Bible Study Guide for Chapter 8 Esther For Such a Time as This: Part VIII Revoking the Irrevocable

Haman paid the price for his pride, bigotry, arrogance and hatred, impaled on his own pole or hanged on his own gallows. Whatever translation of the you use, the fact remains, was dead. Esther sought the Lord and bravely did His will, risking her life, she intervened on behalf of her people. She concocted the plan that revealed Haman for what he was. King Xerxes found himself without a chief advisor, but that was the least of his worries. Haman was gone, but the problem remained. An edict had been made for the annihilation of the Jews. Haman made the edict and deceived the king into “signing off” on it by giving Haman his signet ring. The king knew he had a disaster on his hands, but his action in the last chapter seem to reveal that Xerxes had grown through the experience. That brings us to Esther chapter eight. Look at verses 1 and 2.

Esther 8:1 That same day King Xerxes gave Queen Esther the estate of Haman, the enemy of the Jews. And came into the presence of the king, for Esther had told how he was related to her. 2 The king took off his signet ring, which he had reclaimed from Haman, and presented it to Mordecai. And Esther appointed him over Haman’s estate.

Talk about a change in fortune! Esther was already the queen, and when the King promised her up to half his Kingdom, she had no interest in property. All she wanted was to save her people from genocide. Now, in an ironic twist of “fate,” everything that Haman had gained in his deceptive, antisemitic, hateful life, ended up in the hands of the Jewish Queen Esther. Now that their secret was out, Mordecai, who already had favor in the eyes of King because of the assassination plot he previously foiled, had also been revealed to be the adoptive father of the Queen, and as such was invited into the presence of the King. As if that wasn’t enough of an honor, the king took off his signet ring and gave it to Mordecai. Remember the immense power this ring gave its bearer. He could now sign off on things in the name of the king. The king reclaimed the ring from it’s previous owner, Haman. Now the Bible never tells us why the king thought Haman deserved such power. What it does show us was that Haman was ultimately undeserving of it. Now that power rests in the hands of someone who clearly had proven his trustworthiness. Further, Esther put Mordecai in charge of Haman’s estate.

Think of all that means. First of all there is poetic justice in the sense that Mordecai, the person who Haman hated the most, was now in charge of all he had. Secondly, for the first time we see recorded in the , the king is taking advice from someone who clearly had his best interests at heart. The king was clearly growing which is good because he still had a large problem before him. Remember God’s promise to Abraham all the way back in Genesis 12 stated that God would bless anyone who blessed Israel and curse anyone who cursed them. Well Haman had put Xerxes on the wrong side of that promise, but now he has help to get out from under it. The only question is,”How?”

Esther 8:3 Esther again pleaded with the king, falling at his feet and weeping. She begged him to put an end to the evil plan of Haman the Agagite, which he had devised against the Jews. 4 Then the king extended the gold scepter to Esther and she arose and stood before him.

Esther was still humble before her husband, but it appears there was more boldness in her approach.

1 Perhaps this reveals a deepening of their relationship, and a greater trust in Esther of the king’s love. We don’t know for sure, but even with all the blessings she and Mordecai have received, the most important thing to the Queen was still the rescue of her people. An end was put to Haman, but his plot still remained. Once the king extended the scepter to Esther, she put forth her proposal. Look at verses 5 and 6.

Esther 8:5 “If it pleases the king,” she said, “and if he regards me with favor and thinks it the right thing to do, and if he is pleased with me, let an order be written overruling the dispatches that Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, devised and wrote to destroy the Jews in all the king’s provinces. 6 For how can I bear to see disaster fall on my people? How can I bear to see the destruction of my family?”

I know it might seem like I’ve been beating this point to death, but here is where it becomes most urgent. Medo-Persian kings were seen and worshipped as gods by their people. Because of this their decisions were seen as irrevocable. There was nothing Xerxes could do to change the annihilation order. It was in place and it would stay in place. Now clearly Xerxes saw it as regrettable but he can’t change it. To me, this really makes the point that emperor worship was a bad idea. After all, if the king can’t change a law he made, because it makes him look fallible, isn’t he in a very real sense powerless to change it? What kind of god is powerless? Now a skeptic might look at that and be tempted to say “Wait, God does not make us do what He wills. Doesn’t free will make him powerless over our wills?” No it does not. God has chosen how He will deal with us, and He already knows in advance the choices we will make. The key verse in this whole book shows us that really clearly. Remember, Mordecai talking to Esther before she went to the king.

