[Esther 8] Act 3 Scene 2: The Good Guys Win, the Bad Guys Lose

2 chapters ago, we saw God’s providence on a small scale. Haman went into the king’s presence expecting to punish Mordecai and get rewarded, and he came out rewarding Mordecai and punishing himself. Last chapter we saw God’s providence on a medium scale. King Xerxes sided with Esther and her people, the Jews, and he sided against Haman, leading to his execution. This chapter will see God’s providence on a large scale, and it will be truly a larger scale. We’ll see God’s providence throughout the entire Persian Empire. Just remember how important this large scale providence is. Haman may be out of the picture, but his decree still is in the picture.

We left off in Esther 7 with Haman’s execution. Because Haman is a criminal, the king holds the right to seize his possessions. King Xerxes could have kept it for himself, but he decides to give it to away, perhaps admitting partial guilt for allowing such a foolish law to be signed. Since Esther revealed her relationship to Mordecai, revealed her gratitude to Mordecai for giving her courage to speak to king, and the king’s gratitude for saving him the first time, the king and queen see it fit to receive Haman’s possessions. Xerxes had no objections, especially now learning that Mordecai was his relative by marriage! Once again, the reader sees the tables turned as King Xerxes decides Mordecai shall receive Haman’s belongings. Haman desired to plunder the Jews of the goods after annihilating the Jews, as seen in the edict he wrote up in Esther 3:13. Now Mordecai ends up plundering Haman of his goods. Most significant of all these goods was the king’s signet ring. The signet ring gave the king’s final approval for all the laws of the land. When Mordecai receives the king, he now becomes the grand vizier and second in power in Persia. With Mordecai now in control of the ring, Mordecai has the power to control the fate of the Jews. Whereas Haman abused the king’s power for his own personal vendetta against the Jews, now Mordecai will loyally use that power to save the Jews and benefit the Persian Empire.

Since I said that Esther 8 is a larger scale of what happened in Esther 7, expect to see some parallels in the 2 chapters. Here, in Esther 8:3-6, we will see first parallel. Before we get to that parallel, we see a parallel to Esther 5. In Esther 8:3-6, Esther appears before King Xerxes unplanned and unannounced, just like she did in Esther 5:1-3. The results are the same. Xerxes extends his gold scepter so Esther may stand in the king’s presence and make her request. Now we can reach the first parallel of the consecutive chapters. Just as Esther pleaded for the mercy of herself and her people in Esther 7:3-6, so Esther pleads for the mercy of her people in Esther 8:3-6. I do wonder why Mordecai, the new grand vizier, does not make a plea for a new edict. Perhaps Mordecai did not feel like he had a voice of influence, being new on the job. Or maybe it’s simply a literary device to preserve the parallel to Esther 7. Just like in Esther 7:3-6, Esther humbles herself before the king. Although King Xerxes could rightfully share the blame for passing such a foolish law that cannot be reverse, Queen Esther does not want to shame King Xerxes, for that could sway him. She knows she alone does not have the power to do anything, and she knows the decision purely resides in the judgment of the king. She also keeps it simple, as she simply requests for an edict that will supersede the Haman’s edict.

Esther’s simple request does not have a simple answer. As seen in Esther 8:8, none of King Xerxes’s edicts can be revoked, including the edict Haman wrote. Yet Xerxes gives Esther and Mordecai all the power and resources they need, including the king’s signet ring, to do whatever they see as best of the Jews. Even in the Hebrew, King Xerxes literally says, “You write,” emphasizing the power given to Esther and Mordecai. When I see Xerxes hand so much power over to godly Jews like Esther and Mordecai, I can’t help but see it as Xerxes giving the power back to God. It’s not like God needs the power, for the power was always his. But it’s more like King Xerxes is admitting, “Let’s do what God sees is best.”

