8/20/61

Scripture: Esther 4

We have already noted that some parts of the Bible are heavy reading for the average person. Some of us are little interested in genealogies. Some of us have to struggle for the meaning and significance of seldom-used parts of the Bible. But most of us profit greatly by the gospel accounts of Jesus in the New Testament. We are impressed by the insights and the courage of the prophets. We respond appreciatively to the music and the poetry of the Psalms. And we delight in the stories of heroes and heroines in the Old Testament. We read with fascinated interest the account of David, from the time of his boyhood through his youthful exploits to the end of his reign as a truly great king over the Hebrew people.

One of the great stories of the Old Testament has to do with a queen -- a very unusual queen. She was a Jewish girl who lived in the time when Ahasuerus was the great ruler over 127 provinces from India to Ethiopia. The royal throne was in Susa the capital. King Ahasuerus was a great fellow, and he knew it! His was no mean empire! In about the 3rd year of his reign, he gave a party to top all parties. He wanted to impress the princes and leaders of all the 127 provinces with his greatness, his riches, the splendor and pomp of his majesty. So the feasting went on for 180 days!

When all that was over, the king had a party for the people of his own capital city, Susa. The banquet in the court of the palace garden lasted for 7 days. Wine was lavishly served in golden goblets. No one was compelled to drink, but every one who wished to, might do so. Meanwhile the queen, Vashti, was also having a banquet for the women in one of the palaces. On the 7th day, when the king was pretty high, and all the court, for that matter, had drunken more than might be essential, the king had an idea. He sent his 7 eunuchs to bring Queen Vashti to his palace. She was fair to behold, and Ahasuerus wanted to show off her beauty to those men of the court.

Vashti did not care for the idea. In fact she refused to come! And the king flew into a rage. He asked legal advice of his counselors. And they suggested that he make a new law. Since Vashti had refused to obey his royal summons, she was never to come before him again. Some more worthy woman should be chosen by Ahasuerus to be his queen. Also, the king was to send letters to all of the provinces, in the language appropriate to each country, commanding that every man be recognized as lord in his own house. There was to be none of this feminine whim of obeying or not obeying when commanded by her husband.

This is a man’s world; let the man give the orders; and let him be obeyed! It was true masculine wisdom, and the king was pleased with it. So he gave the orders for the new law.

The next thing was to get a new queen to replace Vashti. The king’s servants were quick to make suggestions. Officers could be charged with bringing in the very fairest maidens from all the provinces. They would spend several months, to a year, in the royal harem being prepared with special beauty treatments. One by one the king would see them; and the one who seemed to Ahasuerus to be the finest and fairest of them all would be the one he would take for his new queen.

There was a Jew in Susa named Mordecai who had adopted a cousin. She was the daughter of Mordecai’s uncle. But both her parents were dead. So Mordecai was bringing her up. Her name was Esther. She was beautiful and lovely, and Mordecai knew it. So when the king’s order was announced, Esther was one of the maidens to be taken to the king’s palace. She pleased the one who had charge of the affair so much that she was given special food, special ointments, special servants, and a special place in the harem. To make a long story short, she pleased everybody, and especially King Ahasuerus. So she, Esther, was the one chosen to be the next queen. And she had the royal crown placed upon her head, and the royal robes placed upon her shoulders. There was a big celebration, there was remission of taxes, there were royal gifts dispensed from the king.

But that is not all of the story. It is really only the beginning. Esther had told no one that she was a Jewess. Mordecai had advised her not to mention it. And she obeyed Mordecai just as she had during the time he was bringing her up. Meanwhile, Mordecai sat regularly at the gate of the palace. He happened to overhear some plotting one day. A couple of the guards became disaffected and planned to lay hands on the king when they might have a chance to do so. Mordecai told Esther, and Esther told the king, and when investigation proved the plot, the two guards were hanged and the whole affair was written down in a record book for the king.

