I’ve encouraged to read Esther for yourself, all the way through in one sitting. Today, I’ll just hit the highlights as we wrap up Esther and our 2024 readings. We saw yesterday that Haman attempted, as happens often, to fight against God by eliminating the people of God. Spoiler alert! Haman loses. How? He’s the most powerful government official in the kingdom and has the ear and trust of the king.

It’s a combination of God working behind the scenes and the faithfulness and creativity of Mordecai and Esther.

First, Haman throws dice to determine the best time for his slaughter of the Jews. What day did the dice choose? A day as far into the future as one can get:

In the first month, the month of Nisan, of the twelfth year of Xerxes, the pur—that is, the lot—was cast under Haman’s charge to determine the propitious day and month. The lot turned up the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar. (Esther 3.7, MSG, emphasis mine)

Then Mordecai swings into action challenging Esther to approach the king:

If you persist in staying silent at a time like this, help and deliverance will arrive for the Jews from someplace else; but you and your family will be wiped out. Who knows? Maybe you were made queen for just such a time as this. (Esther 4.14, MSG)

“For such a time as this.” A well-known quote. Esther responds with another well-known quote:

Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my young women will also fast as you do. Then I will go to the king, though it is against the law, and if I perish, I perish. (Esther 4.16, ESV)

“If I perish, I perish.”

But God works behind the scenes again, and the king welcomes Esther. “What do you want?” And instead of telling him, she invites him and Haman to a banquet that she will prepare. And at that banquet, she invites them to a second banquet for the following day:

“Get Haman at once,” said the king, “so we can go to dinner with Esther.” So the king and Haman joined Esther at the dinner she had arranged. As they were drinking the wine, the king said, “Now, what is it you want? Half of my kingdom isn’t too much to ask! Just ask.” Esther answered, “Here’s what I want. If the king favors me and is pleased to do what I desire and ask, let the king and Haman come again tomorrow to the dinner that I will fix for them. Then I’ll give a straight answer to the king’s question.” (Esther 5.6 – 8, MSG)

Haman is ecstatic except Mordecai’s presence still bothers him. So his wife counsels him to build a gallows 75 feet high and hang Mordecai on it. Great idea! In the meantime…

That night the king couldn’t sleep. He ordered the record book, the day-by-day journal of events, to be brought and read to him. They came across the story there about the time that Mordecai had exposed the plot of Bigthana and Teresh—the two royal eunuchs who guarded the entrance and who had conspired to assassinate King Xerxes. (Esther 6.1, 2, MSG)

God working behind the scenes again, and just as the king finds out that nothing has been done to honor Mordecai for saving the king’s life, Haman appears to ask permission to hang Mordecai – what a great story!

The king said, “Is there anybody out in the court?” Now Haman had just come into the outer court of the king’s palace to talk to the king about hanging Mordecai on the gallows he had built for him. The king’s servants said, “Haman is out there, waiting in the court.” “Bring him in,” said the king. When Haman entered, the king said, “What would be appropriate for the man the king especially wants to honor?”

Haman thought to himself, “He must be talking about honoring me—who else?” So he answered the king, “For the man the king delights to honor, do this: Bring a royal robe that the king has worn and a horse the king has ridden, one with a royal crown on its head. Then give the robe and the horse to one of the king’s most noble princes. Have him robe the man whom the king especially wants to honor; have the prince lead him on horseback through the city square, proclaiming before him, ‘This is what is done for the man whom the king especially wants to honor!’ ”

“Go and do it,” the king said to Haman. “Don’t waste another minute. Take the robe and horse and do what you have proposed to Mordecai the Jew who sits at the King’s Gate. Don’t leave out a single detail of your plan.” (Esther 6.4 – 10, MSG)

Oops. It’s downhill for Haman after that. Before the day is over, the king hangs him on the gallows he had built for Mordecai. (See Esther 6.11 – 7.10)

God wins. God always wins. The Jews defend themselves on the day they were supposed to be destroyed, and the book ends:

Mordecai the Jew ranked second in command to King Xerxes. He was popular among the Jews and greatly respected by them. He worked hard for the good of his people; he cared for the peace and prosperity of his race. (Esther 10.3, MSG)

God wins. God always wins. Sometimes through God’s work behind the scenes. Sometimes (often!) through people he has placed “for such a time as this,” people whose attitude is, “If I perish, I perish.”

And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. (Revelation 12.11, ESV)