Esther 9-10
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Review:
What is the point of Esther? Most basically it is to explain the origin of the Jewish festival of Purim (9:28). But the significance of that festival is contained in the plot of Esther. A Jewish girl becomes queen of Persia and saves her people from a plot to destroy them.
What is the setting of Esther?
Somewhere around 480 B.C. in Susa, Persian Empire, which is in modern-day Iran
Broader cultural setting: In 605 B.C. Babylon seized Judah and began taking the Jews into exile (the northern Kingdom had already been conquered by Assyria in 722 B.C.). Eventually this progressed to the point that Jerusalem was decimated in 586 B.C. and pretty much all inhabitants carried off into exile in Babylon.
We must remember that this was no accident: God warned countless times through the prophets that he would bring judgment upon Judah if they did not turn from their wicked ways.
Jeremiah was the prophet in Judah during the time of Judah’s downfall and the final one to prophecy the coming destruction. In , Jeremiah speaks a prophecy from God, which says that God himself will fight against the Jews and deliver them into the hands of the Babylonians as punishment for their wickedness.
A major theme in Jeremiah is God’s sovereign rule over all the world and everything that takes place; the message is essentially the God is good, man is wicked, and God is in control…which makes even more powerful the good that Jeremiah prophecies in that God will restore his chosen people after the exile.
So how did this restoration take place? Well, after Babylon conquered Judah, Persia conquered Babylon, which eventually led to Cyrus’ decree in 536 B.C. that the Jews could return to their homeland.
This didn’t occur over night, though, and many Jews remained in Persia even many years later, like Esther.
So that is where we are in the grand scheme of things: this whole story occurs within the broader context of God’s sovereign work over his people and all the world.
This helps us to understand the story line, despite the fact that God’s name is never mentioned: he is quite active in the story as the sovereign orchestrator of all events, for the purpose of accomplishing his good plan.
So what have we seen so far?
Ahaseurus, better known as Xerxes I, is King of Persia. His queen, Vashti, defied his orders, so he had her stripped of her royal title and essentially banished from all the benefits she once enjoyed, as an example to his subjects.
This created the opportunity for a new queen to ascend the throne. Enter Esther and Mordecai. Mordecai was an exiled Jew and Esther was his cousin, and the author tells us that she was very beautiful.
She is taken into King Ahaseurus’ harem and spends a year being beautified, as all these young women are vying to become the King’s new queen.
We know the rest of the story: Esther becomes queen, Haman rises to second in command, Mordecai refuses to bow to him (presumably because of his Amalekite ancestry, ), so Haman deceives the King into decreeing the destruction of all the Jews. The rest of our story is about preventing that from happening.
We see the hint of God’s sovereign work in all this in where Mordecai says to Esther, “who knows, perhaps you have come to your royal position for such a time as this.”
That convinces Esther, and we see God’s providential working through the whole of the story: think of all the events that lined up perfectly to result in the protection of the Jews; Queen Vashti’s downfall, Esther’s rise to queenship, Mordecai hearing the plot against the King and reporting it, the king’s insomnia the night before Mordecai’s scheduled execution that led to his honoring, and ultimately the circumstances that led to Haman’s execution and the Jews protection.
None of this happened by accident, and it is a huge testament for us as Believers today; we don’t often see God working flashy miracles or speaking directly to us in some grand fashion, but what we do know is that he is at work in every little thing that takes place.
Thats what gives us hope and comfort; knowing that nothing occurs outside of his hand, which means nothing can or will happen to us that he is not in control of. And that means that for all who are his, nothing happens to us that is not part of his good plan for us as his children.
So that gets us to the closing chapters of Esther, 9 and 10, where we want to end our time today. So let’s read from 9:1 to the end of the book.
So remember, the King’s decrees cannot be reversed or repealed. So the only way to avert the destruction of the Jews according to Haman’s decree is to issue another decree that dissuades the people from carrying out the first, which is exactly what happened.
