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Introduction

Jewish tradition identifies Mordecai as the author of this book.

James Ussher dates the book after the 70 years of exile (The Babylonian Exile) but while many Jews chose to continue living outside Israel (The Diaspora). Ezra – one of the exiles who had returned to Jerusalem – mentions the reign of Ahasuerus (Ezra 4:6).

Although this book records historical events, its greater purpose is to act as a parable of God’s interactions with humanity. Generally speaking, King Ahasuerus is analogous to God, Vashti to rebellious humans, Esther to obedient humans, the Jews to humanity, Haman to Satan, and Mordecai to Jesus. All that said, there are nuances to be observed in learning from and applying this historical account as a teaching parable.

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Esther 1

The Banquets of King Ahasuerus
Est 1:1-9

The glory of King Ahasuerus was great – recalling the great glory of Solomon’s kingdom. Neither kingdom was able to retain its glory. All earthly glory is fleeting. We are catching Ahasuerus when his glory was at its height.

Est 1:3 – This – “Persia and Media” – is the kingdom that came between the kingdoms of Babylon and Greece according to Daniel’s interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of the stone that would smash four kingdoms (Babylon, Medes and Persians, Greece, and Rome). (See Dan 2 and accompanying BSN notes.)

Queen Vashti’s Refusal
Est 1:10-22

Vashti’s reaction to Ahasuerus reminds us of a parable Jesus told about a marriage feast.

Matt 22:1 Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying,
Matt 22:2 “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son.
Matt 22:3 “And he sent out his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding feast, and they were unwilling to come.
Matt 22:4 “Again he sent out other slaves saying, ‘Tell those who have been invited, “Behold, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and my fattened livestock are all butchered and everything is ready; come to the wedding feast.”‘
Matt 22:5 “But they paid no attention and went their way, one to his own farm, another to his business,
Matt 22:6 and the rest seized his slaves and mistreated them and killed them.
Matt 22:7 “But the king was enraged, and he sent his armies and destroyed those murderers and set their city on fire.
Matt 22:8 “Then he said to his slaves, ‘The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy.
Matt 22:9 ‘Go therefore to the main highways, and as many as you find there, invite to the wedding feast.’
Matt 22:10 “Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered together all they found, both evil and good; and the wedding hall was filled with dinner guests.
Matt 22:11 “But when the king came in to look over the dinner guests, he saw a man there who was not dressed in wedding clothes,
Matt 22:12 and he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here without wedding clothes?’ And the man was speechless.
Matt 22:13 “Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
Matt 22:14 “For many are called, but few are chosen.”

Though one story (the book of Esther) is fact and the other is fiction (Jesus’ parable), both offer the same principles of divine-human interaction. The two stories are not identical by any means, but do offer multiple points of comparison. The main point of both stories is that God is the initiator of relationship with mankind and that we, generally speaking, respond like jerks.

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Esther 2

Vashti’s Successor Sought
Est 2:1-7

Both the story of Esther and Jesus’ marriage feast parable (Mt 22:1-14) make the point that the invitation is wide open but attendees must prepare! These are not “come as you are” parties. In Esther’s story, only one will be chosen; in Jesus’ parable it is “few” that will be chosen. It’s often said that Jesus will accept us just as we are; that will not work if we insist on remaining just as we are. Repentance is required.

Esther Finds Favor
Est 2:8-16

Est 2:9 – Like Joseph in Egypt and Daniel in Babylon, Esther rises like cream to the top because God is with her. And God is with her because she is with God.

2 Chr 15:1 Now the Spirit of God came on Azariah the son of Oded,
2 Chr 15:2 and he went out to meet Asa and said to him, “Listen to me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: the LORD is with you when you are with Him. And if you seek Him, He will let you find Him; but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you.

If you are not sure God is with you, ask yourself if you are with God. If you are, there is no way He is going to be against someone who is for Him. He’s not that kind of person.

John 6:37 “…the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out.

Est 2:10-11 – Mordecai was not Esther’s father by birth, but he was a father to the fatherless and she responded with filial piety. In the same way, Jesus became a father to us:

Ps 68:5 A father of the fatherless and a judge for the widows,
Is God in His holy habitation.

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John 14:18 “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.

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Eph 1:5 He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will,

***

2 Cor 6:18 “And I will be a father to you,
And you shall be sons and daughters to Me,”
Says the Lord Almighty.

Jesus Is the Father

Est 2:15 – The reason that individuals like Joseph, Daniel, and Esther rise to the top like cream is that their relationship with God leads them to respect God-ordained authority.

