they did not lay their hands on the plunder as Haman had hoped to do. Three times it is stated that they were not doing this for the money (9:10b, 15-16). The author may also have had the incident in First Samuel 15:17-23 in mind when Saul disobeyed ADONAI by taking the plunder of the Amalekites. This time the Jews were careful not to make the same mistake again. In addition, the decision not to enrich themselves at the expense of their enemies would not go unnoticed in a culture where victors were expected to take the spoil. The very novelty of such restraint would be talked about, remembered and taken as proof of their upright motives, probably resulting in Gentile converts to Judaism.¹⁰⁵

The number of those killed in the fortress of Shushan was reported to the king that same day (9:11). The king seemed indifferent to the results. The number of those killed did not include any Jews. It must simply be that the victory over their enemies made the loss of their own companions seemingly insignificant by comparison. But it is hard to believe that not one Jewish life was lost, although the narrative would have us think so. Maybe the mention of Jewish deaths would put a damper on the Jewish Marti Gras known as Purim. The Jews had but one thought that day, and it was survival.

The Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther, “The Jews have killed and destroyed five hundred men and the ten sons of Haman in the fortress of Susa. Apparently the king was indifferent to the results. What have they done in the rest of the king’s provinces? If the Jews killed so many in Susa, how many must they have been killed in the whole empire? Now what is your petition? It will be given you (but this time he did not add, up to half the kingdom). What is your request? It will also be granted” (9:12).

  She requested one more day to root out the enemies of the Jews who were trying to destroy them, and the public humiliation of the bodies of Haman’s ten dead sons, just as their father had been humiliated. Although barbaric by our standards today, it was a common occurrence in ancient warfare (First Samuel 31:1-3). Esther replied: If it pleases the king, give the Jews in Susa permission to carry out this day’s edict tomorrow also, and let Haman’s ten sons be impaled on poles (9:13). Esther is almost universally condemned for requesting the fighting to go on for a second day. The author, however, makes no attempt to either exonerate the queen or to justify her request. It seemed to be perfectly acceptable to him. Did she let her newfound power go to her head? Or were her reasons for requesting a second day of fighting legitimate, even though they are unknown to us and possibly unknown to the author? We simply don’t know.

Whether or not Esther was justified or not, the perennial failure of Israel’s greatest leaders to war against moral and spiritual darkness without being engulfed in it themselves suggests that no human being is worthy to wage a true holy war in the name of YHWH. God’s strategy against sin and evil was awaiting the perfect Warrior (to see link click Bj – The Jews Rejoiced), who could execute divine justice with clean hands and a pure heart. His name is Jesus.¹⁰⁶

They also killed Parshandatha, Dalphon, Aspatha, Poratha, Adalia, Aridatha, Parmashta, Arisai, Aridai and Vaizatha, (9:7-9) the ten sons of Haman son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews (9:10a). The Massorah prescribes that the names of the ten sons of Haman be written in a perpendicular column on the right hand side of the page, with the vav (and) on the left hand side. This is probably derived from the tradition that the ten sons were impaled on a tall pole, one above each other. It is also customary in reading the Megillah on Purim. The rabbis teach that if someone can say all ten of Haman’s sons names in one breath (because they all died together), it will bring good luck.

The ten sons of Haman were also killed that day, leaving no one to carry on their father’s legacy of hateful pride. The apple, after all, doesn’t fall far from the tree. This was a common practice in ancient warfare. When the leader was killed, so was his whole family so that no one could live on to mount a vengeful coup. The names of Haman’s sons may help us to better understand what kind of a war Esther was engaged in. They are of special interest because they may be daiva names of ancient Persia. Daiva were once used of the gods in early Iranian and Hindu writings but later came to be associated with demonic powers in Eastern religions. As seen above, all the names have a characteristic “a” vowel, in keeping with their father and grandfather’s names, as if binding the entire family together. If the names of Haman’s sons do reflect this origin, the original readers would have probably recognized them as demonic. The author possibly listed the names to show the allegiance of Haman and his family to the demonic powers of darkness and evil and, therefore, proper casualties of Purim.¹⁰⁷

The Nazi’s banned all Purim observances. Hitler, on January 31, 1944, said that if the Nazis went down to defeat, the Jews would celebrate a second triumphal Purim. How right he was! On October 16, 1946, ten Nazis were hung in Nuremburg like the ten sons of Haman. One of them was Julius Streicher, who said as he was hung, “Purim, 1946.”¹⁰⁸

  So the king commanded that this be done. An edict was issued in Susa, and they impaled the ten sons of Haman (9:14). The Jews in Susa, probably the center of anti-Jewish element, came together on the fourteenth day of the month of Adar, and they put to death in Susa three hundred men who attacked them, but, we are reminded once again that they did not lay their hands on the plunder (9:15). This number was for the whole city of Susa, is small compared with the five hundred killed in the fortress on the first day. This further proves that the Jews did not kill indiscriminately, but only those who attacked them.

  Meanwhile, the remainder of the Jews who were in the king’s provinces also assembled to protect themselves and get relief from their enemies. They killed seventy-five thousand of them (9:16a). Another detail that has been considered improbable is that the Jews killed seventy-five thousand of their enemies after the king’s second edict. To those who have doubts about the possibility of such a massacre of their enemies, Carl Friedrich Keil, the famous messianic Jew from Germany (1807-1888) reminds us of the massacre of St. Bartholomew in France when Carlos IX put thousands of Protestants to death and banished hundreds of thousands from France. He also notes that Ferdinand the Catholic banished three hundred thousand Jews from Spain. Keil suggests that the population of the Persian Empire from Ethiopia to India must have been at least one hundred million. The Jews must have numbered between two and three million. So perhaps the number of anti-Semites killed need not be considered so improbable.¹⁰⁹

Even after the death of Haman, his edict of destruction remained in force for the Jews. But the counter-decree (see Bi – Now Write a Counter-Decree in the King’s Name in Behalf of the Jews) by Ahasuerus gave the Jews the right to defend themselves and their property in the face of deadly assault (8:11). While it is true that many Persians died in their attack on the Jews, their deaths were not the result of Jewish aggression, but of Jewish self-defense! None of the Persians would have died if they had refrained from attacking the Jews. Their integrity in this manner is emphasized by the repeated statement from 9:10, “But did not lay their hands on the plunder” (9:16b). The Jews refused to enrich themselves through their victory over the Persian aggressors.¹¹⁰

This happened on the thirteenth day of the month of Adar. The feast was observed on the thirteenth of Adar, or the original day set for the slaughter of the Jews. This was done in all the provinces. And on the fourteenth they rested and made it a day of feasting and joy (9:17). Apart from the Feast of Dedication and Nicanor’s Day, both instituted in the mid-second century BC, there were no festivals during the last five months of the Hebrew calendar (February to March). By the middle of the last month of the year a reason for family rejoicing would be a welcomed highlight after a long, cold winter.

  The first observance of Purim took place on the fourteenth of Adar outside the capital city of Susa. This verse is a kind of parenthetical explanation. Verse 19 explains how this feast was observed in the villages and unwalled towns. That is why rural Jews- those living in villages and large towns without walls – observe the fourteenth of the month of Adar as a day of joy and feasting, a good day for giving presents to each other (9:19). It was a day of joy, instead of a day of sorrow; it was a day of feasting, instead of a day of fasting; it was a good day, instead of a day of mourning; and it was a day for giving presents to each other, instead of having things taken away from them.¹¹¹

However, the second observance of Purim took place on the fifteenth of Adar because they fought for another day (see By – Susa Purim). The Jews in Susa had assembled on the thirteenth and fourteenth of Adar, and then on the fifteenth of Adar they rested and made it a day of feasting and joy (9:18). This set the stage for different Jewish observances. To this day, those Jews living in villages without walls celebrate Purim on the fourteenth of Adar, but those in cities with walls celebrate it on the fifteenth of Adar. Always being different, the Samaritans observed this feast a month earlier, in the month of Sh’vat. These last two verses are summaries that may seem to be contradictory to other verses, 9:21-22 for example. These summaries, however, telescope the events. That is to say, they are too brief to give all the details that would show they are not contradictory.

Consequently, a plot to destroy the Jews of Persia resulted in a festival that helped to unite and sustain them as a people.

The Fear of Mordecai Seized Them
9: 1-4

The fear of Mordecai seized them DIG: What was so special about the thirteenth day of the twelfth month of Adar? How and why were the Jews able to triumph? Who turned the tables? Who were the Gentiles really “afraid” of? Why did all the rulers support Mordecai?

REFLECT: When might “winning the battle,” mean “losing the war?” Is there a time when “going easy” on a defeated enemy might only invite troubles later on? Why or why not? How do you know the difference? When have you had the tables turned on you? How did you feel? What did you learn from that? Looking back on your life, when did God work silently behind the scenes for your benefit?

Eleven months after Haman had cast lots, the dreadful day arrived at last. On the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar, the decree commanded by the king was to be carried out. Before the author described what happened on that historic day, he summarizes the significance of the events: On this day the enemies of the Jews had hoped to overpower them, but now, because of the counter-decree (to see link click Bi – Now Write a Counter-Decree in the Kings Name on Behalf of the Jews), the tables were turned and the Jews got the upper hand over those who hated them (9:1). Although the circumstances are illustrated with the passive phrase, the tables were turned, the sense is clearly that ADONAI had caused them to turn. In the book of Esther where God appears to be absent, He is nonetheless present. Namely, God is the hero of the story.

The Jews assembled in their cities in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus to defend themselves from those determined to destroy them. No one could stand against them, because the people of all the other nationalities were afraid of them (9:2). The fear of God’s people could only be explained in terms of the fear of their God, who vindicated their righteous cause by convincing their enemies in the whole Persian Empire of having backed the losing side.¹⁰³ Even with government opposition, however, the hatred that many Persians felt for the Jews resulted in the Israelites having to defend themselves nonetheless. The phrase, no one could stand against them, did not mean their enemies failed to attack. It meant that they could not conquer them. Many times in the Scriptures ADONAI causes fear to fall on the enemies of the children of Isra’el. Here He uses the counter-decree, Mordecai’s rise to power, and the authority given to the Jews to defend themselves.

In fact, even the government authorities helped them. 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 (9:3). Given that Mordecai was then the prime minister, all the rulers wanted to please him. It is astounding how quickly the political winds can shift. Many times it is because ADONAI is working behind the scenes. The author is careful not to mention the LORD; however, he definitely wanted his readers to see God’s hand at work.

Only by the sovereign intervention of ADONAI was Mordecai in a position of authority. Mordecai was prominent in the palace; his reputation spread, literally, his reputation was walking throughout the provinces, and he became more and more powerful in the brief months as prime minister (9:4). Probably part of his new found prominence was due to the political shrewdness of the government officials, part was due to genuine affection for who Mordecai was, but we must not discount the fact that they feared the man who stood up to Haman and ruled in his place.

Like Joseph, Mordecai had gone through difficult days and had been in danger of death (see my commentary on Genesis Ja – Joseph in the Pit). But as a result of God’s providence, Mordecai’s crisis, like Joseph’s, became the means of greater influence (see my commentary on Genesis Jv – Joseph as Prime Minister). This fact is often times repeated in the lives of the servants of ADONAI.

Who do you fear? The Bible says the fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline (Proverbs 1:7). The fear of the LORD occurs eleven times in Proverbs (and fear the LORD occurs four times). Beginning is the Hebrew re’sit and means the start. We cannot gain knowledge of spiritual things if we begin at the wrong point, refusing to fear the LORD. But what exactly does that mean? To have the fear of the LORD means to recognize God’s character and respond by revering, trusting, worshiping, obeying and serving Him. Re’sit also means the capstone or the essence. Therefore, the essence of true knowledge is fearing God. Apart from Him we are ignorant of spiritual things (Romans 1:22; Ephesians 4:18; First Peter 1:14).

The book of Esther invites us to think about the nature of faith in a world where ADONAI is unseen. Those who have placed their faith in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob can understand what the author of Esther expresses so eloquently. Hebrews 11:1 says it this way: Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. In other words, the very definition of faith calls us to believe in the unseen reality lying behind, or beyond, the events we do see, even when, and perhaps especially when, He acts in unexpected ways. Therefore, on what do we base our lives, if not the visible presence of God? It is the explanation of life that ADONAI gives us in His Word. The deliverance of the Jews gives us the hope of God’s presence and power in our lives even when He seems absent. And as seen in the book of Esther, the answers to our prayers are already on their way, set in motion through a chain of events that may have seemed insignificant at the time.¹⁰⁴

The Triumph of the Jews
9: 1-19

Esther was brought to the king’s court for such a time as this (4:14). The purpose in her grooming was so that the Jews would not be destroyed by Haman’s evil plot. Even with Haman dead, however, the edict was still in effect. Esther’s plan worked. The Jews defended themselves against the enemies and preserved their communities. The result was the celebration of Purim, a feast commemorating their deliverance from Haman.¹⁰² Only in the last two chapters does the author reveal the reasons for some of the things he had only hinted at earlier, and bring out his underlying purposes for writing Esther. As a result, these chapters are important for the appreciation of the book’s intentions and its part in the canon of Scripture. And last, but certainly not least, these two chapters work out the conclusion of the plot, therefore, completing the story.

The Jews Rejoiced
8: 15-17

The Jews rejoiced DIG: This starts a new song for the Jews? What is it? What is the principle for evangelism that is seen here? What is the scriptural evidence that the LORD is a Warrior (see Genesis 19:24; Exodus 12:29; Numbers 21:3; Joshua 5:13-15; Isaiah 42:13, 63:1-6; Revelation 14:14-20)?

REFLECT: Do you honor ADONAI with the way you react to the good things in your life? Why or why not? How do you feel about the concept of God as Warrior? Does it make you feel uncomfortable? Why? Or does it make you feel safe? Why?

The first observance of the Feast of Purim was purely spontaneous as a sign of relief because the Jews had rest from their enemies. Every time there is feasting, there is a reversal of roles. So here, in the past the Jews were afraid of the Persians (4:3), but then the tables were turned so that the Persians were afraid of the God of the Jews (8:17, 9:1-2). It was the religious awe that fell upon the Canaanites (Joshua 2:9), the Edomites and Moabites (Exodus 15:16), and the Egyptians (Psalms 105:38). This would have been extremely encouraging to the Jews after the Babylonian exile, either in the Land or in the Diaspora.

Mordecai going out from the king’s presence (8:15a) signaled the intimacy that he had established with Ahasuerus, and he enjoyed it in Haman’s place (3:1). He was also wearing clothes that pointed to his royal position – royal garments of blue and white (the Persian royal colors), a large turban, ornamented with a gold band and jewels, and a purple robe of fine white linen (8:15b). Joseph had also been clothed in fine white linen and a gold chain around his neck when he became the prime minister of Egypt (Genesis 41:42). Needless to say, Mordecai was no longer wearing sackcloth (4:1).

