Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

That same day King Xerxes gave Queen Esther the estate of Haman, the enemy of the Jews. And Mordecai came into the presence of the king, for Esther had told how he was related to her. 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.
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. Then the king extended the gold scepter to Esther and she arose and stood before him.
“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. For how can I bear to see disaster fall on my people? How can I bear to see the destruction of my family?”
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. 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.”
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. 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.
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. 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. 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.
The couriers, riding the royal horses, went out, spurred on by the king’s command, and the edict was issued in the citadel of Susa.
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. For the Jews it was a time of happiness and joy, gladness and honor. 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.

• Esther 8:1-17

On the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar, the edict commanded by the king was to be carried out. On this day the enemies of the Jews had hoped to overpower them, but now the tables were turned and the Jews got the upper hand over those who hated them. The Jews assembled in their cities in all the provinces of King Xerxes to attack those determined to destroy them. No one could stand against them, because the people of all the other nationalities were afraid of them. And all the nobles of the provinces, the satraps, the governors and the king’s administrators helped the Jews, because fear of Mordecai had seized them. Mordecai was prominent in the palace; his reputation spread throughout the provinces, and he became more and more powerful.
The Jews struck down all their enemies with the sword, killing and destroying them, and they did what they pleased to those who hated them. In the citadel of Susa, the Jews killed and destroyed five hundred men. They also killed Parshandatha, Dalphon, Aspatha, Poratha, Adalia, Aridatha, Parmashta, Arisai, Aridai and Vaizatha, the ten sons of Haman son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews. But they did not lay their hands on the plunder.
The number of those killed in the citadel of Susa was reported to the king that same day. The king said to Queen Esther, “The Jews have killed and destroyed five hundred men and the ten sons of Haman in the citadel of Susa. What have they done in the rest of the king’s provinces? Now what is your petition? It will be given you. What is your request? It will also be granted.”
“If it pleases the king,” Esther answered, “give the Jews in Susa permission to carry out this day’s edict tomorrow also, and let Haman’s ten sons be impaled on poles.”
So the king commanded that this be done. An edict was issued in Susa, and they impaled the ten sons of Haman. The Jews in Susa came together on the fourteenth day of the month of Adar, and they put to death in Susa three hundred men, but they did not lay their hands on the plunder.
Meanwhile, the remainder of the Jews who were in the king’s provinces also assembled to protect themselves and get relief from their enemies. They killed seventy-five thousand of them but did not lay their hands on the plunder. This happened on the thirteenth day of the month of Adar, and on the fourteenth they rested and made it a day of feasting and joy.
The Jews in Susa, however, had assembled on the thirteenth and fourteenth, and then on the fifteenth they rested and made it a day of feasting and joy.
That is why rural Jews—those living in villages—observe the fourteenth of the month of Adar as a day of joy and feasting, a day for giving presents to each other.
Mordecai recorded these events, and he sent letters to all the Jews throughout the provinces of King Xerxes, near and far, to have them celebrate annually the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month of Adar as the time when the Jews got relief from their enemies, and as the month when their sorrow was turned into joy and their mourning into a day of celebration. He wrote them to observe the days as days of feasting and joy and giving presents of food to one another and gifts to the poor.
So the Jews agreed to continue the celebration they had begun, doing what Mordecai had written to them. For Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, had plotted against the Jews to destroy them and had cast the pur (that is, the lot) for their ruin and destruction. But when the plot came to the king’s attention, he issued written orders that the evil scheme Haman had devised against the Jews should come back onto his own head, and that he and his sons should be impaled on poles. (Therefore these days were called Purim, from the word pur.) Because of everything written in this letter and because of what they had seen and what had happened to them, the Jews took it on themselves to establish the custom that they and their descendants and all who join them should without fail observe these two days every year, in the way prescribed and at the time appointed. These days should be remembered and observed in every generation by every family, and in every province and in every city. And these days of Purim should never fail to be celebrated by the Jews—nor should the memory of these days die out among their descendants.
So Queen Esther, daughter of Abihail, along with Mordecai the Jew, wrote with full authority to confirm this second letter concerning Purim. And Mordecai sent letters to all the Jews in the 127 provinces of Xerxes’ kingdom—words of goodwill and assurance—to establish these days of Purim at their designated times, as Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther had decreed for them, and as they had established for themselves and their descendants in regard to their times of fasting and lamentation. Esther’s decree confirmed these regulations about Purim, and it was written down in the records.

