Study No. 4 – Blessed Insomnia - Chs 6-7-8:2
In our previous study we left off where Queen Esther summoned all of her courage to approach the king. She send a message to her older cousin, Mordecai, “And so I will go to the king, which is against the law; and if I perish, I perish!"
She did that. Her fears turned out to be unfounded. Even though the king had not called for her in the past month, he showed her favor. When she came before the king, he asked her what he could do for her ... just ask ... I will give you up to half the kingdom. (A person cannot help but wonder if these were just words ... a common expression not to be taken literally?) She asked for a hearing ... with him and with Haman. He was the one who had crafted the hateful decree designed to not only eliminate Mordecai ... the Jew who refused to bow to him, but eliminate all the Jews out of the Persian kingdom. As far as we can tell, she was planning to expose Haman at this meeting. She set it up as a banquet. She had it ready ahead of time, in case things went well with the king. She planned it for that very day.
The king and Haman attended ... the king asked Esther what it was she wanted ... and she seems to hesitate. Rather than expose Haman she chose to call for yet another banquet for the following day.
In the meanwhile, Haman has gone home feeling very privileged to be the only other guest besides the king. He proudly announced that he is invited to a second banquet for the following day. There is a 'fly in the ointment' however. As Haman had left the palace earlier, once again Mordecai does not bow to him. He complains about this to his wife. She suggests that he build a huge gallows - tonight ... and in the morning ask the king's permission to have Mordecai hanged. So, he has the gallows built and goes to sleep.
Here's where we pick up the narrative.
Chapter 6:1-3 Up to now in the book of Esther, several 'God incidences' have occurred. Now we see a few more.
The sleepless night
Haman wrongly assumes1 that the King wants to honor him. That is logical. Haman is the king's top choice for an advisor. He and the king had enjoyed drinks together. He and the king have been asked to a banquet ... twice. So he 'pours it on'. 8-9.
The King starts his sentence ... and the first part would be quite acceptable to Haman. "Hurry, take the robe and the horse, as you have suggested, and ... and now imagine the expression fade from expectation to what? Shock? Embarrassment? and do so for Mordecai the Jew. 10-11
From morning to and including the actual event, most of the day was used up. 12 – 14. Notice that Mordecai is not inflated with the honour showed to him. 'He returns to his place at the gate'.
The providence of God
We have noticed several things that just seemed 'to happen' in this part of the story of Esther. We know that “All things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are 'the called' according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28) Satan has just put it into Haman's heart to have Mordecai hanged. What perfect timing that God puts the desire to honor Mordecai into the king's heart, that very same night. This is no fluke chance. We have here an example where the 'delay' in honoring Mordecai has an integral part in the deliverance of the Jews. Sometimes we question God's delays in our own situations. God has the whole picture. If we can just wait on God, we will see how much better the timing of God is, than the timing we think He should have used. How wise it would be for us to trust Romans 8:28 and avoid a lot of frustration.
The second Banquet 7:1-10
1-2 Whether Esther has held this second banquet for the sake of exaggerating the effect ... or if she is having problems getting up her nerve, she now comes out with her request.
:3 Then Queen Esther answered, "If I have found favour with you, O king, and if it pleases your majesty, grant me my life— this is my petition. And spare my people—this is my request.
She does not stop there. She makes a passionate request. Verse 4
She referred to the wording of the decree: 3:13 And letters were sent by posts into all the king’s provinces, to destroy, to slay, and to cause to perish, all Jews, both young and old, little children and women, in one day, even upon the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar, and to take the spoil of them for a prey.
The King, who obviously had granted Haman the authority to make and enact the petition, perhaps not even paying real close attention to the details of it, is now horrified. He demands to know who would dare to attempt such a thing. 5-6
What a 'turn-a-round' for Haman! Here is an enemy of the Jews. He wanted to annihilate them. What possessed him? What possessed Hitler to attempt the very same thing?
De 32:9 For the LORD’S portion is His people; Jacob is the place of His inheritance. :10 "He found him in a desert land And in the wasteland, a howling wilderness; He encircled him, He instructed him, He kept him as the apple of His eye.
