Bible Study - Stand Up (6) - Keep Standing - Esther 8 and 9 - May 27, 2018

Bible Study – Stand Up (6) – Keep Standing – May 27, 2018

This is our sixth and final lesson entitled “Stand Up: How to Fight Injustice.”

Our focus scripture is Esther 8:1-8; 9:20-22.

Don’t become complacent – maintain vigilance.

This is our final lesson in the Book of Esther. All’s well that ends well or is it? GOD dealt with Haman. So all is well in Susa but what about the rest of the province’s ruled by King Xerxes. Queen Esther and Mordecai were apparently safe. Complacency could set in; after all they were safe. But what was the status of the edict that the king had signed for the Jews to be killed in all of the provinces? It was still in effect.

Often, once our neck is out of the noose, so-to-speak, we do not consider others whose neck may still be in the noose. Let’s explore!

Let’s read Esther 8:1-2:

Esther Intervenes for the Jews

1 That same day King Ahasuerus (Xerxes) awarded Queen Esther the estate of Haman, the enemy of the Jews. Mordecai entered the king's presence because Esther had revealed her relationship to Mordecai. 

2 The king removed his signet ring he had recovered from Haman and gave it to Mordecai, and Esther put him in charge of Haman's estate. 

There had been quite a turn of events. Haman was executed and Haman’s house and property was given to Queen Esther. Haman had amassed quite a fortune. Mordecai entered the presence of the king. The king elevated Mordecai to the highest rank in his kingdom by giving Mordecai his signet ring. Queen Esther put Mordecai in charge of the estate which formally belonged to Haman.

To me this is a picture of the grace GOD extends to all who faithfully trust and obediently serve HIM. Many people had to make right decisions along the journey to this part of life’s journey. We need to keep in mind what GOD spoke through Mordecai to Queen Esther in Esther 4:14 If you keep silent at this time, liberation and deliverance will come to the Jewish people from another place, but you and your father's house will be destroyed. Who knows, perhaps you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this." 

Let’s read Esther 8:3-8:

3 Then Esther addressed the king again. She fell at his feet, wept, and begged him to revoke the evil of Haman the Agagite, and his plot he had devised against the Jews. 

4 The king extended the golden scepter toward Esther, so she got up and stood before the king. 

5 She said, "If it pleases the king, and I have found approval before him, if the matter seems right to the king and I am pleasing in his sight, let [a royal edict] be written. Let it revoke the documents the scheming Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, wrote to destroy the Jews who [reside] in all the king's provinces. 

6 For how could I bear to see the evil that would come on my people? How could I bear to see the destruction of my relatives?" 

7 King Ahasuerus said to Esther the Queen and to Mordecai the Jew, "Look, I have given Haman's estate to Esther, and he was hanged on the gallows because he attacked the Jews. 

8 You may write in the king's name whatever pleases you concerning the Jews, and seal it with the royal signet ring. A document written in the king's name and sealed with the royal signet ring cannot be revoked." 

Queen Esther was one smart lady. She approached the king in behalf of the Jewish people throughout all the provinces. She was very humble in her approach and request. We need to keep in mind that the king was an unwitting party to Haman’s scheme and was accountable. It seems that the king’s sentence of death to Haman not only took care of Haman’s association but the king’s association with the plot to kill the Jews. The king granted her request and delegated the authority to her and Mordecai to write a document in the king’s name that pleases them concerning the Jews and seal it with the royal signet ring. Once written and sealed it could not be revoked. The same was true for the edict written by Haman and signed by the king to exterminate the Jews on a specific date. So what would they do? This is a message to those in authority, be careful what you sign and to whom you delegate. Those in authority must oversee those to whom authority has been granted.

So let’s read the solution they came up with as recorded in Esther 8:9-17:

9 On the twenty-third day of the third month (that is, the month Sivan), the royal scribes were summoned. Everything was written exactly as Mordecai ordered for the Jews, to the satraps, the governors, and the officials of the 127 provinces from India to Cush. [The edict was written] for each province in its own script, for each ethnic group in its own language, and to the Jews in their own script and language. 

10 Mordecai wrote in King Ahasuerus' name and sealed [the edicts] with the royal signet ring. He sent the documents by mounted couriers, who rode fast horses bred from the royal racing mares. 

11 The king's edict gave the Jews in each and every city the right to assemble and defend themselves, to destroy, kill, and annihilate every ethnic and provincial army hostile to them, including women and children, and to take their possessions as spoils of war. 

12 [This would take place] on a single day throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month Adar. 

13 A copy of the document was to be issued as law in every province. It was to be published for every ethnic group so the Jews could be ready to avenge themselves against their enemies on that day. 

14 On their royal horses, the couriers rode out in haste, at the king's urgent command. The law was also issued in the fortress of Susa. 

15 Mordecai went out from the king's presence clothed in royal purple and white, with a great golden crown and a purple robe of fine linen. The city of Susa shouted and rejoiced, 

16 and the Jews celebrated with gladness, joy and honor. 

17 In every province and every city, wherever the king's command and his law reached, rejoicing and jubilation took place among the Jews. There was a celebration and a holiday. And, many of the ethnic groups of the land professed themselves to be Jews because fear of the Jews had overcome them.

This edict gave the Jews the right to defend themselves. The Jews were victorious. Again, we see the wisdom and power of GOD as we read on ---

Let’s read Esther 9:1-6:

1 The king's command and law went into effect on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month Adar. On the day when the Jews' enemies had hoped to overpower them, just the opposite happened. The Jews overpowered those who hated them. 

2 In each of King Ahasuerus' provinces the Jews assembled in their cities to attack those who intended to harm them. Not a single person could withstand them; terror of them fell on every nationality. 

3 All the officials of the provinces, the satraps, the governors, and the royal civil administrators aided the Jews because they were afraid of Mordecai. 

4 For Mordecai [exercised] great power in the palace, and his fame spread throughout the provinces as he became more and more powerful. 

5 The Jews put all their enemies to the sword, killing and destroying them. They did what they pleased to those who hated them. 

6 In the fortress of Susa the Jews killed and destroyed 500 men,

GOD gave the Jews victory.

Let’s read Esther 9:20-22:

20 Mordecai recorded these events and sent letters to all the Jews in all of King Ahasuerus' provinces, both near and far. 

21 [He ordered] them to celebrate the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month Adar every year

Mordecai had a paper trail, so-to-speak, of what had transpired. Once the original edict had been overruled there was no going back. The king’s edict was final. Mordecai wanted all the Jews everywhere to know that GOD had delivered them from extermination from the Kingdom ruled by Xerxes.

The very day the Jews were to be executed was declared a day of celebration.

We are all on a journey. We do not know where the issues in our lives will lead us. As children of GOD, through the miracle of rebirth, through faith in JESUS, HE has a plan and purpose for each Christian. In the words of Dr. Vance Havner, “We must practice in the dark, what we learn in the light.”

Blessings!!!