Esther 2-3: “King Xerxes’ Attendants Convince Him To Search For A New Queen, And Esther Is Chosen As A Contestant”
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1. TIMELINE:
These graphs depict the timeline of the Old Testament, and note that the events in the book of Esther cover a period of history after the Babylonian captivity that most believe occurred during the third year of the reign of king Xerxes, or approx. 484-483 BC.
Graph of Persian kings & Jewish companies sent out by them to Judea:
2. In our last study, we looked at the background for the book of Esther, and then also chapter 1.
2.1. In that introduction, we looked at the book’s PECULARITIES:
2.1.1. The Name of God is never mentioned in the book.
2.1.2. The Lord is not directly alluded to.
2.1.3. A prayer is not recorded in the book.
2.1.4. Jerusalem, the city of God, nor Judea, are mentioned.
2.1.5. The temple in Jerusalem is never mentioned.
2.1.6. God’s purposes in the world and with His people are never mentioned.
2.2. We looked at the book’s PURPOSE(S):
2.2.1.1.To tell the story of how the feast of Purim came about and was implemented by the Jews.
2.2.1.2.To show how the Lord works behind the scenes providentially protecting and providing for His people, anticipating every need and difficulty they shall encounter.
2.2.1.3.To illustrate how that God humbles the proud and exalts the humble.
2.2.1.4.To illustrate how one person’s faithfulness in using their position and station in life for God’s purposes can make a huge difference, and how God can use our lives (“How do you know that you have not been put here for such a purpose as this?”).
2.2.1.5.To tell the story of how once again in the history of the world that though the Jews were persecuted that the Lord kept them from annihilation.
2.3. We looked at the book’s INSIGHT INTO LIFE IN THE PERSIAN DYNASTY:
2.3.1. King Ahasuerus, who is most likely named Xerxes, was a tyrannical dictator who had absolute power in his kingdom. If anyone came into his presence unannounced and he did not extend out his scepter, the person was to be put to death. He would do good and put to death at his own caprice. Ahasuerus is willing to sign a bill legislating the genocide of an entire race of people just because Haman, one of his advisors, does not like them.
2.3.2. King Ahasuerus held a feast for six months straight for all of his princes and the nobles to show them all of the wonders and glory of his kingdom.
2.3.3. We saw that at the end of that six months that the king held a feast for seven days straight for all of the peoples. At this feast he got drunk with his officers and requests that Vashti, the queen and his wife, leave the feast she is holding for the women of the kingdom, and come over and show off her beauty. He surely wanted her to remove her veil and who knows what else, before his drunken guests. Then, when she refuses due to her conviction of modesty, the king is enraged. The next day, he asks his advisors what they think should be done because of her refusal of his unreasonable request, and when they say that if the queen is not removed that women everywhere will despise their husbands, the king agrees and signs a law which cannot be revoked to have her removed as queen and put away as wife.
2.3.4. Because the Persian kings were exalted and considered to be gods, their laws and decrees which they made could not be reversed because to do so would be to admit that they had faults and were not perfect.
2.4. We saw in our study that the king foolishly followed the advice of his counselors and divorced Vashti, however it was an act that he later regreted. But, because the law of the Medes and Persians cannot be overturned, the king decides to look for another woman to marry and make queen of Persia. We talked about the danger that is involved whenever someone gives you their advice, or you read some words of advice (they may be good intentioned but wrong), and you don’t first pray about what they have advised.
3. In our study today, we are going to look at chapters 2-3 of the book.
3.1. We will see how after the king’s anger calms that his advisors move quickly to encourage him to begin a search for the most eligible bacherlette to replace queen Vashti.
3.2. We begin to see God’s providence working in the book of Esther. God’s providence is when He works through the timing of situations to bring about His purposes and also meet people’s needs and bring them to Him (we see this happening over and over in the scriptures):
3.2.1. We will see how that Esther is chosen by the king’s eunich to enter the beauty contest, and she is brought into the king’s harem and given cosmetics for a year. Another Jewish girl might not have won the king’s heart, and she also might not have been willing to risk her life to intercede for her people, as Esther will do.
