Called For Such a Time As This

INTRO

Today we continue the study of Esther. In chapters 1—2, we read about Queen Vashti who humiliated her husband King Ahasuerus (also known as King Xerxes), and he took away her crown. The most beautiful young women in Persia were selected to spend one year in the harem in preparation for going to the king as he looked for someone to replace Vashti. Esther, a young Jewish woman, was one of those chosen to go before the king, and she was chosen to be the next queen. Esther’s uncle and adoptive father was given a place of authority at the King’s Gate. While there, he heard of a plot to assassinate the king. He passed on the information to Esther who then told the king, and the plotters were found guilty and hanged. Our phrase for Esther is The Despised One, and it begins to come into play in chapters 3—4.

In chapter 3, King Ahasuerus honored Haman, an Agagite and Amalekite, who was an enemy of the Jews. Haman was promoted over all the other officials (v. 1). The king ordered his entire staff to bow and pay homage to Haman, but Mordecai refused to do so (v. 2). Other staff members asked Mordecai why he refused, and after several days, they reported his refusal to Haman to see if Mordecai’s actions would be tolerated. Mordecai refused to bow because he was a Jew (vv. 3–4). When Haman found out, he was enraged, and because Mordecai was a Jew, he planned to destroy all the Jews in the kingdom (vv. 5–6). Because Mordecai refused to bow down, Haman deceived the king and asked him to proclaim a decree that the “disobedient ethnic group” be annihilated, and in return, Haman promised the king that he would pay 375 tons of silver into the royal treasury (vv. 8-9). The king agreed and gave his signet ring to Haman, and the decree was written and sealed exactly as Haman dictated (vv. 10–12). The letters were sent to each province that they were to “destroy, kill, and annihilate all the Jewish people . . . and plunder their possessions on a single day” (v. 13). The potential numbers of Jews that were being targeted throughout the Persian Empire could have been as many as 15 million.¹

TEACHING

Esther 4:1–4: When Mordecai heard about the decree, he put on sackcloth and ashes and went into the city mourning and crying loudly and bitterly (v. 1). He could go no further than the King’s Gate because he was wearing sackcloth (v. 2), and the Jewish people mourned and fasted through the entire kingdom (v. 3). Edmund Burke says, “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.”² Mordecai began to do something immediately instead of letting evil prevail (Proverb 24:11–12). As believers, we cannot be neutral!

The fasting in verse 3 was a corporate fast. The Hebrew root for fast means “to abstain from food” and “at times from drinking, bathing, anointing with oil, or sexual intercourse. In essence, fasting acknowledges human frailty before God and appeals to his mercy.”³Nelson’s Commentary explains fasting was commonly done in the ancient world and used in “mourning for the dead, intercessory prayer, repentance and contrition for sin, and times of distress.”⁴Examples of fasting in the Old Testament include: the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16:31), and the commemoration of the destruction of Jerusalem (Zechariah 8:19). Fasting can last for one day (1 Samuel 7:6), seven days (1 Samuel 31:13), or 40 days (Exodus 34:28).

Esther 4:5–12: Esther heard what Mordecai was doing and sent him clothes to replace the sackcloth (v. 4). When Mordecai refused the clothes, Esther sent one of the king’s eunuchs, Hathach, to find out what was going on (v. 5). Mordecai told Hathach everything about the decree and Haman’s gift of money in return for the annihilation of the Jews (vv. 6–7). Mordecai even gave Hathach a copy of the decree to give to Esther and asked her to plead with the king to save their people (vv. 8–9). However, Esther sent Hathach back to Mordecai to remind him that if she went before the king without his summons, she could be killed and in fact the king had not summoned her for 30 days (vv. 10–12).

Esther 4:13–17: Mordecai sent another response to Esther, asking if she really thought she would be safe since she lived in the palace. He asked her to consider if God had put her in the role of the queen to be able to intervene in this time (vv. 13–14). Mordecai pointed out three facts: (1) Being a palace resident was no guarantee she would be delivered from death; (2) her silence wouldn’t prevent deliverance from coming from some other source; and (3) her being in the palace was not an accident and that she was there “for such a time as this” (v. 14) (Genesis 50:20.)

Most scholars believe that God is in this book, even if His name is not mentioned. Huey suggests, “The book implies that even when God’s people are far from him and disobedient, they are still the object of his concern and love, and that he is working out his purposes through them.”5 Now Mordecai had Esther’s support, and she asked him to assemble all the Jews in Susa to fast for three days. Esther and her female servants also fasted, and after the fast Esther would go before the king, even at the cost of her life (v. 16). Mordecai did everything as Esther requested (v. 17). Wiersbe points out that this was a matter of life and death for Esther because everything was already against her—the law of the Persians, the governmental decree, and her gender because of the king’s attitude toward women.⁶

CLOSING

Esther was not the only one in the Bible who was willing to do God’s will no matter the cost. Paul wrote that his life didn’t matter as long as he continued to testify to what the Lord had done in his life (Acts 20:24). Esther was willing to let go of everything—her crown, her kingdom, even her life to do God’s will (Luke 14:33). Jesus also told His disciples that they needed to deny themselves in order to follow Him (Matthew 16:24).

Remember that all this started because Mordecai refused to bow down to Haman. How do you get to the point that you’re willing to do whatever it takes, regardless of the consequences? Romans 8:31 answers this question: “If God is for us, who is against us?”