Esther 4:1-17.  Yesterday we saw what happens when people don’t listen to God or when they listen bad advise.  Xerxes had acted foolishly and his capital was in a mess.  An edict had been issued to exterminate the Jews.  Anyone who participated could claim the property of anyone they killed.  The date was set for 11 months in the future.

In today’s reading Mordecai hears the news and is very upset.  He gets dressed in the clothes of a person in mourning and goes to work screaming and crying.  When he gets to his assigned post, the gate of the palace, he stops and sits outside.  There is a law against someone in the clothes of a mourner from going into the palace.  Again we see how shallow Xerxes is as a leader.  All he seems to want are the good times.  The mourning was throughout the kingdom as Jews learned of the edict (v. 3).  But what about the queen, she too was a Jew?  In verse 4 Esther hears that her cousin is at the gate and is mourning and she too is upset.  She sends clothes for him to change into.  Evidently she hadn’t heard about the edict, but how would she?  She lived in the palace and the edict probably wasn’t big news there. When Mordecai refuses the clothes Esther has one of her servants go and find out just what is going on.  Mordecai explains the whole thing to Esther’s servant. He gives a copy of the decree to the servant for Esther and tells the servant to go to the king and beg for the lives of her people.

I think the author goes through the whole sending the servant part to point out how Esther was living in a sort of protected world.  The city was in turmoil but she didn’t have a clue what was going on.  Also it’s interesting that at this moment in the story, the people around Esther find out for the first time that she is a Jew.  I think this is a little hint by the author that this is her time.  Esther’s response to Mordecai is that it is against the law for her to approach the king without being called, and she hasn’t been called for a month.  I guess the honeymoon was over.  I can’t imagine not seeing my wife for a month, but Xerxes didn’t care he had dozens if not hundreds of women in his harem (See Song of Solomon 6:8 and 1 Kings 11:3 for an example of how many women could be in a harem).  Obviously Esther was just an object or toy to Xerxes not a “suitable helper” like God intended wives to be (Genesis 2:18).

In verses 13-14 Mordecai makes it very clear to Esther what he expects.  Remember Esther had been very obedient to Mordecai before all of this, that is the picture that has been painted of her.  Now see is faced with the most serious decision.  Mordecai indicates that saving the Jewish people is very important to God.  Remember that God is not actually mentioned in the book but verse 14 is probably as close as it gets.  Where else would help come from for the Jews.  The fact that the author never actually mentions God was probably done to show us that the Jewish people were living a pretty Godless life.  The Jewish people had been taken captive when the empire was controlled by the Babylonians in 586 BC.   When the empire was taken over by the Persians the first Persian king, Cyrus, issued an order allowing the Jewish people to return to their homeland in 538 BC (See Isaiah 44:28 where that event was predicted.  Isaiah died about 150 years before Cyrus became king).  So Esther and Mordecai were part of the Jewish people who chose not to return to their homeland.  Obviously Mordecai had a sense of being Jewish and was devoted to God in some ways but they did stay in a foreign country.  Now the question is, “Is Esther willing to be a tool of God?  Is God an important enough part of her life for her to risk losing it?”  Her cousin tells her if she doesn’t that her family will cease to exist.  That kind of talk is always very serious in the Old Testament (See “What’s I a Name”).  Mordecai state very clearly what was hinted at in verse 8 when it was revealed that she was a Jew.  “She was a Jew!  And it was time for her to stand up for her people.  Maybe she had been made queen for such a time as this.”

In verses 15-17 we see her decision, she will risk all for her people.  But first she wants her cousin and all the Jews he can find to seriously pray for her.  No food for three days, just prayer.  Then she will approach the king, and if she is executed, so be it.  In a reversal of roles Mordecai goes and does what Esther tells him to do.

That last part is kind of interesting. We need to not get caught up in our roles.  When God has a servant doing his work we need to get behind him or her.  It’s like when John the Baptizers followers got mad that Jesus was getting so much attention.  In reply John told his follower that he had to fade away and let Jesus get the attention John 3:26-30).  We also need to not get so caught up in our own lives so much that we forget who we are, followers of Jesus.  Like Jesus we need to be doing the will of God.   God has put each of us where we are, when we are, and he has given each of us a job to do.  The question for each of us is will we do it?  If not what does that say about our relationship with God?  Do we really have one?

Years ago I was in a situation where I was certain God wanted me to do something.  The problem was my girl friend didn’t want me to do it.  I had been a believer in Jesus for about three years at that time but really was living to please my self and my girl friend (who also was a Christian).  When she challenged my about going ahead with what God wanted me to do I told her if I didn’t then I was lost.  By that I meant I was headed for Hell. I don’t believe you can be a Christian headed for Heaven and then lose that.  Our new spiritual relationship with God is forever (eternal life).  What I meant was if I didn’t obey God it proved that I had never really believe in Jesus in the first place.  As the old saying goes, “The proof is in the pudding.”  Or maybe more familiar, “You need to put your money where your mouth is.”  In Esther’s case she needed to put her mouth (and life) where her heart was supposed to be.