Now that Esther has made her plea to Xerxes, and Xerxes has granted the plea and allowed Mordecai to write it up, the attention turns to Mordecai. If you’re keeping track of all the dates in your head, Mordecai writes his decree 2 months after Haman wrote his decree. That means the Jews now have 9 months to prepare themselves. Mordecai’s decree and Haman’s decree have a lot of similarities. Both were sent out as fast as possible to all regions of the Persian Empire. Both Haman and Mordecai had their decrees written in every language spoken in the Persian Empire. Mordecai’s orders even parallel Haman’s orders. Just as Haman ordered for individuals, families and groups to destroy, kill and annihilate any and all Jews, Mordecai orders the Jews to destroy, kill and annihilate any individual, family or group that attempts to harm the Jews. This parallel leads to our second parallel to Esther 7. Just as Xerxes ordered Haman, the enemy of the Jews, to be executed in Esther 7, so Xerxes’s signet ring orders any and all enemies of the Jews to be executed in Esther 8. Finally, just as Haman planned to take all the possessions of the dead Jews, now the Jews can take all the possessions that once belonged to their dead enemies. All these parallels and similarities are supposed to get the audience, both the original audience and you today, to be thinking about Haman’s law in Esther 3. This law was clearly written in this way to combat and overpower a certain law, that is Haman’s law. Overall, Haman’s law commanded death, while Mordecai’s law commanded life.

Esther 8 ends with a picture of Mordecai wearing all the royal clothes. This is the real deal, unlike the borrowed robes Mordecai wore in Esther 6! His blue and white robes are the colors the royal family wore. The purple represents wealth and nobility, as only the richest could afford to wear purple. The crown, or headdress, was probably a large turban, matching in color to the robes. This crown would point back to his close relationship with the king as well. More importantly, however, is how the people reacted to Mordecai and his law. If you remember in Esther 3, Haman’s law left the people of Susa bewildered. The Jews responded with fasting, mourning, wailing and weeping. Mordecai’s law led to a much more positive outcome. The whole city of Susa rejoiced. The Jews were ecstatic, and rightfully so, for they now had a chance to live instead of accepting death. They even got some converts. Yes, it may be out of fear (and whether that’s a good method of conversion is a conversation for another time), but I wonder if some of those converted because they were amazed at how the God of the Jews rescued them when all seemed lost, and they wanted a part of that. Either way, it changed the Gentiles’ attitude towards the Jews throughout Persia.

 

I hope you’ve noticed all the parallels in Esther 8, not only to Esther 7, but to all the previous chapters in the book of Esther. The author of book of Esther (most likely Mordecai) puts these parallels in there to show to you the tables being turned, as we have already seen, yet in this chapter, we see it more specifically. In this chapter, we see the power change specifically connected with certain people. In previous chapters, Haman was second in command. In Esther 8, Mordecai is second in command. In Esther 6, Mordecai is going to be hanged, but Haman ends up getting hanged in Esther 7:10, and Xerxes reminds the reader again in Esther 8:7. Prior to Esther 8, An edict is issued to kill, destroy and annihilate the Jews. In Esther 8, an edict is issued to kill, destroy and annihilate anyone attacking the Jews. The power has shifted from one person or one people to another. This is a specific tables turned, called role reversal. Therefore, in Esther 8, God’s providence is seen in role reversal. God reveals himself in role reversal. In order for God to truly reveal his great and mighty power, he has to reveal it through the weak in the world. God has always been this way from the start. God explains why he chose Israel in Deuteronomy 7:7,8. In those verses, he says, “It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.” God made it clear from Israel that he did not choose Israel for any desirable characteristics, like the number of the people or the strength of all the people. Rather, God chose them out of love and devotion to their forefathers. Therefore, Israel could not claim their own power, but instead they had to fully rely on God. Thus, when Israel did become powerful through the Lord, they needed constant reminders to humble themselves, so they can continue to be on the Lord’s side. Proverbs 3:34 reminds Israel, “He mocks proud mockers, but gives grace to the humble.” Peter and James once again remind Christians of this when they say in 1 Peter 5:5 and James 4:6 respectively, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” The Bible makes it clear that if you want God to be on your side, you must humble yourself, even submitting yourself to be the weakest. Then God can role reversal you to the top. As Jesus said in Luke 14:11, “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Esther and Mordecai have created a decree which will allow the Jews to fight back, but it doesn’t mean the fighting won’t cease, and it doesn’t mean the bloodshed for either Jew or Gentile will disappear. In the next chapter, we’ll see how the two combating decrees fight it out.