Rom 13:1 Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God.
Rom 13:2 Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves.

Of course, there is always the question of what the righteous are to do when an authority figure commands something unrighteous – such as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego faced (Dan 3). All this means is that there are justifiable exceptions to the rule, not a permanent license to ignore the rule.

Esther Becomes Queen
Est 2:17-20

Even when Esther was an adult and no longer under Mordecai’s authority, she wisely kept him as a trusted advisor in her life. To be an orphan, especially in ancient times, could be a debilitating handicap, but Esther’s relationship with God enabled her to overcome and to use obstacles as stepping stones. Esther knew God under the old covenant, how much more then shall we overcome since we have a relationship with God under the new covenant which is through Jesus Christ!

Rom 8:31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?
Rom 8:32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?
Rom 8:33 Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies;
Rom 8:34 who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.
Rom 8:35 Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
Rom 8:36 Just as it is written,
“FOR YOUR SAKE WE ARE BEING PUT TO DEATH ALL DAY LONG;
WE WERE CONSIDERED AS SHEEP TO BE SLAUGHTERED.”
Rom 8:37 But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.

Mordecai Saves the King
Est 2:21-23

Est 2:22 – This helps us understand what it means to do something in Jesus’ name.

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Esther 3

Haman’s Plot against the Jews
Est 3:1-15

Est 3:2-5 – Sounds like Nebuchadnezzar’s image and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego not bowing down to it (Dan 3).

Est 3:6 – Sounds like the Egyptian pharaoh who went after all the Hebrew male infants (Ex 1), or King Herod who went after all the male infants in and around Bethlehem (Mt 2). The Bible’s history helps us identify the schemes of Satan.

Eph 6:11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.

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2 Cor 2:11 so that no advantage would be taken of us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes.

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1 Cor 10:13 No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man…

There are a limited humber of plays in Satan’s playbook. God makes it possible for us to recognize and catalog them. The scheme here is to go after the many to get the one.

Est 3:7-15 – This sounds similar, but not identical, to the scheme formulated by the counselors of King Darius to get him to enact a law that would, in effect, criminalize the personal devotional time (PDT) of one man – Daniel (Dan 6).

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Esther 4

Esther Learns of Haman’s Plot
Est 4:1-14

Esther and Mordecai exchange information until Mordecai comes to a conviction about what Esther should do. He advises her to do what he had previously advised her not to do. Compare his counsels on the subject.

Est 2:10 Esther did not make known her people or her kindred, for Mordecai had instructed her that she should not make them known.

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Est 2:20 Esther had not yet made known her kindred or her people, even as Mordecai had commanded her; for Esther did what Mordecai told her as she had done when under his care.

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Est 4:13 Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, “Do not imagine that you in the king’s palace can escape any more than all the Jews.
Esth 4:14 “For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place and you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not attained royalty for such a time as this?”

Mordecai changed the advice he was giving because he was a man who understood the times.

Eccl 3:1 There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven–
…Eccl 3:7 …A time to be silent and a time to speak.

***

1 Chr 12:32 Of the sons of Issachar, men who understood the times, with knowledge of what Israel should do…

Like Mordecai, Jesus had a sense of timing that kept to the path of righteousness.

Matt 3:13 Then Jesus arrived from Galilee at the Jordan coming to John, to be baptized by him.
Matt 3:14 But John tried to prevent Him, saying, “I have need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?”
Matt 3:15 But Jesus answering said to him, “Permit it at this time; for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he permitted Him.

John the Baptist knew that Jesus was greater than he was. Jesus knew this, too, but also knew that at this time it was righteous for John to baptize Jesus. We know what time it is spiritually by surveying the situation and paying attention to the signs. That’s what Jesus did. And he expected others to do the same.

Matt 16:3 “…Do you know how to discern the appearance of the sky, but cannot discern the signs of the times?

In times past, there was nothing to be gained and much to be lost by Esther revealing she was a Jew. However, given the rollout of Haman’s plan, everything has flipped. Now there is something to be gained by revealing she’s a Jew (because she has access to the king) and everything to lose if she stays silent (because there is no other Jew with access to the king) – the king being the only person in the country with more authority than Haman.

Esther Plans to Intercede
Est 4:15-17

Mordecai and Esther have a good relationship and have had very profitable exchanges of information. They are both moving forward in synchronized fashion, trusting in the Lord for His help.