The final verses of this chapter are the exact opposite of the earlier scene where the city of Susa was bewildered (3:15b), where the order to annihilate the Jews had been given. But after the edict of Mordecai the entire city of Susa, not merely the Jews living there, held a joyous celebration (8:15c). They welcomed Mordecai as the prime minister, probably because he was so very popular with the citizens of Susa. Far from resenting a member of a foreign minority being appointed to such a lofty position, they cheered and rejoiced in full support. The author wanted to show that the welfare of the Jews meant the good of the whole society.⁹⁶

The Jews realized the importance of the decree, and the contrast between the reception of this decree opposed to Haman’s was very obvious. In place of mourning, fasting, weeping and wailing (4:3) there was happiness, joy, gladness and honor (8:16). Whereas Chapter 3 had recorded the rise of Haman, this chapter has shown how Mordecai not only stepped into Haman’s honored role as the king’s prime minister but also used his power in similar ways. The difference was the he worked more successfully and won popularity with Jews and Gentiles alike, and brought gladness instead of gloom.⁹⁷

In every province and in every city to which the edict of the king came, there was joy and gladness, literally shouting and rejoicing, among the Jews, with feasting and celebrating. This one short sentence enables the reader to experience the relief felt by the Jews of Persia. Mordecai’s royal garments of power meant that the Jews in the king’s empire had an internal advocate. His luminescence was theirs.

The vast majority of the citizens, who were not anti-Semitic, had nothing to fear. And many people of other nationalities, literally Gentile peoples of the land, became Jews (8:17). Leviticus 19:33-34 made provision for foreigners who wanted to embrace the Torah to become proselytes. The verb became Jews, only used here means they Judaized themselves. In general, the Jews were to be a light to the Gentiles (Isaiah 42:6). But there are specific examples in the TaNaKh where that actually happened, and probably many more that were not recorded. First, there was a mixed multitude that left Egypt with the Jews in the exodus (see my commentary on Exodus, to see link click Ca – At the End of the 430 Years to the Very Day); secondly, a careful study of the genealogical lists suggests that later in Canaan some local clans (of Canaanites or other people groups) were assimilated into the various tribes of Isra’el.

The famous German messianic Jew, Carl Friedrich Keil (1807 to 1888), says that most of those who became Jews must have done it out of conversion of the truth of Judaism. The Jewish trust in ADONAI “contrasted with the vanity and misery of polytheism,” and the evident providential turn of events confirmed this conviction. We know this was the case several centuries later when Paul was preaching the Gospel throughout the Hellenistic world. Many of the converts to Christ were Greek men who were “God-fearers” (Acts 17:4) who had become disillusioned with the pagan religions and were attracted by the Jew’s faith in one God, and their high ethical principles.⁹⁸ The goodness of God was becoming obvious to the citizens of Persia. No longer were these events being viewed as coincidence; now people were beginning to realize that the God of the Jews was protecting them.⁹⁹

If Haman’s plot had succeeded and the Jewish nation had been annihilated during the reign of Ahasuerus, obviously Yeshua would not have been born and it would put an end to God’s plan of redemption (see my commentary on Exodus Bz – Redemption). The promises of ADONAI are one with His covenant people. He set aside a place for them to live in peace and security, but it was a land already filled with wicked and sinful people. Making a place for them meant destroying the wicked people already there. In other words, salvation inherently demands destruction. Who is the King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle (Psalm 24:8). To be saved implies you have to be saved from something. That something is evil, and a holy God cannot tolerate evil.

Make no mistake about it, the LORD is a Warrior; the LORD is His name (Exodus 15:3). These words are sung in an ancient hymn in which the Israelites celebrated their exodus from Egypt (see my commentary on Exodus Ck – Then Moses and the Israelites Sang This Song). After the Jews had passed safely through the Sea of Reeds, their Egyptian pursuers were drowned. Although in a strict sense the events associated with the Exodus cannot be described as a battle, for the Israelites didn’t actually fight, it was nonetheless celebrated as a mighty victory in war. Like Armageddon (see my commentary on Revelation Ex – The Eight Stage Campaign of Armageddon), it was more of an execution than a battle. ADONAI had defeated the elite forces of Pharaoh, who was believed in ancient Egypt to be the divine son of the Great Deity. God was a Warrior, the Hebrews believed, who was more powerful in battle than the greatest world power of that time.¹⁰⁰

For us today, the TaNaKh looks forward and the B’rit Chadashah looks back. The LORD’s irrevocable decree of death had been countered by His decree that all who believe in Jesus Christ should not perish under His wrath, but be delivered into eternal life. In other words, the full extent of God’s love for all of us can only be fully appreciated until we realize the extent of His wrath poured out on His Son for the sins of the world (Second Corinthians 5:21). It is on the cross, that the love of ADONAI and His justice are reconciled.¹⁰¹

Dear Great and Wise Heavenly Father, Heaven for all eternity – how wonderful! The problems and trials of life sometimes look so big and seem to last so long—but they will soon be over. Trials and persecutions may press hard against us and cause us pain, but they will not win. We are hard pressed in every way, yet not crushed; perplexed, yet not in despair;  persecuted, yet not forsaken; struck down, yet not destroyed (Second Corinthians 4:8-9). We have as a sure hope, God’s promise to bring all who love and follow Him to his eternal home in heaven.  Knowing that the One who raised the Lord Yeshua will raise us also with Yeshua, and will bring us with you into His presence (Second Corinthians 4:14).

How wonderful that those who love and trust you will never be put to shame. For if you confess with your mouth that Yeshua is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart it is believed for righteousness, and with the mouth it is confessed for salvation. For the Scripture says: Whoever trusts in Him will not be put to shame (Romans 10:9-11).

It is such a comfort in these trying times, to know that heaven is a sure hope – not a strong possibility; but absolutely 100% a done deal for all who love/trust you, for You will have made them Your children. But whoever did receive Him, those trusting in His name, to these He gave the right to become children of God (John 1:12). How wonderful heaven will be – no crying, no dying, no sadness nor pain!  I also heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the dwelling of God is among men, and He shall tabernacle among them. They shall be His people, and God Himself shall be among them and be their God. He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more. Nor shall there be mourning or crying or pain any longer, for the former things have passed away (Revelation 21:3-4).

The pain on earth will be over and forgotten in the great joy of living forever with You our wonderful Heavenly Father God, in Your holy heaven, which You graciously allowed us to enter by Your own righteousness. He made the One who knew no sin to become a sin offering on our behalf, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God (Second Corinthians 5:21). How wonderful to live so close to You that You will be the light for there will be no more night! Night shall be no more, and people will have no need for lamplight or sunlight – for ADONAI Elohim will shine on them. And they shall reign forever and ever (Revelation 21:5)!

Living without any sin will be fantastic! And nothing unholy shall ever enter it, nor anyone doing what is detestable or false, but only those written in the Book of Life (Revelation 21:27). Praise You that You write in the Book of life the names of all who whose love causes them to trust You as their Lord and Savior. Amen, amen I tell you, whoever hears My word and trusts the One who sent Me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed over from death into life (John 5:24). Looking forward to praising You forever in Your holy heaven. You are such a wonderful God, Heavenly Father, Ruach Ha’Kodesh, and Yeshua- three in one!

Just as Esther and the people of Susa celebrated at the victory over Haman and their enemies. So we celebrate over Your victory at the cross defeating sin’s penalty and defeating death. Praise You always! In Your holy son’s name and power of His resurrection. Amen

Now Write a Counter-Decree
in the King’s Name on Behalf of the Jews
8: 3-14

Now write a counter-decree in the king’s name on behalf of the Jews DIG: Before Haman’s estate is settled, what must be done first? Why the anguish for Esther, who is now quite secure in the king’s favor? What is the problem with getting the king to reverse the death sentence on the Jews (see 1:19, 3:1 to 4:3, 6:10)? What does the counter-decree do for the Jews? For others? What is particularly symmetrical about its timing (see 8:12, 3:7 and 13)? What counter-decree has Messiah written?

REFLECT: The Jews had nine months to prepare their defense. What could you accomplish in the next nine months to put your life in better order? What part of that reorganizing will you do this month? If you were in a position to destroy your enemy without fear of the consequences to you, would you take advantage of the situation? Why or why not?

Since the decree to exterminate the Jews (3:13) was still in effect, something had to be done. So Esther appeared a second time without an invitation (5:2). Esther again pleaded with the king, falling at his feet and weeping. She begged him to put an end, literally, to cause to pass over the evil plan of Haman the Agagite, which he had devised against the Jews (8:3). Esther did not stop with her personal deliverance, she was also concerned about her people – the entire Jewish community. She pled for the king’s mercy.

Some assume that Esther risked her life a second time to come uninvited into the king’s presence because he again extended his scepter to her (4:11, 5:1-2). However, the scepter was extended only after her emotional plea and not at the moment of her entrance before the king. Therefore, his gesture was intended to encourage her to rise from her prostrate position before continuing to speak.⁹¹ Again, the king was favorably disposed and extended his gold scepter to Esther, she touched it, arose and stood before him (8:4). Esther’s request was simple. She wanted a counter-decree written that would cancel out the first one with equal force.

  Esther used great wisdom in presenting her request. Ahasuerus was already furious that Haman had tricked him into making the first decree. Was he to embarrass himself further? Never! She pressed gently: If it pleases the king, and if he regards me with favor and thinks it the right thing to do (the word kasher or kosher, meaning fit, proper or right is found only in the book of Esther and nowhere else in the TaNaKh), and if he is pleased with me, let a counter-decree be written overruling the dispatches that Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, devised and wrote to destroy the Jews in all the king’s provinces (8:5). Esther avoids the word “law,” for she knew that the Persian laws could not be repealed. She wisely put all the blame on Haman and avoided the king’s involvement altogether. Yes, technically, the first decree had gone out in the king’s name, but he had no knowledge of the plot.

Again she was willing to be known as a Jewess for she spoke of my people and my family. For how can I bear to see disaster fall on my people? How can I bear to see the destruction of my family (8:6)? The repetition of the verb, how can I bear, points to Esther’s empathy with the suffering of others. It is heartwarming to see the extent to which this young girl, who had everything money could buy, identifying herself with her own people, and was ready to risk everything in an attempt to prevent the disaster that threatened them.⁹²

  King Ahasuerus replied to Queen Esther and to Mordecai the Jew, “Because Haman attacked the Jews, I have given his estate to Esther, and they have impaled him on the pole he set up (8:7). The author was making it clear that whoever attacks the Jews would fall. We are reminded of ADONAI’s call to Abram emphasizing that God will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse (Genesis 12:3a). Here the king reminded both Esther and Mordecai of all he had already done, to show that he favored the Jews. But it was Queen Esther, not King Ahasuerus, who took the initiative in counteracting Haman’s decree of death to her fellow countrymen.

Chapter 8, verses 8 to 17 are parallel in language to 3:9 to 4:4, but here the whole situation is reversed. If God’s people were to pass from death to life, a counter-decree was necessary to cancel out the first one. Now the Jews could destroy their enemies instead of being destroyed.

Now write, literally you write (the pronoun did not need to be expressed in the Hebrew). The word you is in the emphatic first place in the sentence and, because it is plural, includes both Esther and Mordecai. Both of you write a counter-decree in the king’s name on behalf of the Jews as seems best to you, and seal it with the king’s signet ring – for no document written in the king’s name and sealed with his ring can be revoked (8:8). The Jews, who were once a helpless target of evil, were then empowered.

The practice of making decrees of the king irrevocable is unknown in any of the extrabiblical texts during the reign of Ahasuerus; therefore, some say this was not plausible. But the Persian king’s decrees could not be revoked because he was believed to be a god whose plans couldn’t be changed (Daniel 6:9, 13, 16). A change would suggest a correction for a mistake. And their king making a mistake was against the Persian belief system. The Bible, however, declares that ADONAI is immutable and His plans are indeed unchangeable. But the LORD always reaches out with his mercy, so people will turn from their sin and seek forgiveness.⁹³

  This verse illustrates the author’s tendency of repeating his previous wording in another context, creating reversals of situations. At once the royal secretaries were summoned – on the twenty-third day of the third month, the month of Sivan (May-June) 474 BC. The date was two months and ten days since Haman’s original decree had been written. The seventy days between the threatened annihilation of the Jews and their release from danger would have struck a chord with every attentive post-exilic reader of the book: the seventy days would remind them of the seventy years of exile.⁹⁴

Thus, the Jews had about nine months to prepare themselves for the conflict. They wrote out all Mordecai’s orders to the Jews, and to the satraps, governors and nobles of the 127 provinces stretching from India to the Upper Nile region of Egypt. These orders were written in the script of each province and the language of each people. This time, however, Hebrew was also added to the copies sent to the Jews in their own script and language (8:9). This is the longest verse in the third part of the TaNaKh, the Writings (or the Hagiographa). In Hebrew it contains 43 words and 192 letters, and in English (depending on the translation) it contains from 80 to 90 words.⁹⁵

As he had done with Haman, the king gave Mordecai the authority to write the edict any way he wanted and to stamp it with the king’s signet ring. Mordecai wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus, sealed the dispatches with the king’s signet ring, and like Haman’s first edict, sent them by mounted couriers, who rode fast horses especially bred for the king. It seems that Mordecai went to extreme measures to ensure the swift delivery of his new edict. Ahashteranim, which is the Persian word for mounted couriers or the king’s servants (8:10 and 14), is found only in the book of Esther and nowhere else in the TaNaKh.

  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 (8:11). They would not be the aggressors, but they could protect themselves if attacked. The decree of Mordecai mirrors the words of Haman’s decree and is one of the great reversals in the book of Esther. A pagan king granted the Jews the right to defend themselves. Providence!

The reversals in Esther:

3:10 the king gives Haman his ring and in 8:2 the king gives Mordecai the same ring

3:12 Haman summons the king’s scribes and in 8:9 Mordecai summons the king’s scribes

3:12 letters written, sealed and in 8:10 letter written, sealed with same ring

3:13 the Jews to be killed in one day and in 8:11 their enemies to be killed in one day

3:14 Haman’s decree displayed as law and in 8:13 Mordecai’s decree displayed as law

3:15 couriers go out in haste and in 8:14 couriers go out in haste

3:15 the city of Susa is bewildered and in 8:15 the city of Susa rejoices

4:1 Mordecai goes thru city crying and in 6:11 Mordecai led thru city in honor

5:14 Zeresh advises Mordecai’s death and in 6:13 Zeresh predicts Haman’s ruin

The day appointed for the Jews to do this in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus was the same day Haman’s edict had set for plundering the Jews, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar (8:12). The obvious reason for the same date was so that the Jews could defend themselves. A copy of the text of the edict was to be issued as law in every province and made known to the people of every nationality so that the Jews would be ready on that day to avenge themselves on their enemies if attacked (8:13). In that case it would be justice that prevailed, not revenge! The word patshegn, which is a Persian word for a copy of the text (3:14; 4:8 and here), is only found in the book of Esther. This shows that the author was familiar with the language of the royal court.

  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 as Haman’s was (8:14). The verbs riding, went out and spurred on, only heighten the sense of urgency in the story.

In Esther, the irrevocable decree of death and a counter-decree of life, were both given from the same authority – the king’s signet ring. Just as King Ahasuerus could not merely withdraw the first decree of death, ADONAI cannot merely withdraw the decree of death pronounced in the garden of Eden against humanity. In its place, He issues a counter-decree of life, the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Both were given by the same authority – the KING of kings. However, the LORD did not simply withdraw the curse of death, His counter-decree of salvation rendered it null and void by His Son’s death on the cross. So when we pass from the family of Satan and spiritual darkness, to the family of God and spiritual light, that is the greatest reversal of all!

