An Advocate – Esther

Even though God’s name is not mentioned in the book of Esther, every page is full of God, who hides Himself behind every word. God has never left His people go in the past and He will never let them go in the future. He followed them in their captivity into Babylon. When the prophets were silent and the Temple closed, God was still standing guard.

Esther is like Joseph and David. God had each on hidden away for His purpose. When the day came, He brought them to the front to work out His plan. God hid Joseph away in a dungeon in Egypt, but when He was ready, He placed him in the position of prime minister of that country. God always has someone in reserve to fulfil His purposes. Sometimes it is a man like Joseph, or Moses. Sometimes it is a woman like Hannah, or Esther or Mary. Recall men in history such as Martin Luther and Billy Graham whom God seems to have prepared and kept for the hour.

King Ahasuerus of the story was Xerxes, the famous Persian monarch (485 – 465 BC). When the king and princes were in the midst of their drunken revelry, the king called for Vashti, the queen, so that he could show off her beauty. Vashti refused. This made the king a laughing stock. To defend himself, he deposed the queen (Esther 1: 12-22).

When Ahasuerus saw Esther, he made her his queen. The little Jewish orphan girl, raised by her cousin Mordecai, was lifted to the Persian throne. Esther’s marriage to Xerxes gave the Jews prestige at this court and made it possible for Nehemiah to rebuild Jerusalem (Nehemiah 2:1-8).

In Esther 3 to 5 we read of the ascendancy of a man by the name of Haman. He was a wicked man whose day of triumph was short and whose joy endured but for a moment. When Haman appears in the book of Esther, he had just been exalted to the highest position under the king of Persia (Esther 3:1). The high honour turned his head. He swelled with vanity and was bitterly humiliated when Mordecai, who was sitting at the gate, did not do homage to him as to the king (Esther 3:2). The little fault of Mordecai was magnified into a capital offense. Mordecai, a Jew, could not give divine honour to a man. Haman became so enraged that he wanted to have a wholesale massacre of all the Jews in the kingdom (Esther 3:6). Haman tried to prove to the king that all the Jews were disloyal subjects. He offered to pay the king a bribe of millions of dollars (Esther 3:9). The King signed a royal decree that meant that every Jewish man, woman and child should be killed and all their property should be taken, almost like that happened in Nazi regime. Esther 4: 1-3 saw the fasting and praying and weeping in sack cloth that took place among the Jews. Mordecai made Esther understand her position. “And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this” (Esther 4:14).

There is one thing to do always. Do what is right and leave the rest to God. God prepares people for emergencies. Failure is not sin, faithlessness is. There is a time to act.  We can see how the situation overturned and favoured Jews, how the King was not able to sleep and how Haman was trapped (Esther 6). When King granted Esther’s wish, Haman was hung on the very scaffold he had prepared for Mordecai, and Mordecai was elevated to the place of honor next to the king.

The book of Esther closes with the account of establishing the feast of Purim and lifting Mordecai to the place made vacant by Haman (Esther 10:3). It is a thanks giving day for the chosen people. Although they had forsaken God, He had spared them. Deliverance seems to be the keynote of Jewish history. God has always delivered this nation from danger and servitude. This book of Esther is an important link in a chain of events that tell of re-establishing the Hebrew nation in their own land in preparation of the coming of the Messiah into the world. The Jewish people had escaped extermination. It was God’s purpose that they should be preserved to bring forth the Saviour of the world.

The book opens with a feast of the world’s prince – Ahasuerus and closes with the feast of God’s prince – Mordecai. For a while Haman is exalted, at last, Mordecai. As you read this history, note the upsets in human history and the final triumph of God’s chosen people. Adolf Hitler tried to wipe out Jews from the world, and finally he committed suicide and Jews got their own land. Now Palestine, Iran and the Arab nations are trying to single Israel and destroy it, and we need to wait and see how God is going to destroy its enemies.

As New Israel, the same is applied to the believers. There will be time when opposition comes against you. As Esther and the Jews fasted and prayed, the book teaches us to fast and pray and see how God changes the opposition and favour us miraculously. May God help you to keep faith in him and see his glory in your life.