2002-01-01
Good Morning Dear Ones,
You will remember that we left off in the story of the book of Esther where a greatly embarrassed Haman had been forced to parade Mordecai dressed in the kings robes around the city on the king’s own horse, proclaiming that this is what the king does to reward those he wishes to honor. Haman had wanted this reward for himself in a misunderstanding that he was the one to be honored when it was actually Mordecai. The latter was being rewarded for saving King Ahasuerus’ life. Now, we will see how this pride went before the fall [PR 16: 18].
ES 7 opens at Esther’s second banquet in the palace with the king and Haman in attendance. For the third time, the king asks his queen what she wanted and offered her anything “even half of the empire.” The time has come for Esther to take her biggest leap of faith yet. She must now reveal that she is Jewish, deal with the threat to her people, and eventually reveal her relationship to Mordecai. She had truly been taken to a crisis of belief that required faith and action. ES 7: 3-4, “Queen Esther answered, ‘If it please Your Majesty to grant my humble request, my wish is that I may live and that my people may live. My people and I have been sold for slaughter. If it were nothing more serious than being sold into slavery, I would have kept quite and not bothered you about it; but we are about to be destroyed-exterminated!” This kind of anti-Semitism is nothing new on the scene. It is the same thing that takes the pattern of beginning subtly either in a plot such as this one or by being unaware that it is advancing until it takes a stranglehold on a culture as it did in the times of Anitochus IV Epiphanes, the Spanish Inquisition, or the Third Reich (Nazi regime). You can be sure that its practice goes all the way back to the Baal-worshipping idolaters of Abraham’s time. Our society is not immune from this stain on its potential for righteousness. We need only look to the Nazi sympathizers, Skin Heads, and other so-called militia groups to see that such thinking still exists even in modern day North America. It bears mentioning that while we are talking about anti-Semitism here, this evil prejudice is not only directed at Jews. If only mankind would learn from its mistakes of the past!
ES 7: 5-6, “Then King Ahasuerus asked Queen Esther, ‘Who dares to do such a thing? Where is this man?’ Esther answered, ‘Our enemy, our persecutor, is this evil man Haman!’ Haman faced the king and queen with terror.” I can well-imagine the same look was on Antiochus IV Epiphanes’s face when Judah Macabee and his men finally wrested the temple in Jerusalem from his hands in 168 BC and on Adoph Hitler’s face as he was chased into that bunker where he died in 1945. The king got up from the table in a fury when he finally realized the full extent of what was being done and Haman’s true character. He went out to his garden to assimilate the enormity of it and to assess what action should be taken. Haman threw himself down on Esther’s couch to beg for mercy. When the king came back in it looked to him like Haman was making a pass at the queen [no doubt a thought that God put in the king’s mind]. This led to the king’s exclamation in ES 7: 8, “Is this man going to rape the queen right here in front of me, in my own palace?”
As soon as this was said, the palace eunuchs rushed over to Haman and covered his head. It was then that one of them named Harbonah revealed a heinous and pivotal bit of information. ES 7:9, “….’Haman even went so far as to build a gallows at his house so that he could hang Mordecai, who saved Your Majesty’s life. And, it is seventy-five feet tall!’ ‘Hang Haman on it!’ the king commanded.” I looked at this rather interesting bit of information and saw that something else was revealed in it. Since the gallows was at Haman’s home, and Harbonah worked at the palace, there had to be a lot of “inside information” being passed. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that there must have been a lot of gossip, snooping, and very poor security at the palace. In this case, it was used for God’s purpose, but that is no doubt not always the case. This not only gives us some insight into common human foibles, but it also helps us to understand why life in general in Persia must have always been dangerous.
PRAYER: O Lord, Your sovereign hand reaches to every aspect of the story of Queen Esther. We are forced to look at the extent of sinfulness of which mankind is capable and at the strength that goodness can have in combating it. The question You ask us to wrestle with is: Do we have the courage of faith to put our lives on the line if necessary to stop the advance of evils like prejudice? Each of us needs to go to You on his knees to You for Your guidance and answer the question for himself. We should always be grateful that You are willing to lead us to an answer. Through the Holy Spirit, You give us discernment and a hunger for Your Word. In the end, You give us faith that justice shall be done. We pray that there will be a time soon when mankind will have learned from their mistakes of the past and have the courage to stop repeating them. We yearn for that in adoration and respect for You, Dear Lord. In Christ’s name, amen.
While the threat from Haman himself was erased with his death on the gallows, we will see that the threat of the consequences of the king’s edict to the Jews still remained. Tomorrow, we will see what happens next. There are some problems which don’t have easy solutions, Dear Ones. Prejudice is just such a problem. While it is carefully taught, it often takes subtle forms which can catch a person unaware. I have experienced the need to grapple with this issue in my own life, both in uncovering a prejudice I had and in experiencing first hand the results of hostile acts taken against me. Prejudice is insidious. Ask the Lord Who loves you to help you deal with it, as I did. His love for us is so great that He is only too willing to give you the guidance for which you ask Him. It is at times when we do this that we discover just how alive and active a force for good in our lives that our loving Abba is. Peter and I send you our love.
May You All Feel The Warmth of God’s Embrace,
Lynn