• Esther 9:1-32

King Xerxes imposed tribute throughout the empire, to its distant shores. And all his acts of power and might, together with a full account of the greatness of Mordecai, whom the king had promoted, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Media and Persia? Mordecai the Jew was second in rank to King Xerxes, preeminent among the Jews, and held in high esteem by his many fellow Jews, because he worked for the good of his people and spoke up for the welfare of all the Jews.

• Esther 10:1-3

Noted Biblical Scholars, Teachers, and Preachers Comments

Esther 8:1 ‘the house of Haman’: “The property of a traitor, by Persian custom, was returned to the king. In this case, he gave it to his queen, Esther, who put Mordecai over it (8:2). The outcome for Haman’s wife Zeresh and his wise men is unknown (5:14; 6:12, 13). Haman’s ten sons later died (9:7—10).”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

Esther 8:5 ‘to revoke’: “This proved to be impossible in light of the inflexible nature of the king’s edicts (1:19). However, a counter-decree was possible (cf. 8:8, 11, 12).”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

Esther 8:11 ‘the king permitted’: “Just as the king had permitted Haman, so he permitted the Jews to defend themselves and to plunder their spoil (cf. vv. 10, 15, 16).”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

Esther 8:15 ‘Mordecai went out’: “This second reward exceeded the first (cf. 6:6—9). Blue and white were the royal colors of the Persian Empire.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

Esther 8:17 ‘many … people … Jews’: “The population realized that the God of the Jews exceeded anything that the pantheon of Persian deities could offer (cf. Ex. 15:14-16; Ps. 105:38; Acts 5:11), especially in contrast to their recent defeat by the Greeks.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

Esther 8 ‘freed from the penalty of death’: ”In chapter 2, the Spirit is received. In chapter 3, the Spirit is resisted. Early in chapter 4, the Spirit is grieved. In the latter part of chapter 4, the Spirit is quenched. Now, in chapter 8, we see the fullness of the Spirit, the exaltation of God symbolized in the exaltation of Mordecai. When Mordecai comes to power, everything changes. Instantly another decree goes out, liberating the Jews to defend themselves and destroy their enemies.
“In Esther chapter 8, the Jews are freed from the king’s decree of death by the ascendancy of Mordecai. This parallels the truth of Romans 8, which declares that we are freed from the law of sin and death by the power of the Spirit in our lives.”

• Ray C. Stedman, Adventuring Through the Bible

Esther 8 ‘Challenge’: “You can have this confidence in God, and you can have this respect for His will. Do not expect God to perform miracles for you so you can write books about them. Do not ever be caught asking God to send you toys like that to play around with.
“But if you are in trouble and concerned about your situation and willing to be honest with God, you can have confidence in Him. You can go to Him in the merit of His Son, claiming His promises, and He will not let you down. God will help you, and you will find the way of deliverance.
“God will move heaven and earth for you if you will trust Him.”

