Our God Reigns over Lots and Letters

His point is that we cannot expect the law to do what only grace can accomplish. Ahasuerus made a command that all were to honor Haman (3:2). In Persia apparently honor had to be demanded (1:2). But that command was powerless in creating a desire in Mordecai to be conformed to it. In the same way, if your children are withholding honor from you as their parent, make sure your confidence is not in the law informing them but in God’s grace transforming them. Keep praying, keep presenting the gospel in all its beauty and depth, and keep pointing them to the “presence and promises of God’s grace” (ibid., 54). If all goes well, they will see the impact God’s grace has in your life and will respond to it positively.

When helping the church at Rome consider their responsibilities to political authorities, Paul wrote, “Pay your obligations to everyone: taxes to those you owe taxes, tolls to those you owe tolls, respect to those you owe respect, and honor to those you owe honor” (Rom 13:7). To whom, then, do we owe honor? As we just mentioned, children are to honor their parents. And as believers we are to “outdo one another in showing honor” (Rom 12:10) and to “hold people like [Epaphroditus] in honor, because he came close to death for the work of Christ” (Phil 2:29-30). The elders who work hard at preaching and teaching in your faith family are “worthy of double honor” (1 Tim 5:17).

If you are a pastor reading this book and the people God has entrusted to you have failed to follow 1 Timothy 5:17, then I am sorry, and I pray the Lord is showing himself strong regardless. You should also know that discussing financial matters with your leadership group/elders/committee and seeking to provide for your family do not make you an unspiritual pastor.

Regarding the idea of showing honor to others, Peter provides two important passages. To husbands he says, “Live with your wives in an understanding way, as with a weaker partner, showing them honor as coheirs of the grace of life, so that your prayers will not be hindered” (1 Pet 3:7). Not acting in an honorable way toward our wives or not treating them as equal recipients of God’s grace causes problems not just in our homes but in our relationship with God. As husbands our prayers can be hindered by acting dishonorably toward our spouses. Peter also says, “Honor everyone. Love the brothers and sisters. Fear God. Honor the emperor” (1 Pet 2:17). Considering this, I ask, Why, Peter? Why did you have to use honor and the two e’s of everyone and emperor? Oh, that’s right! Because you were under the influence of the Holy Spirit.

Mordecai lived before 1 Peter 2:17 was written. In his defense God had not breathed it out yet. Regardless, honor was due to Ahasuerus (though he was not honorable), and he demanded it be given to Haman as well. I will not try to dive deeper into Mordecai’s actions here, but I will ask us to assess our own. Are we withholding honor from anyone to whom it is due? If so, are we withholding it more out of convenience than conviction? Is it because we want to follow our preferences rather than the Lord’s precepts? Mordecai’s refusal to honor Haman would cause consequences for every Jew in the Persian Empire. The impact of our disobedience may not be as far-reaching as his, but it does not make our disobedience any less significant. Because God is sovereign over honor and dishonor, let us not seek our own honor or withhold it from those to whom it is due.

Esther 3:7-15

Remember that no matter what his enemies plan, God will preserve his people.

When it comes to disciplining my children, there have been a few times when I ended up not doing what I said I was going to do. Sometimes I have relented because what I planned on doing was too drastic and my wife graciously helped me see that. In other instances, as time lengthened between what I declared and the moment of discipline, my desire to be as severe as I said dissipated. I take as much joy in having to discipline one of my children as I do in having to kill a snake that slithers into our yard (and I take absolutely no joy in that at all). In Haman’s wrath, however, there was no evidence he thought his plan to kill all the Jews was too drastic. And if left unimpeded, his disciplinary measures spelled doom for God’s people.

Phase one of Haman’s plan was to set a date. Picking the right date for a party can be difficult enough when trying to align everyone’s schedules and activities. But how does one pick a date for a genocide? Haman would rely on the pur, also known as a “lot.” And in case you do not say the phrase Pass the pur when playing board games, let me explain: What they used to discern the date of death may have been similar to our contemporary dice (William W. Hallo, “The First Purim,” 19–26). Through casting the lots, those gathered with Haman were able to determine that the twelfth month would be the most favorable day on which to slaughter the Jews. But we know something Haman and his cronies did not: “The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord” (Prov 16:33). The date discerned by Haman, therefore, came not through the discretion of the gods but by the direction of God. A clear evidence of God’s grace is that while Haman began scheming during the first month of the year, the massacre was scheduled for the twelfth month. As every child eager for presents knows, there is a loooooooooooong time between January and December.

Once the date was confirmed, Haman had to convince Ahasuerus to annihilate an entire ethnic group in his empire. One would hope this would be difficult if not impossible. But what should not have been a piece of cake was one. Haman simply gave the king a bogus scenario full of generalities. He was not interested in presenting truth, just in being manipulative, which is not dissimilar to the way we frame stories to make our way seem best. (We are never guilty of leaving out details that would be detrimental to whatever we are trying to make happen, are we?) He provided no specifics about the people he considered dangerous to the king’s interests (except the lie that they were not keeping the king’s laws), and the king asked for none. Never let facts get in the way of gossip or greed!

