Esther Esther 4:12-16 May 13, 2012 Travis Collins

Transcription

1 Esther Esther 4:12-16 May 13, 2012 Travis Collins On March 5 th, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanjahu spoke to AIPAC, the American-Israeli Public Affairs Committee. The air was tense, for everyone was thinking about Iran s advancing nuclear program. The question of whether Israel would launch a pre-emptive strike to disable Iran s nuclear program was on everyone s mind. Netanyahu pledged, As prime minister of Israel, I will never let my people live under the shadow of annihilation. Then he reminded his audience that two days later the Jews would celebrate Purim, a celebration of Esther and her role in delivering the Jewish people 2,500 years ago. Netanyahu spoke of the Persian anti-semite [who] tried to annihilate the Jewish people, speaking of a man named Haman, who wanted to kill all the Jews in Persia in Esther s day. But his words had a double meaning that would have been lost on no one in the room. Persia, you see, is the ancient name for what we today call Iran. So, the Jews find themselves under the threat of another Persian anti-semite current President of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. History is repeating itself. The book of Esther is set in the 5 th century B.C., in what is today Iran the ancient Persian empire, where many Jews were living as exiles and foreigners. There are four characters you need to know. The first two are a man named Mordecai and a young lady named Esther. Esther s parents had died and she had been adopted by her parents relative, Mordecai. They lived in the city of Susa, then the capital of Persia. The third character is Xerxes, the King of Persia. (Xerxes was also known as Ahasuerus. Xerxes is easier to say.) The story begins with a week-long party at the palace. Chapter One, verse Ten, begins, On the seventh day, when the king was in high spirits from wine (he d been on a seven day binge) he sent for his Queen, Vashti, to come where he and the boys were. Wear your crown, the king instructed her. (At least one has suggested this means only her crown.) Xerxes wanted to show off his trophy wife. Vashti did the unthinkable. She said no to the king! She refused to expose herself in front of a bunch of gawking, drunken men. The king was angry, and his advisors advised, You can t let her get away with this, King, or else every wife in the kingdom will think they can get away with saying no to their husbands! So they deposed Queen Vashti. Took off her crown. (She was lucky they didn t take off her head.) 1

2 They held a beauty contest to determine who would take the place of Vashti. When King Xerxes saw Esther he was stunned by her beauty and chose Esther. Just like that an ordinary Jewish girl became queen of Persia. You need to remember two things about Esther that even the king did not yet know. One, she was Jewish. Two, she was Mordecai s adopted daughter. Make a mental note of those two things, for that information will be important later in the story. One day Mordecai overheard a plot by disloyal palace insiders to kill King Xerxes. Mordecai told Esther and Esther told the king and the king had the plotters killed. And it was written in the palace records that Mordecai had saved the king s life. Make a mental note of that, too. That info is going to be important in a few minutes as well. At this point, the fourth character, Haman, enters the story. Haman is the villain. I understand that during the celebration of Purim, even to this day, when Haman s name is mentioned the Jewish children chant with disdain, Ha-man, Ha-man. Yet Haman was a right hand man to the king. Because of his closeness to the king everybody bowed before Haman wherever he went. Everybody, that is, except Mordecai, the adoptive father of Queen Esther. That bothered Haman to no end. That became the burr under Haman s saddle the irritating pebble in his shoe. Then the plot thickened. Haman learned that Mordecai was a Jew. That set Haman off for Haman hated the Jews. The Bible describes Haman as an Agagite (3:1), meaning he was a descendent of King Agag, king of the Amalekites six centuries earlier. The Israelites had killed Agag, and Haman hadn t forgotten that the Jews killed his royal ancestor. Haman now saw an opportunity to avenge the death of his great, great, great, great grandfather who was killed by Mordecai s people. So Haman told the king, These Jews are bad news. They have their own ways, and they really don t care at all about you, king. Furthermore, they re like kudzu; before you know it they ll take over. So the king said, Okay, wipe em out. On a dark day in the not-so-distant future, all the Jews would be killed. It would be genocide. (Remember that the king didn t know his queen, Esther, was a Jew.) Mordecai (who always seemed to have his ear to the ground) heard about what Haman was planning. Through some go-betweens, Mordecai said to Queen Esther that she must use her position to have the king call off Haman s war against the Jews. Esther sent back a message, saying, No one, not even the queen, can enter the king s presence unless summoned. Whoever does that is like to lose his or her head. I can t just up and go in to see the king without an invitation. And the king hasn t called for me in the last thirty days. It s hard for us to imagine a situation like that a place where a wife cannot walk into the presence of her husband without an invitation and where man, a king, can just take 2

3 whomever he wants as his wife as Xerxes did Esther. But I remember a big scandal in Oyo where we lived when we first moved to Nigeria. The king had taken a man s wife to be the king s wife. The man was clamoring for justice but there was no justice. Kings do what kings want to do. That was Esther s world. So Mordecai answered, again through a go-between, Esther, all our people, including you and your family, may die unless you intervene. Then Mordecai uttered those famous words (4:14), And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this? Esther pondered Mordecai s words and decided that indeed she had come to her position for such a time as that. She sent word to Mordecai: Have all the Jews fast for three days. At the end of the three days I will go to the king. And if I perish, I perish (4:16). So after three days she went and stood, unannounced and uninvited, in a conspicuous place in the king s wing of the palace. When the King saw her he wasn t mad. In fact, he was glad to see her. What may I do for you, my Queen? he asked. Esther said to the king, I want you and Haman to come to a meal. The king and Haman went to that meal and, Esther told them, Come to another meal tomorrow night for I have something to tell you. She was playing Haman and the king like a violin. Haman left dinner ecstatic over being in the inner circle with the king and his queen. But his bubble burst when he walked by Mordecai and Mordecai wouldn t bow. He got home and he whined about how Mordecai didn t like him and his wife said, Well, you re an important man. Have him hanged! So Haman decided he was indeed an important man and he ordered that a gallows be built on which to hang Mordecai! Meanwhile, that night, back at the palace King Xerxes couldn t sleep. (Maybe because of the racket the workers were making building the gallows to hang Mordecai from.) The insomnious king decided to catch up on the palace records. He had somebody read to him and it was then that he realized Mordecai had saved his life by uncovering the plot to kill the king. (Remember? We made a mental note of that.) Did we ever do anything to express appreciation to this Mordecai? Xerxes asked. No sir, we haven t, was the answer. That s terrible! said the king. We must honor him. King Xerxes was thinking about Mordecai when Haman showed up for work. The king asked Haman, If I wanted to show my gratitude to someone whom I deeply appreciate what should I do? Now Haman was so vain he thought he, himself, (Haman) was the one the king wanted to honor. So Haman said, If I were wanted to honor someone, I d have a big parade. I d dress this man up and I d put him on a fine horse and have someone walk in front calling out to the people what a wonderful fellow he is! (Of course Haman planned that elaborate recognition because he thought he was the one to be honored.) Splendid idea! exclaimed King Xerxes. I want you to prepare a parade... for Mordecai! Haman was speechless. The king continued, And since this was your idea I want you to be the one to walk in front of the horse and proclaim what a wonderful guy he is! 3

4 So later that day the parade Haman had planned for himself was held in honor of Mordecai, and Haman had to lead Mordecai s horse and sing the praises of the man he despised. I can imagine him walking in front of the horse praising Mordecai halfheartedly. I think the literal translation of what Haman was saying is, Mordecai, Mordecai, he s our man... whatever. And it got worse for Haman. For it was that night, at the second dinner with King Xerxes and Esther, that Queen Esther dropped the bomb. She said, O King, someone in your palace is plotting to kill all my people. (Remember the king had not known Esther was a Jew.) Who are your people and who would order such a thing? asked the king. Haman felt his heart jump to his throat. I am Jewish, said Esther. and the genocide planned against my people is being planned by Haman. King Xerxes was so mad he went outside to get some air and clear his head. When he came back in, he found Haman cornering Esther and Xerxes blew his stack. You dare attack her? he thundered. An attendant with a mischievous twinkle in his eye spoke up. King, Haman here had gallows built to hang Mordecai, the man who saved your life. Hang Haman on it, said King Xerxes. And, as if there wasn t enough irony already in the story, before they led Haman off to be hanged King Xerxes took the royal ring off Haman s hand and gave it to Mordecai. While Haman was hanging on the gallows he had built for Mordecai, Mordecai was moving his stuff into Haman s old office right next to the king s. With Haman gone, Esther begged the king to reverse his order to have the Jews killed. But once the king had issued a decree like that it could not be reversed. (Remember the Law of the Meades and the Persians?) So Xerxes issued a counter decree. That decree went to the entire country and said, The Jews shall be preparing for battle. They have every right to defend themselves. And the new decree had the desired effect. Folks thought twice about trying to kill the Jews. One, the Jews would be ready for them. Two, after learning that the queen was a Jew and the new head honcho at the palace, Mordecai, was, too, they just didn t have the stomach for massacring the Jews. So the Jews were spared. And to this day the Jewish people celebrate the annual festival of Purim to commemorate the deliverance of their people, and Esther s heroism. I understand there is a saying that goes with the feast of Purim: They tried to kill us. They didn t. We won. Let s eat. I wish I didn t have to tell this next part of the story. Esther and Mordecai had Haman s ten sons hanged. And the Jews hunted down and killed 75,000 of their enemies. Remember: this was a barbaric period in history. But racial hatred is an ugly thing, no matter when it happens and no matter which way it is directed. 4

5 One of the most interesting aspects of the book of Esther is that the name of God is completely and conspicuously absent. But He s there back stage behind every twist in the story behind every irony. He wasn t pulling strings like a puppeteer; the people in the story had free will the ability to make real choices. But God used their choices to fulfill His purposes. God was passionate to deliver His people but He needed Esther, and ordinary woman, to step up and assume her place in His plan. It was almost sixty years ago, and God was passionate about the American people. Passionate about delivering black people from the oppression of unfair laws and white people from the prisons of their traditions. And he needed an ordinary person, Rosa Parks, to step up and take her place in His plan. Rosa Parks was an ordinary lady. She didn t get up that Thursday morning, December 1, 1955, intending to inspire the civil rights movement. She was an unassuming lady on the way home that afternoon from a day of stitching and ironing shirts at the Montgomery Fair department store in Montgomery, Alabama. The bus driver told her to move to the back of the bus so a white man could sit there. Suddenly Ms. Parks, a devout Christian, decided she d seen her people belittled long enough.. She courageously refused to move and we live in a better world because of her. Mary was an ordinary lady. Girl, really. God had a world of people whom He wanted to deliver from the oppression that the Bible calls, sin. A messenger from God Himself said to young Mary, God s Spirit is going to work a miracle in you and you are going to give birth to God in the flesh. I am the Lord s servant, Mary answered, let it be. And she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them. And they called his name Jesus, for he would save his people from their sins. God needed an ordinary girl to step up and take her place in His plan. I don t know that you and I ever will save an entire race or spark a national movement. And we won t parent the Messiah. But I m wondering if maybe someone here is being prompted to do something courageous and important. Someone here, perhaps, is facing a big decision the call to a courageous choice. If so, then hear the words of Mordecai once more: Who knows but that you have come to this place, for such a time as this. 5