Zec 2:7 "Come, O Zion! Escape, you who live in the Daughter of Babylon!"8 For this is what the LORD Almighty says: "After he has honoured me and has sent me against the nations that have plundered you—for whoever touches you touches the apple of his eye— 9 I will surely raise my hand against them so that their slaves will plunder them. Then you will know that the LORD Almighty has sent me. 10 ¶ "Shout and be glad, O Daughter of Zion. For I am coming, and I will live among you," declares the LORD. 11 Many nations will be joined with the LORD in that day and will become my people. I will live among you and you will know that the LORD Almighty has sent me to you.
Haman's Fate 7-10
Hearing this the king had to step outside. When he comes back inside he accuses Haman of assaulting the queen. The NIV says molesting. That could be the correct sense. I notice that he has processed this sudden load of information ... and does not dispute the queen's words at all. His heart is totally turned against Haman. It looks like it was a custom to put a sack over the head of a condemned person.
So Haman is dead. The king's wrath is subsided.
8:1-2 According the king (so it appears) he thinks the matter is dealt with. He gives Esther total control of the whole estate of Haman. She, in turn, gives that control to Mordecai. But is it over? What about the edict for December 13th? The Laws of the Medes and Persians is 'unalterable'. The fate of the Jews is still at risk. Esther will have to come up with something else before this goes away.
1“Thought in his heart” - this is a subtle indication to us of the inspiration of scripture in regards to the book of Esther. No one would know what he thought in his heart but the Holy Spirit.
In our previous study we left off where Queen Esther summoned all of her courage to approach the king. She send a message to her older cousin, Mordecai, “And so I will go to the king, which is against the law; and if I perish, I perish!"
She did that. Her fears turned out to be unfounded. Even though the king had not called for her in the past month, he showed her favor. When she came before the king, he asked her what he could do for her ... just ask ... I will give you up to half the kingdom. (A person cannot help but wonder if these were just words ... a common expression not to be taken literally?) She asked for a hearing ... with him and with Haman. He was the one who had crafted the hateful decree designed to not only eliminate Mordecai ... the Jew who refused to bow to him, but eliminate all the Jews out of the Persian kingdom. As far as we can tell, she was planning to expose Haman at this meeting. She set it up as a banquet. She had it ready ahead of time, in case things went well with the king. She planned it for that very day.
The king and Haman attended ... the king asked Esther what it was she wanted ... and she seems to hesitate. Rather than expose Haman she chose to call for yet another banquet for the following day.
In the meanwhile, Haman has gone home feeling very privileged to be the only other guest besides the king. He proudly announced that he is invited to a second banquet for the following day. There is a 'fly in the ointment' however. As Haman had left the palace earlier, once again Mordecai does not bow to him. He complains about this to his wife. She suggests that he build a huge gallows - tonight ... and in the morning ask the king's permission to have Mordecai hanged. So, he has the gallows built and goes to sleep.
Here's where we pick up the narrative.
Chapter 6:1-3 Up to now in the book of Esther, several 'God incidences' have occurred. Now we see a few more.
The sleepless night
- It 'happened' that the king could not sleep. Is this odd or unusual? We have all had sleepless nights. But notice that the banquet of Esther is called a banquet of wine. One would think that after consuming a fair quantity of wine ... you could just go to bed and pass out. So maybe God kept him from sleeping?
1Sa 26:12 So David took the spear and the jug of water by Saul’s head, and they got away; and no man saw it or knew it or awoke. For they were all asleep, because a deep sleep from the LORD had fallen on them.
Ps 127:2 It is vain for you to rise up early, To sit up late, To eat the bread of sorrows; For so He gives His beloved sleep.
- It 'happened' that the king decided to have the kingdom chronicles read to him. He could have called for some soft music. He could have called for one of his concubines. The reading of chronicles, as a choice, is actually not all that odd. From what I have read this served a couple of purposes. Sometimes hindsight helps to plot the future. So it could serve to keep the direction of his ruling current. But as he would listen it could also serve to make him sleepy. In this case he is wide awake as he hears the account of the man who saved his life. He notices there is no further entry in the chronicles to indicated if anything had been done to reward Mordecai. So he asks if, in fact anything was done to honor him. They tell him ... no, nothing was done. The kings decision seems to be a little over the top ... maybe because he feels bad that so much time has now passed. Something should have been done right away. Something has to be done about it now!
- It 'happened' that Haman planned to talk to the King that very morning about getting Mordecai hanged. The timing is perfect. 6:4 Haman is called in. In typical fashion, the kings speaks in a formal manner and asks Haman, his top advisor a question. "What shall be done for the man whom the king delights to honor?"
Haman wrongly assumes1 that the King wants to honor him. That is logical. Haman is the king's top choice for an advisor. He and the king had enjoyed drinks together. He and the king have been asked to a banquet ... twice. So he 'pours it on'. 8-9.
The King starts his sentence ... and the first part would be quite acceptable to Haman. "Hurry, take the robe and the horse, as you have suggested, and ... and now imagine the expression fade from expectation to what? Shock? Embarrassment? and do so for Mordecai the Jew. 10-11
From morning to and including the actual event, most of the day was used up. 12 – 14. Notice that Mordecai is not inflated with the honour showed to him. 'He returns to his place at the gate'.
The providence of God
We have noticed several things that just seemed 'to happen' in this part of the story of Esther. We know that “All things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are 'the called' according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28) Satan has just put it into Haman's heart to have Mordecai hanged. What perfect timing that God puts the desire to honor Mordecai into the king's heart, that very same night. This is no fluke chance. We have here an example where the 'delay' in honoring Mordecai has an integral part in the deliverance of the Jews. Sometimes we question God's delays in our own situations. God has the whole picture. If we can just wait on God, we will see how much better the timing of God is, than the timing we think He should have used. How wise it would be for us to trust Romans 8:28 and avoid a lot of frustration.
The second Banquet 7:1-10
1-2 Whether Esther has held this second banquet for the sake of exaggerating the effect ... or if she is having problems getting up her nerve, she now comes out with her request.
:3 Then Queen Esther answered, "If I have found favour with you, O king, and if it pleases your majesty, grant me my life— this is my petition. And spare my people—this is my request.
She does not stop there. She makes a passionate request. Verse 4
She referred to the wording of the decree: 3:13 And letters were sent by posts into all the king’s provinces, to destroy, to slay, and to cause to perish, all Jews, both young and old, little children and women, in one day, even upon the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar, and to take the spoil of them for a prey.
The King, who obviously had granted Haman the authority to make and enact the petition, perhaps not even paying real close attention to the details of it, is now horrified. He demands to know who would dare to attempt such a thing. 5-6
What a 'turn-a-round' for Haman! Here is an enemy of the Jews. He wanted to annihilate them. What possessed him? What possessed Hitler to attempt the very same thing?
De 32:9 For the LORD’S portion is His people; Jacob is the place of His inheritance. :10 "He found him in a desert land And in the wasteland, a howling wilderness; He encircled him, He instructed him, He kept him as the apple of His eye.
Zec 2:7 "Come, O Zion! Escape, you who live in the Daughter of Babylon!"8 For this is what the LORD Almighty says: "After he has honoured me and has sent me against the nations that have plundered you—for whoever touches you touches the apple of his eye— 9 I will surely raise my hand against them so that their slaves will plunder them. Then you will know that the LORD Almighty has sent me. 10 ¶ "Shout and be glad, O Daughter of Zion. For I am coming, and I will live among you," declares the LORD. 11 Many nations will be joined with the LORD in that day and will become my people. I will live among you and you will know that the LORD Almighty has sent me to you.
Haman's Fate 7-10
Hearing this the king had to step outside. When he comes back inside he accuses Haman of assaulting the queen. The NIV says molesting. That could be the correct sense. I notice that he has processed this sudden load of information ... and does not dispute the queen's words at all. His heart is totally turned against Haman. It looks like it was a custom to put a sack over the head of a condemned person.
So Haman is dead. The king's wrath is subsided.
8:1-2 According the king (so it appears) he thinks the matter is dealt with. He gives Esther total control of the whole estate of Haman. She, in turn, gives that control to Mordecai. But is it over? What about the edict for December 13th? The Laws of the Medes and Persians is 'unalterable'. The fate of the Jews is still at risk. Esther will have to come up with something else before this goes away.
1“Thought in his heart” - this is a subtle indication to us of the inspiration of scripture in regards to the book of Esther. No one would know what he thought in his heart but the Holy Spirit.