9:1-10
So the day came where the Jews were to be annihilated, but instead they were victorious
If you remember back to 3:15, it says that upon the issue of Haman’s decree to kill the Jews, the city of Susa was in confusion.
this was apparently because the Jews were good citizens. They weren’t some terrorist group or authority-defying people; they lived peaceable among the Persians, so the non-Jews were confused at the order to destroy them. In fact in , God commanded the Israelites to be good citizens and to seek the welfare of the place of their exile, which is apparently what they did.
However, just as Haman was an Amalekite, there were likely a good number of other Amalekites in Persia and it was likely this people group who still stood to carry out Haman’s decree, even after Ahaseurus issued the second decree.
Even in this, though, we see God’s providential care: could he have physically fought for the Jews? Sure, but what also could have happened? The Jews could have been despised by all Persians and destroyed for they were a minority.
But instead, God provided that they would be well-liked by the majority, so that they would survive such an episode as this.
Not only this, but God provided for Mordecai to have an extremely high position in the King’s court, not unlike Joseph in Egypt, or Daniel in Babylon just 100 years earlier; because of Mordecai’s position, even the authorities helped the Jews in their affliction.
But we must ask, why did the Jews enjoy the victory here? Is it because they are pure and deserve it? Is is because of their might?
No, it is because of God’s sovereign will. We have to remember which says, “ The Lord had his heart set on you and chose you, not because you were more numerous that all people, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But because the Lord loved you and kept the oath he swore to your fathers...”
If God’s blessing depended on anything intrinsic to the Israelites, they would never receive the tiniest bit of it; but God’s choice, his election, does not depend on human merit, but on God’s pleasure and love and faithfulness to his promises.
So then the Jews enjoyed victory over their enemies because of God’s provision for them according to his purposes…which we will talk more about momentarily
But notice in verse 10 it says that “they did not seize any plunder”
In the second decree of 8:11, the king gave the Jews the right to plunder and to take the spoils of war, yet they didn’t
This tells us that the Jews didn’t take advantage of the kings decree and initiate confrontation; they weren’t out to abuse God’s provision, at least not at this point in history. Their fighting was in self-defense; they did not begin the violence, but rather they defended themselves against it according to God’s provision and they emerged victorious.
9:11-15
So the king takes tally of the damages in Susa and reports to Esther, asking what else she desires
She replied two things: allow the Jews to defend themselves the next day as well, and seize the sons of Haman and have them executed.
Understandably, Esther figured that the attacks of the enemies of the Jews were probably not over, so further protection was needed.
Also, to ensure that a repeat of the Haman ordeal would not occur, she requested the death of his sons, which was customary in this time period.
Notice again in Verse 15 that the Jews did not plunder, but stood only in defense of their lives.
9:16-19
Here the author explains the logistics of the defense and why the victory is remembered on two different days.
The Jews outside of Susa fought on the 13th of Adar, as the original decrees stated, and so they rested on the 14th.
But the Jews in Susa had to fight on both the 13th and 14th, so their rest came on 15th.
This really is just a footnote to explain why the victory rest is remembered on different days depending on the location of the people observing the festival.
In each case, though, thanksgiving is given to God immediately after the mercy of God is received. We should be quick to rest in the work of God and to give thanks for his provision.
9:20-32
So the previous explanation helps us understand verse 21 where Mordecai ordered all Jews to celebrate the 14th and 15th days of Adar every year in remembrance of the Jews’ deliverance from their enemies.
Notice in verse 22 the elements of celebration: feasting (enjoying the provision of God to his glory), rejoicing (as Paul says in “rejoice always in the Lord!), and sending of gifts to one another and the poor (those who receive mercy ought to be quick to give mercy)
Not merely out of obligation, but out of celebration they gave mercy as a way of rejoicing in the provision of God, the mercy he gave to them.
The text goes on to explain the naming of the festival, Purim.
Purim is the plural form of the word Pur, which is the Hebrew word for “lots” since Haman cast lots to decide the day of the Jews destruction.
Esther confirmed Mordecai’s decree.
Implications for the Christian; why does this book matter?
This is the story of the preservation of the Jews: we talked about God’s election, how he chose the Jewish people from among all the people of the earth