ESTHER

 CHAPTER 5

VS 1

It's the third day; Esther prepares for battle. She puts on her royal robes and made sure she looked absolutely stunning, then goes to stand in the inner court of the king's palace across from his house where he couldn’t miss seeing her, and waited.

The king sees her standing there and is pleased to see her. He stretches out the scepter to indicate she was welcome and her life would be spared.

• Imagine the relief of that moment! The Septuagint is the earliest Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible and was produced more than 200 years before Jesus was born. This scripture version includes many more details that are not included in our current Scripture versions and gives us a much more vivid version of this incident.

And it came to pass on the third day, when she had ceased praying, that she put off her mean dress, and put on her glorious apparel. (LXX 5:1a) And being splendidly arrayed, and having called upon God the Overseer and Preserver of all things, she took her two maids, and she leaned upon one, as a delicate female, and the other followed bearing her train. (5:1b) And she was blooming in the perfection of her beauty; and her face was cheerful, as it were benevolent, but her heart was straitened for fear. (5:1c) And having passed through all the doors, she stood before the king: and he was sitting upon his royal throne, and he had put on all his glorious apparel, covered all over with gold and precious stones, and was very terrible. (5:1d) And having raised his face resplendent with glory, he looked with intense anger: and the queen fell, and changed her colour as she fainted; and she bowed herself upon the head of the maid that went before her. (5:1e) But God changed the spirit of the king to gentleness, and in intense feeling he sprang from off his throne, and took her into his arms, until she recovered: and he comforted her with peaceable words, and said to her, (5:1f) What is the matter, Esther? I am thy brother; be of good cheer, thou shalt not die, for our command is openly declared to thee, Draw nigh.

From <https://www.blueletterbible.org/nkjv/est/5/1/t_bibles_431001>

Put yourself in Esther's shoes at this moment in time. Reading this version you can almost feel her nerves as she prepared; her clenched stomach as she made the long walk from her apartment to the king's throne room; her terror as she saw his face. That makes this moment far more real and relatable to our lives today. She trusted God, but that doesn't mean she didn’t feel fear. God is always faithful, but we have to take the first step in faith. 

Vs 3

The king asks what she wants to request so badly that she was willing to risk death to see him personally. He promises to give her the world - up to half the kingdom! That was an extravagant wording often used when kings were emphasizing that they were open to any request.

Esther asks only that the king and Haman join her for dinner.

• Esther knows this is an extremely perilous and complex situation. She is about to go up against the king's second in command, so she proceeds very cautiously.

• This was extremely unusual for the king and queen to dine together, and then even stranger for an outsider to be included in the meal. It was the highest honor that could be given to Haman. And the king is delighted to have his beautiful wife being so gracious to his most trusted advisor.

So they join her for dinner, but the king knows there is something else she wants so he asks again for her real request.

• She asked only that they join her again on the next night for dinner and promises to tell him them.

  • Whatever it was that held her back from speaking, it was the time God needed to work on the king's heart.

Haman was excited and honored to have been specifically invited to dinner with the Queen and King, but his joy is doused when he walks past Mordecai and Mordecai does not bow before him. Instead of reacting to Mordecai, he goes on home and tells his friends and family  how wonderful he is, how wealthy he is, and how he is the only one who was given the high honor of joining the King and Queen for dinner. And, even more, he was invited again tomorrow! …. But all of this honor and glory were worthless as long as Mordecai the Jew was still alive.

His wife and friends see how upset he is so they offer a solution. Go ahead and build a gallows for Mordecai today.

• 50 cubits is about 80' high! This is a huge structure specifically built for the death of Mordecai, but God needs it to execute His justice.

They continue to advice Haman: When you see the king, suggest that Mordecai be hanged on it, then you can go merrily in to the banquet! Of course they expect the king to readily agree since he agreed so easily to anything else Haman requested.

CHAPTER 6

Vs 1

After the dinner, when Haman had gone home and the king went to his chambers, the king was unable to sleep. Everyone knows that reading a boring book is a sure cure for insomnia, so the king ordered the book of the records of his reign to be brought and read to him.

The earlier incident with Mordecai thwarting the plot to kill the king was written in there and read to him. Naturally the king wanted to know how Mordecai had been rewarded for this service to him….. Nothing. Nothing had been done to honor him. Well that didn’t sit right with the king! He asked which of his trusted advisors was about that early.

Haman had just entered to ask for Mordecai to be killed so was brought in to advise the king on what was an appropriate way to honor someone the king wanted to honor? Of course Haman assumed this honor was for him! He was the King's right hand and the only one invited to dine with the Queen! Since he thought it was honor for him, Haman gave the most extravagant honor he could think of: let him wear the royal robe, ride a royal horse, and have a noble prince lead it in a parade of honor around the city square proclaiming that the king was delighted to honor him.

Imagine Haman's horror when the king responds, that's a great idea! Go make sure it is done for Mordecai the Jew! Now! And don't forget any part of that scene.

Haman had to fulfill the king's command or risk his own death. He had to loudly and publicly honor this man who has been a thorn in his side for years and who he hated passionately.

After this humiliating ordeal, Haman went home in shame and told his wife and friends how things had gone so completely differently than he had imagined when he left home that morning.

Now his very helpful wife and friends advise him that you cannot prevail against the Jews. If their God is for them, who can stand against them? Just last night they were advising him to build a gallows in certainty of victory of this Jew.

They were still talking it over when the king's servants came to escort Haman to dinner with the Queen.

CHAPTER 7

Vs 1

So the king and Haman went in to dinner with Queen Esther.

The king's curiosity is now raging and he asks a third time what Esther really wants. He knows that she risked her life for whatever she wants to ask, so it definitely wasn't just to invite him to dinner.

This time she does answer and asks for her life to be spared along with the lives of her people. She tells him that if it was only slavery, she would have not asked for the king to intervene even though there would be tremendous damage to the king's kingdom. But because it is total annihilation, she must beg for her life against the enemy.

• Esther doesn't know which way the king will go on this issue or how he will respond. Does he feel about the Jews the same way that Haman does?

The king is angry and demands to know who would do this. He immediately makes her enemy HIS enemy.

Esther names Haman as the enemy.

Haman is horrified and terrified for his life. The king is furious and trying to process this turn of events so he steps out onto the garden patio. He likely realized that his own recklessness contributed to this situation by allowing Haman to do whatever he wanted. 

Haman uses the king's exit to beg the queen for his life for he saw the fury in the king's eyes. In begging for his life he apparently throws himself on his knees before Esther and falls over onto her couch where she was sitting.

The king walks back in to see this unfortunate event and assumes Haman is now attacking the queen while the king is just outside the door! As he says that, the servants cover Haman's face - a sign of execution.

Helpfully, one of the king's eunuchs knows about the gallows that Haman had erected the night before in his front yard and informs the king that it was intended for Mordecai.

The king pronounces judgement of death on Haman so he was hung on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai.