Today's Reading:

Esther 1
Esther 2
Esther 3
Esther 4
Esther 5

Mordecai had just uncovered an assassination attempt on King Xerxes. He told Esther; she told the king and mentioned that Mordecai was the one who found out. The two gatekeepers were hanged, and the event was recorded in the book of the chronicles. That was it. No thank you, no reward, no promotion. Mordecai went back to the gate and was overlooked for about a year, while Haman rose and the noose was being built in his backyard.

All was in God’s timing. The delay was grace. If the king had paid Mordecai the same night, Haman’s plot may have never met with the sleepless night and the book of the chronicles (Esther 6). God let a good deed go overlooked so it would be waiting at the exact moment it could save His people.

We want the reward when the work is done. God often lets the good we have done go overlooked and pulls it out later. The unanswered “thank you” is not proof He forgot. It may be the page He is saving for the right night.

While we do not do good work for a reward, is there a good thing you have already done that has felt overlooked, and can you leave it in God’s timing instead of demanding the thank you now?

A couple of fun facts about the book of Esther:

1. God’s name is never mentioned in the book, but Scripture does show how He is always working behind the scenes.
2. Esther and Mordecai were Benjamites, not in the Messiah’s family line. Mordecai was a Jew who refused to bow to Haman. Because King Saul spared Agag, the Amalekite bloodline continued, and Hamon was called an Agagite. If Haman had succeeded in the genocide killing of the Jews across the empire, then God’s promised people would be gone. There would be no Messiah from the lineage. Esther risked her life and saved the day!

 Esther was an advocate for her people; she was willing to die for an entire population. Chapters 1-8 were the challenging times, and chapters 9-10 were the happy ending. Esther took place around 479 BC, after the return of the first exiles to Jerusalem. The Persian ruler was Ahasuerus, also known as Xerxes I. The Persian Empire was the largest to date, larger than Babylon.

Xerxes held a banquet for 180 days in order to show off all of his wealth to the leaders. Then he held a feast with a massive amount of wine for 7 days. All of the leaders from the least to the greatest were invited. Queen Vashti held her own party. On the last day of the king’s banquet, he wanted his beautiful queen to parade in front of his guests to show her off like a prize. She refused to come, which was unheard of. Per the protocol, Xerxes consulted with his advisors on how to discipline Vashti. Due to her disobedience, word spread throughout the land. If the queen could disobey, then other women could disobey and disrespect their husbands. It was decided to demote the queen and give her position to someone else. Xerxes made a royal decree that she was never to be in his presence again. This sets the stage for Esther as God prepares the deliverance of His people.

In chapter 2, the king’s anger had calmed, and now he needed a new queen. His leaders brought in all of the beautiful virgins from each of the 7 provinces of the land to undergo a year-long beauty treatment. The women would then be brought to the king (to compete in a beauty pageant) to become the next queen. For the first six months, they would clean and moisturize with oil of myrrh; because of the desert, this would refresh the skin. It would also allow time to make sure the women were, in fact, not already pregnant. The next six months were about perfume and cosmetics. The women were taught how to smell and look good. They were treated like property. Hegai was the eunuch in charge of the women and showed favor to Esther with better food, better attendants, the best quarters, and guidance on what to take when she met the king.

Mordecai was from the tribe of Benjamin and had been exiled from Jerusalem. He took in his orphaned cousin Esther. They were Benjamites, from King Saul’s tribe, not Judah’s royal line. Mordecai had warned Ester not to reveal her family line as an Israelite/Jewish. He continued to look out for her by walking in front of the courtyard each day, which allowed him to keep in contact with her. Esther was eventually paraded in front of the king and won favor as well as the crown, to become the next queen replacing Vashti.

One day, Mordecai was sitting by the gate and overheard the gatekeepers’ plan, conspiring to assassinate the king. He got word to Esther and saved Xerxes’ life. By this time, four years had passed since Esther was queen and the king had promoted Haman the Agagite as his top advisor. Haman was a descendant of the Amalekites, one of Israel’s oldest enemies (1 Samuel 15). Mordecai refused to bow to Haman. When Haman learned that Mordecai was a Jew, instead of only killing him for his defiance, he decided to kill all of the Jews in the kingdom. The same month that the Jews celebrate Passover was the same month when Haman started to plan their deaths. Lots were cast, like rolling of the dice to decide the starting date for their deaths. Haman offered the king his own money to pay for the execution, leaving out the fact that they were Jewish and why he hated them. 10,000 talents was about 75 pounds each of silver, which equates to about 340 tons for a value of about $730 million dollars today. That was an enormous bribe. The decree was written, and the unchangeable law was signed for all of the Jews to be killed.

Word was sent out from Susa to spread the decree. Susa was the royal administration capital of the Persian Empire and the royal fortified city where King Xerxes would spend the winter. It is also the same citadel from Daniel’s vision in Daniel 8:2, and Nehemiah was in this citadel when he heard the news of Jerusalem’s walls being broken down (Nehemiah 1:1).

Esther heard that Mordecai was mourning. He sent word back to her about the decree and begged her to help all of the people, including herself. She could not just knock on the king’s door for a conversation; she must be summoned. She fasted for three days, and would then go to the king saying, “If I perish, I perish.” She decided to risk her life for her entire nation of people. It was a death sentence either way, for being a Jew or for asking to seek out the king without being invited.

After the three days of fasting, Esther paraded herself where the king could see her. He invited her in and held out his scepter; she touched it, meaning the law against coming in uninvited was now void. Xerxes asked her what she wanted and was willing to give her up to half of the kingdom. She did not ask right then for what she wanted; instead, she invited the king and Haman to a banquet. Haman went home with a prideful attitude, puffed up, in anticipation, and with his family, built a 75-foot pole to impale Mordecai on. This first banquet showed Esther’s restraint to make sure her wish was granted.

Today's Discussion question:

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