• A.W. Tozer, Faith Beyond Reason

Esther 9:1 ‘God not mentioned.  God is seen.’: “Although the name of God does not occur in the book of Esther, the Lord himself is there most conspicuously in every incident it relates. I have seen portraits bearing the names of those pictured, but we have all seen others that required no name because they were such striking likenesses that the moment we looked at them we knew them. In the book of Esther, as much as in any other part of the Word of God—and I almost say more than anywhere else—the hand of Providence is manifestly to be seen. We who are righteous by faith must trust in the Lord and in patience possess our souls; we must leave our adversaries in the hands of God, for he can make them fall into the snare they have privately laid for us. If the decree had been that the Jews should be slain by the soldiers of the Persian Empire, it would have been done, and it is not easy to see how the Jews could have escaped. But since the matter was left in private hands, the subsequent decree that they might defend themselves was a sufficient counteraction of the first edict. There is as much providence in the creeping of an aphid on a rose leaf as in the marching of an army to ravage a continent. Everything—the most minute as well as the most magnificent—is ordered by the Lord whose kingdom rules over all. Never was a man so utterly defeated as Haman. At one time the people of God seemed to be altogether in his power. Nero once said that he wished his enemies had but one neck, that he might destroy them all at a blow. Haman seemed to have realized just such power, yet the chosen nation was delivered, the Jewish people lived on until the Messiah came, and do exist, and will exist till they enjoy the bright future that is decreed for them. So is it with the church of God today. The foes of the truth of God can never put out the candle God has lit.”

• Charles H. Spurgeon, from sermon notes

Esther 9:3 ‘the fear of Mordecai’: “Pragmatically, the nation had a change of heart toward the Jews, knowing that the king, the queen, and Mordecai were the ranking royal officials of the land. To be pro-Jewish would put one in favor with the king and his court and put one on the side of God, the ultimate King (cf. Rev. 19:16).”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

Esther 9:10 ‘did not lay a hand’: “Unlike Saul, who did take the plunder (cf. 1 Sam. 15:3 with 15:9), the Jews focused only on the mission at hand, i.e., to preserve the Jewish race (cf. vv. 15, 16), even though the king’s edict permitted this (8:11).”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

Esther 9:12 ‘further … request?’: “Even this pagan king served the cause of utterly blotting out the Amalekites in accord with God’s original decree (Ex. 17:14) by allowing for a second day of killing in Shushan to eliminate all Jewish enemies.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

Esther 9:26 ‘Purim’: “The first and last biblically revealed, non-Mosaic festival with perpetual significance.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

Esther 10:3 ‘Mordecai … was second’: “Mordecai joined the top echelon of Jewish international statesmen like Joseph, who ranked second in the Egyptian dynasty (Gen. 41:37-45), and Daniel, who succeeded in both the Babylonian (Dan. 2:46-49; 5:29) and Medo-Persian Empires (Dan. 6:28). speaking peace. Less than ten years later (c. 465 B.C.), Ahasuerus was assassinated. There are no further details about Esther and Mordecai. What Mordecai did for less than a decade on behalf of Israel, Jesus Christ will do for all eternity as the Prince of Peace (Is. 9:6, 7; Zech. 9:9, 10).”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

My Thoughts

Esther was deeded Haman’s estate.  Mordecai was given the signet ring, and Esther made him in charge of Haman’s estate.

But there was still the edict to kill all the Jews.  Xerxes gave Esther and Mordecai the time to write the edict that would supersede the edict that could not be revoked.  They sent out the decree to all provinces in all languages that the Jews were to organize and assemble and defend themselves.  Then kill all who were the enemies of the Jews.

Mordecai appeared in Susa in a blue and white robe and all the people celebrated.  Some people, in fear of the turning tables in favor of the Jews, became Jews themselves.

The day came for the attacks and the Jews killed people who were their enemies.  Esther was granted another wish by the king, and she asked for a second day to eradicate their enemies.  She also asked for the ten sons of Haman to be empaled on poles.  Since she owned Haman’s great estate, they would be her enemies, wanting their inheritance back.

Then Esther established the celebration of Purim for sorrow was turned into Joy and mourning turned into celebration.  Since there was a delay, the celebration would last two days.  Gifts would be exchanged and people would celebrate.

Mordecai was made second to Xerxes in the Media and Persia Empire.

