God at Work. Esther

The last book of the History Books is Esther. The events take place during the exile, when the Jews are scattered throughout the Persian Empire and King Ahasuerus (AKA Xerxes) is in charge. Though the book does not mention God by name, his working is still present in protecting and exalting his people.

The story opens with an act of rebellion against the king, when his wife refuses to come at his command. He then bans her from seeing him again, and he made a decree for all the inhabitants of the empire. - All women will give honor to their husbands - . The next sentence makes me laugh: 'This advice pleased the king and the princes'. Yes, I imagine they would be very pleased to themselves, and I can picture the men gathered around slapping each other on the back "Jolly good show, chaps, that'll show these women who's boss" (Why yes, the Persian royals in my head do speak with English accents. Problems?). This displays the power hierarchy in place: the King at the top with wide-reaching (India to Ethiopia) influence, and women far down at the bottom. Even the queen has little power.

Against this power comes Esther, a young girl, an orphan, and a Jew, one of the conquered and scattered peoples. After a year of beautifying, she would get just one night with the king, and unless she was exceptional, would be just one more of the countless other young girls met by the king. Yet Esther won grace and favour in his eyes above the other girls, and she was made queen.

Enter the villain, the vain Haman, who gets mad at Mordecai refusing to bow to him and by extension is mad against all the Jews. He institutes his evil plan of world domination, influencing the king to issue a degree to kill all the Jews. He builds a gallows to hang Mordecai himself. He wants the king to honour him with royal robes. Reading this, I was reminded that somewhere in the Bible it talks about falling into one's own pit, but I couldn't remember where. Then what did I read this morning? Psalm 7:14-16,

Behold, the wicked man conceives evil,
and is pregnant with mischief
and give birth to lies.
He makes a pit, digging it out,
and falls into the hole that he has made.
His mischief returns upon his own head,
and on his own skull his violence descends.

This sums up what happens to Haman pretty well. His plot exposed, his plan foiled, and he is killed on the gallows he made for Mordecai.

This is brought about by the courage of Esther, the wisdom of Mordecai, and the work of God. We've seen how the odds were stacked against Esther, and how she was facing death by approaching the king with a request. Yet she had the courage to do so. Mordecai was able to see (by faith) the bigger picture and so could encourage Esther to make her request. He could glimpse God working "Perhaps you have come to the palace for such a time as this?" The way the story played out relied on many coincidences, which might be able to be explained (or at least a probability placed on them), but more readily point to God working behind the scenes to bring about his purpose and save his people. It is a plan the has been in progress for years, without the fruit or the purpose yet made clear. Esther was orphaned, and raised and advised by Mordecai. Years before, Esther made her way into the service of the King. There was a plot that Mordecai discovered. Then the very night that Haman was so near to succeeding in his plan, the king could not sleep, so that he was reminded about Mordecai. Coincidence?

The Feast of Purim was instituted to remember how God took the condition that the scattered Jews were in, saved them from death, and placed them in power to destroy their enemies. The story of Esther is an example that illustrates Romans 8:28, "that God works in all things for the good of those who love him".