3.2.1.1.We will talk about Esther’s life and thus what true beauty consists of.
3.2.2. We will see how Mordecai just happens to find out about a a plot to assassinate the king, and he reports this and averts this assassination attempt. In this way, Mordecai gains the king’s favor.
3.2.3. The Jewish holiday of Purim is celebrated because of what happened in God working through the life of this woman Esther in order to keep the Jews from being annihilated, and this feast is called “Purim” because the Lord’s providence was seen in that the lot did not fall on a day anytime soon after wicked Haman determined to pass an edict to have all of the Jews slain. God was in the casting of the lot and gave Mordecai and Esther, and the rest of the Jews who were called to fast and to pray, time to pray and somehow avert this disaster.
3.3. I believe that nothing happens in our lives as a result of coincidence. God has a master plan that He is working out in the world and in our lives, and every single situation that occurs happens for a reason. The people we meet and run into, the things we experience, etc., all are working according to God’s plans. Even when men are wicked and refuse His will in their lives, God is still working His plans out in the world in spite of them.
4. VS 2:1-4 - “1 After these things when the anger of King Ahasuerus had subsided, he remembered Vashti and what she had done and what had been decreed against her. 2 Then the king’s attendants, who served him, said, “Let beautiful young virgins be sought for the king. 3 “Let the king appoint overseers in all the provinces of his kingdom that they may gather every beautiful young virgin to the citadel of Susa, to the harem, into the custody of Hegai, the king’s eunuch, who is in charge of the women; and let their cosmetics be given them. 4 “Then let the young lady who pleases the king be queen in place of Vashti.” And the matter pleased the king, and he did accordingly.” – After the king’s anger subsided, his attendants immediately sprung into action to appease his loss by suggesting that a nation wide beauty contest be held to find the next queen
4.1. It appears in these verses that after a period of time that the king’s anger had subsided and he probably regretted his edict that he had decreed in removing Vashti from being queen. He probably thought about how sweet (that is what her name means) she really was, and how beautiful as well, and, he may have even thought about the fact that his command to force her to come and reveal her beauty to his guest was an unreasonable command. Matthew Poole has written the following about how he felt on this day: “He remembered Vashti with grief and shame, that in his wine and rage he had so severely punished, and so irrevocably rejected, so beautiful and desirable a person, and that for so small a provocation, to which she was easily led by the modesty of her sex, and by the laws and customs of Persia.” Vashti would have even gone against the customs of the Persians if she had come and shown off her beauty for the king and his drunken friends.
4.2. Because of the king’s remorse, I imagine that the king’s advisors were now concerned that he might suddenly become unhappy with them. Their very lives were at stake at this point. Thinking quickly on their feet they decide to placate the king by telling him that he now ought to have a search be made for the most beautiful and graceful virgin in all of his kingdom to be his wife. They used sex to placate the king.
5. VS 2:5-8 - “5 Now there was at the citadel in Susa a Jew whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjamite, 6 who had been taken into exile from Jerusalem with the captives who had been exiled with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had exiled. 7 He was bringing up Hadassah, that is Esther, his uncle’s daughter, for she had no father or mother. Now the young lady was beautiful of form and face, and when her father and her mother died, Mordecai took her as his own daughter. 8 So it came about when the command and decree of the king were heard and many young ladies were gathered to the citadel of Susa into the custody of Hegai, that Esther was taken to the king’s palace into the custody of Hegai, who was in charge of the women.” – We find out that a Jewish man named Mordecai lived at Susa, and he had raised a young woman named Esther, and she was very beautiful and was picked by those seeking a new queen and brought to the king’s palace
5.1. Mordecai had raised ‘Hadassah’ (Esther’s Hebrew name) since she was a young girl because her parents had somehow died.