Haman meant for ethnic cleansing to kill the Jews, but Xerxes allowed the Jews to “kill their enemies.”  There is not a repeat of this in Israel today.  They warn the civilians, but then Hamas uses the civilians that try to escape as human shields.  In all my studying of military history, I cannot remember one army warning the other army of when the attack would be.  They are not doing as many nations claim, trying to kill all the Palestinians, but these children in Gaza have been taught by Hamas. 

Esther and Mordecai could not revoke the edict to kill the Jews, but if the enemies were gone, the edict could not be carried out.  Any enemies left behind and the Jews would be destroyed by the first edict.  And Esther was wise in extending the order for a second day, to make sure this purge saved her people.

We will continue to have trouble in the Middle East until Jesus returns.  The focal point of the last battle in Revelation is Jerusalem.  With the neighbors of the Jews having the long-term goal to kill every Jew and then come after America and do the same thing, there is the fuse to start the final part of the End Times, and it is ready to be lit.

Some Serendipitous Reflections

Esther 8: 1. The Jews had nine months to prepare their defense (vv.9-12). What could you accomplish in the next nine months that would put your life in better order? What part oi that re-ordering will you do this month?
“2. If you were in a position to destroy your enemy without fear of the consequences to you, would you take advantage of the situation? Why or why not?
“3. If the rules of the game are switched on you at halftime, how do you react: (a) Cry foul? (b) Suit up for battle anyway? (c) If you can’t fight ‘em, join ‘em? When have you faced such a dilemma?
“4. Would the way you react to the good things in your life give honor to God and convert any one to the Christian faith? Why or why not?
Esther 9:1-17 Triumph of the Jews 1. When might ‘winning the battle’ mean ‘losing the war’? When might ‘going easy’ on the defeated enemy only invite their revenge later? How do you know the difference?
“2. When have you had the tables turned on you? How did that feel? What did you learn from that?
“3. How do you square this story of annihilating and humiliating one’s enemy with what Jesus stood for: namely, to ‘love your enemy’? Would it make a difference to you if it were ‘kill or be killed’? When, if ever, have you faced such a dilemma?
Esther 9:9-14 Purim Celebrated 1. What event in your life has turned sorrow into joy? How have you commemorated that event? How have you shared it with others so that they could join you?
“2. Purim is ‘a day for giving… to one another and… the poor.’ What prompts you to give to others, especially the poor: Times of tragedy? Only at Christmas? More often than that? How regularly?
“3. What traditions or national customs do you observe regularly as a family? Who joins you from outside the family? Have these traditions gained new meaning, or lost all meaning, over the years? How so?
“4. What ‘relief from your enemies’ have you received lately? What relief are you still seeking? How can your group be a ‘relief agency’ for you and others?
Esther 10: 1. What is the central theological point of this book? How is that point accented by the narrator’s use of duplication and symmetry?
“2. Why would a book, so obviously Jewish, be devoid of any reference to the Lord? Does the total lack of any reference to God (prayer or any specific religious activity) make the main point more obvious? Why do you think such a ‘secular’ book is in the Bible?
“3. How would your personal Christian history sound if it was told without any proper references to God? Try it. What audience reaction do you get?
“4. ls the God-story of Esther and Mordecai better suited to its purpose it they are seen as obedient servants of God, or as unknowingly used by a sovereign God? Why do you think so?
“5. How do you see yourself: As consciously guided and used of God?  As an unwitting pawn? Illustrate.”

• Lyman Coleman, et al, The NIV Serendipity Bible for Study Groups

There is one set of questions each for Esther 8 and 10.  Esther 9 is divided into two sets of questions.

Substitute whatever group for any reference to a small group or ask who could come to your aid.

If you like these Thursday morning Bible studies, but you think you missed a few, you can use this LINK. I have set up a page off the home page for links to these Thursday morning posts. I will continue to modify the page as I add more.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.