About that time, King Ahasuerus appointed a new prime minister whose name was Haman. Haman loved the job! He was right in his glory! Think of it --- Lord over all the princes who were with him; everyone bowed before him; all of the king’s servants, all of the people whom they met, all the men at the king’s gate --- all, that is, except Mordecai. This stubborn Jew, Mordecai, for some reason, just refused to do any obeisance to Haman. The king’s servants spoke to Mordecai, but he paid them no attention. Of course Haman noticed it; and the servants told him about it; and it made Haman furious. He was superior to any such thing as laying a hand on Mordecai. But he was nonetheless seething with anger.

After several months of this, he had what appeared to be a good idea. There were a lot of Jews in the empire --- too many for the good of the empire, thought Haman. Their religious laws were such that they should not be tolerated; because they sometimes disobeyed the king’s laws. Why not get rid of the whole kit and caboodle of them? All it would take would be the king’s decree that all Jews be destroyed, in every province, on a given day. That would take care of Mordecai, along with all of the rest of them.

Haman persuaded the king that these Jews were dangerous to his empire, so that the king ought not to tolerate them. “Let it be decreed that they be destroyed,” argued Haman. And if such a decree be issued, Haman offered to pay 10,000 talents of sliver into the king’s treasury. Altogether it looked like a shrewd piece of business. So the king authorized Haman to publish the decree, and sealed the order with his ring.

So Haman, like Eichmann, had an order to get rid of all Jews. And he set about it quite systematically. The king’s secretaries were summoned to write up the royal edict which was sent to all princes and satraps and governors of all the provinces. This was on the 13th day of the 1st month. And the edict was that on the 13th day of the 12th month all Jews, men, women, and children, were to be slain and annihilated, and their goods plundered. So there was plenty of time for the couriers to carry the word around, and for all enemies of the Jews to be ready to kill them and to confiscate their property. Copies of the order were, of course, issued right in the capital city of Susa, and word began to get around. “And the king and Haman sat down to drink; but the city of Susa was perplexed.”

Of course Mordecai heard of the edict. Being himself a Jew, he acted like a Jew. He tore his clothes, put on sack cloth and ashes and went about the city wailing bitterly for his people. There was similar wailing and mourning and lamenting and fasting among Jews all over the empire.

Well, Queen Esther’s maids and servants heard about the way Mordecai was acting. So she sent Mordecai some new clothes. But he would not accept them. So she sent for one of the king’s eunuchs and ordered him to go to Mordecai and find out what was the matter. Mordecai told the whole story -- all that had happened to him -- how Haman had become enraged because he, Mordecai, would not bow and do obeisance to Haman; how Haman had persuaded Ahasuerus to issue the irrevocable decree that all Jews be slain; and even quoted the exact sum that Haman was going to pay into the king’s treasury for the destruction of the Jews. Mordecai had gotten hold of a copy of the decree, and he sent it along so that Esther could see it for herself. And he charged Esther to go to the king and plead for the lives of her people.

Well, Hathach took the message to Esther. Queen Esther was shocked, and was also troubled by one of the laws that she knew about. She sent word back to Mordecai that all the princes and all the servants of the royal household knew the royal law that no one -- absolutely no one might go to the king’s inner court without being called. It was one law applicable to every single soul in the empire, herself included. Only one thing could save such an intruder from the death penalty. If the king should so favor the intruder as to be minded to spare the intruder’s life, he might hold toward that one his golden scepter that the intruder might live. Further, she reported, “I have not been called to come in to the king for 30 days.” It would seem that Ahasuerus must have been kept very busy with the affairs of state being promoted by Haman.

When Mordecai received that message from his adopted daughter, the Queen, he really “laid it on the line” to Esther. “Do not suppose,” he sent word to her, “that you will escape in the king’s palace any more than Jews anywhere else. If you keep silence now, relief and deliverance will somehow come for the Jews from some other quarter. But you and your father’s household will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”

Esther was impressed by the message and she made a sober reply to Mordecai. “Get together all the Jews in Susa,” she said. “Hold a fast for me. Don’t eat or drink for 3 days and nights. My maids and I will fast likewise, just as you do. Then, even though it is against the law, I will go to the king; and if I perish, I perish.”