Esther 4:14 For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?”

If Esther had not stepped up, we could speculate all kinds of possible scenarios, but the fact is God already knew what she would do, and that is why Esther became queen. Had she not stepped up, it’s doubtful we would know her story, instead we would likely be reading of the person who would. Our actions, as well as our failure to act, have already been seen by God. Nothing will thwart his plan, no matter how it looks to us. God is all powerful and never powerless. The King can’t say that and at this point in the story he was in really bad place. Good thing he’s finally surrounded by good people. Look at verses 7 and 8.

Esther 8:7 King Xerxes replied to Queen Esther and to Mordecai the Jew, “Because Haman attacked the Jews, I have given his estate to Esther, and they have impaled him on the pole he set up. 8 Now write another decree in the king’s name in behalf of the Jews as seems best to you, and seal it with the king’s signet ring—for no document written in the king’s name and sealed with his ring can be revoked.”

The law can’t be revoked, but the good news is a new law can be made. The king did the best he could with Haman. Xerxes put him to death. Evidently personnel decisions were different from laws to the Medo Persians, and Xerxes was still allowed to exercise wrath. Xerxes gave Haman’s

2 estate to Esther, and he put his two best people on it. Esther and Mordecai were people he could actually trust and people who actually had some “skin in the game” to decide how to make the new law, protecting their own people. The first law could not be revoked or overturned, but it could be superseded by a new, better irrevocable law.

Esther 8:9 At once the royal secretaries were summoned—on the twenty-third day of the third month, the month of Sivan. They wrote out all Mordecai’s orders to the Jews, and to the satraps, governors and nobles of the 127 provinces stretching from India to Cush. These orders were written in the script of each province and the language of each people and also to the Jews in their own script and language. 10 Mordecai wrote in the name of King Xerxes, sealed the dispatches with the king’s signet ring, and sent them by mounted couriers, who rode fast horses especially bred for the king.

This was about three months after the original edict had been written. Just as the other edict was written in all the languages of the empire, so was this one. The new law was written in the king’s namewith the full authorization of the king and sealed with the kings signet ring, making it the law of the land. Just as the old law was distributed to all corners of the empire so was this one, but what would the law do? The annihilation order was still the law of the land, and it was irrevocable. What could this law do to help the Jewish people? Look at verses 11and 12.

Esther 8:11 The king’s edict granted the Jews in every city the right to assemble and protect themselves; to destroy, kill and annihilate the armed men of any nationality or province who might attack them and their women and children, and to plunder the property of their enemies. 12 The day appointed for the Jews to do this in all the provinces of King Xerxes was the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar.

Basically if the people would want to try to attack the Jews, the law would not stop them, due to the first irrevocable law, however what the new law did was empower the Jewish people not just to defend themselves, but to plunder their attacker’s property. Essentially the law empowered the Jewish people. Where under Haman’s law, they were basically sitting ducks, whose only real choice was to die, and their attackers had nothing to lose and everything to gain. Now if anyone was foolish enough to attack them, they were probably going to pay with their lives. It could be said that this law told the people that the Lord, the God of Israel had come to his people’s aid and He would continue to fight for them. All of the sudden their attackers had a lot to lose. The day that was originally scheduled for their annihilation was now the day the Jewish people were given for the beginning of their self- defense. Look at verse 13

Esther 8:13 A copy of the text of the edict was to be issued as law in every province and made known to the people of every nationality so that the Jews would be ready on that day to avenge themselves on their enemies.

There were nearly nine months for the Jewish people to prepare for their defense. Oh, some would still try to attack them, but the terms of the battle had changed considerably. Further verse 14 tells us.