The King Gave His Signet Ring to Mordecai
8: 1-2

The king gave his signet ring to Mordecai DIG: Why did the king’s fury subside? How did Haman’s estate end up in the possession of Esther, and being managed by Mordecai? What was the importance of the signet ring? How is the fall of Haman pictured as being complete? As important as these developments were, what was Esther’s bigger concern?

REFLECT: When was the last time your pride got you into trouble? If you can’t remember, I guess that’s a good thing! But if it did, what did you learn? Have you ever received money from a settlement or an inheritance? What did you do with it? Were you a good steward? Or a prodigal son or daughter? How do you use power? To benefit yourself, or to serve others? Aside from your faith, what cause are you involved in that’s bigger than yourself?

Haman was gone, but the evil plan that he had set in motion was taking on a life of its own. The king’s fury subsided after Haman was impaled (7:10). This implies that the ruthless king was not angry because Haman had plotted to wipe out an entire race of people from his kingdom, even if they were Esther’s people, for that was still a reality. No, apparently the king’s pride had been greatly hurt when Haman fell on the couch with her (7:8). Ironically, Haman’s injured pride had driven him to plot the destruction and downfall of Mordecai and the Jews; whereas, the king’s injured pride had driven him to impale Haman. The death of Haman set off a series of shocking reversals.⁸⁸

That same day King Ahasuerus gave Queen Esther the estate of Haman, the enemy of the Jews (8:1a). Apparently Haman was considered a criminal, for his property was confiscated that very day. As Haman had offered the king ten thousand talents of silver (or about 375 tons or 340 metric tons equivalent to several tens of millions dollars today) as incentive to massacre the Jews of Persia (3:9), it obviously included great riches. According to Josephus (Ant. 11.17), and one narrative of Herodotus (3.12), the property of a condemned criminal reverted to the king.⁸⁹ This was assumed by the Phoenician Jezebel (First Kings 21:7-16), and shown operative in Persia in the reign of Darius by the Greek historian Herodotus. Orontes the Persian was killed for his betrayal of Polycrates, and his money confiscated and sent to the Persian capital of Susa for the king’s pleasure.⁹⁰

And Mordecai came into the presence of the king, for Esther had told how he was related to her (8:1b). We don’t know how much time elapsed between Mordecai being rewarded and Queen Esther revealing that she was related to him. There were two months and ten days between Haman’s edict (3:7) and the new edict (8:9). This actually helped Mordecai’s standing before the king.

In almost identical language, Mordecai receives the signet ring once given to Haman. It was the same signet ring that had been used to seal the edict against the Jews (3:10). The king took off his signet ring, which he had reclaimed from Haman, and presented it to Mordecai (8:2a). The signet ring was given to the prime minister (see my commentary on Genesis, to see link click Jv – Joseph as Prime Minister). So yet another reversal of fortunes is seen, even after Haman’s death. For one thing, Mordecai received the power previously given to Haman. For another, Haman, who had hoped to confiscate the property of the Jews (3:13), now had his own property confiscated and given to, of all people, Esther, who then appointed Mordecai to over see it. Two Jews. Providence!

Esther needed an estate manager and she appointed Mordecai over Haman’s fortune (8:2b). ADONAI’s intervention becomes even clearer as Mordecai receives everything Haman wanted: property, power, and position. The fall of Haman was then complete and totally balanced by the rise of the one he had planned to overthrow and destroy. At that time Esther was the source and the means of wealth and empowerment for Mordecai.

If this were only a story about the conflict between Haman and Esther and Mordecai, this scene would have been the anticlimactic point where the righteous people are rewarded for their courage and loyalty. But the story is far more than that. Esther had requested to save the Jews, and that is what we see next.

The Jews Were Delivered from Haman’s Evil Plot
8:1 to 9:19

Good stories present problems to be resolved, and the author of Esther does this brilliantly. The solution is unexpected, which adds to the interest of the reader. Beginning with this chapter, the events leading to the deliverance of the Jews begin to reverse the events that started the conflict and threat.

So They Impaled Haman on the Pole
He Had Set Up for Mordecai
7: 1-10

So they impaled Haman on the pole he had set up for Mordecai DIG: The king asked again, implies a previous inquiry. When? Why? What has led up to this dramatic banquet? What does it reveal about Esther’s character? What does it reveal about Haman’s character? While this chapter ends with Haman’s death, what issues remain unresolved?

REFLECT: If you were Esther, would you have handled the situation differently? How so? When have you “stepped out in faith,” as she did? What was at stake? What “enemy” threatens you at this time? What lesson does Haman teach you?

So the next day King Ahasuerus and Haman went to Queen Esther’s banquet (7:1). They both had no idea what awaited them there. This is the fifth banquet mentioned in Esther (see chart below). And as they were drinking wine at the end of the meal on the second day, the king repeated his invitation to Esther, but this time using her royal title: Queen Esther, what is your petition? It will be given you. What is your request? Even up to half the kingdom, it will be granted (7:2). Once again, this saying was not to be taken literally, but meant that the king would look favorably upon her request. This was an encouraging sign for the queen.

The literary structure of the book is highlighted by the repetition of a feast or banquet. Esther starts and finishes with a pair of banquets, with other pairs in between as revealed in the diagram below:

A1 Ahasuerus’ banquet for the nobles of the empire (1:2-4)

B1 Ahasuerus’ banquet for all the men in Susa (1:5-8)

C1 Esther’s coronation banquet (2:18)

D1 Esther’s first banquet for the king and Haman (5:1-8)

D2 Esther’s second banquet for the king and Haman (7:1-9)

C2 Feasting in celebration of Mordecai’s promotion (8:17)

B2 The first day of Purim feasting throughout empire (9:17 and 19)

A2 The second day of Purim feasting in Susa (9:18)

Esther now begins the delicate and dangerous task of accusing Haman without incriminating the king who had, after all, sealed Haman’s decree of death with his full knowledge and approval. She has to provoke Ahasuerus against his friend and closest advisor without bringing the king’s wrath down upon herself.⁷⁹ This was no easy task.

  Then Queen Esther answered, “If I have found favor with you, Your Majesty, and if it pleases you, grant me my life – this is my petition. In the Hebrew there are only four words; but they are words that have a specially poignant appeal to the Jew who understands the interdependence of the fate of the individual Jew is bound up in the fate of the Jewish people. And spare my people – this is my request (7:3). The brief statement was full of pent-up emotion. She was saying that her life and the life of her people were inseparable. Her destiny was tied to theirs. As soon as Esther identified herself as a Jewess, she became a target of Haman’s holocaust.

Esther continued her brief but masterful reply to the king: For I and my people have been sold to be destroyed (3:9), killed and annihilated. Esther quotes the precise words of Haman’s decree (3:13), but using the Hebrew passive voice,⁸⁰ she delayed any reference to the prime minister or the fact that it was the king himself who sold the Jews for ten thousand talents of silver (3:9 and 11).

Without waiting for the king to speak, she added: If we had merely been sold as male and female slaves, I would have kept quiet, because no such distress would justify disturbing the king (7:4). She not only shows the unbelievable power of the king, but also the condition to which she was reduced. Esther may have been apprehensive, not knowing if the king would grant her request. When she said: my people, she put herself in a dangerous position. It was quite possible that King Ahasuerus would fly into a rage, as he had done with Vashti (1:12).⁸¹ Or possibly Haman might have had more influence than she suspected.

  But the king did not become angry at first; instead he requested more information about who had done such a thing to Esther and her people. Her indirect tactic was similar to that used by the prophet Nathan when confronting David and his sin with Bathsheba (Second Samuel 12). Nathan defused David’s defense when he first aroused his indignation and his resolve to see justice done before revealing that it was David himself who was the guilty party. The same strategy worked for Esther, and the king’s indignation and anger exploded with the demand that she tell him, “Who is he? Where is he – the man who has dared to do such a thing” (7:5)? The emotion and anger is lost in the English translation, but the Hebrew words are spoken in rapid fire. Evidently Haman’s death edict had made so little impression on King Ahasuerus that Haman didn’t even remember Esther’s quotation of it.

Esther’s response was short and to the point: An adversary and enemy! Up to this point she had been careful to avoid any reference to the prime minister, but almost shouting, she then blurted out: This vile Haman! (7:6a). By informing King Ahasuerus that Haman was the guilty party she had revealed the fact that she was a Jew. This must have been a real surprise for the king also, because he had not known her nationality.

Then Haman was terrified before the king and queen (7:6b). The fact that the queen was a Jew was also news to Haman. Instantly he must have realized that he had not only condemned all the Jews in Persia, but that one of them was the king’s favorite wife!

Now the king was furious. He got up in a rage, abruptly left his wine and went out into the palace garden (7:7a). Haman had seen the king’s wrath and he knew what it meant. Ahasuerus might have been manipulated in some of his personal relationships, but he was no fool politically. What had he done! He felt trapped by his own words. How could he punish Haman for a plot he himself had approved? If he did a mea culpa he would lose face in the eyes of his subjects. But more importantly, he had issued an irrevocable law. How could it be canceled? Strangely enough, the wicked Haman would soon resolve this problem all by himself.

But Haman, realizing that the king had already decided his fate, stayed behind to beg Queen Esther for his life (7:7b). For the fourth and last time in the book of Esther, God’s name is hidden (see 1:20, 5:4 and 5:13). Here, within the phrase that his fate had been decided, the name of YHWH (see my commentary on Exodus, to see link click At – I AM Has Sent Me to You) is once again hidden. It is formed by the final letters of four successive Hebrew words when read forwards: kY kltH ‘lyW hr’H.⁸²

How ironic that Haman, who had demanded that Mordecai bow before him was then prostrate at the feet of the Jewish Queen Esther. She was his only hope. Harem protocol, however, dictated that no one but the king could be left alone with a woman of the harem. Haman should have left Esther’s presence immediately when Ahasuerus retreated into the garden, but where could he go? His choice was either to follow the king, who had bolted in anger from his presence, or to flee the room, suggesting guilt and inviting pursuit. Haman was trapped – it was checkmate.⁸³

  They were probably not alone in the room; nevertheless, even in the presence of others a man was not to approach a woman of the king’s harem within seven steps. Haman’s timing could not have been worse. Just as the king returned from the palace garden to the banquet hall, Haman was falling on the couch where Esther was reclining. The arrogant bully became, as common in the face of disaster, a whining coward. That Haman would actually be on the same couch where the queen was reclining was unimaginable. The king’s dilemma about what to do with Haman was settled. He exclaimed, “Will he even molest the queen while she is with me in the house” (7:8a)? In his blind rage, the king completely misinterpreted Haman’s posture as a sexual advance. No matter what Haman’s intentions were, he had broken harem protocol and that alone was reason to condemn him to death. The rabbis teach that Haman’s behavior was so unthinkable that he fell on the queen’s couch only after the angel Gabriel gave him a hard shove, ensuring his fate.⁸⁴ It was Haman’s last, desperate, fatal action.

The nature of the three central characters is brought to light in this verse. Haman was a prideful man who was a coward at heart. The king was easily influenced and weak in spite of his appearance of power, and Esther was courageous and steadfast. She was not hard and calloused because she would not listen to Haman’s pleas. She could not have helped even if she had wanted to do so. It was completely out of her hands.⁸⁵ As soon as the word left the king’s mouth, they covered Haman’s face before leading him away to be executed (7:8b). He was doomed to death.

This very moment Esther demonstrated great strength of character and fulfilled her highest calling. She comes into her own only after she made the conscious decision to align herself with God’s covenant people. Esther wasn’t a trophy wife, or an ornament, a queen in name only, but became a leading participant in the will of God. She was created for this. This was her calling as a woman – to wage war against the enemies of God and fight for His kingdom and His people. She did what King Saul could not, or would not, do. Queen Esther killed Haman with her cunning, as surely as King Saul could have, indeed should have, killed Agag with the sword.

Then Harbona, one of the eunuchs attending the king (1:10), said: A pole reaching to a height of seventy five feet stands by Haman’s house. He had it set up for Mordecai, who spoke up to help the king (7:9a). Possibly Haman was hated by many people in the palace and in the city of Susa. It seems that there were those who wouldn’t lose any sleep over Haman being killed, Harbona being one of them. He obviously knew of Haman’s plot to kill Mordecai. When he suggested that Haman be impaled on the very pole that he had prepared for Mordecai, the Mordecai who, incidentally, had saved the king from assassination, the idea was good enough for Ahasuerus.

The king said: Impale him on it (7:9b)! Accordingly, in the end, God brought justice. So they impaled Haman on the pole he had set up for Mordecai. Rather than being hanged by the neck on a modern-type gallows, people were impaled with nails on a wooden pole in public view, as lesson to the populace. His fall from grace was sudden. One day he was on top of the world, with all the wealth and power of the mighty Persian Empire, and the next day, he was executed in disgrace. He never saw it coming.

Whenever a banquet was held, there was a role reversal. Here, the roles of Haman and Mordecai are reversed. Haman went from being second in rank to Ahasuerus (3:1), as evidenced by the possession of the king’s signet ring (3:10), to Mordecai being second in rank to Ahasuerus (10:3), and possessing the king’s signet ring (8:2).

Then the king’s fury subsided (7:10). A number of Proverbs express the truth of what happened that night. According to Proverbs 11:6: The righteousness of the upright delivers them, but the unfaithful are trapped by evil desires (Proverbs 29:16, 26:27).

The story, however, was not over. The author has shown Haman’s shooting star crash to the ground, but the king’s signet ring decree of total destruction was still intact. Far more is at stake here than merely Mordecai’s life; also at stake were the lives of all the Jews in the Persian Empire.

Who lives and who dies? In this chapter both Esther and Haman face death and plead for their lives. When Esther revealed Haman as her moral enemy, she simultaneously revealed herself as the object of his edict against the Jews. Although Haman is impaled by the end of the chapter, Esther’s plea for her and her peoples’ lives remain unanswered. Even though the king has assured her three times that he would grant her request, can he revoke his irrevocable decree? At this point, the question remains unanswered.

Driven by pride and arrogance that was out of control Haman plotted the massacre of the Jewish Persians because his lust for power could not be satisfied as long as Mordecai refused to bow down to him. But the story takes a sharp turn in the theological road when his plot broadened and the people he picked on happened to be Jewish, the apple of God’s eye (Deut 32:10b). Speaking better than she realized, Haman’s own wife, Zeresh, predicted that because Mordecai was Jewish, he could not stand against him and that he would surely come to ruin (6:13). So while inviting us to think about the question of life and death in this chapter, the author also reveals the link between human evil and divine justice.

Human evil, wherever it occurs and for whatever motivation, always sets itself up against ADONAI, because He is the definition of goodness and righteousness. Divine justice is inevitably the total destruction of evil. The author of Esther shows us that evil is personal. It is not detached, just “out there” somewhere; evil does not exist apart from beings that are evil. Consequently, to deliver the Jewish people from annihilation as God had promised in His Davidic Covenant with them (Second Samuel 7:5-16), the LORD had to destroy the evil that threatened their existence. And in this case, that evil came in the person of Haman (see Aq – Haman the Agagite: Enemy of the Jews). Mercy on Haman would have run counter to ADONAI’s covenant.⁸⁶

Nevertheless, Haman was not merely the victim of an impulsive and vindictive deity, but his end was a result of his own actions. James said it this way: When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death (James 1:13-15). As John Calvin, the famous preacher of the Protestant Reformation once said, “Man falls according as God’s providence ordains, but he falls by his own fault.”