5.2. Some have thought that it was wrong for Mordecai to try to get Esther to become this worldly king’s wife and to win this beauty contest, but the original language used here indicates that this approach is incorrect. When it says here that ‘Esther was taken to the king’s palace’ this word translated ‘was taken’ means in the Hebrew “was taken forcibly.” I don’t believe that either Mordecai nor Esther desired this for Esther.
5.3. Mordecai loved and watched out for Esther with all of the love that the best father’s love their own daughters.
6. VS 2:9 - “9 Now the young lady pleased him and found favor with him. So he quickly provided her with her cosmetics and food, gave her seven choice maids from the king’s palace and transferred her and her maids to the best place in the harem.” – Hegai, the king’s eunich, was pleased with Esther and ordered that she be given cosmetics and special foods and live with the other maids in the harem
6.1. Hegai knew King Xerxes well, and thus he knew that the king would consider Esther high on his list of potential virgins for him to marry.
6.2. Vashti had been the queen and wife to King Ahasuerus, however it appears from this verse that he also had some concubine wives. Here, we see that Esther was placed in the king’s ‘harem.’
6.3. According to Matthew Poole, king Darius of Persia had 360 concubine wives, so there may have been many concubines in King Ahasuerus’ harem.
7. VS 2:10-11 - “10 Esther did not make known her people or her kindred, for Mordecai had instructed her that she should not make them known. 11 Every day Mordecai walked back and forth in front of the court of the harem to learn how Esther was and how she fared.” – We learn here that Mordecai told Esther that she should not let anyone know that she was a Jewess, and we see his concern for her in his always walking back in forth in front of the court of the harem to learn how Esther was doing
7.1. Mordecai has been criticized by some for what is written in these two chapters. Some say that he should never have allowed Esther to enter this contest, however it does not appear that Esther had any choice in the matter.
7.2. He has also been criticized because he told Esther not to say she was a Jew, however he may have felt that it would be best for Esther not to reveal her heritage at that time. Telling Esther to be silent about her heritage may have been for the young girl’s protection. Whatever the reason may be, Mordecai proves in this book that he was willing to take a difficult stand on the side of truth when it really mattered, a stand that could easily have resulted in the loss of his life.
8. VS 2:12-18 - “12 Now when the turn of each young lady came to go in to King Ahasuerus, after the end of her twelve months under the regulations for the women—for the days of their beautification were completed as follows: six months with oil of myrrh and six months with spices and the cosmetics for women— 13 the young lady would go in to the king in this way: anything that she desired was given her to take with her from the harem to the king’s palace. 14 In the evening she would go in and in the morning she would return to the second harem, to the custody of Shaashgaz, the king’s eunuch who was in charge of the concubines. She would not again go in to the king unless the king delighted in her and she was summoned by name. 15 Now when the turn of Esther, the daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai who had taken her as his daughter, came to go in to the king, she did not request anything except what Hegai, the king’s eunuch who was in charge of the women, advised. And Esther found favor in the eyes of all who saw her. 16 So Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus to his royal palace in the tenth month which is the month Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign. 17 The king loved Esther more than all the women, and she found favor and kindness with him more than all the virgins, so that he set the royal crown on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti. 18 Then the king gave a great banquet, Esther’s banquet, for all his princes and his servants; he also made a holiday for the provinces and gave gifts according to the king’s bounty.” – After each of the virgins brought to the harem had completed their year of using cosmetics, they each appeared before the king so that he could make his choice, and he chose Esther and loved her more than any of the rest
8.1. Notice here what Esther was subjected to in order to make her beautiful for this year prior to appearing before the king: ‘six months with oil of myrrh and six months with spices and the cosmetics.’ The ‘oil of myrrh’ was both a cleansing agent as well as a chemical that softened and smoothed one’s skin. She was also given various deodorant scents that would improve her scent and make it fragrant.
8.2. There was an interesting parameter to the choice for a queen that was given to each of the young virgins in this beauty contest, when it became their turn to go in and present themselves to the king, they could bring in with them anything that they wanted to bring. What they chose to bring with them would speak about their character and nature to the king. These young women in this competition could request incredibly valuable jewelry, various clothes to wear, purses to carry, etc.
