Last week in Part 1, we left Mordecai in an impossible situation. And we asked if maybe God has placed you in a tough spot where he wants to use you for a larger mission.
In Chapter 4, Mordecai’s response to a decree of death for all Jews is to lead his people in repentance. When Esther sees Mordecai in sack cloth and ashes at the palace gate, she inquires, and Mordecai commands Esther to go to the king to beg for her people.
Esther knows that anyone who goes to the king without being called is subject to immediate death, unless the king holds out his golden scepter. Esther has not been called to the king for thirty days, so to go uninvited will likely be fatal – there are plenty of other girls in the harem.
Mordecai replies to Esther:
“Do not think to yourself that in the king’s palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”[1]
Esther, in obedience, asks Mordecai to cause all the Jews in the palace city to fast on her behalf for three days with no food or water. She will do the same. After the fast:
“Then I will go to the king, though it is against the law, and if I perish, I perish.”[2]
In Chapter 5, Esther appears in the king’s court at risk to her life and the never-ending love of God prevails. The king is so enamored with her that he grants her any wish, even up to half his kingdom! Now Esther, in perfect unity with God, must formulate a plan to save her people.
Making it up as she goes, Esther invites both the king and Haman to a feast she has prepared before coming to the king. The king accepts and commands Haman to join them immediately.
Once both men are happy with wine, the king repeats his pledge a second time to grant Esther any wish. Astonishingly, she answers the same: come to a feast I will prepare for you tomorrow!
There is no record that Esther knows what she is going to say tomorrow, other than somehow she must plead for her people.
In Chapter 6 we see that the Cycle works on all people, not just the people of God!
Haman is puffed up like a rooster for being invited by the king and queen, but when he sees Mordecai once again at the palace gate, he is overcome with rage against the Jews again (5:13) and a plot is hatched to hang Mordecai from a new gallows to be built overnight.
But that night the king cannot sleep and orders the chronicles of the nation to be read to him. He recalls that is was Mordecai who saved him from assassination and orders Haman to prepare great honors for “the man the king delights to honor.” Haman assumes this is himself.
The king then commands Haman to honor Mordecai!
In Chapter 7, at the second feast, Esther begs for her people’s lives, and the king wants to know who could threaten death. She boldly declares the enemy to be Haman! Haman is hanged, along with his ten sons, on the gallows he built in his own back yard.
God’s judgment is served without warning to those who do not have perfect unity with him.
The Book of Esther ends with full restoration of the Jewish people by the king, which likely leads to his decision later to return them from exile to their homeland.
Has God placed you in peril against an enemy of his for such a time as this?
The Cycle says repent in prayer and fasting and submit even your life to his never-ending love for restoration to perfect unity with God.
[1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Es 4:13–14). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.
[2] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Es 4:16). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.
In Chapter 4, Mordecai’s response to a decree of death for all Jews is to lead his people in repentance. When Esther sees Mordecai in sack cloth and ashes at the palace gate, she inquires, and Mordecai commands Esther to go to the king to beg for her people.
Esther knows that anyone who goes to the king without being called is subject to immediate death, unless the king holds out his golden scepter. Esther has not been called to the king for thirty days, so to go uninvited will likely be fatal – there are plenty of other girls in the harem.
Mordecai replies to Esther:
“Do not think to yourself that in the king’s palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”[1]
Esther, in obedience, asks Mordecai to cause all the Jews in the palace city to fast on her behalf for three days with no food or water. She will do the same. After the fast:
“Then I will go to the king, though it is against the law, and if I perish, I perish.”[2]
In Chapter 5, Esther appears in the king’s court at risk to her life and the never-ending love of God prevails. The king is so enamored with her that he grants her any wish, even up to half his kingdom! Now Esther, in perfect unity with God, must formulate a plan to save her people.
Making it up as she goes, Esther invites both the king and Haman to a feast she has prepared before coming to the king. The king accepts and commands Haman to join them immediately.
Once both men are happy with wine, the king repeats his pledge a second time to grant Esther any wish. Astonishingly, she answers the same: come to a feast I will prepare for you tomorrow!
There is no record that Esther knows what she is going to say tomorrow, other than somehow she must plead for her people.
In Chapter 6 we see that the Cycle works on all people, not just the people of God!
Haman is puffed up like a rooster for being invited by the king and queen, but when he sees Mordecai once again at the palace gate, he is overcome with rage against the Jews again (5:13) and a plot is hatched to hang Mordecai from a new gallows to be built overnight.
But that night the king cannot sleep and orders the chronicles of the nation to be read to him. He recalls that is was Mordecai who saved him from assassination and orders Haman to prepare great honors for “the man the king delights to honor.” Haman assumes this is himself.
The king then commands Haman to honor Mordecai!
In Chapter 7, at the second feast, Esther begs for her people’s lives, and the king wants to know who could threaten death. She boldly declares the enemy to be Haman! Haman is hanged, along with his ten sons, on the gallows he built in his own back yard.
God’s judgment is served without warning to those who do not have perfect unity with him.
The Book of Esther ends with full restoration of the Jewish people by the king, which likely leads to his decision later to return them from exile to their homeland.
Has God placed you in peril against an enemy of his for such a time as this?
The Cycle says repent in prayer and fasting and submit even your life to his never-ending love for restoration to perfect unity with God.
[1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Es 4:13–14). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.
[2] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Es 4:16). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.
RSS Feed