Since ADONAI’s deliverance of His people in Esther is by providence, then also is Haman’s destruction. The deliverance of one and the destruction of the other are like two sides of the same coin. Even though the deliverance of Esther is a result of God working behind the scenes, the author shows us that Haman is responsible for each false step along the way that would eventually lead to his own death.

Haman’s example shows us that human evil is self-deceptive. They convince themselves that they are justified in their evil actions and crafty enough not to get caught in their own lies. Haman had every advantage, but it all come crashing down because he kept the king up most of the night constructing a seventy-five foot pole to have himself impaled. It’s like the perfect murder that is solved by some chance event that the murderer could not have anticipated or prevented. Nobody commits such evil acts because they think they are going to get caught. But Moses was right when he said: And you may be sure that your sin will find you out (Numbers 32:23).

Haman could not see his own dangerous situation because his evil had blinded him from the truth. The truth was that while he thought he was recommending his own honor (6:7-9), it was really Mordecai’s (6:10-11). He constructed a pole to impale Mordecai on (5:14), but it turned out to be his own death pole (7:9). He boasted to his friends that he was being honored by being invited alone to the queen’s banquet (5:12), not realizing the truth that it was actually an invitation to his own execution (7:10). For him, things were not what they appeared. Asaph said it this way: Till I entered the Sanctuary of God; then I understood their final destiny. Surely you place them on slippery ground; you cast them down to ruin. How suddenly they are destroyed, completely swept away by terrors (Psalm 73:17-19). Suddenly, without warning, the true destiny of human evil was revealed: justice will come from the Lord Yeshua Messiah because the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son (John 5:22). On that final day of judgment (see my commentary on Revelation Fo – The Great White Throne Judgment), the condemned will finally realize that they have no one to blame but themselves.⁸⁷

That Night the King Could Not Sleep
6: 1-14

That night the king could not sleep DIG: Ironies abound! What noise might be keeping the king awake that night (5:14)? What does he do when he cannot sleep? What other ironies do you see in the hidden identity? In the robe? In the friends’ counsel? Where do you see the hand of God in all of this?

REFLECT: What spiritual lessons can be learned when we contrast Haman’s pride and hatred with Mordecai’s meekness and loyalty? When you do not get credit for a “good deed” how do you feel about it? What recognition or rewards matter most to you? How do you guard against the self-deceptive and destructive nature of pride in your life?

Esther, the hostess, has been directing developments during her dinner-party, but now the author allows us to see what happens to each of the guests immediately afterwards.⁷⁵

This is arguably the most ironically comic scene in the entire Bible.⁷⁶ That same night of the first banquet the king could not sleep. The noise from Haman hoisting his death pole seemingly keeping him awake. So he ordered the book of the chronicles, the record of his reign, to be brought in and read to him (6:1). The Hebrew verb is more than a simple past tense, and a better rendering would be, and they kept on reading them. The official record of the Persian kings was recorded. From this official document the king would make a list of those were to be rewarded for their faithfulness.

It was found recorded there that Mordecai had exposed Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s officers who guarded the doorway, who had conspired to assassinate King Ahasuerus (6:2). God was even in control of the reading material Ahasuerus selected. Any part of the chronicles could have been read to him, but the book falls open to the account of how Mordecai foiled the assassination plot against the king by his royal bodyguards. Providence! Had this not taken place, the whole story could have been a tragedy rather than a comedy, and the Jews would have been destroyed.

  Sure enough the king read about Mordecai’s loyalty five years earlier and decided to reward him. “What honor and recognition has Mordecai received for this?” he asked. “Nothing has been done for him,” his attendants answered (6:3). Ahasuerus was mortified that nothing had been done. The fact that Mordecai didn’t say a word and continued to serve the king faithfully spoke volumes about his character. It was important for Persian kings to reward people publically as a means of promoting loyalty in such dangerous times. The record of Mordecai’s loyalty “just happens” to come to the king’s attention at the very instant that Haman “just happens” to be plotting his death.

Very early that morning the outer court was empty except for one lone visitor and the king’s guards. Haman had been at work all night personally supervising the hoisting of his death pole. To make sure he would be the first one to see the king the next morning he arrived sooner than usual. Even such an important person as Haman might be frustrated by a long list of appointments, so he wanted to be first in line. The king said, “Who is in the court?” Now Haman had just entered the outer court of the palace to speak to the king about impaling Mordecai on the pole he had set up for him (6:4). This is the beginning of his undoing. Now minutes after being reminded that Mordecai had saved his life, the wicked Haman arrived at the palace in order to request permission to impale him. Providence!

His attendants answered, “Haman is standing in the court.” He “just happened” to be there at that very time. “Bring him in,” the king ordered (6:5). The king’s mind was so full with the thought of rewarding Mordecai that he did not ask Haman what had brought him at such an early hour. When Haman entered, the king asked him, “What should be done for the man the king delights to honor” (6:6a)? There was a meeting of the persons but not of the minds.⁷⁷ The self-absorbed Haman thought the king was talking about him!

   Haman’s eyes must have lit up as he thought of ways that he himself could be paraded around the city with royal robes and a crown. Now Haman thought to himself, “Who is there that the king would rather honor than me?” So he answered the king, “For the man the king delights to honor, have them bring a royal robe the king has worn and a horse the king has ridden, one with a royal crest placed on the horse’s head (6:6b-8). Assyrian reliefs depict king’s horses with tall, pointed ornaments like royal turbans on their heads. There is some evidence from history that the king’s royal robes, as well as his bed and throne, were believed to have the power to pass on the advantages of royalty in an almost magical way. But even without the magic, wearing the king’s robe and crown would surely elevate that person’s prestige in the public eye. And since Haman was already prime minister, he couldn’t ask for a promotion, so he asked for power.

There was a similar incident involving royal robes symbolically pointing to King David’s rise to power. Before the Babylonian Captivity, Jonathan, the royal prince and heir of Isra’el’s throne, symbolized his covenant with David by giving him his royal robes (First Samuel 18:1-5). Immediately, David was so successful that he was promoted to a high rank in King Saul’s army. Eventually David was the one to wear the kingly robes that would have been Jonathan’s if he had lived.

Haman daydreamed about receiving public recognition for what he had only enjoyed in the isolation of the palace. Blinded by his own arrogance, he said: Then let the robe and horse be entrusted to one of the king’s most noble princes. Let them robe the man the king delights to honor, and lead him on the horse through the city streets, proclaiming before him, then repeating exactly the same words as the king, as if mulling it around in his mind, he said: This is what is done for the man the king delights to honor (6:9)!” If there was ever a picture of pride going before destruction (Proverbs 16:18) this is it!

  Little did Haman dream that the king had Mordecai in mind. “Go at once,” the king commanded Haman. “Get the robe and the horse and do just as you have suggested for Mordecai the Jew, who sits at the king’s gate. Do not neglect anything you have recommended” (6:10). How magnificently Haman tripped over his own pride. The king had no way of knowing of the mutual hatred between the two, but the citizens who watched the parade through the city square could no doubt understood the irony of the situation.

Haman’s efforts at having himself elevated by the king had only brought him pain. So Haman got the robe and the horse. He robed Mordecai, and led him on horseback through the city streets, proclaiming before him, “This is what is done for the man the king delights to honor” (6:11)! Those words must have seemed like gravel in his mouth. Haman’s splendid humiliation could not have been greater. One can only imagine the bitterness he felt.

Chapter 6 contains the first of many reversals to follow (to see link click Bi – Now Write Another Decree in the King’s Name in Behalf of the Jews for The Reversals in Esther). On the very day Haman goes to Ahasuerus seeking permission to kill Mordecai (6:4), Haman ends up not only not killing Mordecai, but publicly honoring him in the kings name.

  Afterward Mordecai returned to the king’s gate. The author makes no comments on Mordecai’s mood. Probably nothing was said between the two. Each knew only too well what the other was thinking. But Haman, utterly disgraced, rushed home, with his head covered in grief (6:12), and told Zeresh his wife and all his friends everything that had happened to him (6:13a).

   His advisers and his wife Zeresh said to him, “Since Mordecai, before whom your downfall has started, is of Jewish origin, you cannot stand against him – you will surely come to ruin” (6:13b)! When Haman had plotted the annihilation of a certain people (3:8), he forgot to mention that they were Jews! After his wife and all his advisors heard that Mordecai was Jewish, they were shocked. They believed that not only would his plan fail, but Haman would also come to ruin in the attempt. The full scope of Haman’s disastrous miscalculation begins to take shape.

The way the Jews had survived the exile and preserved their identity did not go unnoticed by them. Edom, a nation of similar size, became extinct even though the Edomites were not deported (Malachi 1:2-5). The continuing survival of the Jewish people to this present day continues to point to the providence of ADONAI.⁷⁸ Neither Haman or Hitler can possibly stand against God’s people, the apple of His eye (Deuteronomy 32:10b).

While they were still talking with him, according to custom, eunuchs were sent by the king to escort Haman to the banquet Esther had prepared, who arrived and hurried him away (6:14). Therefore, with his world crashing down around him, he was hustled off to Esther’s second banquet. At one time he really wanted to go, but now he dreaded the thought of being there. The banquet would reveal Esther’s true desires.

What about God’s providence in our own lives? Is it not true that He has worked in your own life, often through events that were unexpected or seemed insignificant at the time? Consider your own conversion to Messiah. In my case, I came to the Lord teaching a Sunday school class. That’s right . . . teaching a Sunday school class. I was not raised in church and didn’t know I wasn’t saved! My son was in the eighth grade at the time and they needed someone to teach his class. They knew I was a high school history teacher and so asked me. I said, “You’ve got to be kidding, I don’t know anything about the Bible.” To which they replied, “We’ve got these booklets that the kids go through, you just have to stay one page ahead.” Well, I was an expert at staying one page ahead, so I said yes. And to teach the lesson I had to dig into the Scriptures provided, and by that June I was a new creature in Christ (Second Corinthians 5:17). I don’t know what day it was, but I was changed.

Consider how ADONAI guided and directed your life. How did you meet and marry your spouse? Where do you live? Why are you living there? What circumstances led you to your current job? Christ’s care and protection for His children seldom come with lightning bolts from the sky, but constantly with the unfolding circumstances of each day, one thing leads to another. Yes, you have choices, but ultimately the tiny miracles of God’s providence direct your path.

Obviously not all of our experiences are pleasant. Even in the confines of the providence of ADONAI tragedies can happen. Life can be as cruel as the plot to destroy the Jews of Persia starting on the eve of the Passover. The death of a loved one, serious illness, wayward children, broken relationships, shattered hopes and dreams are all links in the uninterrupted chain of life. While none of these things are good in themselves, even in the worst of life’s circumstances the Lord is always there, working behind the scenes for your benefit. And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28).

Believers today can face threatening circumstances with hope, only because of the New Covenant in the Messiah (Jeremiah 31:31-34). The Jews of Persia were delivered because of the ancient covenant ADONAI made with Isra’el on Mount Sinai. The sudden and unexpected reversal of circumstances found in Esther was deliverance against all odds from certain death to abundant life. Before entering the Promised Land, Moses set the covenant before the new generation of Isra’el, and in doing so set before them life and prosperity, death and destruction (Deuteronomy 30:15-20). The reversal of destiny from death to life experienced by them in Esther, made that covenant tangible for the Jews of Persia. And if it is in His will, there are times in our lives when faith in the B’rit Chadashah of Jesus Christ can do the same for us (First Corinthians 15:3-4).

Haman’s Rage Against Mordecai
5: 9-14

Haman’s rage against Mordecai DIG: As the tension mounts, so do the tempers. Why is Haman in high spirits? What infuriates Haman most about Mordecai? What irony do you see here (see 3:2-6)? What does this say about Haman? About human nature?

REFLECT: What is your happiness based on? Can you be at peace in the midst of turmoil in your life? Comparing yourself to Haman, how do you react when someone touches your “hot button?” Do you simmer, explode or just get even?

Esther, the hostess, has been directing developments during her dinner party, but now the author allows us to see what happens to each of the guests immediately afterwards.⁷¹

Going home from the first banquet with the king and queen, Haman was on top of the world at the unexpected honor that had come his way. He went out that day happy and in high spirits. But before he could leave the palace, his joy was stopped dead in its tracks. When he saw Mordecai at the king’s gate and observed that he neither rose nor showed fear in his presence, he was filled with rage against Mordecai (5:9). Mordecai, his fast ended, had discarded his sackcloth and was back in his usual seat to taunt Haman with his deliberate indifference as he passed by. Nevertheless, Haman restrained himself and went home (5:10). In keeping with his calculating temperament, Haman did not allow his rage to show itself just yet. He figured he would get his revenge in due time.

   Back at his house, everyone had to endure Haman’s endless impressions of the dinner. Like inviting all your neighbors over to see the pictures of your vacation, Haman called together his friends (advisers in 6:13b) and Zeresh, his wife, he boasted to them about his vast wealth, his many sons, and all the ways the king had honored him and how he had elevated him above the other nobles and officials (5:11). According to the Greek historian Herodotus, those Persians were held in highest honor that had the largest number of sons, and Haman had ten sons (9:7-10). His boastings shed some light on his priorities. He mentioned his vast wealth even before his sons.

“And that’s not all,” Haman added. “I’m the only person Queen Esther invited to accompany the king to the banquet she gave. And she has invited me along with the king tomorrow (5:12). It was a rare privilege for a subject, no matter how high his position, to be invited to a banquet with the king. Occasionally, this was allowed; therefore, Haman had reason to feel highly honored at the invitation he received from the queen by permission of the king. In his mind he was so favored that he did not suspect Esther of having any hidden motive for inviting him to a second dinner with Ahasuerus the next day. Haman didn’t realize that it was, in reality, an invitation to his own execution.

But when Mordecai ignored him, he said to himself, “all this gives me no satisfaction as long as I see that Jew Mordecai sitting at the king’s gate” (5:13). With his place of power and all of his riches, Haman was still unhappy and dissatisfied because one person refused to honor him. His pride was the source of his sin. For the third time in the book of Esther, God’s name is hidden (see 1:20 and 5:4). In 5:13 within the phrase this gives me no satisfaction, the name of YHWH (see my commentary on Exodus, to see link click At – I AM Has Sent Me to You) is hidden. It is formed by the final letters of four successive Hebrew words when read backwards: zH ‘ynnW swH lY.⁷² His name was not overtly mentioned, but He was there nonetheless, working behind the scenes for their good.

  His wife, Zeresh, and all his friends said to him, “Have a pole set up, reaching to a height of seventy five feet high, which is about fifty cubits or 23 meters, and ask the king in the morning to have Mordecai impaled on it” (5:14a). Rather than being hanged by the neck on a modern-type gallows, the Persians impaled people with nails on a wooden pole in public view, as lesson for all to see. That word haunts the story (2:23, 6:4, 7:9-10, 8:7, 9:13 and 25). But the pole that Haman built for Mordecai ended up being his own means of execution. Providence!