8.3. What set Esther apart here in how she approached appearing before the king, she chose to bring with her only what Hegai advised her to take into the king’s presence. This reflected on her character as being sincere and simple, and it shows that she was not into using external worldly means in decorating the external of her body I order to look beauty.
8.4. Esther was a beautiful woman, but what we see here in her life and in this story is that which makes for true beauty. True beauty is on from the inside. Esther was beautiful from the inside out: ‘Esther found favor in the eyes of all who saw her.’
8.4.1. Today, there is incredible pressure upon women, especially young girls, to make themselves attractive in their “external” appearance. Every woman who appears on a magazine cover, and most who are on television and in movies is presenting an image of what true beauty is to consist. I heard one time that something like 90% of all of the women actors in Hollywood had fake breasts and had other cosmetic surgeries as well. But, many women who use all of the products and techniques, and have all of these surgeries, are not really attractive. This is because true beauty comes from within, from the heart.
8.4.2. In 1 Peter 3:1-4 there is an admonition for women that talks about how that they should adorn themselves, and notice it says they should be: “1 In the same way, you wives, be submissive to your own husbands so that even if any of them are disobedient to the word, they may be won without a word by the behavior of their wives, 2 as they observe your chaste and respectful behavior. 3 Your adornment must not be merely external—braiding the hair, and wearing gold jewelry, or putting on dresses; 4 but let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in the sight of God.”
8.4.2.1.Submissive to their own husbands.
8.4.2.2.Act in such a way as to win their unsaved husbands.
8.4.2.3.They are to be chaste and respectful.
8.4.2.4.Their adornment is to be simple, and ‘not be merely external’ with braiding of the hair, wearing gold jewelry, fancy dresses, etc.
8.4.2.5.The hidden person of the heart is that of which their beauty should consist of—the opposite of external appearance.
8.4.2.6.They are supposed to have a gentle and quite spirit, for this is precious in the sight of God.
8.4.3. I believe that Esther would have been picked over the other young women even if she hadn’t taken all of those cosmetics for the year.
8.4.4. Several years ago, my wife and I were on a ferry ride from one island to another out in Washington state, and we were sitting on a bench where I was sitting back and just observing people. As I was sitting there two women came and sat at a table across from us, and one of the women was absolutely beautiful. She was so pretty that when she walked into the room, every eye noticed her. Yet, as soon as she began to speak, her speech was filled with four letter words and she was crass and crude, and there was nothing pretty about her. She was not pretty on the inside, and thus she suddenly was repulsive instead of attractive to me.
8.5. The king apparently fell in love immediately with Esther: ‘the king loved Esther more than all the women.’ The king immediately ‘set the royal crown on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti.’
8.6. The king was so excited about taking Esther to be queen and his wife that he threw ‘a great banquet’ for her and he also ‘made a holiday for the provinces and gave gifts according to the king’s bounty.’ We can imagine that it was quite an affair, especially after we previously heard in chapter one about the six months banquet, followed by a one week banquet.
8.7. At this time, Esther was taken to be queen and wife, and as such she now was living a life that involved a good amount of compromise. The man she was now bound with was a wicked king who was filled with selfish pride, along with being a pagan. In this life that was not of her own desires and wishes, a life that forced her into much compromise against her own beliefs and values, she still managed to be in submission to her husband and maintain his favor. Because she was willing to let God work in and through her life in the midst of her new life as queen, she was able to be put in a situation where she could because of having the king’s favor be able to intercede for her people and avert their annihilation. She was truly a remarkable and faithful servant of God.
9. VS 2:19-23 - “19 When the virgins were gathered together the second time, then Mordecai was sitting at the king’s gate. 20 Esther had not yet made known her kindred or her people, even as Mordecai had commanded her; for Esther did what Mordecai told her as she had done when under his care. 21 In those days, while Mordecai was sitting at the king’s gate, Bigthan and Teresh, two of the king’s officials from those who guarded the door, became angry and sought to lay hands on King Ahasuerus. 22 But the plot became known to Mordecai and he told Queen Esther, and Esther informed the king in Mordecai’s name. 23 Now when the plot was investigated and found to be so, they were both hanged on a gallows; and it was written in the Book of the Chronicles in the king’s presence.” – Here we see that one day as Mordecai was sitting at the king’s gate that he became aware of a plot to kill the king, and he revealed the perpetrators and their plot to Esther, and she revealed it to the king, and thus the plot was foiled, but this was recorded in the Book of the Chronicles
9.1. God’s providence is again in action. We see how that the Lord allowed Mordecai to gain favor with the king by causing him to overhear word about a plot to assassinate the king. He then got word of the plot to his niece and then she communicated the plot to the king, most likely through his attendants and advisors.
9.2. Justice was carried out concerning these two men who had plotted to assassinate the king, however this was only after ‘the plot was investigated and found to be so.’
9.3. The two plotters were ‘hanged on a gallows.’
9.4. There was some sort of a book that important events which occurred in the kingdom were regularly written into, and it is called here, ‘the Book of the Chronicles.’ Mordecai’s deed in reporting this plot and thus averting the king’s assignation was written on this day into this book for posterity.
10. VS 3:1-6 - “1 After these events King Ahasuerus promoted Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, and advanced him and established his authority over all the princes who were with him. 2 All the king’s servants who were at the king’s gate bowed down and paid homage to Haman; for so the king had commanded concerning him. But Mordecai neither bowed down nor paid homage. 3 Then the king’s servants who were at the king’s gate said to Mordecai, “Why are you transgressing the king’s command?” 4 Now it was when they had spoken daily to him and he would not listen to them, that they told Haman to see whether Mordecai’s reason would stand; for he had told them that he was a Jew. 5 When Haman saw that Mordecai neither bowed down nor paid homage to him, Haman was filled with rage. 6 But he disdained to lay hands on Mordecai alone, for they had told him who the people of Mordecai were; therefore Haman sought to destroy all the Jews, the people of Mordecai, who were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus.” – Here we see that King Ahasuerus promoted Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, and he was placed in authority over all of the princes, and the king’s servants made those at the gate bow down to Haman, but Mordecai refused to do so, and this was reported back to Haman, and he became very angry
10.1. Here we are introduced to this man named ‘Haman.’ Even to this day the name and memory of ‘Haman’ is despised in the eyes of Jews, and they will often spit merely upon hearing it.
10.2. Background on the man ‘Haman’:
10.2.1. If we go back to the book of Genesis, we find this man named ‘Esau,’ and his name means “red of ruddy complexion.” He was the twin brother of Jacob, and Esau and Jacob struggled even within the womb. From Esau came the ‘Edomites,’ and the word ‘Edom’ also means red, and is very similar to that of the name of the first man, ‘Adom,’ which also means red or ruddy complexion. The struggle of Jacob and Esau within Rebekah’s womb is a symbol of the struggle between the flesh and the spirit within the believer. It’s the struggle between the first Adam and the second Adam.
10.2.2. Note that the second born child was selected by the Lord before the first born, as often happened in the scriptures:
10.2.2.1.Seth (for Abel) over Cain.
10.2.2.2.Jacob over Esau.
10.2.2.3.Manasseh over Ephraim.
10.2.2.4.Joseph over his brother Reuben.
10.2.3. From Edom came Amalek, as Genesis 36:12 tells us: “12 Timna was a concubine of Esau’s son Eliphaz and she bore Amalek to Eliphaz. These are the sons of Esau’s wife Adah.”
10.2.4. Exodus 17 tells us that after the people had grumbled to Moses to provide water for them and then Moses was commanded by God and so he strike the rock so that water would come out from it (that which symbolizes Christ being crucified), that they immediately faced Amalek in battle (a struggle which symbolizes for us the fact that once we come to know Christ and are filled with the Holy Spirit that we will have to fight against the old sinful nature within us: “1 Then all the congregation of the sons of Israel journeyed by stages from the wilderness of Sin, according to the command of the Lord, and camped at Rephidim, and there was no water for the people to drink. 2 Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water that we may drink.” And Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?” 3 But the people thirsted there for water; and they grumbled against Moses and said, “Why, now, have you brought us up from Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?” 4 So Moses cried out to the Lord, saying, “What shall I do to this people? A little more and they will stone me.” 5 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pass before the people and take with you some of the elders of Israel; and take in your hand your staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. 6 “Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink.” And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7 He named the place Massah and Meribah because of the quarrel of the sons of Israel, and because they tested the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us, or not?” 8 Then Amalek came and fought against Israel at Rephidim. 9 So Moses said to Joshua, “Choose men for us and go out, fight against Amalek. Tomorrow I will station myself on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.” 10 Joshua did as Moses told him, and fought against Amalek; and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. 11 So it came about when Moses held his hand up, that Israel prevailed, and when he let his hand down, Amalek prevailed. 12 But Moses’ hands were heavy. Then they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it; and Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side and one on the other. Thus his hands were steady until the sun set. 13 So Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword. 14 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write this in a book as a memorial and recite it to Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.” 15 Moses built an altar and named it The Lord is My Banner; 16 and he said, “The Lord has sworn; the Lord will have war against Amalek from generation to generation.”” God said that He would ‘utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven’ in verse 14, and this did not happen until the ten sons of Haman were hanged, as the book of Esther tells us happened to them. Amalek never shows up again in history. The last Edomite was the king Herod who had all of the baby boys in the environs of Bethlehem killed in his attempt to kill the baby Jesus. Notice also in these verses that the Lord told Moses and the children of Israel that He would have war against Amalek from generation to generation. Malachi 1:4 tells us that the Lord is indignant towards Amalek forever: “4 Though Edom says, “We have been beaten down, but we will return and build up the ruins”; thus says the Lord of hosts, “They may build, but I will tear down; and men will call them the wicked territory, and the people toward whom the Lord is indignant forever.””
10.2.5. The judges rallied Israel to fight against the Amalekites on occassions.
10.2.6. In 1 Samuel 15:3, the Lord commanded Saul through Samuel to completely destroy Amalek and all that he had: “3 ‘Now go and strike Amalek and utterly destroy all that he has, and do not spare him; but put to death both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’ ”” Then, when Samuel later returned to Saul, we read that Saul had kept the best of what God had condemned, including even Agag, the king of the Amalekites: 1 Samuel 15:13-20, “13 Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him, “Blessed are you of the Lord! I have carried out the command of the Lord.” 14 But Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?” 15 Saul said, “They have brought them from the Amalekites, for the people spared the best of the sheep and oxen, to sacrifice to the Lord your God; but the rest we have utterly destroyed.” 16 Then Samuel said to Saul, “Wait, and let me tell you what the Lord said to me last night.” And he said to him, “Speak!” 17 Samuel said, “Is it not true, though you were little in your own eyes, you were made the head of the tribes of Israel? And the Lord anointed you king over Israel, 18 and the Lord sent you on a mission, and said, ‘Go and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are exterminated.’ 19 “Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord, but rushed upon the spoil and did what was evil in the sight of the Lord?” 20 Then Saul said to Samuel, “I did obey the voice of the Lord, and went on the mission on which the Lord sent me, and have brought back Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.” Samuel then slew Agag with the sword in front of Saul. However, when we get to this chapter we realize that Saul did not in fact kill all of the descendants of Amalek, for Haman was an Amalekite. What Saul did in letting Amalekites live illustrates for us what harm can come from not obeying the Lord and His commands concerning our lives. H.A. Ironside writes the following about it: “There is a solemn lesson here. Sin unjudged, evil propensities unmortified, will result in grave trouble later.”
10.2.7. Descendants of Edom don’t appear in the scripture until Herod is mentioned, the man who attempted to kill baby Jesus by having all of the babies around the area of Bethlehem.
10.3. When the servants of Haman approach Mordecai and ask him why he did not bow down to Mordecai, we aren’t told clearly what the answer was. However, it says that the reason that Mordecai gave them was that he ‘was a Jew.’ This makes me think that his refusal to bow down to Mordecai was because he as a Jew recognized that Yahweh alone was to be worshipped. The bowing down was in Mordecai’s mind to worship Haman, and as a Jew he couldn’t violate his conscience in this way.
10.4. Mordecai’s actions here indicate to me that he was a man who truly reverenced and served the Lord in his heart and life and was not a compromiser in his faith. He probably counted the cost of not bowing down and realized that doing this might end in his martyrdom for his faith.
10.5. There is a belief about this book of Esther that states that Esther and Mordecai were living compromised lives there in Persia, and that this is seen in that they didn’t relocate to Jerusalem when given a chance, in Mordecai telling Esther not to let be know that she was a Jew, etc. However, this view to me is shattered here when Mordecai refuses to do homage to Haman and bow when he walks by, because to do so would be to worship a man, and only God was to be worshipped.
10.6. Sometimes those of Greek heritage would likewise refuse to bow down before the Persian emperors and nobles, and this caused them to be persecuted and killed.
11. VS 3:7-11 - “7 In the first month, which is the month Nisan, in the twelfth year of King Ahasuerus, Pur, that is the lot, was cast before Haman from day to day and from month to month, until the twelfth month, that is the month Adar. 8 Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “There is a certain people scattered and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom; their laws are different from those of all other people and they do not observe the king’s laws, so it is not in the king’s interest to let them remain. 9 “If it is pleasing to the king, let it be decreed that they be destroyed, and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver into the hands of those who carry on the king’s business, to put into the king’s treasuries.” 10 Then the king took his signet ring from his hand and gave it to Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews. 11 The king said to Haman, “The silver is yours, and the people also, to do with them as you please.”” – Haman determined that he would ask the king to exterminate all of Mordecai’s people in the kingdom, the Jews, but because he was superstitious he kept throwing the lot each day to determine what day he should ask for the extermination to happen, then he finally asked the king one day to approve this, and the edict was made and signed with the king’s signet ring
11.1. The Lord’s hand is seen here in how that the lot not falling on a day right away gave Mordecai and Esther the time they need to avert the destruction of the Jews. Had the lot fell on a day right away, the Jews would have perished.
11.2. Haman tells King Ahasuerus the following reasons that he should sign an unalterable edict declaring that all of the Jews in all of the kingdom’s provinces should be put to death:
11.2.1. ‘Their laws are different from those of all other people.’
11.2.1.1.This is a true statement.
11.2.2. ‘They do not observe the king’s laws.’
11.2.2.1.This was not true.
11.2.3. ‘It is not in the king’s interest to let them remain.’
11.2.3.1.This is not true because if the Jews were alive they could pray for the king.
11.2.4. ‘I will pay ten thousand talents of silver into the hands of those who carry on the king’s business, to put into the king’s treasuries.’
11.2.4.1.Because of his great wealth the king really didn’t need this money.
11.3. In our previous study, we talked about how that King Ahasuerus should not have taken the advice of all of his advisors when they told him that he should divorce and remove Vashti as queen for not appearing before the king and the men at his party in order to show off her beauty. We talked about how it is important to always pray about the advice that others give you because it is possible even for all of your counselors to be wrong.
11.4. Now, we see that King Ahasuerus is too accommodating of the desires of one of his confidantes, and he makes a horrible decision without really giving much thought to what this man was requesting. The king didn’t look closely at what was being requested, and he should have asked several questions of Haman, including:
11.4.1. Should a whole people group be annihilated so with so little thought given?
11.4.2. Shouldn’t King Ahasuerus have asked how many in his kingdom were from Jewish descent?
11.4.3. Shouldn’t King Ahasuerus have asked why innocent women and children should also be murdered?
11.4.4. Shouldn’t King Ahasuerus have investigated more fully what of the king’s laws this people have not been keeping, before he ordered their deaths?
11.4.5. Shouldn’t the king have investigated whether it would really be in his interest to annihilate this group of people?
11.5. The fact that King Ahasuerus is willing to let the Jews be killed without even questioning any of these reasons that Haman gives to him, shows the character of the king as well as what life was like in the Persian dynasty. The king is willing to commit genocide on a whole people group just because one of his advisors just doesn’t like them.
11.6. Why do you think it was that wicked Haman would be so incensed at Mordecai, that he would not be satisfied to merely have Haman jailed or even killed, but that he would even go so far as to determine to even pay the cost to have the entire race of Haman’s people slaughtered?
11.6.1. This man was filled with pride.
11.6.2. It is yet another demonic inspired attempt to destroy the entire Jewish race, because Satan did not want Jesus Christ to be able to come and be born of the tribe of Judah, and thus die for mankind’s sins.
11.6.3. Perhaps he had heard of how the Israelites had destroyed the Amalekites on many occasions, including even king Agag, from whom he got his name.
12. VS 3:12-15 - “12 Then the king’s scribes were summoned on the thirteenth day of the first month, and it was written just as Haman commanded to the king’s satraps, to the governors who were over each province and to the princes of each people, each province according to its script, each people according to its language, being written in the name of King Ahasuerus and sealed with the king’s signet ring. 13 Letters were sent by couriers to all the king’s provinces to destroy, to kill and to annihilate all the Jews, both young and old, women and children, in one day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar, and to seize their possessions as plunder. 14 A copy of the edict to be issued as law in every province was published to all the peoples so that they should be ready for this day. 15 The couriers went out impelled by the king’s command while the decree was issued at the citadel in Susa; and while the king and Haman sat down to drink, the city of Susa was in confusion.” – The king’s edict was written down by the scribes and sent around to all of the provinces in the Persian kingdom
12.1. Here we read about the edict which was sent out from the king. The decree was written with the name of King Ahasuerus, and it was ‘sealed with the king’s signet ring.’
12.2. The edict was sent out by the king’s satraps and went out to all of ‘the king’s satraps, to the governors who were over each province and to the princes of each people, each province according to its script, each people according to its language.’
12.3. The letters ‘were sent by couriers to all the king’s provinces.’
12.4. The edict stated that the people were ‘to kill and to annihilate all the Jews, both young and old, women and children, in one day.’ That day had been determined by Haman when he used the “pur” or lot: ‘the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar.’
12.5. The people were also ‘to seize their possessions as plunder.’ This provided a motive for many to consider killing their Jewish neighbors and friends.
12.6. Notice here that in verse 15 that after this edict was sent out by couriers to all of the king’s provinces that ‘the city of Susa was in confusion.’ Matthew Poole has written the following about why the people in Susa and throughout the Persian kingdom were in confusion at this time: “The city of Shushan was perplexed; not only the Jews, but a great number of the citizens, either because they were related to them, or engaged with them in worldly concerns; or out of humanity and compassion towards so vast a number of innocent people, now appointed as sheep for the slaughter; or out of fear either of some sedition and disturbance which might arise by this means; or of some damage which might accrue to themselves or friends, who haply under this pretence might be exposed to rapine or slaughter; or of a public judgment of God upon them all for so bloody a decree.”
12.7. All through the kingdom, the Persians began to consider now how they were going to carry out this edict and come with weapons and force and destroy from among them any and all who were of Jewish origin, on the day in which they were to act.
13. CONCLUSIONS:
13.1. God’s providence is working continually in all of the affairs of our lives, and as we look around us and see the economic mess that our country is in today, we must remember this. Things were totally upside-down in the Persian empire for the Jews on this day, but they came to you and fasted and prayed to the Lord to protect them, and they were not destroyed. We need to pray in the midst of all of the chaos that is happening in our world today, and in our lives, that the Lord would show us what He wants us to do. We need to consider that very question that Esther will consider in our next study: “How do you know that you have not been put here for such a purpose as this?”