So that is what they did, and what she did. On the third day of the fast, she put on her royal robes and went and stood in the inner court of the king’s palace opposite the king’s hall. Ahasuerus was sitting on his royal throne at the time attending to royal business. When he saw Esther standing opposite the hall, in the inner court, she found favor in his sight. It was an interruption, all right; and most irregular; in fact illegal even for a queen. But there was something he could do about it, if he would; and he did it. He held out toward her the golden scepter that was in his hand. The queen approached and touched the top of the scepter. The king liked that, and he liked her, and he said, “What is it, Queen Esther? What is your request? It shall be given to you -- even if it be half of my kingdom.” What a strange promise!

Esther was too shrewd to take him up on that offer! She made a fairly small request, for a Queen. It seems that she just wanted to plan a little party for the king. Would the king and his prime minister, Haman, come over to the Queen’s quarters for a dinner that she had prepared for the king? What a nice idea! Ahasuerus sent word immediately to Haman to come quickly; he and the king were to have dinner with Esther.

At dinner, the king again asked Esther what she wanted. He knew that this must be a build-up for something. Almost certainly there was some favor she wanted. He knew that much about the Queen’s nature! But she was still playing her hand carefully. This was too important for any foolish moves. Her life and the lives of her foster father and all of their people all over the empire were at stake! Her request was still simple. It was such a nice party! If the king favored her and liked the idea, would he and Haman come again tomorrow to another dinner? “And tomorrow I will do as the king has said.” By now the king was really curious.

And as for Haman, his pride could scarcely be contained. He, he alone with the king, had been special guest at the Queen’s diner, and, moreover, had been invited again for tomorrow! Only one thing spoiled the honey-sweetness of his life. That accursed Jew, Mordecai, still refused to bow whenever he went in or out of the king’s gate. It was intolerable that such a fly should swim in his sweet ointment; that such a despicable little cloud should be in the center of his perfectly sunny sky! But he still restrained his wrath, except that, when he got home, he exploded to his wife. “Even the Queen has invited me -- me only -- together with the King. But it does me no good so long as that despicable Jew, Mordecai, sits in the gateway.”

So his wife, knowing how to deal with that kind of thing, said, “Why do you put up with it? You’ve got the power that the king has given you. Have a big gallows made, and have Mordecai hanged on it; then go and enjoy yourself at dinner with the king.” “Good idea,” agreed Haman. And so the gallows were built -- overnight.

Meanwhile the king was having a bad night. For some reason he couldn’t sleep. And if he couldn’t sleep, neither of course could his servants sleep. He ordered the Book of Chronicles brought in. That was the book where all the significant events were written down so that they could be remembered and referred to -- like the minutes of a meeting. It must have been getting on toward morning when the scribe was reading about that time when a fellow named Mordecai had reported, through the Queen, that a couple of eunuchs who guarded the gates had plotted to lay hands on the king and had been executed. Ahasuerus interrupted the reading. “What honor, or dignity, had been bestowed on this man Mordecai for this?” The scribe reported that nothing appeared to have been done.

The king wanted action immediately. “Who is in the court?” he asked. “Haman has arrived and is waiting in the court to be summoned.” “Let him come in,” said the king. “I want your advice,” said Ahasuerus. “What ought to be done to someone whom the king delights to honor?” Haman’s agile mind leaped to a dazzling conclusion. “Who else could the king mean but me?” So he made it good! “Let royal robes be brought,” said he -- “robes that the king has actually worn on his royal person. And let the horse be brought on which the king has ridden. Let these things be handed over to the king’s most noble princes; and let them put the royal robes upon the man whom the king delights to honor, and let him be placed upon the king’s horse, and then let him be conducted all about the city with a crier going ahead proclaiming, ‘Thus shall it be done to the man whom the King delights to honor!’” What could be grander?

