Esther

     Nebuchadnezzar carries the people of Judah into exile in the year 586 BC.  The Babylonians are eventually conquered by Cyrus and the Medo-Persians in 539 BC.  It is Cyrus who allows the Israelites to return to Jerusalem and begin reconstruction of the temple.
     But he is replaced by his son Cambyses.  Then Darius I defeats Cambyses and takes his place on the throne.  Work on the temple has been interrupted due to accusations from enemies of the Israelites, but Darius tells the Jews in 520 they may resume work on the building.  It is during this time that Haggai and Zechariah prophesy.  The reconstruction is completed four years later.
     Artaxerxes I, grandson of Darius and son of Xerxes, gives permission for both Ezra and Nehemiah to travel to Jerusalem to help with problems there.  During this time (about 444 BC) the Israelites are allowed to rebuild the walls of the city.
     Darius and his army lose to the Greeks at the battle of Marathon.  He dies before he can return with another expedition.  So it is left to his son Xerxes to command a second military campaign into Greece.  It is this army that is temporarily delayed by a handful of Spartans and other Greeks at the famous battle of Thermopylae.  The Persian invaders are defeated in two subsequent encounters.
     It is by another name, however, that we encounter Xerxes in the Bible.  He is called Ahasuerus in the book of Esther.
     In the third year of his reign, King Ahasuerus gives a banquet for all his noblemen and officials.  This is before his disastrous campaign into Greece, and perhaps he is trying to rally support for the endeavor.  This is no small get-together.  The festivities go on for 180 days.  And then the king gives a seven-day banquet to wrap things up.
     At the same time, Vashti, the queen, gives a banquet for the women.
     On the seventh day of the king's last banquet, Ahasuerus orders Vashti to come so he can display her beauty to the guests.  She refuses, and she is removed as queen.  Ahasuerus issues a decree to find the most beautiful woman in the kingdom to become queen.
     Although the selection of a replacement follows immediately in the text, we learn from Esther 2:16 that a new queen is not chosen until the seventh year of the king's reign.  This is about four years after the banquet.  It is during this period that Ahasuerus, or Xerxes, attempts the invasion of Greece.
     It is interesting to note that the Greek historian Herodotus states that Xerxes sought solace in his harem following his humiliating defeat.  Read the second chapter of Esther with this in mind.
     The young lady who is chosen to become queen is Esther.  She is being reared by her cousin, Mordecai.  Following her cousin's instructions, Esther doe not reveal that she is Jewish.
     During this same time, Mordecai hears of a plan by two men to kill the king.  He reports the plot and, after an investigation, the two men are executed.  The proceedings are recorded in the official chronicles of the kingdom.
     Some time later a man named Haman climbs to a high position in the government.  He is a proud man, and he convinces Ahasuerus to command that everyone bow down to him when he passes.
     Mordecai refuses to pay homage to Haman, so the other servants at the king's gate try to persuade him to comply with the order.  He explains that he is a Jew and that it would not be right for him to bow down to Haman.  When Haman notices that Mordecai neither bows down nor pays homage to him, the ruler is filled with rage.  But it is not enough to punish Mordecai.  Haman decides that he must destroy all of the Jews.
     Haman casts lots, or Pur, to determine when to exterminate the Israelites.  The number that comes up indicates the twelfth month.
     He then goes to Ahasuerus with a report of an entire group of people who do not observe the king's laws.  According to Haman, it is not in the king's interest to allow these people to remain.  He offers 10,000 talents of silver to hire executioners to destroy the Israelites.
     Ahasuerus signs the decree with his signet ring and letters are sent by couriers to all parts of the kingdom.  The Jews are to be annihilated on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month.
     Is Haman successful with his plan?  

     When Mordecai learns of the order to kill all the Jews, he tears his clothes and puts on sackcloth and ashes.  He goes as far as the king's gate, which is as far as he is permitted to go without proper clothing.
     Esther's servants bring news of her cousin's condition, so she sends new clothing to him.  When he refuses to accept the new garments, she sends a servant to learn why Mordecai is acting this way.
     The cousin explains everything to the servant, including the large amount of money available to recruit executioners.  He also provides a copy of the edict.
     Esther sends word back to Mordecai that it would be risky for her to try to talk with Ahasuerus.  According to Persian law, anyone who enters the king's presence without being summoned is killed unless the king holds out his golden scepter.  And the king has not called for Esther in 30 days.
     "Do not imagine that you in the king's palace can escape any more than all the Jews," Mordecai responds in chapter four, verse 13.
     Then Mordecai makes an observation which is the key to the entire book.
     "For if you remain silent at this time," he notes, "relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place and you and your father's house will perish.  And who knows whether you have not attained royalty for such a time as this?"
     Esther sends word for all the Jews in the capital city of Susa to fast three days in preparation for her visit to the king.
     The queen puts on her royal robes and walks into the throne room.  Ahasuerus extends the scepter and asks Esther what she desires.
     "If it please the king," she replies in Esther 5:4, "may the king and Haman come this day to the banquet that I have prepared for him."
     "What is your petition, for it shall be granted you," the king promises as he and Haman sit at the banquet.  "And what is your request?  Even to half of the kingdom it shall be done."
     All that Esther asks is that the same two guests attend another banquet the following day.  She promises to reveal her request then.
     Haman leaves the banquet with pride that he has been selected to socialize with the king and queen.  But then he sees Mordecai as he passes by the gate.  When he arrives home he discusses everything with his wife, including the anger he feels every time he sees Mordecai.
     "Have a gallows fifty cubits high made," the wife suggests, "and in the morning ask the king to have Mordecai hanged on it, then go joyfully with the king to the banquet."
     During the night the king is unable to sleep, so he calls for the record books to be brought to him.  He reads the account of the attempt to assassinate him, and asks what was done to reward the man who foiled it.
     "Nothing has been done for him," is the reply.
     When Haman arrives in the morning, Ahasuerus has a question for him.
     "What is to be done for the man whom the king desires to honor?" the king inquires.
     "Whom could the king desire to honor more than me?" Haman says to himself.
     "Let them bring a royal robe which the king has worn," Haman answers, "and the horse on which the king has ridden, and on whose head a royal crown has been placed; and let the robe and the horse be handed over to one of the king's most noble princes and let them array the man whom the king desires to honor and lead him on horseback through the city square, and proclaim before him, 'Thus it shall be done to the man whom the king desires to honor.'"
     "Take quickly the robes and the horse as you have said," the king agrees, "and do so for Mordecai the Jew, who is sitting at the king's gate; do not fall short in anything of all that you have said."
     Haman carries out the king's order and then hurries home in embarrassment.  He is so upset that he forgets the appointment with the queen, and servants are sent to bring him to the banquet.
     While they are drinking their wine, Ahasuerus asks again about Esther's request.
     "Let my life be given me as my petition," she asks beginning in Esther 7:3, "and my people as my request; for we have been sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be killed and to be annihilated."
     "Who is he," the king demands, "and where is he, who would presume to do this?"
     "A foe and an enemy," she replies, "is this wicked Haman."
     It is probably an understatement when the text says that Haman becomes terrified.
     The king is so angry that he goes into the garden.  He returns to find Haman throwing himself on the queen's couch to beg for mercy.  This only infuriates the king more and Haman is carried away to be placed on the gallows he has prepared for Mordecai.
     The order to kill the Israelites cannot be revoked, but Ahasuerus issues a decree for the Jews to defend themselves.  Government officials throughout the kingdom assist the Jews, and their enemies are eliminated.  Mordecai is promoted to the second highest position in the land.
     After this event, the Jews begin observing a feast as described in the ninth chapter of Esther.  Since Haman cast Pur to determine the date of the elimination of the Jews, the feast is known as Purim.
     Everything turns out for the Jews, but we have to wonder what would have happened if Esther would have compromised.  After all, things were going well for her in the palace.  Perhaps the order would not affect her.  But, then, Mordecai reminds her to do what is right, not what is easy or safe.
     What about us?  Do we do what is easy?  Do we do what is safe?  Or do we do what is right no matter what the consequences?
     Are we going to follow traditions and man-made philosophies, or are we willing to follow the truth in order to be set free?

Unless otherwise noted, "Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE(R), (C) Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission." (www.lockman.org)