Esther 10 closes the book of Esther the same way Esther 1
opens the book: proclaiming the greatness of King Xerxes. This time, however, very
little is said about Xerxes. Esther 10:1 mentions that Xerxes imposed an empire-wide
tax. This seems like an odd way to end a story. In their Commentary, Critical and Explanatory, on the Whole Bible, Robert
Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown suggest it could be to compensate for
the hole in the state budget due to not receiving Haman’s funds. On the
contrary, Mervin Breneman, author of The
New American Commentary: Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, suggests the tax is to
contrast Haman’s funding to the treasury in exchange for the lives of the Jews.
The king remains prosperous even with this tax and without Haman’s funds. Carl
Keil and Franz Delitzsche, in their Commentary
on the Old Testament, propose the tax funded the Purim festival. In Be Committed, Warren W. Wiersbe suggests
that tax was on the work and the money of the Jews. If the Jews would have died
at the hands of Haman, Xerxes would have never received this money. Now that
the Jews could live, the king would prosper off their work and their living,
far beyond if the Jews were dead. Or just maybe it’s demonstrating his great
power, in his ability to decree and enforce a tax to the far ends of his
kingdom. Either way, this is King Xerxes’s happily ever after. For everything
else, Esther 10:2 tells the reader to look them up in the official Persian
historical records. Unfortunately, to this day, we don’t have most of those
records, and furthermore, the Greeks didn’t have a lot to say about him either.
Besides that, that’s it.
Esther 10 also closes out with the greatness of Mordecai. Everything
else focuses on Mordecai. Notice that Mordecai’s greatness rests on his
position in the empire. Note the text says nothing about Mordecai being a
righteous Jew or devoutly following the law. He is a good Jew because of his
position in the Persian Empire and what he did for the Jews. Speaking of which,
notice chapter 10 only credits Mordecai for saving the Jews and not Queen
Esther. Mordecai’s pride and Esther’s absentness have left scholars in their
textual criticism to doubt Mordecai wrote this chapter, believing it was added
later. Sadly, Esther’s absence just might be old fashion sexism. Since Esther
did her part of intervening with the king, she is no longer needed. She
probably had little to no power when it comes to administering government
power. Probably, in King Xerxes’s eyes, just like other kings of that, her sole
purpose was now bearing sons. Since the book of Esther does not concern itself
with the king’s children, Esther role as mother of the king’s children need not
to be mentioned.
While the statement about Mordecai might sound like prideful
boasting (especially if Mordecai is the author), the statement also shows some
attributes of Mordecai’s character than the reader can learn from. Just as
Mordecai put the welfare of his people before his own wellbeing, the reader
comes to realize that we cannot truly love our neighbor until we put them fully
before ourselves. Just as Mordecai spoke up for a victimized people, the reader
learns not to fear defending the poor and weak in society. Both of these life
lessons learned from Mordecai come in great contrast to Haman. Remember Haman
used his second-in-command power to put himself first and to overpower the
small and weak of the empire. In contrast, Mordecai used that power to lift his
people up and empower them. Now the reader learns a third lesson: whenever in
power, we should use it in a wise and godly way. That way will involve loving
other and help the poor, needy and weak.
So the book of Esther ends with this 3-verse epilogue in
chapter 10. It contains the greatness of Xerxes, the greatness of Mordecai, and
no mention of Esther. That’s it. Like I said above, the book of Esther would
have ended just fine without this epilogue. But I believe the Bible has no
fillers, so the reader has to ask what the purpose of this epilogue is. Look
back at the text again, but more closely. We have Xerxes, supportive of the
Jews, as king on the throne. Second to the king is the Jew Mordecai. With a Jew
and a Jewish supporter as the two most powerful men up on top, the Jews living
all over the Persian Empire must have felt peace and safety. They no longer had
to fear any man or men trying to use the government to harm or oppress the
people because they had a Jew and a Jew supporter as the top two men of the
government, who would protect the Jews from any such attack. Persian records
record a new name for the grand vizier position, which dates to around 465 BC.
I bet all the way up to that point, the Jews felt this peace and safety,
knowing the Jew Mordecai and the Jew supporter Xerxes kept a faithful watch of
the Jews’ wellbeing. This was a blessing from God, that came out of his
providence.
When I spent the summer of 2009 in Israel, I noticed some
shops selling a certain t-shirt. This t-shirt listed all the nations that stood
up against the Jews, and then it recorded them all as “gone.” It even listed
Iran as “????.” The bottom of t-shirt said, “The Jewish Nation: The smallest of
nations with a friend in the highest of places. SO…BE NICE!” I didn’t buy the
shirt, for I didn’t think I agreed with it, but now I wish I did, for it would
have created a nice illustration for Esther chapter 10. I invite you to look
beyond the shirt’s prideful, arrogant cockiness, and I invite you to make the
connection to the book of Esther. Prior to the book of Esther, the Jews ran
into conflict with the Egyptians, Philistines, Assyrians and Babylonians. Each
one of those civilizations attempted to exterminate the Jews, yet each one
ended being exterminated, and the Jews survived and thrived. Add Persia to the
list. Haman intended to exterminate the Jews, only for himself and his family
to be exterminated. Later on, even Persia would die out (its remnants are the
modern-day nations of Iraq and Iran), but the Jews would still be there. A
Jewish reader of the book of Esther would look on this past of God siding with
the Jews, and he or she could look towards the future in hope, believing God
would act the same. I mentioned this in Esther chapter 4. In Esther 4, Mordecai
could speak about a deliver to Esther with such boldness because he knew the
history of God saving his people the Jews. Add now the Jews living in Persia
during the events of the book of Esther. God intervened for Esther. Now the
Jewish reader should share in the same hope Mordecai had in Esther 4.
For the Christians, who are also God’s people, the lesson
remains the same. Reading the book of Esther, we see how God intervenes in the
lives of His people to give them hope, peace, safety and blessing. Therefore,
the Christian reader can also hope in a future of peace, safety and blessing.
This hope can be for the present, when things may not be going the way the
Christian would have hoped. But this hope even extends to the future. The hope
seen in the book of Esther is the same hope found in the book of Revelation. We
can hope in a peaceful and secure future because we know God is actively
involved in the past, present and future. And that future involves God and his
people winning at the end, just like Esther and Mordecai led the Jews into winning
over the bad guys.
I guess the best way to end this story is the way any good
tale ends. “And they lived happily ever after.” J
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