Zeresh’s advice reminds us of Jezebel when her husband, King Ahab, was pouting like a spoiled brat (First Kings 21:1-6). Like Haman, all of Ahab’s power and fame didn’t satisfy him. His appetite for things could not be satisfied. He wanted just one more thing, the vineyard owned by Naboth. Jezebel’s solution was to arrange the murder of Naboth so that Ahab could have what he wanted. Like Jezebel, Zeresh advised Haman to simply find some excuse to kill Mordecai.

The height of Haman’s seventy-five foot pole constructed to impale Mordecai has been seen by some as fanciful, and lacking authenticity. The size of the pole was that high for all to see. It strikes some as exaggerated. And it certainly was unnecessarily high, but then everything constructed in Persia was on a grand scale, like the image of Nebuchadnezzar was 60 cubits or 90 feet high (Dani’el 3:1).⁷³ The spectacle would be a lesson for all to see. The person nailed to the pole would be visible from all directions, higher than all the trees. The sight would make the point that Haman was in control and that no one should try to stand in his way. Therefore, the size of the pole really equaled the size of Haman’s pride.

His wife Zeresh and all his friends said to him, “Then go with the king to the banquet and enjoy yourself.” The author again points out the world’s idea of happiness. If Haman could just get rid of Mordecai first, then he would be happy at the next day’s dinner. Haman wanted everyone to witness him crush Mordecai. His wife and his advisors assumed that the king would immediately grant his request. This suggestion delighted Haman, and he had the pole set up (5:14b). The enormity of Haman’s evil is captured in the enormity of the death pole that he unknowingly constructed for himself!

The tension between Haman and Mordecai reached its peak here. From this point on the stress would be relieved little by little through circumstances that had already been set in motion. As the events unfold, we are reminded of seemingly insignificant events that the author had previously mentioned but not emphasized. ADONAI was at work behind even such a vengeful act of Haman’s wanting to impale Mordecai on a pole.⁷⁴

Let the King and Haman Come Tomorrow
to the Banquet I Will Prepare for Them
5: 1-8

Let the king and Haman come tomorrow to the banquet I will prepare for them DIG: On the third day – of what? Why is that detail relevant to the plot? What might be the purpose of Esther’s delaying tactic? What was the king’s response so far to Esther’s requests? What does that imply?

REFLECT: What would you have asked for if half the Persian Empire had been offered to you? If you could have any request granted by King Messiah, what would it be? What assurances do you have that when you ask God for something, it will be granted (see my commentary on The Life of Christ, to see link click Kq – No One Comes to the Father Except Through Me)?

In Chapter 1, Queen Vashti risked her life by refusing to appear before Ahasuerus when summoned (1:12); but now in Chapter 5, Queen Esther risks her life by appearing before the king uninvited (5:1-3). Archaeological evidence shows her fears were not unfounded. Two bas-reliefs have been excavated from Persepolis, the summer capital, showing a Persian king seated on his throne with a long scepter in his right hand. A soldier is also seen standing behind the throne, holding a large ax.⁶⁴

After committing her cause into God’s hands, Esther prepared herself to approach the king. On the third day of fasting, she did not just try to make herself beautiful for her uninvited audience with the king, she put on her royal robes. She had probably worn mourning garb while she was fasting. No doubt these were in keeping with the king’s splendid robes of Phoenician purple, heavy with gold embroidery, worn over garments of white and purple.⁶⁵ At the same time she decided to identify with her people, she also would claim her authority and power as the Queen of Persia as she went before the king.

The rabbis teach that Isra’el is never left in dire straights more than three days. In a Jewish Midrash, the miracle of deliverance through Mordecai and Esther is compared to events in the lives of Abraham, Jacob and Jonah, which also involve three days (Genesis 22:4, 31:22; Jonah 1:17). It links this miracle to the Jewish tradition that physical death was certain only after three days (see my commentary on The Life of Christ Ia – The Resurrection of Lazarus: The First Sign of Jonah), and spiritual life would “come on the third day.” The concept is based on Hosea 6:2, where the prophet declares: After two days He will revive us; on the third day He will restore us, that we may live in His presence.

To the northwest of the palace complex stood the throne room. It was about 193 feet square, its roof supported by six rows of six mighty columns soaring to a height of 65 feet. To the east and west, the throne room was approached by porticoes of two rows of six more of these columns to a depth of 57 feet. To the north and west, below the level of the platform, there were lush gardens, easily watered from the nearby river and protected by a tower at the northwestern corner.⁶⁶

If invited, any guest into the throne room needed to prostrate themselves in adoration, for by ancient oriental custom the king was in a very real sense divine.⁶⁷ The mere fact that she stood in the inner court of the palace, in front of the throne room, put her in great danger. The king was sitting on his royal throne in the hall, facing the entrance (5:1). In those days, a king protected himself from assassination by not allowing anyone into his presence that he did not specifically call for. It was well understood, therefore, that whoever thus appeared before the king deliberately risked their life. As she mustered the courage to approach the king, her heart pounding so loud she could probably hear it, the threat of death and the hope of life were equally present.

But God moved the king when she approached him on the throne. The columns were not supposed to obscure the vision of the king as he sat on his throne. When he saw Queen Esther standing in the court in all her royal splendor, he was pleased with her and held out to her the gold scepter that was in his hand granting her protected access. This indicated that she was supposed to approach and touch the tip of the gold scepter to symbolize her acceptance. We know from extra-biblical sources that King Ahasuerus was a very cruel, moody and temperamental ruler. But it just so happened that his mood happened to be just right when Esther appeared. Providence! So she approached and as he held out the tip of the gold scepter, she touched it (5:2).

On the third day, Ahasuerus extended his gold scepter to Esther, lest she die for coming into his presence uninvited. She approached him and completed his gracious gesture by touching the tip of the scepter. Therefore, her safety in his presence was guaranteed. This pictures the act of a gracious king who holds the power of life and death. Had ADONAI not extended the cross of Jesus Christ to the world, all would die in His presence. On the third day after the final judgment was handed down on the cross, Yeshua Messiah arose to eternal life, guaranteeing safety to enter God’s presence to all who reach out in faith to touch that cross-shaped scepter.⁶⁸ A star will come out from Jacob; a scepter will rise out of Isra’el (see my commentary on The Life of Christ Av – The Visit of the Magi).

The Bible says that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures (First Corinthians 15:3b-4). If you believe that and have never asked Yeshua to be your Lord and Savior would you pray this simple prayer today: God, I admit that I have sinned. I believe Jesus Christ died for my sins, and I want to trust Him to save me right now. It is important that you understand that repeating this prayer does not save you. It is only faith in Christ as your Lord and Savior that saves you. Now you need to find a good messianic synagogue or church that teaches the Word of God faithfully so you can grow in your faith and have fellowship with other believers. Why should God let you into His heaven? That’s right. Messiah died for all your sins . . . past, present and future!

For the first time in the book, Esther is directly addressed as Queen Esther. Then the king asked, “What is it, Queen Esther? What is your request? Even up to half the kingdom, it will be given you” (5:3). This expression is an idiom commonly used by ancient kings and was not intended to be taken literally. It merely meant the king was willing to be generous in meeting the request. It was a good sign. Centuries later, John the Baptist was murdered when Herod offered up to half my kingdom to the daughter of Herodias (Mark 6:23). It was then, in front of all his officials, that Herodias knew that Herod would not risk losing face by refusing her request for John’s head. Esther, however, was not going to put the king on the spot – just yet. Rather than demanding Haman’s blood in that very moment, she bides her time.

Esther’s request was anti-climatic, but the king was never alone in the throne room. Although they are not mentioned, servants would be present as well as guards and other officials. It was neither the time nor the place to disclose her true intentions. “If it pleases the king,” replied Esther, “let the king, together with Haman, come today to a banquet I have prepared for him” (5:4). The three days of prayer and fasting by herself, her attendants and all the Jews in Persia had given Queen Esther a godly wisdom, and a confidence not her own. She had even prepared a meal, believing that her invitation to the king would be accepted.

Once again God’s name is hidden in the book of Esther (also see 1:20, 5:13 and 7:7). In 5:4 within the phrase let the king . . . come today, the name of YHWH (see my commentary on Exodus At – I AM Has Sent Me to You) is hidden. It is formed by the initial letters of four successive Hebrew words when read forward: Ybw’ Hmlk Whmm Hywn.⁶⁹ Nevertheless, God is the true hero of the story. Although hidden from view, He is everywhere at work behind the scenes. He keeps His promises and defends His people – even the ones who chose not to return to the Promised Land. He chooses to work through Esther and Mordecai, despite their failures, bad choices, and outright disobedience. When the crisis hit, He has them right where He wants them.⁷⁰

His last audience of the day over, Ahasuerus, aware more of his hunger than his supposed divinity, was not slow to accept her offer for dinner. She asked the king to invite Haman also. Consequently, Esther had the two most powerful men in Persia eating out of her hand. “Bring Haman at once,” the king said, “so that we may do what Esther asks.” So the king and Haman went to the banquet Esther had prepared (5:5). It was an unusual honor to be invited to a banquet with the queen, for Persian officials were unusually protective of their wives.

The king understood that Esther had not risked her life merely to come and invite him to a banquet. He, therefore, repeated his inquiry into the real nature of her wish. Once the leisurely eastern meal was over, the three reclined on their couches and drank wine. An activity that the author takes every opportunity to point out. As they were drinking wine, the king again asked Esther, “Now what is your petition? It will be given you. And what is your request? Even up to half the kingdom, it will be granted” (5:6). Once again, not meant to be taken literally, but simply that Ahasuerus was willing to be generous in meeting her request.

  Esther replied, “My petition and my request is this: If the king regards me with favor and if it pleases the king to grant my petition and fulfill my request, let the king and Haman come tomorrow to the banquet I will prepare for them. Using a delay tactic, she merely answered: Then I will answer the king’s question” (5:7-8). The LORD had given His wisdom to Esther and she must have sensed that the time was not right for her request. In God’s providence a few other details had to be worked out. The delay allowed time for Haman’s misguided self-confidence to ripen.

The Plot Exposed by Esther
5:1 to 7:10

These chapters mark the climax of the book. Here the tables are turned and evil is overcome by good. God’s people are preserved through an unlikely set of circumstances. It is obvious to believers today reading this book that ADONAI is at work behind the scenes, accomplishing His purposes. The original readers living in Palestine after the Babylonian Captivity would have been reminded that the LORD would protect them against anything that might come their way. And even the forgetfulness of a pagan king could be used by Him to preserve and protect His people.⁶³

I Will Go to the King: If I Perish, I Perish
4: 4-17

I will go to the king: if I perish, I perish DIG: How does the view of women reflected in Esther’s story compare with how women are viewed throughout the world today? What are women valued most for today, both in the secular culture and in either the Church or messianic synagogue? How did Esther embrace her culture’s view of herself? How did it hurt her? What made this bold transformation in Esther so unlikely? What changed in her to make it possible?

REFLECT: How does Esther’s story show us that God values and works through us to advance His kingdom today? How is she a role model for us? Can you think of a defining moment in your life based on your identification with God’s people? Can you imagine a crisis in which you would go against the law, as Esther did, to find a solution? Can you say by faith, as Esther did: If I perish, I perish.

These verses present three stages of a conversation between Esther and Mordecai although they never spoke face to face. First, Esther simply sent clothes to Mordecai (4:4-5), but he would not accept them. In the second exchange, Esther sent Hathak to find out why Mordecai was grieving, who sent back a copy of the Jewish death sentence (4:6-8). Their third dialogue was a longer discussion that explains Esther’s understanding that to approach the king would take planning for the urgency of her daring decision.

Although seemingly separated from direct contact with Mordecai during the five years of her marriage to King Ahasuerus, Esther still loved her uncle as the one who raised her. When her eunuchs and female attendants came and told her about Mordecai, she was in great distress because he was wearing sackcloth. Those who waited on the queen knew of her affection for Mordecai, but didn’t know they were related. Esther was cut off from news outside the palace and did not know about Haman’s plan of genocide against her people. So misunderstanding why Mordecai was in sackcloth, she sent him clothes to wear. She sent clothes for him to put on instead of his sackcloth, but he would not accept them (4:4).

Esther dispatched a messenger to find out what was wrong. She could not go herself because her Jewish identity was still a secret. Then Esther summoned Hathak, one of the king’s eunuchs assigned to attend her, and ordered him to find out what was troubling Mordecai and why (4:5). The name Hathak may come from the Persian hataka, which means good. If so, this man lived up to his name. Ahasuerus had apparently been careful to choose a man of integrity to wait on his queen, and had been willing to release him from his own service to hers.⁵⁸

  There was nothing private about their meeting. So Hathak went out to Mordecai in the open square of the city in front of the king’s gate where everyone gathered (4:6). In Oriental cities this open square was used as a market place. There Mordecai told him everything that had happened to him, including the exact amount of money Haman had promised to pay into the royal treasury for the destruction of the Jews (4:7). Evidently copies of the edict were posted on the city wall for all to see. A copy delivered to Esther herself would reveal the grim reality of what was ahead for all Jews in Persia – including her.

The messenger, therefore, returned with double bad news. First, He gave him a copy (the word patshegn, which is a Persian word for a copy of the writings, is found only in Esther 3:14, 4:8, 8:13 and nowhere else in the TaNaKh) of the text of the edict for their annihilation, which had been published in Susa, to show to Esther and explain it to her (4:8a). And secondly, he told him to instruct her to go into the king’s presence to beg for mercy and plead with him for her people (4:8b). Mordecai had summed up the situation quickly. Action had to be taken immediately if the Jews were to be saved, and there were only two people in a position to help the threatened community: Esther as queen, and he himself as the queen’s cousin. He recognized the responsibility for his people that his special position placed upon him, and his first duty was to rouse Esther to an equal sense of her responsibility. It was the time for her to reveal her Jewishness.

  Hathak went back and reported to Esther what Mordecai had said (4:9). Suddenly Esther’s ability to keep everyone happy wasn’t working. She could no longer rely on her ability to please. The king and Mordecai, the two most important men in her life, were sure to butt heads. She couldn’t obey them both. Furthermore, instead of having someone to think for her and to take care of her, Esther needed to think and take care of herself. Not only that, multiple thousands of her people would die if she failed to act. Suddenly a voiceless Esther needed to find her own voice and speak out for her people, and all within a political system that mandated her silence. This young woman who never had to think for herself, take a stand, or fight a battle needed to stand up to the most powerful man on the earth, a man whose strongest political enemies trembled in his presence. And Esther knew all too well what he was capable of doing. She hadn’t forgotten what happened to the last woman who crossed him. She had Mordecai’s undying support – along with all her people. But the fact remained: Esther had to act alone.⁵⁹

Then she instructed him to say to Mordecai, “All the king’s officials and the people of the royal provinces know that for any man or woman who approaches the king in the inner court without being summoned the king has but one law: that they be put to death unless the king extends the gold scepter to them and spares their lives (4:10-11a). The etiquette of the Persian court was very strict. Except for the seven eunuch’s, no one could approach the king unless introduced by a court usher. Like all heads of state, Ahasuerus needed to be protected from assassination and the aggravation of a kingdom full of people’s problems. He did give audiences at his own discretion and personal invitation, but even his wife had no right to approach; however, the law had been passed with unlawful intruders not lawful wives in mind.⁶⁰ To come into the king’s presence without being summoned was a capital offense, and the offender would be immediately executed by the king’s attendants unless the king, by extending his golden scepter, showed his approval of the act.

