2002-01-01
Good Morning Dear Ones,
Our story of Esther continues as the plot thickens and Haman’s evilness is further revealed. As we go through these remarkable Scriptures together, our Lord allows us to see the elements that are a part of an evil personality. His wisdom is to allow us to recognize how evil gets started, its process, the pain it causes, and its eventual result. We also get a bird’s eye view of the way a righteous person of faith reacts to it. There are many lessons under the surface of this story from which we can benefit.
We left off with Esther having been brought to a crisis of belief. She had to decide if she would risk her life by approaching the king. At that time Persian law said that anyone doing that risked death, unless the king favored them by holding out his golden scepter to them. Queen Esther knew that the life of her own people including her beloved cousin, Mordecai, who had raised her depended on her making the right decision. ES 5: 1-2, “On the third day of her fast Esther put on her royal robes and went and stood in the inner courtyard of the palace, facing the throne room. When the king saw Queen Esther standing outside, she won his favor, and he held out to her the gold scepter. She came up and touched the tip of it.” While it is true that God’s name is never mentioned in this story, I would offer my personal opinion that He was very much a part of it. I feel that it was God that prompted King Ahasuerus to grant his wife favor at this time, and that it was God Who brought Ahasuerus to love her the way he did. The king could have had any women he wanted, but there seemed to be none that could capture his heart the way Esther did.
Esther had a plan in mind, one that was, in my opinion, put there by God in the course of her praying and fasting. Once she touched the scepter, he asked her to tell him what she wanted and offered her anything, “even if it is half my kingdom.” ES 5: 4-5, “Ester replied, ‘If it please Your Majesty, I would like you and Haman to be my guests tonight at a banquet I am preparing for you. The king then ordered Haman to come quickly, so that they could be Esther’s guests. So, the king and Haman went to Esther’s banquet.” There are some rather interesting parallels that occur to me concerning another banquet, one to which we are invited-the wedding feast of the Lamb. The parable of the Ten Virgins in MT 25: 1-13 is brought to mind here. In that story, five of the girls suffered the consequences of not being ready for the arrival of the bridegroom. The other five girls were ready. There, the challenge placed before us was to ask if we are spiritually ready for the time when the wedding between Christ and the church will take place. I see God’s hand in King Ahasuerus’ quick order to Haman to attend this banquet. God was wasting no time in getting His plan in motion. It doesn’t hurt us to ask how ready we would be if suddenly we were asked to attend the wedding feast of the Lamb.
At the banquet, the king once again asks Queen Esther what she wants and again offers her whatever she wants, “even half of my empire.” ES 5:7-8, “Esther replied, ‘If Your Majesty is kind enough to grant my request, I would like you and Haman to be my guests tomorrow at another banquet that I will prepare for you. At that time, I will tell you what I want.” By this time, Mordecai was at the entrance to the palace. Haman, who had been in a good mood when he left the banquet, was thrust into one of anger and hatred when he saw Mordecai there. Haman became furious. He got hold of his anger eventually and went home to his wife, Zeresh, and invited some friends to his home. ES 5: 11, “He boasted to them about how rich he was, how many sons he had, how the king had promoted him to high office, and how much more important he was than any of the king’s other officials.” Boasting about the things of man is a principle trait of the evil personality. Antiochus IV Epiphanes, the evil Selucid monarch who tried to Hellinize the Jews during his reign (175-163 BC), was famous for his boasting and capability for intrigue [DN 11:30]. Perhaps the greatest boaster of all is yet to come, the anitichrist himself [DN 7:11 & 11: 36]. Haman’s malevolence is really seen in ES 5: 13, “But none of this means a thing to me as long as I see that Jew Mordecai sitting at the entrance to the palace.” The implication here is that he was taking great joy in Mordecai’s mourning.
My very wise husband has always said, “You can learn a lot about a person from the friends he keeps.” ES 5: 14 is proof Peter is right. “So his wife and all his friends suggested, ‘Why don’t you have a gallows built, seventy-five feet tall? Tomorrow morning you can ask the king to have Mordecai hanged on it, and then you can go to the banquet happy.’ Haman thought this was a good idea, so he had the gallows built.” The plot was in place, Dear Ones, and you will have to wait till tomorrow to see what happens next.
PRAYER: O Lord, when You brought us to faith in Your Son, we became justified, that is, deemed acceptable to You, by Your grace. Righteousness was imputed to our accounts. However, in Your infinite wisdom, You knew that we would be sorely tempted at times to walk away from this righteousness. That is why You have us stories like that of Esther, so that we could examine the traits of an evil personality and decide for ourselves with the discernment You give us from prayer and studying Your Word that we will reject these traits. In so many ways, You remind us that we must get our spiritual houses in order, because it is not for us to know the time when the last trumpet will be blown and our Lord will come to catch us in the air [1 THESS 4: 16-17 & 5:2]. We pray that we are not like the five virgins who were unprepared for the arrival of our Bridegroom. We praise You for the compassion and love You show us every day of our lives. In Christ’s name, amen.
Let your faith be encouraged by the lessons our Lord has for us in the story of Esther and in all of the Scriptures. We are surrounded by the warmth of a loving Abba’s embrace. All the personalities of the Trinity are rooting for each of us to be victorious in our efforts to rid our lives of sin and eventually come into eternal fellowship with each other and with the Father as joint-heirs to His Kingdom. Be blessed today and always, knowing that God loves you and so do Peter and I.
Basking With You In His Grace,
Lynn