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Esther 5

Esther Plans a Banquet
Est 5:1-8

Esther postponing the revelation of her request until the next day maximizes the attention she will receive from the king when she finally makes it.

Haman’s Pride
Est 5:9-14

Est 5:9 – After having been feted in an intimate but lavish feast with the king and queen of the country, Haman is full of himself. Yet when he bumps into a nobody, he gets all hot and bothered that the nobody doesn’t curtsy. “It’s not enough that I love me or that really important people love me; everybody has to love me!” This is the way it is with sinful desires: they can never be satisfied. That’s how we know they’re sinful.

Prov 30:15 The leech has two daughters, “Give,” “Give.”
There are three things that will not be satisfied,
Four that will not say, “Enough”:
Prov 30:16 Sheol, and the barren womb,
Earth that is never satisfied with water,
And fire that never says, “Enough.”

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2 Pet 2:14 having eyes full of adultery that never cease from sin, enticing unstable souls, having a heart trained in greed, accursed children;

This is why Jesus said we should be on guard against any insatiable appetite – no matter what kind of appetite it is.

Luke 12:15 Then He said to them, “Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions.”

The “form” that Haman’s greed is taking in this story is his insatiable appetite for human praise and honor. The two most important people in the whole country think he’s hot stuff but when one of the least important people in the country won’t act like he’s important, he loses it.

God designed us with desires, so there’s nothing sinful about having them. However, we must manage those desires and not let them manage us. It should be a warning sign to us whenever we have any desire that canno be satisfied. Haman’s conscience was serving him poorly, for he should have been receiving two signals that he was off track: 1) pride instead of humility is wrong, 2) any unsatisfiable need is wrong.

Est 5:10 – Haman has another character flaw. He fakes character traits he doesn’t have – in this case, peace.

Matt 6:1 “Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven.

Haman is indignant at Mordecai’s failure to grovel…but succeeds in hiding his anger about it. Once he gets home, however, he pours out his filthy heart to the family and friends he has trained to always bow down before his self-image – that is, to always affirm his feelings rather than remind him of reality.

Eph 4:25 Therefore, laying aside falsehood, SPEAK TRUTH EACH ONE of you WITH HIS NEIGHBOR, for we are members of one another.

Paul was quoting the prophet Zechariah.

Zech 8:16 ‘These are the things which you should do: speak the truth to one another; judge with truth and judgment for peace in your gates.

Est 5:11-14 – When Haman displays his insatiable appetite for praise by describing the events of the day and how troubled he was about Mordecai’s failure to salute him, not one person present loved Haman enough to say, “So what?” But why should they? He had long before this day succeeded in making them all sycophants. His wife sounds like Jezebel listening to her husband King Ahab whine about a disappointment and responding by deciding to murder a poor man and steal his vineyard (1 Kgs 21). Haman’s cold-hearted support group was willing to hang a man for a social slight. A man’s family and friends reflect the man.

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Esther 6

The King Plans to Honor Mordecai
Est 6:1-9

Est 6:1-2 – This incident occurred in Est 2:21-23 – including the reporting of it in the nation’s official records.

Est 6:3 – Unlike Haman, King Ahasuerus has a working conscience. He knows we should always make some return for any benefit we receive – even if it’s just saying “thank you.”

2 Chr 32:25 But Hezekiah gave no return for the benefit he received, because his heart was proud; therefore wrath came on him and on Judah and Jerusalem.

This is why we are right to teach our children from the youngest age to always say “Thank you” to both God and man. Otherwise, they’ll become adults with a sense of entitlement – which causes misery in everyone around them. Ahasuerus doesn’t have to be a saint to want to thank Mordecai; even sinful people know this is the right thing to do.

Luke 6:33 “If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same.

The delay in showing the proper appreciation to Mordecai motivates the king to want his response to be special – something worth the wait. Therefore, he seeks advice before deciding what to do.

Est 6:4-5 – The irony of this moment is exceedingly rich. Haman is about to receive a gut punch…and he is leading with his unguarded and oversized belly.

Est 6:6 – Incredibly, the irony of the situation is being magnified! Haman’s inability to see beyond the bubble of his self-love and self-worship will cause him to dig even deeper the hole he is about to be thrown into.

Est 6:7-9 – Unwittingly, Haman pronounces an exquisite judgment…against himself.

Haman Must Honor Mordecai
Est 6:10-14

Est 6:10 – Can’t you just see Haman’s face when he heard the king say this?

Est 6:11 – Haman is the epitome of ungodly pride; Mordecai is the epitome of godly humility. But that’s not the only contrast in this verse. Another is that while Haman was desperately wishing he was the one sitting in the saddle, Mordecai probably felt silly and took no pleasure in the experience. Mordecai was too focused on the honor of God to care about the honor of man.

Est 6:12 – As in Est 5:10, Haman conceals his agitation and seethes in private. He’s got a public image to maintain! Of course he wasn’t being gracious about the honor he just bestowed on Mordecai, but he can’t afford to let the public know that!

Est 6:13 – I can easily imagine Haman responding with something like, “Thanks a lot! Why didn’t you say this the last time we talked about this guy?!” (Est 5:14).

Est 6:14 – The pace of events is now unfolding too fast for Haman and his fan club to formulate their next chess move. This is the way it is with God’s judgments: they seem to be a long time in coming, but once they start coming, it all happens too fast for the ones being judged to do anything to stop it.

Eccl 8:11 Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed quickly, therefore the hearts of the sons of men among them are given fully to do evil.

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Mal 3:5 “Then I will draw near to you for judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers and against the adulterers and against those who swear falsely, and against those who oppress the wage earner in his wages, the widow and the orphan, and those who turn aside the alien and do not fear Me,” says the LORD of hosts.
Mal 3:6 “For I, the LORD, do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed.

To summarize: God’s judgments are slow in coming, but swift once they arrive. Let us live with this in mind so that we are not consumed when the fires come. (Hell is on this earth, in this life.)

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Esther 7

Esther’s Plea
Est 7:1-6

Up until this point, everyone in the kingdom – including Esther – was under the impression that Ahasuerus and Haman were a team. Buddies. After all, Ahasuerus had appointed and promoted him (Est 3:1). There was no reason for anyone to think that Haman wasn’t always doing the will of Ahasuerus. Esther’s petition was testing that perception…to see if it was reality.

Haman Is Hanged
Est 7:7-10

Ahasuerus’ response to Esther’s petition emphatically demonstrated that Ahasuerus’ loyalty was to Esther and not Haman. Likewise, God’s response to Jesus’ petition – which was the resurrection from the dead – emphatically demonstrated that God’s loyalty was to men and not angels.

When Satan inspired the crucifixion of Jesus – including but not limited to his role in Judas’ betrayal – he ended up crucifying himself. Therefore, like Haman, he was hung on the gallows he had built for an innocent man who would not genuflect to him.

Matt 4:8 Again, the devil took Him to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory;
Matt 4:9 and he said to Him, “All these things I will give You, if You fall down and worship me.”
Matt 4:10 Then Jesus said to him, “Go, Satan! For it is written, ‘YOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD, AND SERVE HIM ONLY.’”
Matt 4:11 Then the devil left Him; and behold, angels came and began to minister to Him.

Satan indeed was the god of this world:

2 Cor 4:3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing,
2 Cor 4:4 in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

Satan didn’t realize that crucifying Jesus would ignite the series of events that would bring about his downfall.

1 Cor 2:8 the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory;

This downfall of Satan brought about by his attack on Jesus had been prophesied as far back at the garden of Eden when Adam and Eve sinned.

Gen 3:14 The LORD God said to the serpent,
“Because you have done this,
Cursed are you more than all cattle,
And more than every beast of the field;
On your belly you will go,
And dust you will eat
All the days of your life;
Gen 3:15 And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her seed;
He shall bruise you on the head,
And you shall bruise him on the heel.”

Per the last two lines, the crucifixion was a more serious blow to Satan than to Jesus by the same measure that an injury to the head is more serious than an injury to a heel. The crucifixion of Jesus’ flesh gave way to a life in the Spirit for Him that would be infinitely more powerful and enduring. It would be a return to His life as God.

As Ahasuerus distanced himself from Haman by hanging him, so God distanced Himself from Satan by raising Jesus from the death of hanging on a cross. For this reason, the apostle John could write this:

1 John 1:5 This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.

And James could write this:

James 1:13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone.

Jesus Christ pulled back the curtain that blocked heaven from our view – and revealed that God is not a mixture of good and evil. He is entirely good. And in doing this, He revealed God.

John 1:18 No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.

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Col 1:15 He is the image of the invisible God…

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Heb 1:3 And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature…

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John 14:8 Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.”
John 14:9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?

Only when Jesus died could He be raised from the dead, which brings us back to this verse:

1 Cor 2:8 the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory;

It was by launching his attack on Mordecai and the Jews that Haman brought about his own end. Had Haman been content to leave them alone, he would retained his honor and power. The same was true for Satan with regard to Jesus. As long as Jesus was alive on earth all He could do was help people with their temporal needs. He could never do more than that. And He Himself would never have died because He never sinned. Therefore, He would have been trapped on earth forever – under Satan’s authority since he was “god of this world” (2 Cor 4:3-4). But Satan just had to kill Jesus. He couldn’t help himself because he’s been a murderer from the beginning (Jn 8:44). All he knows is stealing, killing, and destroying (Jn 10:10). Therefore, he actually let Jesus out of the trap when he killed Him. That is, Satan provided the breakthrough to get back to heaven – and with that jailbreak take all the other prisoners of death with Him. Jesus’ prayer in the garden of Gethsemane was heard after all! People who thought otherwise were only looking at Friday’s outcome and waiting until Sunday as the Lord had prophesied.

Heb 5:7 In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety.

And thus Satan got himself hung on the gallows he’d had built for Jesus.

Haman…Satan…Wile E. Coyote. All too smart for their own good.

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Esther 8

A reader might think that this would be the happily-ever-after ending of the book of Esther, but life in this world is not like that. Let’s let the story play out and we’ll find out along the way what makes this world different from human expectations.

Mordecai Takes Haman’s Place
Est 8:1-2

Everything that had been Haman’s now becomes Mordecai’s – the job, the power, the wealth, and so on. Mordecai even received the signet ring that Ahasuerus had given to Haman. Thus Mordecai was elevated to be a chief deputy of King Ahasuerus in the same way that Joseph had been elevated to similar status with the pharaoh and Egypt and Daniel had been elevated to similar status with the kings Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, and then Darius.

Queen Esther Re-Petitions King Ahasuerus
Est 8:3-6

Esther knew that the execution of Haman and the transfer of his entire house to Mordecai had eliminated all future danger from Haman, but she, Mordecai, and the rest of the Jews still had the present danger to be concerned about – the one drive by the letters Haman had sent out in the king’s name.. For this reason, she pressed Ahasuerus to revoke Haman’s death warrant for the Jews.

Ahasuerus Tells Esther and Mordecai How to Solve the Problem
Est 8:7-17

Esther had hoped that Ahasuerus could simply revoke the letters authorizing warfare on the Jews. Ahasuerus explains that this is not the way things work in his kingdom. Once a king establishes something as law, even he cannot change it. This is also the way things worked with any edicts issued by King Darius whom Daniel served (Dan 6). And this is the way it works with God. Such a king – even God – cannot rescind what he says; but he can transcend it. And this is what Ahasuerus proposes. Specifically, while Ahasuerus couldn’t revoke the open season on Jews that Haman’s plan secured, but he could authorize the Jews to assemble and defend themselves by any means possible. This would provide a level playing field. Similarly, the devil had gone rogue after God created him, so God couldn’t un-create him; but God could empower us, especially through Jesus Christ, to defend ourselves against the devil the way He did – by the written word (Mt 4:1-11; Lk 4:1-3). Thus the written word was built up to include Old and New Testament to provide maximum ammunition to the people of God.

Knowing that God’s word can never be broken is a disappointment to some people. They would prefer, for example, that God just give Adam and Eve a do-over. Or that God would have just forgotten about the whole sin-and-death thing. Or even that God eradicate all evil instantaneously. But when we wish such things we’re just thinking like naive children who don’t know what they’re talking about when they opine on adult matters. Living in peace with God means trusting that He understands more than we do. After all, it would be pretty self-limiting, if not suicidal, to wish for a God who is only capable of taking actions that we understand. God established a messianic plan that would take 4,000 years to execute. That seems like an awfully long time to me to save the world, but I never see Jesus dawdle in the Gospels so I just cannot imagine God lollygagging. He must’ve needed every one of those 4,000 to get that job done.

Est 8:15 – Mordecai probably saw no value in being led around on the king’s horse while wearing one of the king’s robes for everyone to ooh and ah about him (Est 6:10-11); but the robes he is wearing now signify the authority that he can put to practical use in protecting the Jews who are about to be attacked.

Est 8:16 -These Jews were not playing the victim card; rather, they rejoiced that they were being given a right of self-defense.