Initially, she tried to dodge the unwelcomed responsibility, reminding Mordecai, “But thirty days have passed since I was called to go to the king” (4:11b). Haman had access to the king, but Esther did not. Apparently she did not expect to see Ahasuerus any time soon. She didn’t request an audience, possibly thinking it would take too long. This is but one example of how dysfunctional life had become in the palace at Susa.

  When Esther’s words were reported to Mordecai (4:12), he was noticeably unmoved by her predicament. In light of the looming holocaust, her excuses meant nothing to him. He warned her that she could not hide. The message he sent back to her must have sent chills up her spine: Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape (4:13a). Mordecai gets right to the point when he tells the queen that even if she should decide to continue to hide her Jewish identity, as he had previously advised, she would still face certain death.

For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place (4:13b). Some have seen in the phrase, from another place, an implied reference to ADONAI because in rabbinical Hebrew, God is sometimes referred to as “the Place” where all creation exists (see Genesis Rabba 68). Mordecai did not say that help for the Jews would come from “the Place,” but merely from another place. Though Mordecai is not pictured as a pious man who was righteous in his dealings before God, he at least had a sense of the covenantal relationship between the LORD and Isra’el. His is expressing his confidence that the Jews will not face annihilation, but will be helped through some other human agent. Mordecai’s thinking was that while Esther’s life may be in jeopardy if she goes before the king uninvited, her fate is certain if she does not.⁶¹

But you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this (4:14)? Providence! Without precisely telling us how he came to the conclusion, Mordecai reveals that he believes in God and His guidance in individual lives. Esther’s cousin implies the LORD’s ordering of world events, whether the rulers of the world want to acknowledge it or not. This was, of course, faithfully affirmed by the prophets of ADONAI (Isa 10:8, 45:1; Jer 1:15; Eze 7:24).

Everything the situation demanded went against the grain of her upbringing, her conditioning as a woman, her well-established habits, and her natural preferences. Mordecai was calling Esther to break Persian law and risk her life. Her first battle, then, even tougher than facing Ahasuerus, was to face and overcome herself.

  Once Esther grasped the urgency of her calling, she commanded Mordecai, “Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me (4:15a). Nothing is said about Esther praying, although prayer always accompanied fasting in the TaNaKh. Today many Jews observe what is called the Fast of Esther, which is based on this verse (to see link click Bw – The Fast of Esther). She continued: Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. Fasting was usually for one day only. It was mandated on the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16:29-31), but other than that was voluntary for a specific event (First Samuel 14:24; Second Samuel 1:12). For three days meant until the third day when she planned to appear before the king. This fast pointed to the seriousness of the situation and her need for spiritual strength.

My attendants and I will fast as you do (4:15b-16a). Her first action was loaded with significance, if we are not careful, it slips right past us. There is a transformation taking place in Esther. She is growing right before our eyes. Her response shows us that she has not merely been intimidated into submission by Mordecai’s authority, for it is not one of resigned acceptance but one of firm conviction. This was the crucial turning point in Esther’s development. Up till now, though queen, she was nevertheless completely under Mordecai’s authority and care. Now she is the one who sets the conditions and gives the orders.⁶² Therefore, it marks a major shift in her relationship with Mordecai.

Esther’s reply is also a confession of faith, although it was not stated in overtly religions language. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law (see Ac – The Book of Esther From a Jewish Perspective: King Ahasuerus). And if I perish, I perish (4:16b). Just because Esther was providentially brought to her influential position did not mean that life would be easy or that God would not test her faith (James 1:3 and First Peter 1:7).

  Thus, it changed her relationship with Mordecai, who went away and carried out all of Esther’s instructions (4:17). When Mordecai obeyed Esther, our image of the central character in the book changes, and she becomes the initiator of events. The transition is marked by the king’s rewarding, not punishing, her crime in 5:1-5.

The defining moment in Esther’s life was brought to a head by circumstances beyond her control. It seemed that she was caught between the Gentile world in which she lived and the Jewish world in which she was raised. That is, between the world and her faith. But we need to understand that her dilemma is our dilemma. Circumstances hem us in and demand that we commit ourselves to act with courage and exercise faith. Regardless of the situation you are in, choose God. Be on His side because His purposes are far greater than yours. And who knows? Perhaps you have come to your present situation for such a time as this!

Calamity Averted by Esther
4:4 to 9:19

The insubordination of Mordecai brought about the mortal threat that required Esther to disobey the king (4:11). Her natural desire to obey was confronted by the need to save her people from death. The obedience to king and husband had to give way to the overriding importance of saving the people of ADONAI. Once convinced that she must identify herself with the needs of the Jews, she acted with courage and became a leader who took the initiative and changed the dynamic.

Nothing has been said so far in the book to suggest either Esther or Mordecai were people of great faith in the LORD. But here it is revealed that they at least believed that God was concerned for the welfare of His chosen people (Deuteronomy 7:6). In this climatic section we can see the providence of God working behind the scenes on behalf of His own. Although the name of ADONAI is not overtly mentioned (To see link click Ac – The Book of Esther from a Jewish Perspective: Unique Characteristics), He is surely in control.

The chiastic structure of the entire book is easily observable. This indicates the great degree of literary awareness of the human author. The turning point is the king’s sleepless night (6:1), around which the chiastic structure is constructed.⁵⁷

A Opening and background (Chapter 1)

B The king’s first decree (Chapters 2 and 3)

C Haman tries to destroy Mordecai (Chapters 4 and 5)

D That night the king could not sleep (6:1)

C Mordecai’s triumph over Haman (Chapters 6 and 7)

B The king’s second decree (Chapters 8 and 9)

A Epilogue (Chapter 10)

Mordecai Put On Sackcloth and Ashes
4: 1-3

Mordecai put on sackcloth and ashes DIG: The news of the king’s decision probably spread quickly throughout the Jewish community. They were all in shock. How did Mordecai and all the rest of the Jews react? What else could he have done? How did the author of Esther echo Joel’s prophecy saying that with repentance, God may relent the calamity He was about to bring on the Jews?

REFLECT: When you mourn, how do you show your distress rather than putting on sackcloth and ashes? Sometimes we will do the right thing only when it is too painful to continue to do the wrong thing. When you repent, are there any outward signs? How would someone else know that you have repented? If not with fasting, weeping and mourning, how do you show your repentance?

Haman got what he desired the most, the king’s unknowing approval to annihilate all the Jews in Persia (3:10-11). The picture of the cold-blooded Haman, biding his time until his lucky day (to see link click Av – The Lot Fell on the Twelfth Month, the Month of Adar, in the Presence of Haman), is an obvious contrast with Mordecai’s immediate display of mourning. Even though the ancient feud with the Amalekites was the basis for him not bowing down to Haman, Mordecai had seemingly brought disaster not merely on himself but on all the Jews in Persia.⁵³ Haman’s plan was way out of proportion to Mordecai’s offense. Apparently Mordecai’s behavior had merely given the prime minister an excuse to reveal his anti-Semitism. Haman was displaying the same contempt for God’s people that they and the Israelites experienced from Amalek on their way to the Promised Land (see Aq – Haman the Agagite: Enemy of the Jews).⁵⁴

Lest we think that Mordecai was being melodramatic, we need to understand that his actions were common throughout the biblical period. Joshua and Caleb tore their clothes when they heard the people wanted to return to Egypt rather than to enter the Land that ADONAI had promised to give them (Numbers 14:6). David ripped his clothing on several occasions, for instance, after hearing of the deaths of Saul (Second Samuel 1:11), Abner (Second Samuel 3:31), and Amnon (Second Samuel 13:31). Eliakim and Shebna tore their clothing when Jerusalem was threatened by the Assyrians (Isaiah 36:22). Ezra did the same things to express his distress when the Israelites, including the priests and Levites, had intermarried with pagan Gentiles (Ezra 9:3). The Persians in Susa would have recognized the significance of Mordecai’s behavior, for they too, tore their clothes in grief when they were defeated by the Greeks in the battle of Salamis.

Mordecai’s world turned upside down the day Haman’s decree went out. Like others before him, he spoke through his body language. When Mordecai learned of all that had been done he was distraught. He tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the city, wailing loudly and bitterly (4:1). Wearing sackcloth and ashes and crying publically was a sign of mourning (Genesis 37:34; Jeremiah 49:3; Daniel 9:3; Joel 1:13; Jonah 3:6). By acting in this way Mordecai and all the Jews made sure that their protests were seen and heard by the Persians. Later, when the tables were turned, they would hold a joyous celebration (8:15b).

Dear Heavenly Father, Praise Your Almighty power and great love for Your children. Praise You that Your power is always greater that all the puny power of all the kingdoms of the world. Your power protected Your people at the time of Esther and Your power will again protect your children at the end of the seven year Tribulation, at the battle of Armageddon. Messiah will come riding out of heaven on a white horse with the armies of heaven following Him.

The world should have learned it’s lesson of Your supreme sovereignty and protection of Your children, by Your protection of Your people at the time of Easter. Again at the end of the Tribulation the world will think it can attack and defeat you- but by the sword coming out of Yeshua’s mouth the battle will be over and won by God. Though sometimes it may appear that evil is winning, it never does. Yeshua always wins! He has won the ultimate victory, even over death itself. At the end of Messiah’s thousand year reign, the world again tries to defeat Yeshua, and again the evil world leaders and their followers are utterly destroyed. When the thousand years [of Messiah’s reigning on earth] has ended, satan shall be released from his prison, and he shall come out to deceive the nations at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for the battle. Their number is like the sand of the sea (Revelation 20:7-8). Your children can have perfect trust in Your power and they can rest in Your wonderful love for them.  Praise your love and your power. In Yeshua’s holy name and power of his resurrection, Amen

There is no indication that Mordecai was sorry for his actions in refusing to bow down to Haman. His conviction against honoring a sworn enemy of the LORD and the Jews was unalterable. Rather, he grieved over the death notice that his people would be slaughtered. This verse is the low point in the story. Mordecai knew the amount of money Haman had agreed to spend for the killing spree because he had a copy of the edict (4:7-8). Certain death seemed unavoidable. But God was working behind the scenes to deliver His people.

But he went only as far as the king’s gate, because no one clothed in sackcloth was allowed to enter it (4:2). Evidently the wearing of sackcloth was known also in Persia, but the king probably didn’t want to be reminded of blunders by having mourners within his gates.

Jews everywhere in Persia reacted as Mordecai had done. In every province to which the edict and order of the king came, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting (see the Bw – The Fast of Esther), weeping and wailing. Many lay in sackcloth and ashes (4:3). In such situations mourning and fasting were certainly physical acts that were accompanied with prayer, but the author deliberately did not mention any plea to God for help. The spontaneous wearing of sackcloth and ashes, so that the Jews could prostrate themselves in grief, is a moving example of national mourning, similar to that of Nineveh (Jonah 3:3-9), but rarely seen even in the Bible.⁵⁵

Biblical authors often use phrases from other books of the Bible that are known to them, which presumably would also be known to the original readers. For instance, in addition to quoting entire sentences from the TANAKH, New Covenant writers used summaries from the Old Covenant that would have been familiar to the their readers. But there were also similar echoes like these within the Old Covenant itself.

The Hebrew phrase translated with fasting, weeping and wailing in Esther 4:3, also occurs in Joel 2:12 as with fasting and weeping and mourning. It may be true that the original readers of the Esther story would have recognized this Hebrew phrase as indirectly pointing to Joel’s prophecy, but most modern readers would probably not make the connection. Even though the individual words of this phrase occur many other times in the TaNaKh, it forms a textual link between Esther and Joel. Because Joel was written first, the author of Esther tells this part of his story by using an allusive echo of Joel 2.

In the threat of impending judgment, God speaks to His people through the prophet Joel, saying, “Even now,” declared ADONAI, “Tear your heart and not your garments. Return (shuv means to return and is the key word in the book of Jeremiah) to ADONAI your God, for He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity. Who knows? He may turn and have pity and leave behind a blessing – grain offerings and drink offerings for ADONAI your God (Joel 2:12-14).

Since the same phrase found in Joel 2 occurs in Esther 4, it describes Haman’s killing spree as an opportunity for the Jews in Persia, in exile for their sin, to shuv, or return to their LORD, who, as a result, may relent from sending Haman’s plan of annihilation. The very next statement that Joel makes: Tear your heart and not your garments, echoes with Mordecai’s reaction to Haman’s decree. The author of Esther portrays the Jewish response of fasting, weeping and wailing in the face of this catastrophe as the repentance called for in Joel.

In general, prayer is usually assumed to accompany fasting in the Bible. But while the original readers would expect prayer to be mentioned in the same breath as fasting, it is conspicuously absent from this request in Esther 4:3. Notice, however, that prayer is also not explicitly mentioned in the call to repentance in Joel 2:12-14.

If the Israelites fast, weep and mourn, Joel said: Who knows [ADONAI] may turn and have pity. Accordingly, Mordecai’s statement: and who knows but that you have come to a royal position for such a time as this? again echoes Joel’s, suggesting that Esther’s royal position is the means by which God might turn and have pity on his people, relenting from sending calamity.

The prophecy of Joel continues: Blow the trumpet in Zion, declare a holy fast, and call a sacred assembly. Gather the people, consecrate the assembly . . . (Joel 2:15-16a). Whether Esther had Joel’s prophecy in mind or not, she, in effect, echoes the Trumpet in Zion, by commanding Mordecai to call a fast for all the Jews of Susa, to see if the LORD may relent from sending this calamity on her people. For the first time in the story, Esther identifies herself with the Jews of Persia and responds to the prophetic call to repentance by joining with them in the fast.⁵⁶

Kill all the Jews on a Single Day,
the Thirteenth Day, the Twelfth Month of Adar
3: 12-15

Kill all the Jews in a single day, the thirteenth day, the twelfth month of Adar DIG: Why was the date of the thirteenth day of the first month so important to the Jews? Why would Haman pick that specific date? To whom was the decree sent? Why? On what date was the annihilation to take place? How long would Haman have to wait for his “lucky” day? Why were the citizens of Susa bewildered when they read the edict? Why does Peter warn us to be self-controlled and alert?

REFLECT: How would you react if you knew your whole race was going to be slaughtered by the government because of your faith in eleven months? What would you do? Young and old, women and children – on a single day! With all your neighbors watching you all the time how would you react? How would you defend yourself? Would you gather weapons or pray? Or both? Would it be wrong to defend yourself and your family? Why or why not? Why was the city of Susa thrown into confusion? What three ways does the Adversary seek to devour believers?

Then on the thirteenth day of the first month the royal secretaries were summoned (3:12a). The decree was sent out on the thirteenth day of the first month, which ironically, is the very eve of the Passover (Exodus 12:18; Leviticus 23:5; Numbers 28:16). The paradox was unmistakable. The day before celebrating freedom from Egyptian oppression, a decree had been made for their very destruction. Only a Jew would understand this. It commemorates the deliverance of Isra’el from Pharaoh and celebrates the existence of the Israelites with their special relationship with ADONAI. The joy of the Passover was turned to grief when the edict was issued on the Passover and sentenced them to death merely because they were Jews. It could hardly fail to stir the question in their minds, can ADONAI not save us again from death under Ahasuerus?

The death sentence was written out in the script of each province and in the language of each people all Haman’s orders to the king’s provinces, the governors of the various provinces and the nobles of the various peoples (to see link click Ak – The King Gave a Grand Banquet in Susa, and Displayed the Vast Wealth of His Kingdom for more information on the provinces). These were written in the name of King Ahasuerus himself and sealed with his own ring (3:12). The signet ring used to sign and seal the official documents is given to Haman, vesting him with the full authority of the throne to do as he wishes. Whoever possessed the signet ring effectively held the king’s authority.⁴⁷

The practice of making decrees of the king irrevocable is unknown in any of the extrabiblical texts during the reign of King Ahasuerus; therefore, some say this was not plausible. There are times in our lives when we are confronted with a situation where we have to trust in the Word of God or disbelieve it. And God intended it to be that way. He purposes to put us in a position that we are incapable of doing something or understanding something so that we must choose to act in faith. The Bible tells us that without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6a). When we look at the “Hall of Faith” in Hebrews, all of those champions of the faith overcame situations that were not plausible. In fact, the more impossible it is, the more faith is needed. So here, regarding this irrevocable edict, believers choose to have faith in the Bible over extrabiblical texts because all Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness so that the people of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work (Second Timothy 3:16). When in doubt, trust the Bible.

Dispatches were sent by couriers to all the king’s provinces (3:13a). The Greek historian Herodotus writes about the “Pony Express” postal system first used more than 2,000 years ago in the Persian Empire. Men on horseback pass the mail from one rider to the next. Herodotus wrote, “. . . these men will not be hindered from accomplishing at their best speed the distance while they have to go either by snow, or rain, or heat, or by the darkness of night.” Because of the vastness of the empire, a letter could take up to eight weeks to reach someone in the empire’s outer reaches.⁴⁸ The order was given to destroy, kill and annihilate all the Jews – young and old, women and children – on a single day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar, and to plunder their goods (3:13b). Eleven months still had to pass before the thirteenth of Adar, Haman’s “lucky” day chosen by lot for the massacre (see Av – The Lot Fell on the Twelfth Month, the Month of Adar, in the Presence of Haman). The plunder of Jewish goods was permitted to provide incentive. It is interesting to note that all the letters of the Hebrew alphabet are found in this verse.

A copy (the word patshegn, which is a Persian word for a copy of the writings, is found only in Esther 3:14, 4:8, 8:13 and nowhere else in the TaNaKh) of the death warrant was to be issued as law in every province and made known to the people of every nationality so they would be ready for that day (3:14). The edict was to be proclaimed so that suitable preparations could be made. Throughout history many have tried to destroy the Jews, from the time of the exodus to the twentieth century. But none have succeeded because Israel is the apple of His eye (Deuteronomy 32:10b).

  The couriers went out, spurred on by the king’s command, and the edict was issued in the citadel of Susa. The king and Haman sat down to drink (3:15a CJB). Afterwards, Haman sat down to enjoy his genocide cocktail. The verse does not use the king’s name, but it does mention Haman by name and thus highlights the fact that this Persian holocaust was his idea. But the city of Susa was thrown into confusion (3:15b CJB). The citizens of Susa were aghast. Apparently, such a decree had never before come from the royal court. Haman’s bloodthirstiness, however, along with Ahasuerus’ seeming indifference to such atrocities was unbelievable even to a sophisticated society that was used to cruel behavior. Perhaps some of them wondered if they would be next on the list.⁴⁹ But those who have persecuted the Jews have always come to ruin. We must still take seriously ADONAI’s promise to Abraham and his descendents: I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse (Genesis 12:3a).

Dear Heavenly Father, Praise Your great power that is even greater than the power of a mighty government’s death sentence edit.  For I am convinced that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,  nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Messiah Yeshua our Lord (Romans 8:38-39).

Praise Your great love and care for Your children. What a joy it is to have Yeshua as our loving shepherd to guide and protect His children/sheep. My sheep hear My voice. I know them, and they follow Me (John 10: 27). So thankful that Your children are held tight in Your hand and nothing can snatch them out of Your hand-not death, not evil men, not illness.  I give them eternal life! They will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all. And no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.  I and the Father are one (John 10:28-30).

So grateful that You not only bless your first-born children, the Jews (Exodus 4:22) You also extend that blessing to all who bless them. What a wonderful comfort it is to know that not only does God our Heavenly Father greatly love and protect His children, He also  encourage others to bless them also.

Though evil men may plan to hurt Your children, You are greater than all. You may choose to allow Your children trials/pain either as discipline (Leviticus 26:14-45, Deuteronomy 28:15-68) or to mold their character. We also boast in suffering—knowing that suffering produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope.  And hope does not disappoint, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Ruach Ha’Kodesh who was given to us. (Romans 5:3-5). Trials may be allowed to prove your child’s faith and so to bring you glory. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith – of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire – may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed (First Peter 1:7 NIV). Ultimately You are in control of the ultimate outcome in Your child’s life, including the exact day of his death. Thank You for being such a wonderful and caring Father! In Yeshua’s holy name and power of His resurrection. Amen

Satan knew from the Garden of Eden that he would have to prevent Jesus from dying on the cross or he would face an eternity in the lake of burning sulfur (Revelation 20:10). The LORD God said to the Serpent . . . I will put animosity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; the Messiah would ultimately defeat the Adversary by dying a sinless, substitutionary death on the cross for all mankind (see my commentary on Genesis Be – He Will Crush Your Head, and You Will Strike His Heel).

The Adversary tried three times to keep the Messiah from dying on a cross. First, when Yeshua was about two years old, Satan had King Herod try to have Him killed so He wouldn’t go to the cross (see my commentary on The Life of Christ Aw – Herod Gave Orders to Kill all the Boys in Bethlehem Two Years Old and Under). Second, after His baptism the devil tempted Christ to sin and thus prevent Him from being an acceptable sacrifice on the cross (see The Life of Christ Bj – Then Jesus Was Tempted in the Wilderness). And third, even at His crucifixion, Satan tried six times to get Jesus to come down before dying (see my commentary on The Life of Christ Lu – Jesus’ First Three Hours on the Cross: The Wrath of Man). But when Yeshua died a sinless death on the cross, the Adversary knew his ultimate defeat was assured and he needed to go to Plan B. If he couldn’t prevent sinners from being saved, he and his demons would try to make them ineffective so others would not be saved. Simply put, the devil would try to take down as many as he could with him into the lake of fire.

In 1942, the Christian apologist C. S. Lewis published a biting satire entitled The Screwtape Letters (he also wrote The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe). His novel described the activities of a senior demon named Screwtape and his nephew and junior tempter Wormwood. Being his mentor, Screwtape trains his young protégé in the different ways of enticing believers to sin, to destroy their testimony and, as a result, eliminate their ability to witness to others. In other words, Plan B. The book provides a series of lessons in the importance of taking a deliberate role in living out our faith by portraying a typical human life, with all its temptations and failings, as seen from the devils’ point of view. In this convoluted way of seeing spiritual warfare, ADONAI, His holy angels and all true believers are viewed as “the enemy.”

This is why Peter writes to us and warns: Be self-controlled and alert. The reason believers must be self-controlled and alert is that they face fierce and relentless spiritual opposition from Satan and his demons. Being alert (gregoresate), is an imperative command that means be watchful or stay awake. Your Adversary (antidikos) was used as a technical term meaning legal opponent, as well as any kind of enemy who was seriously aggressive and hostile. The devil commands the demonic realm and administrates the human, fallen world system. Personally, and through his surrogates the demons, who like him never sleep nor rest, Satan untiringly, like a predator in the night of his own evil darkness, hunts to kill. He prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour (First Peter 5:8). Peter’s imagery of the roaring lion derives from the TaNaKh (Psalms 7:2, 10:9-10, 17:12, 22:13-21, 35:17, 58:6, 104, 21; Ezeki’el 22:25), and pictures the viciousness of this hunter pursuing his prey. Devour has the sense of to gulp down, emphasizing the final objective, not to wound but to destroy.⁵⁰

Satan seeks to devour believers in three ways. First, ADONAI may allow the Adversary to attack a believer directly (Job 1), but more generally, Satan and his demons constantly mount the attack on individuals through the ever-present, sinful and alluring world system. John condensed this spiritual battle down to this: Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world – the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life – comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever (1 John 2:15-17).

Secondly, Paul recognized that the devil attacks believers in the most intimate realm of human relations – marriage and the family. For that reason, Paul charged the believers living in Corinth: The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. The wife’s body does not belong to her alone but also to her husband. In the same way, the husband’s body does not belong to him alone but also to his wife. Do not deprive each other except by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you to sin because of your lack of self-control (First Corinthians 7:3-5). When one partner withholds a sexual relationship from the other, Satan will tempt the one deprived to sin, thereby hastening attitudes that often bring the destruction of that marriage and family.

Thirdly, believers – both the leaders and the members of the congregation – are vulnerable to the attacks of the Adversary within the body of believers. Paul instructed Timothy to choose well-qualified men as shepherds, so that they would not fall into disgrace and into the devil’s trap (First Timothy 3:1-7). Satan also seeks to destroy the unity within the body of believers, causing its spiritual power to become useless (First Corinthians 1:10, 6:1-6, 11:17-34, 14:20-38; Revelation 2-3). Peter’s first line of defense is to be self-controlled and alert. If Eve was so easily deceived in the perfect garden of Eden (see my commentary on Genesis Ba – The Woman Saw the Fruit of the Tree and Ate It), how much more are redeemed sinners living in a sinful, fallen world susceptible to Satan’s craftiness and deception?

Contrary to what some teach, Scripture nowhere commands believers to attack Satan or demons with prayers or formulas, or to “bind the devil.” Those who foolishly engage in useless efforts to speak to the Adversary (who is not omnipresent anyway), or to command him, or to dismiss him or other demons are confused and wrong about their powers as believers. Since neither Christians, nor the righteous of the TaNaKh are apostles of the Messiah, they have no authority over Satan or his demons (Matthew 10:1; Luke 9:1-2; Second Corinthians 12:12). Only Christ Himself, by dispatching a powerful holy angel, can bind Satan (see my commentary on Revelation Fb – He Seized the Dragon, or Satan, and Bound Him for a Thousand Years).⁵¹

From the Amalekites to Haman to Herod to Hitler, Satan used all of them to try to eliminate the Jews from the face of the earth. Charles Swindoll has stated, “Esther is a story of triumph that grew out of tragedy, ecstasy out of agony, celebration out of devastation.  Yours can be the same.” This book has shown us many things, including that God can use anyone for His glory that is willing to be used, that He is ultimately in control of all things in our lives, and He will work according to His foreknowledge to bring all things together in our lives for our best and His glory (Romans 8:28).  The enemy may rage, but God will turn his attacks back on his own head ultimately. We need to stand strong against the three-fold enemy that directed the lives of Ahasuerus and Haman, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. It ultimately destroyed them both.

The impact of the lives of Esther and Mordecai is one of the most amazing aspects of this story, and it shows us that the LORD is not limited in who He works through, nor how.  In view of the world in which we live, we need more Esther’s and Mordecai’s that will stand up and make a difference for God and His children, even if it is at their peril as these two experienced.  ADONAI needs servants today who will speak up when his people are in danger or when injustice and corruption are rampant in society.⁵² Esther and Mordecai were not perfect, nor were they spiritual giants when they first were brought into their place of influence.  How encouraging that is for us who are not another Moses or Paul or others of their caliber, because God can work in and through us just as well.

Let all of us be able to say with the beloved Paul at the end of the stories of our lives: As for me, my life has already been poured out as an offering to God. The time of my death is near.  I have fought a good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful. And now the prize awaits me – the crown of righteousness that the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on that great day of his return. And the prize is not just for me but for all who eagerly look forward to his glorious return (Second Timothy 4:6–8 NLT).

The King Gave His Signet Ring to Haman
3: 10-11

The king gave his signet ring to Haman DIG: What is a signet ring and what does it represent? What does this chapter add to your perception of King Ahasuerus? What half-truths does he agree with here? How did Joseph’s use of the signet ring compare to that of Haman?

REFLECT: Have you ever given your authority over to someone and later regretted it? What did you do to solve the problem? How was Joseph’s intent to use his signet ring different from Haman’s? What four things has God given believers to mark them as members of His Kingdom? Is there any way possible that we can lose our inheritance? Why or why not?

King Ahasuerus, as before, was easily influenced by his magi (1:16-22 and 2:2-4). He accepted Haman’s advice: If it pleases the king, let a decree be issued to destroy them (3:9a). The king, assuming that the scattered people in question were distant aliens, hostile to him and his reign, handed over his royal authority to Haman. So, the king took his signet ring from his finger and gave it to Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews (3:10). A document was made official by stamping the king’s ring in wax on the document itself. The wax seal served as the king’s signature, representing his authority throughout the empire (Esther 3:12, 8:2 and 8; Genesis 41:42; Daniel 6:17; Haggai 2:23). By giving his signet ring to Haman, Ahasuerus was allowing the enemy of the Jews, as Haman was now called, to send out a proclamation to the empire in the king’s name.

When he was first introduced in 3:1, Haman is referred to as son of Hammedatha, the Agagite. That name is repeated here, but with the additional phrase, the enemy of the Jews. This was a blood chilling statement, because it meant that all the power and influence of the Persian Empire was about to come down on the Israelites because of Haman’s arrogant pride. Five times in the book of Esther, Haman is called the enemy of the Jews (here, 7:6, 8:1, 9:10 and 9:24). At this time, Haman’s powerful motive of personal revenge was hidden from the king.

Just as Pharaoh gave Joseph his signet ring as prime minister, and second in command of Egypt (see my commentary on Genesis, to see link click Jv – Joseph as Prime Minister), so Ahasuerus gave Haman his signet ring as prime minister, and second in command of the Medo-Persian Empire. The primary difference was that where Joseph used his power for good (see my commentary on Genesis Jw – The Seven Years of Abundance in Egypt Came to an End, and the Seven Years of Famine Began), Haman planned to use it for evil.

Keep the money, literally the silver is given to you, the king said to Haman (3:11a). Ahasuerus seemingly turned down the money here, and 3:13 declares that the Persians would be allowed to plunder their goods. However, 4:7 and 7:4 suggest that the king would receive at least some of the spoils. The king, without verifying the information or being concerned for his subjects, said: And do with the people as you please (3:11b). Sometimes rulers give authority to others without realizing the consequences. This seems to be the case here. Little did he know that Queen Esther was a Jewess and would be slaughtered like the others in Haman’s wicked plan.

The king did not take the time to find out more details. His delegation of authority was impossible to avoid with such a huge empire to rule over, but the key is knowing who you are delegating to. Whether Ahasuerus knew Haman all that well is not revealed. Nevertheless, the order was given and the life-changing events were set in motion. ADONAI’s great reversal of the fortunes of Haman and the Jews given to us in 9:5 where we learn that the Jews struck down all their enemies with the sword, killing and destroying them.