God help me prove my love for you each day by being obedient.  Don’t let the cares of life choke out the good news that has been planted in my life.  To you I dedicate my all, help me live like it each day.

Esther 3:1-15.  In today’s reading the plot starts to unfold.  We have already been in suspense with Esther not telling anyone she is a Jew and with Mordecai sitting at the gate of the palace.  Remember too that Mordecai had done a great favor to Xerxes by foiling an assassination attempt.  But now the plot turns.  We meet a new character, Haman, and he is being promoted by king Xerxes.  We are also told that he was an Agagite.  Agag was a king of the Amelikites at the same time that Saul was king of Israel (Saul was the first king of Israel, 1050-1010 BC).  During his reign Saul disobeyed God on a couple of occasions that led to his removal as king by God.  One of the times involved Agag.  When Israel had wandered in the desert (See the “Old Testament Connection”) they were attacked several times by the Amelikites.  During one such raid God promised Moses that he would eventually completely destroy the Amelikites (Exodus 17:8-14).  Years later (Almost exactly 400 years later) Saul was given the task by God of destroying the Amelikites.  When he cqptured their king, Agag, he did not kill him as he had been told to do, resulting in a curse from God.  Samuel the prophet finished the job but there must have been other Amelikites still alive because here in Esther, almost 600 years later we meet Haman, the Agagite.  The use of that term, instead of Amelikite, was probably designed to cause the reader to remember the story of Agag from 1 Samuel 15.  Any Jewish person reading this story would also remember that Saul was from the tribe or family of Benjamin, the same tribe Mordecai was from.  So here we have an old rivalry (out right hatred really) raising it’s head in our story.

When Haman was promoted Xerxes gave orders that all the “king’s servants at the king’s gate” were to bow down and worship Haman.  Mordecai refused however.  When challenged he answered that it was because he was a Jew.  Interesting how he instructed Esther not to tell she was a Jew but here he comes right out and tells all the other servants of the king.  Mordecai’s refusal might have been because Haman was a Agagite but it is more likely that he did not want to break God’s commandment in Exodus 20:4-5.  Just because Haman was a man does not mean that he could not also be an idol, many people worship other people or even themselves.  When Mordecai’s actions were reported to Haman he became enraged, notice though that he did not grab Mordecai and punish him right away.  His reason was because he wanted to get all the Jews not just Mordecai.

Notice that according to verse 7 we are now in the 12^th year of King Xerxes.  Haman was cating lots (pur) to set dates for important events on the next years calendar.  He didn’t sit around playing dice for a whole year he threw the dice to see when things were going to happen for the next year.  This was a common custom in that part of the world at that time.  Think of it as drawing straws or playing rock, paper, scissors to make a decision.  For one particular event he came up with the month Adar, the twelfth month of the year.  In verses 8-15 we see just what that event was, the extermination of the Jews in Xerxes kingdom.  When Haman made the proposal to Xerxes he offered to pay Xerxes 10,000 talents of silver.  A talent weighed about 81½ pounds making the offer more than 810,000 pounds of silver.  At today’s price that would be somewhere in the neighborhood of 400 million dollars, that’s a lot of hatred.  Xerxes gave Haman permission to kill the Jews but told him to keep his money.  Verse 12 tells us that haman uses the kings authority to issue a decree that on the 13 day of Adar it was open season on the Jews, kill them and keep their stuff.  After issuing the decree Haman when t back and hung out with Xerxes, sipping wine in the palace.  In the mean time the whole capital was in an uproar or confusion.

It makes you wonder why Mordecai didn’t just avoid Haman.  Did he never bow before a king?  Couldn’t he have bowed before Haman without actually worshipping him?  And then why did he drag all the Jews into the mess with him?  I’m not saying that I think that Mordecai should have compromised but it just makes me wonder how he could send his cousin off to an adulterer but then hold the high road on bowing to Haman.  Whatever the reasons the stage was set, trouble was on it’s way.  If anyone was wondering why Esther was keeping quiet about who she was, now certainly was no time to tell, or was it?  We will see in the coming readings what Esther does about being a Jew in the face of mass extermination.

A couple of things stand out to me in today’s story.  First disobedience to God has consequences and sometimes the consequences affect people a long time after we disobey and a long way away.  God alone can see everything at one time for all time.  He alone knows where all actions lead so it is wise to listen to him.  Second, in our story we have seen Xerxes being influenced over and over again by the other characters in his world.  And the results have been nothing but trouble.  With one exception so far, when he listened to Mordecai it thwarted an assassination.  Bad advise results in bad things happening.  We need to be careful to listen for God’s wise voice and avoid the selfish voices of those around us.  In Proverbs we are told there is wisdom in many counselors (Proverbs 11:14; 15:22).  But we are also told that respecting God is the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 9:10).  So we see a balance, get advise, but form people who love God and want what he wants not what they want.  And always compare the advise with God’s word the Bible otherwise your world too, might be I an uproar.

God help me work hard at understanding what you want me to do.  Help me listen to others but always filter what they say through your word.  Give me wisdom, make me a peace maker, peace between men but especially peace between you and others.