God Protects His Scattered People (Esther 7-10)
Does God ever feel silent in your life? In Esther, His name isn’t mentioned, yet His unseen hand guides every twist to protect and deliver His people.
Esther 7-10
Today's Scripture Passage
A Few Thoughts to Consider
Have you ever felt abandoned by God?
It’s likely that many of the Jewish people who were part of the diaspora (scattered people) during Esther's time had this thought. They were living under foreign rule. As was evidenced by Haman’s plot to destroy them, one stroke of the king’s pen could be their entire undoing. This placed individuals like Esther and her cousin Mordecai in tremendous jeopardy.
In chapter 7, Esther prepares yet another banquet for the king and Haman. Here, she reveals her Jewish identity to King Ahasuerus and exposes Haman's plot to annihilate the Jews. She starts with these tactful words in verses 3-4: 3 “If I have found favor with you, Your Majesty, and if the king is pleased, spare my life; this is my request. And spare my people; this is my desire. 4 For my people and I have been sold to destruction, death, and annihilation. If we had merely been sold as male and female slaves, I would have kept silent. Indeed, the trouble wouldn’t be worth burdening the king.”
This response to the king is a masterclass in shrewd language. Debra Reid writes, “One of the striking characteristics of Esther’s reply to Xerxes is that in so few words she manages to say so much.”[1] She cuts right to the heart of the matter and helps the king see her people’s situation as a matter of life and death.
It’s also worth noting that Esther would have known firsthand what would motivate the king to act. As Leslie Allen and Timothy Laniak write, “Esther’s accusation triggers the kind of anger to be expected from those in power who are threatened…Esther’s appeal was based not only on the king’s favor with her but perhaps even more on the king’s own honor.[2] One need only recall how the king responded in Chapter 1 when his wife, Queen Vashti, refused to come at his request.
Esther is walking a tightrope. As Fredric Bush writes, “She must somehow fully expose the culpability of Haman, while at the same time never appearing in any way to be bringing any charges against the king.”[3] It works, and the king sentences Haman to death. While some have criticized Esther for not sparing Haman’s life, it’s important to note this was a unique scenario at a tumultuous point in human history. As Karen Jobes writes,
Esther is not portrayed as the ideal woman of God living out her relationship with the Lord as a direct example for women today. Her role as the Jewish queen of Persia in a specific stage of redemptive history and biblical theology means that no other woman can or should try to emulate directly her character or behavior, just as no Christian man today would emulate David when he killed two hundred Philistines for their foreskins as the bride price for Saul’s daughter (1 Sam. 18:24–30).[4]
Because of Esther’s actions, the king reverses the Jewish people’s fortunes. Esther 9:1-2 states after the king’s command went into effect, 1 “On the day when the Jews’ enemies had hoped to overpower them, just the opposite happened. The Jews overpowered those who hated them. 2 In each of King Ahasuerus’s provinces the Jews assembled in their cities to attack those who intended to harm them. Not a single person could withstand them; fear of them fell on every nationality.”
As a result, Chapter 10 tells us the Jewish people celebrated this deliverance by instituting the feast of Purim. To this day, Purim in Israel is celebrated with great enthusiasm and festivity. The celebrations include reading the Megillah (the Book of Esther) in synagogues, which recounts the story of Purim. Traditional customs include giving gifts of food (mishloach manot), charity to the poor (matanot la'evyonim), and enjoying a festive meal (seudat Purim).
