The First Wave of Annihilation

Esther 3

Have you ever witnessed something or read about something aweful. You think, how in the world can people do such horrible things to others. During World War II, you can read about the millions and millions of Jews that were killed, or the other Christians. We look and realize that people are capable of these things because sin reigns in this world. 

God holds everything in his hands. He knows what people can do and he allows them to do certain things as he has a greater plan that will be shown.

Haman is Evil

We read about Queen Vashti who refused to be obedient to the king and a result was that she lost her place as queen. There were auditions for the new queen to be chosen and a Jew named Esther went. She was far prettier than all the other girls and they underwent a year of charm school. In this year she was caked with fragrances as well as make-up so the king would be impressed. When King Ahasuerus saw her he knew she was the one and Esther was chosen to be queen.

We read that she had no father or mother but that her Uncle Mordecai raised her. He plays a very important part in this book as he told the king about the plot to take his life.

In chapter 3 we are introduced to Haman. We do not know much about him other than that the king liked him and gave him one of the greatest positions in the kingdom. It was customary of Persian culture for people to bow down to authority. This was not a form of worship but respect. Mordecai refused to bow down to Haman because he was a Jew and Haman hated him for that. 

As Haman became irritated with Mordecai more and more, he plotted to extinguish the Jews. He made a decree to the king without exposes all the details. The king gave the signet ring as his signature of the law and then it went out throughout all of the nation. Remember Persia at this time was huge- from India to Ethiopia. This law described what time and date this massacre of the Jews would take place. This massacre would be not only men, but women and children. He had hate in his eyes. After this went out we see the true heart of Haman, in verse 15 it says, “Haman sat down to drink with the king, but the city of Susa was thrown into confusion.” 

It did not phase him that he just issued a death warrant for every Jew in the city. He had no guilt or remorse. He was filled with hate. If we stopped here with this chapter we could easily get discouraged. We could read and ask, “Lord, why would you allow this to happen.” But we can’t, the truth is, God knew this would happen and he has something bigger to show us, his Great plan of salvation which is unfolding in this book.

God’s Plan

Do you ever get scared of God’s plan? I mean where you get anxious because you do not know what is going to happen? I am the type of guy that needs to feel like he is in control but the truth is, I am never in control God is always in control, I either fight him or cling to him. Proverbs 3:5-6 tells us to Trust in the Lord with all our heart, which is a lot easier said than done. The only way we really can know we can trust him is when we are in those tough situations, when evil is around us or sickness or death. God will show himself but you must have faith. When you get through the dark trials, all you can say is, “God you are Good.”

A New Queen

Esther 1

The stage is set, God’s plan on saving the Jews is getting ready. In this chapter we see what needed to take place in order for God’s woman, Esther to be able to be in the position to be used by God to save many lives. He knows all thing in advance as we trust God in his will. 

King Ahasuerus

Known in the Greek as Xerxes, he was king over all of Persia. A vast empire at this time, only second to that of the Roman Empire. The Persians were very powerful as they were the ones that took over Babylon when Babylon was great. 

The Bible gives us enough information to know that this guy was one powerful man. His kingdom was vast and when he spoke a law that was written everyone in this vast kingdom had to follow it. We see that there was a queen in Persia whose name was Vashti. They had a huge feast celebrating the power and ability of the king and his conquests. During this celebration feasts, we see that the king wanted to have his queen come to him (which was custom at this time. When the king summoned the queen, that is when and only when she would come). Queen Vashti refused. She did not want to come when he commanded. Due to this she was relieved of queen and a decree went out to all of the land about this, women needing to listen to their husbands. The result of a rebellious queen was that there needed to be another. A decree went out to all of the land that they are going to be looking for a new queen. They were having tryouts and they sent the location and date.

It would be easy to just stick with the details and know that history talks about this man, but we need to look at God’s providence. That is God’s divine grace and planning in this time of history. God allowed this man to be king and allowed this woman to be queen. He knew that she would be rebellious and that he would then be able to supply the right woman for at the right time in history. We read on tomorrow for that.

Praise be to God who knows what tomorrow already has. Our trust and hope is in him.