King Ahasuerus put his signet ring on the finger of Haman and, as a result, gave him all the power and influence of the Persian Empire. The signet ring proved that he was the authentic representative of the king. For believers today, it is God who establishes us in Christ, He has anointed us, sealed us, and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge (Second Corinthians 1:21-22 NASB). ADONAI’S signet ring, His seal of ownership as it were, the Holy Spirit, gives us all the power and influence of the Kingdom of God, and proves that we are authentic representatives of the KING of kings (Revelation 19:16).

As admirable as they might be, Paul’s ultimate claim to authenticity as ADONAI’s messenger was not his loyalty, honesty, reliability, or any other personal traits. It was what the Lord had done for him. Paul describes four eternal works that God had done in his life with four verbs: establishes, anointed, sealed and gave.

First, God establishes us in Christ at the moment of salvation. This is the work of saving grace that puts believers into union with Him (Romans 8:1, 16:11; First Corinthians 1:30, 3:1, 7:22; Galatians 2:20; Ephesians 5:8; Colossians 1:2 and 28, 4:7) and with each other. Paul’s authenticity was so interconnected with that of the church at Corinth, that to deny his relationship with them would have been to deny the reality of their own spiritual life. Because they were fellow believers, by attacking Paul’s authenticity, they were ripping the fabric of the church’s spiritual unity. Since Paul was their spiritual father (First Corinthians 4:15), to deny his authenticity was, figuratively, to saw off the branch on which they were sitting.

Secondly, ADONAI has anointed us. To anoint someone is to commission them for service (Exodus 28:41; Numbers 3:31; First Samuel 15:1, 16:1-13; Second Samuel 2:4; First Kings 1:39, 5:1, 19:16; Psalm 89:20). The Greek verb chrio, meaning anointed, appears four times in the New Covenant, each time it refers to Yeshua (Luke 4:18; Acts 4:27 and 10:38; Hebrews 1:9). The related noun chrisma describes the anointing all believers have when they are indwelt with the Holy Spirit (see my commentary on The Life of Christ Bw – What God Does For Us at the Moment of Faith).

Thirdly, He sealed us. The word Greek word sphragizo, or sealed, refers to stamping an identifying mark on something. When Haman took his signet ring and pressed it into some soft wax on a document, he was sealing it with the mark of the king. This also refers to believers being stamped with the seal of the KING, which is the Holy Spirit, whose presence identifies them as His true and eternal possession, whom He will protect and keep. Having believed, you were marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance (Ephesians 1:13b-14a).

Fourthly, the Lord gave believers the Holy Spirit in their hearts as a pledge. The indwelling Holy Spirit is not only the anointing and seal but also the down payment or guarantee of believers’ eternal inheritance, the first installment of future glory. Praise be God, Father of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, who, in keeping with His great mercy, has caused us, through the resurrection of Yeshua the Messiah from the dead, to be born again to a living hope, to an inheritance that cannot decay, spoil or fade, kept safe for you in heaven (First Peter 1:3-4 CJB). Now it is God who . . . has given us the Holy Spirit was a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come (Second Corinthians 5:5).

Dear Heavenly Father, We thank you for your loving care. Thank you for caring about us even when we are not mindful of You. Thank you for loving us first and sending Your Son to die on our behalf. Your gifts are never ending, as is our praise for You. When we come to the end of ourselves and accept the great gift of your Son, thank You for sealing us with the mark of Your Kingdom, guaranteeing our inheritance. After you heard the message of truth – the Good News of your salvation – and when you put your trust in Him, you were sealed with the promised Ruach Ha’Kodesh.  He is the guarantee of our inheritance, until the redemption of His possession – to His glorious praise (Ephesians 1:13-14)!

Praise You for Your great love, mercy and for removing our sins as far away as the East is from the West. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His mercy for those who fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us (Psalms 103:11-12). How thankful Your children are for the joy that one day soon, we will live with You in your holy heaven of peace and joy for all eternity! Praise You for giving Yeshua’s righteousness to all who love you, as their entrance key to heaven. He made the One who knew no sin to become a sin offering on our behalf, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God (Second Corinthians 5:21). Your children love, worship You dear daddy! In Yeshua’s holy name and power of His resurrection. Amen

The Lot Fell on the Twelfth Month,
the Month of Adar, in the Presence of Haman
3: 7-9

The lot fell on the twelfth month, the month of Adar, in the presence of Haman DIG: What is the pur? What was the significance of the eleven-month delay secured by lot (compare verses 7 and 12)? Was this God’s providence or coincidence? If Haman the Agagite is a descendent of king Agag (First Samuel 15) and the hated Amalekites, what would that mean for the Israelites? How did King Saul’s failure to extinguish all the Amalekites come back, five hundred years later, to haunt Israel?

REFLECT: How do believers seek God’s direction today? King David said: Delight yourself in the LORD and He will give you the desires of your heart (Psalm 37:4). So sometimes, do you think that we have a choice which direction we can go? Why or why not? James tells us: If any of you lacks wisdom you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you (James 1:5). Can ADONAI use our wrong decisions for our benefit and His glory? Has that happened in your life? How did you change? How was He glorified as a result?

A little more than four years had gone by since Esther had become queen in 478 BC. It was more than a century after the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, some sixty-four years after the first return with Zerubbabel, and sixteen years before Ezra’s return to Jerusalem. Mordecai and Esther were from Jewish families that had stayed in Mesopotamia even after the first return from captivity.⁴²

The author included a seemingly obscure part of the account by recording that Haman used a pur for the lot, to decide when he should launch his attack. The original readers of Esther would have understood that ADONAI was working to protect His people even in the timing of events. As things worked out, the Jews had almost a year in which to prepare themselves for the conflict with their enemies.

To determine the favorable time for the attack on the Jews, Haman consulted the pur, or the plural that is purim, the lot. In the twelfth year of King Ahasuerus, on the first month, the month of Nisan, the pur (that is, the lot) was cast in the presence of Haman to select a day and month of the massacre (3:7a). It was believed that in the first month of the year lots were cast to choose opportune days for important events. Archaeologists have discovered purim, which were clay cubes with cuneiform characters or dots that looked virtually the same as modern dice. Casting the lot literally meant throwing the dice. Today, dice are used for gambling or board games, but during the time that Esther was written they were used for divination. It was their way of asking the gods for answers to questions about the future.

Purim is a Hebrew pluralized form of an Akkadian word that was also used by the Babylonians later on to refer to these cube-shaped objects of divination. This word is found only in the book of Esther and nowhere else in the TaNaKh, and when the author first uses it, he also gives his readers the equivalent Hebrew word used to refer to the cube, the goral, with the NIV translates as lot (9:24).⁴³ The goral was worn by the high priest (see my commentary on Exodus, to see link click Ga – Fashion a Breastpiece for Making Decisions) and used to inquire of the LORD (see my commentary on Exodus Gb – The Urim and Thummim: The Means of Making Decisions).

Haman cast the purim and the lot fell on the twelfth month, the month of Adar (3:7b). Haman would have to wait eleven months for the most favorable day, but he immediately spread the word of their future execution (3:12-15). It ordered the citizens of Persia to kill their Jewish neighbors; the young and the old, women and children, exactly eleven months later.⁴⁴ The most important thing to him was to choose the “luckiest” day, even if he had to wait almost a year to carry out his wicked plan. But he didn’t understand that the hand of God controlled even his dice so that the Jews would have eleven months to prepare for their defense. The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD (Proverbs 16:33). Providence!

Dear Heavenly Father, Praise Your love and your constant care of Your children. Thank You that though You guide big governmental issues of countries around the world, and you watch over the orbital pattern of huge planets like Jupiter and Saturn; you always have time to care for each of Your children.  Nothing they do ever misses your attention. You discern my thinking from afar. . . You are familiar with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, Adonai, You know all about it (Psalms 139:2c, 3c-4).

Praise You for not only knowing what people think and say before they say it; but how glorious that You live in those who love You thru the Ruach Ha’Kodesh.  I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper so He may be with you forever – the Spirit of truth. . . Yeshua answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word. My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our dwelling with him (John 14:16-17a, 23). What a comfort it is to have God living within us. What an Awesome promise that You will never leave Your children (John 1:12)! For God Himself has said, “I will never leave you or forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5).

How wonderful to please such a wise and loving Father. When trials and problems come, I will look up to you and remember that my time on earth is short, the problems and pain will be over soon. For I consider the sufferings of this present time not worthy to be compared with the coming glory to be revealed to us. The joy and peace of heaven will be for all eternity for those who love You. He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more. Nor shall there be mourning or crying or pain any longer, for the former things have passed away” (Revelation 21:1-4). It is so wonderful to remember that our trials will soon be over and an eternity of joy and peace for all who love you! Praising and loving you dear Daddy! In Yeshua’s holy name and power of His resurrection. Amen  

Another detail that has been considered improbable by some is that Haman would cast lots to determine the date for the execution of the Jews eleven months in advance. Many people in the ancient near East cast, or threw lots to receive guidance from the gods. It represented a view toward life that was part of the ancient world. They thought that fate was predetermined, and that humans could only succeed if they cooperated with destiny. They believed that the signs and omens in the stars, nature, and elsewhere revealed fate to the knowledgeable, and everything was preordained according to lucky days.⁴⁵ As a result, in Haman’s world view it was vital to find the most opportune day to carry out his scheme and then stick to it.

Yet the casting of lots had a sense of irony to it. The original Jewish readers of the story would have already known how it ended. They were, after all, still alive! When Esther was read, the readers quickly realized that the casting of lots would not mean the destruction of the Israelites; ironically it meant that those who cast the lots would suffer the fate intended for them.

  True to form, Ahasuerus carelessness took precious little persuading to give Haman the freedom to exterminate a certain people he portrayed as a threat to his kingdom. The king let Memucan advise him on how he should deal with Vashti (1:16-22), and then the magi suggested how he should choose the next queen (2:1-4). Here, Haman very cleverly conceals his own evil intentions by making it seem like what he proposed was in the king’s best interest. Then, in a deceptive way, Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “There are certain people dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom who keep themselves separate” (3:8a). Which implies that they had retained their identity. Haman carefully avoids mentioning that those people were Jews, and Ahasuerus was so uninterested that he didn’t even ask who they were.

“Their customs are different from those of all other people, and they do not obey the king’s laws; it is not in the king’s best interest to tolerate them” (3:8b). Haman’s presentation was a mixture of truth (dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom), half-truth (their customs are different from those of all other people) and lies (they do not obey the king’s laws), in that order. While it was true that the Jews had their own laws, it was false to accuse them of disobeying the laws of Persia. In fact, in the rabbis taught that, “The law of the country in which you live is binding.”

Now for the first time we learn that Haman was a wealthy man. He appealed to Ahasuerus’ need to refill the treasury drained by the king’s disastrous war with Greece. Haman sweetens his request by saying: If it pleases the king, let a decree be issued to destroy them, and I will give ten thousand talents of silver (or about 375 tons or 340 metric tons equivalent to several tens of millions of dollars today) to the king’s administrators for the royal treasury (3:9). At that time Persia used silver as its money standard. The word translated treasury is a Persian word, which shows that the author was well acquainted with the vocabulary of the court at Susa. This would foreshadow the betrayal of another Jew, Yeshua Messiah, for thirty pieces of silver (see my commentary on The Life of Christ Kc – Judas Agrees to Betray Jesus).

The Greek historian Herodotus recorded that the annual income of the Persian Empire was about 15,000 talents from taxes. If this figure is correct, Haman offered two-thirds of that amount – a huge sum. Even if he was planning to steal the property of the Jewish families he was going to slaughter, his proposition would have been absurd if he had not had the money already at his disposal.⁴⁶

Most of us like to think that through careful planning we can have some control of our lives. While much of the time life might cooperate with our plans, all of us can remember circumstances beyond our control. Sometimes things might turn out better than we expected, and sometimes things turn out worse, but either way our sense of being in control is at times revealed by life’s circumstances to be an illusion.

Whether we like it or not, we often feel caught in circumstances beyond our control. There are many seemingly insignificant events, that when we look back on them, really changed the course of our lives. This chain of events continues to happen every day. We have no idea how one leads to the other. Only ADONAI is outside of time and knows the end from the beginning. The author of Esther demonstrates the workings of divine providence. He works through a series of “coincidental” events and human decisions, even those based on questionable motives at best or evil intent at worst, to carry out His plan. All of the “chance” events in the book of Esther, and in our own lives, are really working toward the end that God knows will happen.

Esther suffered the humiliation of being taken into the king’s harem to be sexually used. Apparently no one considered what plans she might have had for her own life, plans perhaps to be a godly wife with a home and family. But her plans were changed forever when the king’s men seized her from her home. Mordecai suffered the humiliation of being deprived of his recognition after saving the life of Ahasuerus after overhearing two of the king’s officers conspire to assassinate the king. To make matters worse, Haman was gaining the power to turn against Mordecai and the Jews. There is a sad irony that when the wicked prosper, God’s people are seemingly overlooked and unrewarded (Psalms 37 and 73). When all is said and done, ADONAI uses even injustice to fulfill His promises to us. As Joseph made clear to his brothers: You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good (Genesis 50:20).

The revelation of Jesus Christ was written to encourage believers who, like the Jews of Persia, found their existence threatened when the government under which they lived threatened to destroy them. Believers all over the world experience persecution today. One source estimates that in this century alone, an average of 300,000 believers have been martyred each year. The prayer of the earliest believers, “Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness,” must continue to be the prayer of the Church today, offered up with a confidence in the LORD’s powerful providence.

The book of Revelation shows that despite the overwhelming power the world empires now have, Yeshua Messiah will ultimately prevail (see my commentary on Revelation Ex – The Eight Stage Campaign of Armageddon). Believers are to live faithfully for that day, even under the threat of persecution and death. After describing the beast and his satanic power, John acknowledges that those saved during the Great Tribulation will suffer and die when the government of the antichrist turns against them. However, because Jesus arose never to die again, they will be safe in Christ. Whoever has ears, let them hear. If anyone is to go into captivity, into captivity they will go. If anyone is to be killed with the sword, with the sword they will be killed for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of the holy ones (see my commentary on Revelation Dn – All Inhabitants of the Earth will Worship the Beast).

God intends to save and protect His people in Messiah (Romans 8:28), and ultimately He plans to destroy those who remain steadfast in their opposition to Him. There is no power, no enemy, that can defeat His elect (Second Timothy 2:10). We, too, like David in Psalm 16 CJV, can praise ADONAI because He has made our lot secure in Yeshua.

Protect me, God,
for You are my refuge.
I said to ADONAI, “You are my Lord;
I have nothing good outside of You.”
The holy people in the Land are the ones
who are worthy of honor; all my pleasure is in them.

Those who run after another god
multiply their sorrows;
to such gods I will not offer
drink offerings of blood
or take the names on my lips.

ADONAI, my assigned portion, my cup;
You safeguard my share.
Pleasant places were measured out for me;
I am content with my heritage.

I bless ADONAI, my counselor;
at night my inmost being sustains me.
I always set ADONAI before me;
with Him at my right hand, I can never be moved;
so my heart is glad, my glory rejoices,
and my body too rests in safety;
for You will not abandon me to sh’ol,
You will not let Your faithful one see the Abyss.
You make me know the path of life;
in Your presence is unbounded joy,
in Your right hand eternal delight.