Esther 8:14 The couriers, riding the royal horses, went out, spurred on by the king’s command, and the edict was issued in the citadel of .

3 It surely seems that the king was making this a priority. The orders for distribution of the edict were very similar to the orders for the first edict. The king was serious. Attacking the Jews was still technically legal, the first law made that the case, but the second law had to be enough to make anyone looking for an easy plunder to think twice. Anyone attacking the Jews would end up paying a high price. Look at verse 15

Esther 8:15 When Mordecai left the king’s presence, he was wearing royal garments of blue and white, a large crown of gold and a purple robe of fine linen. And the city of Susa held a joyous celebration.

Do you remember what happened when the edict was first issued?

Esther 3:15 The couriers went out, spurred on by the king’s command, and the edict was issued in the citadel of Susa. The king and Haman sat down to drink, but the city of Susa was bewildered.

The city was bewildered. The Jews had been in the empire since the Medo-Persians conquered the Babylonians. This was a period of over 100 years. By now the Medo-Persians knew each other. The Jews were probably pretty good neighbors, and all of the sudden the people got a notice that their Jewish neighbors would be killed off throughout the empire in a little less than a year. How would you react? So when the new edict went out, the Jewish people definitely had reason to celebrate, but so did their neighbors. By the way, I did not forget about Mordecai. Mordecai was dressed in the clothes of royalty. Here’s this Jewish man, a man who was marked for death among a people marked for death, and now He is second to the King, a good man in the place of the evil Haman. A man who just days before had been paraded through the streets as a hero, and being proclaimed by Haman, nonetheless. Talk about a reversal of fortunes. I think this is something huge for us to remember. We serve a God who told us the last shall be first. Mordecai spent most of this book at the bottom, but God is always in control, and God is always just. Mordecai’s life was not only spared, but God gave him justice and used him and Esther to save his people. God has promised to save His people. Jesus promised to overcome this world of trouble on behalf of His people. God could be trusted then and God can be trusted now. Romans 8:28 says “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” That was for Mordecai, Esther and the Jewish people and Christian, it’s for you. Look at verses 16 and 17.

Esther 8:16 For the Jews it was a time of happiness and joy, gladness and honor. 17 In every province and in every city to which the edict of the king came, there was joy and gladness among the Jews, with feasting and celebrating. And many people of other nationalities became Jews because fear of the Jews had seized them.

Not only did the Jewish people celebrate the decree, but it seems the other people could also see the writing on the wall. God was working on behalf of His people and to oppose them or to attack them was to find oneself fighting against God. For that reason, many people turned to the Lord. Think about this: The Jewish people ended up in the Medo-Persian empire because they had been taken into exile because they turned their backs on God. For a time, God gave them over to their enemies, but God never left them, and He provided for them the whole time of their exile. Then at just the right time, God raised up people to bring about their deliverance—people like Esther and Mordecai. People who were faithful in the face of difficult circumstances. And God worked through this people and more generations came and went and nations rose and fell, and God kept working through His people—

4 kings and peasants, the rich and the poor, the strong and the weak and everyone in between. Eventually God brought about Jesus through them to save us all, Jesus died and rose again and rose up the church to take His Gospel to the ends of the earth, to this very day to you and to me. Just as Esther came to her position for such a time as hers, you have come to your position, whatever that position may be, for such a time as this.

Questions

1. What growth have you seen in Xerxes over the course of the Book of Esther so far?______

2. What do you think of Xerxes choice to give his signet ring to Mordecai?______

3. What’s wrong with making an irrevocable law?______

4. Does Mordecai’s law properly override Haman’s law? Why or why not?______

5. The new law was celebrated among most of the people. We understand why the Jewish people celebrated the law, but why did their neighbors?______

6. Verse 17 tells us “And many people of other nationalities became Jews because fear of the Jews had seized them.” Why do you think they converted and do you think these were true conversions? Why or Why Not?______

7. What is the best reason to come to the Lord?______

5 8. Esther came to her royal position “for such a time as this.” What is your position and how might it (and you) be used by God in your time?______

9. What were your take-aways from this chapter?______

6