Est 8:17 – One of the most notable outcomes of the letters from Esther and Mordecai, supported by King Ahasuerus, was that many of the people around the country became converts to the Jewish way of life. This meant abandoning worship of all other gods, and so it was no small step for a citizen to take.

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Esther 9

The Jews Destroy Their Enemies
Est 9:1-19

Est 9:1 – This is just as God did with His enemies – just when they thought they’d nailed Him down, He arose forevermore!

On this point, I like the wording of the King James Version:

Acts 17:6 When they did not find them, they began dragging Jason and some brethren before the city authorities, shouting, “These men who have upset the world have come here also;

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Acts 17:6 KJV And when they found them not, they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers of the city, crying, These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also;

Upside down! Everything is reversed! Mankind now ranks above angels!

1 Cor 6:3 Do you not know that we will judge angels?…

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Heb 1:13 But to which of the angels has He ever said,
“SIT AT MY RIGHT HAND,
UNTIL I MAKE YOUR ENEMIES
A FOOTSTOOL FOR YOUR FEET”?
Verse Info. Notes Heb 1:14 Are they not all ministering spirits, sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation?

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Heb 2:16 For assuredly He does not give help to angels, but He gives help to the descendant of Abraham.

Truly, God in Christ has turned creation on its head!

Est 9:4 – Mordecai is listed under “Types of Christ” in Identifiers of Jesus Christ because of verses like this one. Notice the pattern set by this verse; that is, notice how what is written foreshadows what would happen with Jesus. #FJOT

Est 9:10 – They’re keeping their greed in check. Greed along with pride was Haman’s downfall. (See notes above on Est 5:9-14.)

Est 9:13-14 – Recall how Haman had corrupted his entire family, for he trained them to feed his narcissism. What else could they grow up to be but like him?

Est 9:15 – As in Est 9:10, the Jews are denying greed a foothold. This is a time about defending their lives, not about getting rich.

Eccl 3:1 There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven–
Eccl 3:2 A time to [do this] and a time to [do that]…

Let us always seek to know what time it is.

The Feast of Purim Instituted
Est 9:20-32

Est 9:20 – When it says “Then Mordecai recorded these events,” this could include the writing of the book of Esther itself.

Est 9:22 – Through Jesus Christ, God turns days of sorrow into days of gladness, days of mourning into a holiday. He has done this most of all in turning the day of death from a day of descending into Sheol (Hades) to a day of ascending into heaven. This is turning a curse into a blessing.

Both Haman and Balaam (at the prompting of Balak king of Moab) illustrated how Satan’s attempt to curse men forever with death was reversed forever when God made death a blessing through Jesus Christ.

Deut 23:5 “Nevertheless, the LORD your God was not willing to listen to Balaam, but the LORD your God turned the curse into a blessing for you because the LORD your God loves you.

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Neh 13:1 On that day they read aloud from the book of Moses in the hearing of the people; and there was found written in it that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever enter the assembly of God,
Neh 13:2 because they did not meet the sons of Israel with bread and water, but hired Balaam against them to curse them. However, our God turned the curse into a blessing.

Est 9:24-32 – When Haman began formulating his plot against the Jews, he cast lots (Est 3:7). Presumably, this was Haman’s attempt to determine when would be his most likely time of success. (Casting lots was an ancient practice, not just an ancient Hebrew practice; we don’t do it anymore because we have the Spirit of God to guide us.) “Pur” meant “lot,” and the “im” at the end signified a plural – hence “Purim” became the ironic name of the feast to celebrate the Jews’ victory. This became an additional feast for Israel that was added to the feasts that Moses had given them.

Est 9:24 – Note the word “adversary” being applied to Haman and recall that the Hebrew word “satan” literally means “adversary.” Note also that it says Haman “schemed” and recall that Satan is described as a schemer.

2 Cor 2:11 so that no advantage would be taken of us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes.

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Eph 6:11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.

Note also the association of the word “destroy” with Haman. This, too, is a word associated with the devil.

John 10:10 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.

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1 Cor 10:10 Nor grumble, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer.

It is beyond doubt that Haman is used to teach us about the evil one just as Melchizedek is used to teach us about the righteous one.

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Esther 10

Mordecai’s Greatness
Est 10:1-3

#FJOT, Types and Shadows of Christ More broadly, I’ll close with something I wrote in the introduction to this book.

Ironically, neither the word “God” or “Lord” appear in the book of Esther…yet His fingerprints are all over it. Like history itself, this book is very spiritual and has much to teach us.

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