2002-01-01
Good Morning Faithful Ones,
We have reached the point in our story of Esther at which Mordechai asks for Esther’s help in the face of Haman’s awful decree to exterminate the Jews on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, Adar. ES 4: 1, “When Mordecai learned of all that had been done, he tore his clothes in anguish. Then he dressed in sackcloth, covered his head in ashes, and walked through the city wailing loudly and bitterly.” This was the Jewish custom for mourning at the time. In fact there was loud mourning among all the Jews in response to their impending plight.
When someone opens their hearts to listen for God’s direction, demonstrates a heart-attitude of faithfulness, and is willing to act when God issues a command, he is accepting God’s invitation to join Him in His work. Both Esther and Mordecai certainly fit this profile. God recognized this in them and had a big God-sized assignment for them to do. Often, it is necessary to be brought by God to a crisis of belief that requires both faith and action. The latter is to bring a fleshly human to conform spiritually to God Who is always righteous. Esther was being brought to this crisis of belief. Now, see how this happens as we continue the story. ES 4: 4, “When Esther’s servant girls and eunuchs told her what Mordecai was doing, she was deeply disturbed. She sent Mordecai some clothes to put on instead of the sackcloth, but he would not accept them.” The king had appointed a eunuch named Hathach to be Esther’s servant. Esther told Hathach to go to Mordecai and find out exactly what was prompting his mourning behavior. ES 4: 6-7, “Hathach went to Mordecai in the city square at the entrance of the palace. Mordecai told him everything that had happened to him and just how much money Haman had promised to put into the royal treasury if all the Jews were killed.” Mordecai then gave Hathach a copy of the proclamation and told him to take it to Esther, explain the situation to her, and to ask her to plead with the king to have mercy on the Jews (8).
Hathach did what was requested of him. Esther wrote a reply to Mordecai’s message. In it, she explained that anyone seeing the king without first being summoned to him would die. Apparently, that was the Persian law. There was only one way to get around it. That would be if the king held out his golden scepter to the person. Then his life could be spared. She then added that it had been a month since the king had last summoned her (11). Upon receiving this message, Mordecai then sent her this warning: ES 4: 13, “Do not imagine that you are safer than any other Jew just because you are in the royal palace.” We really get a view of Mordecai’s heart-attitude of faith in ES 4: 14, “If you keep quiet at a time like this, help will come from heaven to the Jews, and they will be saved, but you will die and your father’s family will come to an end. Yet who knows-maybe it was for a time like this that you were made queen.” Not only did Mordecai recognize that Esther had been brought to a crisis of belief, but he was able to reach beyond the ordinary human perspective on this issue to see that there might be a larger, God-sized reason that Esther had become the queen of Persia. Mordecai understood that God loves His children enough to provide protection for them in time of peril.
The next verses allow us to see that Mordecai’s upbringing of her had taught Esther well the value of faith in Jehovah. ES 4: 15-16, “Esther sent Mordecai this reply: ‘Go and get all the Jews in Susa together; hold a fast and pray for me. Do not eat or drink anything for three days and nights. My servant girls and I will be doing the same. After that, I will go to the king, even through it is against the law. If I must die for doing it, then I shall die.” Esther had been brought to a crisis of belief, and she had decided to take God-directed action. This action was a test of her faith. Had it not been strong, she would have been too afraid to risk her life in this way. The same could be said had she been too selfish. She was neither too selfish or too afraid.
It is interesting to note the existence of a repeating theme seen in the Bible here. The theme is the concept of three days. Remember Jonah spent three days and three nights in the belly of the big fish [JON 1: 17]. This was important enough for Christ to refer to it in his rejection of the demand for a miracle made on him by the Pharisees and teachers of the Law in MT 12: 40. “In the same way that Jonah spent three days and night in the big fish, so will the Son of Man spend three days and nights in the depths of the earth.” We know from the Gospel accounts that Christ was crucified on a Friday, and His resurrection occurred three days and nights later on the following Sunday. In each of these cases, that of Jonah and Christ, the individual was brought to a crisis of belief and was required to take action based on his faith. That is what is always necessary when God commands us to accept an assignment, a God-sized assignment. In Jonah’s case, the end result was that the city of Nineveh came to faith. In Christ’s, the end result was opening a way to salvation for all those who believe in Him. In Esther’s case, it would be to save the Jewish people.
ES 4 ends with verse 17 which tells us that Mordecai instituted the three days of fasting and prayer that Esther requested. I find it a wonderful act of faith that Esther also commanded her servant girls to fast and pray, even through the servant girls were not brought up in Judaism. Esther never knew Jesus Christ, but her behavior certainly foreshadowed the Messiah to come. Jesus Christ never did anything without going to the Father first. Her behavior is also reminiscent the prophet Daniel’s approach. In spite of his always righteous and obedient faithfulness to God, when Daniel prayed an intercessory prayer for his people, the Jews, he was humble enough to include himself. This is in spite of the fact that he had never been disobedient to God as the other Jews had been. That is why DN 9: 5 begins with “We have sinned…”, not “they have sinned…” Esther understood the extent of God’s sovereignty in her life and her responsibility to respond to it.
PRAYER: O Lord, You show us the example of faithfulness set by Mordecai and Esther to help us to see the process by which You invite us to join You in Your work. We are brought to an understanding of God’s need to sometimes bring us to a crisis of belief requiring faith and action to conform to Your will. When we trust and obey You, we enable You to do Your work through us. We can’t always comprehend the size or importance of the assignments You give us. But when we obey, our life and the lives of others are always made better for it. Esther’s courage of faith is given to us to encourage us to model that in our lives. We thank You, Dear Lord, for being the wonderful, loving, and righteous Parent to us that You are. We dedicate ourselves to placing our trust in You and obeying You. In Christ’s holy name, amen.
Tomorrow, we will continue with the story of Esther to see what further lessons it has for us. In the meanwhile, know that our Lord loves and protects those who believe in the Son every day. We share together the hope of the resurrection, all the while knowing that we are the children for whom He provides salvation through the sacrifice of His Son on the cross. Peter and I also send you our love too.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn