PUZZLING BOOKS OF THE BIBLE: ESTHER
God’s overruling providence and the believer’s own task
by Peter MastersFROM SWORD & TROWEL 1999 No 4
The story of Esther - for all its charm - evokes both concern and intrigue in the minds of many
Bible readers, who wonder about its spirituality as well as its significance and purpose.
It is often pointed out that the name of God is not mentioned once, and that is certainly
puzzling. Dismay is heightened when we notice the remarkable self-consciousness of the book in terms of
plot and structure. It is so neat, novel, and remarkable, with so many astonishing twists and turns, that it
seems contrived and resembles ancient fiction.
Neither the hero nor the heroine seem interested in seeking guidance from God in their complex
trials, and the heroine enters a pagan marriage, forbidden by the law of God. And not only so but she is
steered into this pagan marriage (as some commentators say) by none other than the hero.
Our respect is further strained by the vast number of people killed by the Jews, who seem
bloodthirsty and destitute of magnanimity.
However, a number of remarkable features point to the book’s inspired nature. An orphan
captive becomes an empress in a narrative modelled on parts of the history of Joseph. Certain verses
in Esther are almost exactly the same as passages in Genesis 41-43.
The plot has similar ups and downs, Esther, and to some extent Mordecai, being lifted up,
plunged down, and then lifted up again to become the means of salvation of the nation. All this
foreshadows the work of Christ, through Whose humiliation came the glorious fulfilment of all the
promises of God, the deliverance of Zion, and His own glorification.
A distinctive spiritual feature of this book is that every deliverance depends upon circumstances
which could never have been planned or set in place by any human mind. Although the name of God is
not mentioned, the book gives all the glory to God by portraying the heroes as dependent upon events over
which they had no control. Divine intervention and God’s providence are constantly implied through a
series of wonderful coincidences and overrulings.
Other spiritual features are prominent. When trouble strikes, the Jews fast; when Esther has to
make her stand, she asks that the people fast; and at the end of the book they institute a feast to mark their
fasting and crying. So while prayer is not specifically mentioned, fasting is (which obviously includes
prayer), and ‘their cry’ is mentioned.
Still other major features of Esther point to its status as an inspired book. The
hero, Mordecai, refuses to worship a man; the people of God in the end are saved; the fact that God’s
people ‘rested’ is mentioned four times (a very important theme of the Old Testament); and the Feast of
Purim was begun to commemorate their rest. The ancient hostility between the Amalekites and the Jews is
also seen when an Amalekite is promoted to be prime minister, bent on exterminating the Jews. All these
factors make Esther typical of the inspired books of the Old Testament.
A final observation on the validity of Esther is that it is a book of remarkable
historical detail. Whenever the scene is set we are given the date. Even the genealogy is provided for
Mordecai and Haman, and the book is set in a definite location. It so presents itself as history that we
cannot read it as fiction. It is a very special and spiritual biblical book.
The events of Esther cover a period of thirty or forty years before Nehemiah
(which closes Old Testament history). We might think that Esther ought to be
between Ezra and Nehemiah, but in fact it should be buried in the middle of
Ezra where there is a gap in the record.
However, it is right and proper that it should be completely separate because it is quite
distinctive in both its message and its location. It views scenes in the royal court of Persia, in Susa,
specifically in Shushan the palace, an architectural wonder in the ancient world featuring very many huge,
fluted columns crowned with remarkable sculptures. Here, then, are events which took place at the ruling
centre of the Persian empire.
In the first chapter Ahasuerus, ruler of the Persian empire, calls a six-month feast, some say to
accomplish the planning of a war with Greece, but Scripture focuses only on the emperor’s
pride. Everyone of importance is present and the wealth of the empire is paraded before all eyes. The
object of the feast is plainly to glorify the emperor and demonstrate his superiority over all his forbears.
On the seventh day of heavy drinking the king’s reason is clouded, and he decides to call his
queen to display her beauty. She refuses to come, shaming the king who, in terrible rage, determines to get
rid of her. To obtain justification he sends for the State astrologers who, not surprisingly, provide sanction
to him to do what he wants. Even an emperor driven by arrogance and hate has a conscience to silence.
An old writer points out that the king’s self-glorification cost him - first his dignity, secondly
his reason, thirdly his temper, fourthly his wife, and fifthly his reputation, as he advertised his foolishness
by royal letters throughout the entire empire. The world knew then that he could not keep his liquor, his
temper, his head, or his wife.
The apostle Paul found that when he was weak, then was he strong. But the opposite may
equally apply, as it did to the king - when we are strong, then are we weak.
The second chapter, many say, comes after the wars with Greece. The king begins to chafe at
the lack of a queen and his ever-obliging ministers propose a competition for the royal role.
Mordecai, a Benjaminite, and an official at court, comes into the picture. His family, captured
by Nebuchadnezzar and taken to Babylon, had not been among those who returned home at the end of
the captivity. Mordecai is probably the most highly placed Jew in the Persian government.
Esther, his beautiful young cousin, an orphan brought up by Mordecai, is among the young
women recruited for selection. Some modern writers think that Mordecai hit on the idea of making Esther
a candidate for the position of queen, but there is no basis for this in the narrative, in which Mordecai
comes across as a truly pious Jewish man filled with anxiety about Esther’s fate.
Esther is no doubt rounded up with others by force. The search commission sees her and brings
her in, while Mordecai wonders what will become of her. The record indicates that he goes round and
round the palace, up and down its passages, lingering there daily to catch any news of Esther because he is
frightened for her, especially if they discover she is a Jewess. ‘Do not tell them that,’ is the advice he
passes to her. He cannot get her out of the situation, but he will do what he can to protect her.
Eventually Esther is taken to King Ahasuerus and selected to be queen, but then a remarkable
incident occurs which is one of the great ‘providences’ in the book. (The Lord’s deliverances so often
begin long before we are aware of them.) While Mordecai sits in the king’s gate, two of his officers plot
to kill him, probably as key men in a coup attempt.
Mordecai, however, overhears, and reports the plan to Esther, who passes what he has heard to
the king, with the result that the two would-be assassins are hanged and the affair ‘written in the book of
the chronicles before the king’.
At this time great promotion and honour is given to Haman, an Amalekite, who becomes prime
minister of the entire empire, while Mordecai is overlooked and becomes subservient to an enemy.
Why was Mordecai not rewarded for having saved the king’s life? Because the Lord was
overruling in all things, and with hindsight we can see that, had Mordecai been rewarded and promoted at
that time, the king would have owed nothing to him later on, when it mattered.
Now begins the episode which resurrects the ancient Amalekite-Jewish hostility.
We are told that ‘all the king’s servants, that were in the king’s gate, bowed, and reverenced
Haman: for the king had so commanded.’ ‘Treat him as a lofty king,’ the king had said, believing that if
Haman were to function effectively he must have almost god-like significance and honour.
He is to be reverenced, but Mordecai does no such thing, because as a servant of God he cannot
worship a man. He is not going to show for one second that there is the smallest fragment of divinity in
this Haman, no matter what it costs him. He is likely to lose his position, and could even be hanged, but
he does not yield to circumstances.
Haman, however, an opponent of the Jews, is given power, and very soon, if he did not already
know, he discovers that Mordecai, who refuses to worship him, is a Jew. Some say that palace officials
may have been favourable to Mordecai, so that they raised his case, asking (in effect), ‘Would there be
any different provision for a Jew?’ But that was fuel for Haman’s fire of hatred.
Haman is not satisfied to plan the arrest and execution of Mordecai only; he is determined to be
rid of all Jews, fixing the date of their extermination by the casting of lots.
Two to three million Jews are spread throughout the Persian empire, some of them in Susa. An
official proposal, possibly very long and written on a scroll and sealed with a great seal, is presented to the
king. It speaks of an utterly undesirable people dispersed through the realm, rebelling against the king’s
laws, and posing a threat to the security of the empire.
These people are cult-like, barbaric, and dangerous. Haman promises that if he is financed to
bring about their destruction, then on its accomplishment the king will reap a far greater return from the
spoil.
The king takes his ring, and grants Haman authority to carry out his proposal. A time frame of
eleven months is set, and then the Jews are to be destroyed in a single day.
In the fourth chapter we observe the reaction of Mordecai, who rends his clothes, puts on
sackcloth with ashes, and goes to the midst of the city, to lead the laments and (no doubt) prayers. What
else is he doing but what Ezra and Nehemiah both do - he is going through the customary ritual for
repentance and sorrow, to publish his feelings as one of God’s people, no matter what it may cost.
Esther does not seem to know what this is all about, and perhaps the king does not fully know
either. When she learns of Mordecai’s mourning she sends raiment to clothe him, and tries to persuade
him not to be so grief-stricken, but soon she learns the truth and is asked by Mordecai to petition the king
for the Jews.
Esther is not permitted to go into the presence of the king uncalled, and has not been called for
some time. If she ventures uncalled her fate will hang in the balance. If he is pleased, she will live, if he is
not, she will perish. She is very afraid, and is reproved by Mordecai, who sends word to her saying that
she should not imagine she will be any safer than other Jews, because the reverse is true. If she will not
plead with the king for her people, then God will deliver them by some other agency, and she will be
punished by the Lord.
The key verse in this episode records the statement of Mordecai to her - ‘For if thou altogether
holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another
place; but thou and thy father’s house shall be destroyed’ (Esther 4.14).
Mordecai clearly believes in the ancient promise made first to Eve and then to Abraham that
from their descendants a Deliverer would come, and he realised that the Jewish nation could not therefore
be entirely destroyed. If Esther will not be instrumental, then someone else will be.
Mordecai then utters his stirring words - ‘And who knoweth whether thou art come to the
kingdom for such a time as this?’ Mordecai remembers the deliverance from Egypt, the raging of the
Assyrians, the captivity in Babylon, and the deliverance and return to Jerusalem. He is certain that the
promised Seed will be safely preserved. He knows that there will be preserved a remnant somewhere, but
that those of the capital will be lost, unless Esther acts.
Esther needed a preacher, and Mordecai her uncle was that man. She needed to see the great
divine purpose behind her elevation to the royal family, and to have her faith stimulated.
At once she asks that the Jewish people should be gathered to fast and pray while she prepares
to go to the king, saying - ‘If I perish, I perish.’ So she identifies herself with the Lord’s mission and
purpose, saying, in effect, ‘Not my will, but thine, be done.’ And so of course we should say the same.
We are set in dark and difficult years, when society has sunk to the lowest possible point
spiritually. But it is a critical linking time, a little tunnel of darkness, as it were, leading to a time of
renewed blessing, perhaps of awakening, or perhaps the coming of the Lord. However much things
deteriorate, the present will soon emerge into something glorious, and we must faithfully preserve our
witness until it comes. We must see a significance in being placed wherever we are in life, and grasp the
spiritual opportunities.
If we do not act to guard the faith, and win and train souls, then God will use others to keep the
faith alive and to see the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in His wings. Believers who will accept
no danger and run no risks will come under censure, while those who put the work of the kingdom first
will be blessed.
In chapter five there is a very remarkable providence of God when Esther advances into the
king’s presence and obtains favour. She does not blurt out her petition all at once, but asks that the king
and Haman, the enemy of her people, come to a banquet prepared in Haman’s honour. In doing this she
exhibits very great calm and faith in the overruling providence of God.
Haman gloats, certain that he will achieve his purpose and supposing that his invitation to the
feast implies even greater favours than those he already has. Incensed against Mordecai he determines to
destroy him, setting up the high gallows so that he can be hanged with great public show. The Jewish
official had made a fool of Haman, and must be humiliated and punished in the most visible manner
possible.
Now - in the sixth chapter - comes another event only attributable to the overruling hand of
God. The king’s sleep fled from him, because the Lord snatched it away.
Ahasuerus commands that ‘the book of records of the chronicles’ be read to him, and
amazingly he hears about the plot to kill him overheard and reported by Mordecai. ‘What honour and
dignity hath been done to Mordecai for this?’ he asks. The reply comes - ‘There is nothing done for him.’
The account becomes even more remarkable. It just so happens that Haman enters the outer
court of the palace at this precise moment, to secure the king’s approval for the execution of Mordecai.
The king is told that Haman is at the door. ‘Let him come in,’ says the king, and he asks Haman how he
should reward someone deserving honour.
Haman, assuming the king had him in mind, proposes a most extravagant royal reward and
proclamation, only to find that his prescription will be awarded to Mordecai, and not himself, and that he
must make the investiture. He realises his fall could be at hand, a fear endorsed by his wife Zeresh.
Then one event follows another at great speed in chapter seven. The king and Haman come to
the queen’s banquet, and on the second day Esther is asked her petition, and its granting is assured. She
puts her case. Her words are of great importance to Bible students. She complains that her people are to
be utterly destroyed, but then adds - ‘If we had been sold for bondmen and bondwomen, I had held my
tongue.’
Why would Esther have held her tongue if her people were to be put back into slavery? Clearly
because she knew that only their destruction would prevent their future seed coming - the Messiah. If this
happened the promises of God would go unfulfilled, which was an impossibility. The promises of God
must stand, the promised seed must come in due time, and so the Jews cannot perish. Esther
believed just as Mordecai believed.
Haman’s scheme is uncovered, the disturbed king strides into the palace garden to consider,
Haman falls at the knee of Esther to plead for his life, the king returns, sees, believes Esther is being
assaulted, and orders the Amalekite’s swift execution by hanging - on the very gallows prepared for
Mordecai.
However, a seemingly insurmountable problem remains. The king cannot reverse the decree
already published throughout the empire that the Jews will perish on a certain day. So he is forced to put
another decree alongside it, giving the Jews permission - and indeed urging them - to defend themselves.
Provincial governors then realise they must help the Jews against their would-be executors (principally,
obviously, Amalekites), so that all who attempt to slaughter them will themselves be slain.
The massive destruction carried out by the Jews and their helpers was part of a legal and
essential defence, and not a vindictive act on the part of a conquering people. The Jews, the record states,
‘stood for their lives’. It is several times noted that they took no spoil, although they had the king’s
permission to do so. Surely this was because they remembered the command of God (Deuteronomy
25.19) that they were to blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven, and the failure of
Saul 500 years before who saved the king of Amalek together with the spoil, which the Israelites took for
themselves. The Jews of Esther’s time were clearly sensitive to their spiritual history, and concerned to
obey God.
Chapter nine records a great feast. The book began with an idolatrous, boastful feast thrown by
the most powerful ruler in the world, and now it ends with a religious feast giving thanks for God’s
deliverance. The Jews now had a protector, Mordecai having been promoted to a position in the empire
higher than Daniel had ever been given in earlier times. The promises of a coming Messiah were secure.
The plan of God to save His people was confirmed, and it was established that God can do anything, no
matter how great the enemies of His people.
The Book of Esther alerts us to God’s use of providential arrangements in the
unexpected twists and turns of life. It reminds us that matters will turn out in ways which could never be
arranged by us, if God plans.
However, we are also told that God requires trust and action from His people. Much may turn
on the actions of individuals when God gives them opportunity for instrumentality.
It is a wonderful book, calling for resistance to compromise (as when Mordecai will not bow
down to Haman) and perilous action (as when Esther confronts the king).
Also, buried in its mysteries is an orphan girl who becomes a queen, and a deliverer of others.
This is surely a picture of grace; of how God saves sinners with no spiritual rights and no foothold in
Heaven, draws them into His own family, gives them royal status, and then uses them in the deliverance
of other lost sinners.
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