Then Haman’s pink balloon burst in his face. For Ahasuerus said: “You take care of it. Get the robes and the horse and do this to Mordecai the Jew who sits at the king’s gate. Don’t leave out anything that you have mentioned.” So Haman carried out the command. And he could hardly endure the bitterness of his humiliation. He went home afterward, to his wife with his head covered. And his wife had a premonition; it was bad! If Mordecai was one of these condemned Jews, Haman would not prevail against him, but would surely fall before him!

In the midst of this awful distress, the king’s messenger came for Haman to lead him to the second dinner with the king at the queen’s table. At dinner, the king eagerly asked again, “What is it that you want, Queen Esther?” and again he promised, “It shall be given to you -- even if it be half of my kingdom.” Now it was time for Esther to play a trump. She told the king about the whole plot to kill the Jews. That was no news. Had not the king himself authorized Haman to issue the decree? But then came the shocker. She, Esther, the Queen, was a Jew! She had been raised by Mordecai! “We are sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, slain. I could have held my peace if it had been slavery. But we are to be killed!” The king was so filled with sudden wrath that he forgot who had done what. “Whose idea is this? Where is the one who would do this?” he demanded. “A foe and enemy,” she charged --- “this wicked Haman.”

The king was so agitated that he went for a walk outside the room. Haman threw himself down before the Queen to plead for mercy. The king returned and thought Haman was about to attack the Queen. So he made short work of his prime minister. Haman was hustled off to be hanged on his own gallows that he had erected for Mordecai.

The legal problem was still a tough one. A royal edict could not be rescinded. And, it was known all over the empire that the extinction of the Jews had been ordered by king’s decree. But a solution was found. Another decree was issued. On the day set for the annihilation of the Jews, they could defend themselves. Indeed, they could collect and use the weapons they needed, and could lawfully kill all of their enemies who came against them or whom they could find.

I’m sorry to say that the rest of the story makes as grim reading as the first part of the plot was intended. Princes and satraps helped the Jews with weapons and information (for they knew where their bread was buttered with the unpredictable king!) For one bitter, victorious day, Jews put their enemies to the sword by the thousands all over the empire. In the capital city itself, Jews slew 500 of their enemies. The ten sons of Haman were hanged as had been their father.

The king asked Esther, is this what you wanted? “Ask what you want, it shall surely be given to you.” She was not yet sure that the job had been thorough enough. So she asked him for another day -- one more day in which the Jews of Susa could avenge themselves. It was granted, and the Jews got rid of 300 more of their enemies. It was a great day for the Hebrews, and it is celebrated to this day in the Jewish feast of Purim. One can understand their eruption when they had such a chance at victory! And it surely settled, for all that generation of time, any notion that they were to be wiped out. It is a story of justice rather than of mercy.

But now let us go back briefly to the Queen’s truly great moment. Was it not Esther’s great moment when she thought over Mordecai’s message: “Who knows whether or not you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” She was as convinced of it as was Joseph convinced that he was sent to Egypt, even though as a slave, to be used of God to save life during the famine --- even the lives of his own family. Esther had no doubts of the danger to herself as well as to her people. The former Queen had been put aside. She could easily and legally be put to death, for going unsummoned to her husband the king. But it must be done; this is what was right! And so she notified Mordecai that she would go. “And if I perish, I perish!”

I have told you an old Bible story. Today, I’m not going to preach the sermon. Every person in this room can preach it for himself in the demands and dangers that each and all of us face or may face. What is right? Like a great Queen who risked her life, and like a certain carpenter of Nazareth centuries later who was put to death, let each one weigh the answer. “This I must do. And if I perish, I perish.”

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Delivered in Wisconsin Rapids, August 20, 1961 (Union service).