Message 2
Scripture Reading: Esth. 3; Esth. 4; Esth. 5; Esth. 6; Esth. 7; Esth. 8; Esth. 9; Esth. 10
In this message we will cover chapters three through ten.
These chapters are concerned with the open salvation of the hiding God in secrecy to His persecuted elect in their captivity as seen in Mordecai.
In chapter three we see Haman’s plot to destroy all the Jews in Medo-Persia.
The Agagites were enemies of God. God charged Saul to slay all the Agagites, but he failed to do this and thereby offended God.
An Agagite by the name of Haman was promoted (no doubt at the instigation of Satan, the adversary of God) to the highest seat above all the princes who were with the king. The king commanded all his servants to bow down and pay homage to Haman, but Mordecai did not bow down or pay homage because of his Jewish belief in the unique God (vv. 1-4). He believed in one God and refused to bow down to anyone other than God.
Haman was filled with rage and plotted not only to kill Mordecai, the one who refused to pay him homage, but also to destroy all the Jews throughout the empire. He had the king send a decree to each province of his empire to destroy all the Jews, both young and old, children and women, in one day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, and to plunder their spoil (vv. 5-15). Haman’s evil intention was to destroy all the Jews and to take away their wealth.
In 4:1 through 8:2 we have an account of Mordecai’s confrontation of Haman’s plot through Esther’s close and intimate contact with the king.
When all the Jews and Esther heard of what Haman intended to do and learned that the king had even issued a decree to carry out Haman’s intention, they fasted (4:3, 16). Although they fasted for their supplication to God, contrary to what we would expect, in verse 16 there is no mention of the name of God. While Esther and all the Jews were fasting, Haman, under the plot with his wife and friends, made a gallows on which to hang Mordecai (5:9-14).
The king could not sleep, so he gave orders to have the book of the records of the chronicles brought, and they were read before him (6:1). The king found in the records the report of how Mordecai had saved him from being assassinated by two of his eunuchs, and he decided to bestow honor and dignity on Mordecai. While the king was considering this, Haman came into the court to ask the king about hanging Mordecai (vv. 2-6). The king was thinking about honoring Mordecai, and Haman was thinking about hanging him. When the king asked Haman what should be done for the man whom the king desires to honor, Haman answered, “Let a royal robe be brought, one which the king has worn, and a horse on which the king has ridden and on whose head a royal crown has been set. And let the robe and the horse be delivered into the hand of one of the king’s most noble princes; and let them array the man whom the king desires to honor and make him ride on horseback through the street of the city; and let them proclaim before him, Thus shall it be done for the man whom the king desires to honor” (vv. 8-9). At this juncture, the king commanded Haman to put on Mordecai a royal robe which the king had worn, make Mordecai ride through the street of the city on a horse on which the king had ridden, and proclaim before Mordecai, “Thus shall it be done for the man whom the king desires to honor” (vv. 10-11). After Haman did this, he hurried to his house, mourning and with his head covered (v. 12).
At her feast with the king and Haman, Esther the queen pointed out that Haman was the wicked adversary and enemy who conspired to kill all the Jews. The king immediately sentenced Haman to death and commanded his men to hang Haman on the gallows which he had prepared for Mordecai. On that day the king gave the house of Haman, the enemy of the Jews, to Esther the queen and took off his signet ring, which he had taken from Haman, and gave it to Mordecai, making him the second man to the king in the whole empire (7:1—8:2).
In 8:3 through 10:3 we see the open, triumphant victory of the Jews over their enemies — the open salvation of their hiding God to rescue them from their persecutors.
The king issued through Mordecai a decree to authorize the Jews to destroy all their enemies throughout his empire from India to Ethiopia, one hundred twenty-seven provinces (8:3-14).
Mordecai went forth from the presence of the king in royal robes of blue and white and with a large crown of gold and a garment of fine linen and purple. The city of Susa the capital shouted and rejoiced, and the Jews had light, gladness, joy, and honor. Throughout every province and every city, wherever the king’s decree came, the Jews had gladness, joy, a feast, and a good day. Many from among the peoples of the land (the heathen) became Jews, for the fear of the Jews had fallen on them (vv. 15-17).
The Jews destroyed all their enemies throughout the empire under the reign of King Ahasuerus in the influence of Esther the queen with Mordecai as the second to the king (9:1-16). All the princes of the provinces, the satraps, the governors, and those who did the king’s business helped the Jews because of the fear of Mordecai, who was great in the king’s house and whose fame went forth throughout all the provinces and who became greater and greater (vv. 1-4). In Susa the capital in two days the Jews destroyed eight hundred of their enemies and they hanged Haman’s ten sons upon the gallows (vv. 5-15). In the provinces the Jews assembled and destroyed seventy-five thousand of those who hated them, thus having rest from their enemies (v. 16).
The triumphant Jews appointed and established the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month Adar as the Purim to celebrate their triumphant victory over their enemies (vv. 17-32). In this way the feast of Purim was established among the Jews for the remembrance and celebration of the two days during which they destroyed their enemies throughout the great empire of Persia. These days were to be days of feasting and rejoicing and of sending portions to one another and gifts to the poor (vv. 17-19, 22). These days were to be remembered and kept throughout every generation, every family, every province, and every city, and the remembrance of them was not to fade from their seed (vv. 26-28). The appointment and the establishment of the Purim was confirmed by Queen Esther and Mordecai the Jew in writing with all authority (vv. 29-32).
Mordecai became second to King Ahasuerus and great among the Jews and well-regarded by the multitude of his brothers, one who sought the good of his people and who spoke for the welfare of all his seed, that is, all the children of Israel (10:1-3).
The story of the book of Esther is a crucial hidden point for the fulfillment of God’s calling to Abraham for a land, a seed (a people), and the blessing to all the nations (Gen. 12:1-3; 22:17-18).
The story of this book is also for the fulfillment of the promise through Moses that after God gave Israel into captivity, He would still take care of them (Deut. 4:27-31).
In addition, the story of the book of Esther is for the fulfillment of the prayer of Solomon on the day of the dedication of the temple that God would take care of His elect in their captivity (1 Kings 8:46-53).
Moreover, the story recorded in the book of Esther is also for the keeping of the lineage of the genealogy of Christ through the survival of Israel in their captivity that Christ might be brought into the human race. If all the Jews had been destroyed, there would have been no lineage of Christ’s genealogy for Christ to be brought into humanity.
Finally, the story of the book of Esther is to keep a people for the possessing of the holy land for the coming kingdom of Christ. The people of God’s elect who returned from captivity were small in number, yet they occupied and possessed at least a small portion of the earth, the holy land. This was significant because the earth had been usurped by Satan, and there seemed to be nothing left for the God of heaven and earth. However, God brought back a small number of His people to possess the holy land as a base for Christ to come back to establish His kingdom on earth.