What Haman was specific about was the amount of silver he would place in the king’s treasury if his plan was approved. This promise too was bogus. Gregory writes, “The bribe that Haman promises is something he will never be able to deliver, but the king apparently does not realize that” (Inconspicuous Providence, 63). Haman’s bribe would have been between half and two-thirds of the empire’s annual tax revenue, and unless Haman’s uncle was Scrooge McDuck, he probably did not have access to such funds. The king, who apparently was the most easily influenced, powerful person in the history of the world, told Haman to do what he wanted and gave him his ring to validate the decrees that would be sent out. Based on what we know of Ahasuerus, his lack of regard for human life is saddening but not surprising. The king granted permission for possibly thousands of Jews to be slaughtered, regardless of gender or age, by their neighbors.

Lives were on the line, and Ahasuerus was complicit rather than confrontational. Apparently, investigation might have led the king to indigestion, so he was content making decisions without hearing what Paul Harvey called “the rest of the story.” I pray you and I will never be so callous when eternal souls hang in the balance. Remember what the father in Proverbs 24 tells his son:

If you do nothing in a difficult time,

your strength is limited.

Rescue those being taken off to death,

and save those stumbling toward slaughter.

If you say, “But we didn’t know about this,”

won’t he who weighs hearts consider it?

Won’t he who protects your life know?

Won’t he repay a person according to his work? (Prov 24:10-12)

I tend to think about this text every year when churches are exhorted to consider the sanctity of life on a particular Sunday. No baby has ever driven himself or herself to an abortion clinic. No, every day in our world, babies are being taken off to death, and we are called to do something about it! When we stand before the Lord, we will not be able to pretend we did not know that something so horrific as abortion was happening every day in our country and around the globe.

It should jar us how easily a plan to eliminate an entire ethnicity of people was proposed and proclaimed. Lest we think this was just a problem for the ancients, remember the genocides in Darfur, Rwanda, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Cambodia, and Syria (“Modern Era Genocides”). And we dare not leave out the Holocaust! At the heart of each of these tragedies is one ethnic group seeking to exercise its self-perceived and self-proclaimed superiority over another. Satan is at work in all such instances, but in Haman’s case there was probably a particularly hellish influence seeking to annihilate the line from which the Messiah would come.

May none of those we shepherd find the slightest bit of support for any action bent on destroying men, women, and children based on ethnicity. Whether abortion or genocide is up for discussion, each person is formed in God’s image and therefore has value. Indeed, in Adam we are related to all other humans on our planet, but those of us in Christ are related more closely to a smaller group. In Adam and in Christ, our connectedness is determined by our natures. As believers, we should be pro-life in every way possible.

I do not believe those I shepherd will seek to eliminate an entire ethnicity. I am concerned, however, that some harbor thoughts of ethnic superiority in their hearts without even realizing it. In a recent sermon at Together for the Gospel, David Platt addressed the issue of racism with a particular focus on the relationships between white and African-American Christians. The merciless and slanderous reaction he received from critics on social media was overwhelming. But their tweets and posts do not make what he said any less true. As a means of working toward racial reconciliation, Platt offered these six applications: (1) Look at the reality of racism. (2) Live in true multiethnic community. (3) Listen to and learn from one another. (4) Love, and lay aside preferences for one another. (5) Leverage influence for justice in the present. (6) Long for the day when justice will be perfect (“Let Justice Roll Down like Waters: Racism and Our Need for Repentance”). For some in this world, life is cheap. But believers should know each person is created in God’s image. Strive to help those you shepherd work for the good of all people. All lives should matter to us.

The next phase of Haman’s demonic plan was to draft one of the most heinous decrees in history. The decree was to be translated into every script and language used in the empire. Haman wanted those he was targeting to know there would be no place to hide in Ahasuerus’s kingdom because even those living in its most remote areas would receive the decree. Wherever the Jews would go, all would know.

Having convinced the king, Haman no longer veils exactly what he wants done, to whom he wants it done, when he wants it done, who is to do it, or what they can gain by doing it. In the name of the king, Haman commands all people in the empire to completely annihilate every Jew regardless of gender or age. And after they kill the victim, the murderers can then take the dolly right out of the little girl’s hands, so to speak, working their way through her family’s belongings. To guard against a lack of clarity, Haman uses the terms “destroy, kill, and annihilate” to convey how passionately he wants the job done. If this vindictiveness really just started with Mordecai’s refusal to bow, I am not sure there has been a greater escalation of revenge known to man. Other than that it is a command from the king, no additional reasons are provided in the decree as to why everyone in the Persian Empire should turn on the Jews. Maybe they did not need any additional motivation.

Of all we could consider about the edict, I want to focus on two aspects of timing. First, on the day the Jews would have been preparing to celebrate God’s deliverance, they found themselves in need of him once again. The edict was drafted on the thirteenth day of the first month, which would have been the day before Passover. Each year God’s people remembered how he rescued their forefathers from the clutches of Pharaoh and then provided for them his law and land. Having to celebrate Passover outside the promised land was a good reminder to them of their disobedience and the Lord’s discipline. Perhaps receiving the edict on that particular day caused some to believe God had fully and finally abandoned his people and in eleven months they would meet their end. Certainly others would have been led to pray, “God, our death has been decreed and we are in need of you, our Deliverer, once again.”

If you have not read ahead in Esther’s story, I hate to spoil it for you, but God is going to deliver his people. We will leave those details for the discussions that are coming, but for now consider these two truths. (1) To do anything to the Jews, Haman did not need Ahasuerus’s permission but God’s, and he was not granting it. Duguid notes,

The people were ultimately not [Ahasuerus’s] to give into Haman’s power. They were God’s people, and He would not allow them to be destroyed at the whim of the empire. (Esther and Ruth, 41)

(2) Haman’s promised silver bought a decree, but it could not buy the demise of God’s people. Neither the silver given to Ahasuerus nor the silver coins given to Judas could thwart God’s purposes. All the bribes in the world will never be able to stop God from providing his Son with his bride, the church.

The second aspect of timing I want us to consider is the eleven months of waiting that God’s people would experience from the time the decree went out until the date set for the purge. After the decree was placed in the mail, Haman and Ahasuerus sat down to drink together. While they were celebrating, the citadel was in confusion, the Jews were concerned, and God was still in control! What Haman and Ahasuerus and not even Esther and Mordecai knew yet was that the Jews could say, “The reports of our deaths have been greatly exaggerated.”

That God’s people didn’t know how it would all turn out is what I want us to examine. It is one thing to hear the phrase cancer free after months (or years) of undergoing surgeries and treatments. But on the first day of diagnosis, even the most faithful believer may be tempted to be anxious and need to be reminded that we can cast our cares on God because God cares for us (1 Pet 5:7). In God’s providence only he knows the full plan; we do not. Yes, we know how Revelation ends, and yes, we have his promises, but a lot of details for our specific lives remain mysterious. God’s plan may involve our living, and it may involve our dying, but it will definitely involve our faith. The author of Hebrews reminds us that in God’s providence some are spared and some suffer greatly, but in whatever circumstances we find ourselves, we are to remain faithful (Heb 11:32–12:3). So even though we do not know God’s full plan or how our specific situations will turn out, we can trust God fully. Like Habakkuk, we must be able to say,

Though the fig tree does not bud

and there is no fruit on the vines,

though the olive crop fails

and the fields produce no food,

though the flocks disappear from the pen

and there are no herds in the stalls,

yet I will celebrate in the Lord;

I will rejoice in the God of my salvation!

The Lord my Lord is my strength;

he makes my feet like those of a deer

and enables me to walk on mountain heights! (Hab 3:17-19)

What can help us trust God even in our waiting? What can fuel our faithfulness? Considering his.

As a church staff we read through a chapter in Psalms to start our weekly meetings. In recent weeks we read Psalms 105 and 106, and in both the psalmist is recalling God’s deliverance of his people. The psalmist reminds his readers that God “remembers his covenant forever” (105:8), “He sent Moses” (105:26), “he brought Israel out with silver and gold” (105:37), “He spread a cloud as covering” (105:39), “He opened a rock, and water gushed out” (105:41), “He brought his people out with rejoicing” (105:43), and “He saved them from the power of the adversary; he redeemed them from the power of the enemy” (106:10). Considering these works of God leads the psalmist to say, “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Let all the people say, ‘Amen!’ Hallelujah!” (Ps 106:48). Even in our times of waiting, we can be empowered to trust the Lord not by considering our previous faithfulness but by recalling his. He is always working in our waiting even if it is not always evident. As Thomas Watson encourages, “God is to be trusted when his providences seem to run contrary to his promises” (A Body of Divinity, 112). And as is noted so clearly in Psalms 105 and 106 and eventually in Esther, no one will ever be able to stop God from protecting and preserving his people. We know no one will crush his church (Acts 12).

Make no mistake, in Esther 2:19–3:15 God’s people found themselves in the same position we have always found ourselves in since the garden of Eden. A decree of death hangs over us from which we cannot deliver ourselves. Far worse than Mordecai’s refusal to honor Haman is our refusal to honor the Lord. We have not desired to give him the glory and honor he is due but instead have chosen to live for our own glory. We thus stand in need of rescue from our rebellion. God alone can save his people, and he has chosen to do so at great cost. Though Haman used his money to purchase death, God uses Christ’s death to purchase life. No greater price has been paid for liberation, and that price has been paid in full.