October 7, 2007 The Rise of the Jews
Esther 8-10
When Lenin died in Russia some may have thought the people of Russia would have a breath of fresh air. However, his regime brought forth a new man by the name of Stalin; one who ended up putting thousands of his own people to death. The suffering didn't end. When abusive parents die their painful actions still play out for years to come in the memories and actions of their children. Suffering doesn't always end with the death of those who brought it. Adam and Eve are the prime example. Even though they have been dead for thousands of years, the effects of their sin hits every one of us in different and painful ways. So also in the case of Haman. Even though his body was hanging from a seventy five foot gallows, the bill which he directed, guaranteeing the death of the Jews in the 12th month of Adar, was still alive and well. Nothing could repeal this law, because according to the laws of the Medes and Persians - once a law was made and sealed it could not be changed. To "change" a law would admit that the decree of the King was wrong - and they didn't believe that their kings could make mistakes. So what would Esther do - even though Haman was now dead? The remedy was rather simple.
Esther 8:3-6 Esther again pleaded with the king, falling at his feet and weeping. She begged him to put an end to the evil plan of Haman the Agagite, which he had devised against the Jews. Then the king extended the gold scepter to Esther and she arose and stood before him. "If it pleases the king," she said, "and if he regards me with favor and thinks it the right thing to do, and if he is pleased with me, let an order be written overruling the dispatches that Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, devised and wrote to destroy the Jews in all the king's provinces. For how can I bear to see disaster fall on my people? How can I bear to see the destruction of my family?"
King Xerxes - out of sympathy to Esther - put Mordecai in charge of Haman's place - and authorized him to write whatever kind of a bill he could think of - to, as Esther said "overrule" the dispatches of Haman. The bill which Mordecai wrote would more than fulfill it's purpose. Esther 8:11 says, "The king's edict granted the Jews in every city the right to assemble and protect themselves; to destroy, kill and annihilate any armed force of any nationality or province that might attack them and their women and children; and to plunder the property of their enemies." Vs. 10 says that Mordecai "wrote in the name of King Xerxes, sealed the dispatches with the king's signet ring, and sent them by mounted couriers, who rode fast horses especially bred for the king."
In some ways this reminds me of what happens with sin and grace, law and gospel, damnation and salvation. There are differences of course. Our King is just and holy. He doesn't make quick and uninformed judgments that need to be "fixed". He makes holy demands and judgments that are perfect. What am I talking about or thinking of? The demand of God to Adam and Eve -
Genesis 2:15-17 The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the LORD God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die."
I'm also thinking of God's continual demands throughout the Scriptures -
Matthew 5:48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Ezekiel 18:20 The soul who sins is the one who will die.
Romans 6:23 The wages of sin is death.
God created humans holy. He did not make us sinful. He had and has every right to expect and demand us to be holy even after the Fall; after all, He is a holy God. Humans were the ones who sinned, not Him. Just because we changed, it doesn't mean that He has to. He has no duty or reason to change. Why change holiness? His demand of Adam and Eve is the same of us. Be holy. If you sin, you will die - spiritually, physically, and eternally.
The remedy of God works the same way that the remedy of Mordecai and Esther worked. Yet this principle was written by God. He spoke it immediately after the fall in Genesis 3:15, "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel." This principle would offset and override the condemnation that God Himself placed on His people - by allowing His Son to stand in the place of His own curse on humans. Galatians 3:13 says, "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree." 2 Corinthians 5:21 lays it out so clearly, "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." The death of God's Son on the tree would take the curse that was laid out for us. Hebrews 10:9-10 also says that Jesus "sets aside the first to establish the second. And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all." Of course, this judgment does no good if nobody hears about it. Unbelievers will still be at war with and hate God if they don't know that He has made and declared peace through His Son. So God sends out His human "horses" throughout the provinces of earth to spread this good news of salvation in Christ. Jesus says to all of us in Matthew 28:19 to "go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit."
Let's go back to the story. Mordecai and Esther were trying to do all they could to help their people survive a massacre. They did it by working within the government - under the power of Xerxes and with his authority - to have an authorized civil war within their own country. The approach is not foreign or completely unique in the history of God's people. In our epistle lesson Paul worked within the framework of the same government that wrongly imprisoned him to try and win his freedom. He appealed to Caesar, even though Caesar was not a believer. Daniel was also a statesman within the government. Joseph was the second in command in Egypt. Abraham used an army of servants to rescue Lot within the confines of different governing bodies. This is neither strange nor forbidden for Christians to use or be involved in the government that He has placed over them. God doesn't call on us to be pacifists or just throw our hands up in the air with blind resignation. Sometimes we need to get involved even in the government, especially when lives and freedoms are at stake.
There are dangers that come with getting involved with the government - for the book of Revelation seems to clearly predict that the Antichrist would work in conjunction with the government to attack God's people on earth - and that the same government would then turn on the Antichrist as well. There are also dangers within a Christian's own conscience when he or she is given power from the government - dangers to let the power go to their head or to abuse that power. This is not something that is just unique to the Catholic Church with the Inquisitions back in Medievel times. Lutherans abused Anabaptists in Germany with the government. Calvinists abused unbelievers in Geneva with their State-Church government. Whereas Christian leaders can be a great benefit to those who live under them - when they live and act according to God's loving principles - they still need our prayers that their power does not go to their heads - or that they are not overzealous with the sword.
Was Mordecai a bit overzealous with his power? Years before the Jews were taken into captivity; within the Israelite country God laid out this principle in Deuteronomy 19:16-21, "If a malicious witness takes the stand to accuse a man of a crime, the two men involved in the dispute must stand in the presence of the LORD before the priests and the judges who are in office at the time. The judges must make a thorough investigation, and if the witness proves to be a liar, giving false testimony against his brother, then do to him as he intended to do to his brother. You must purge the evil from among you. The rest of the people will hear of this and be afraid, and never again will such an evil thing be done among you. Show no pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot." It may have been in application of this that Mordecai wrote the degree which would hand out to their enemies what they wanted to hand out to them. There are several things that we can commend the Jews for when they carried out this plot -
Nonetheless, this was not a law written for Jews living in Babylon. Also, the book does mention that Esther and Mordecai asked for an extra day of war in which they put to death over 75,000 men. You could compare it to other examples of Scriptures - where God put over 70,000 Israelites to death simply over a census that David decided to take. He also put over 170,000 Assyrians to death in a single night who were on the verge of taking over Jerusalem. But still, this wasn't God directly doing or demanding the slaughter. It's also a lot of people even if it was spread through 127 provinces.
What we need to remember is that this story of Esther is given us from somewhat of a secular point of view. We don't have to try and find a sanctified purpose and reason behind every action of Esther, Mordecai and the Jews. They were just sinful people trying to do the right thing. Instead, what we can do is to rejoice in the mercy and grace of God working through it all. We can find great comfort in knowing that God doesn't need strong Christians or courageous ones to do His will. We want to be strong and courageous and do the right thing; but even when we fall flat on our faces and end up doing the wrong thing - the book of Esther shows us that God is willing to graciously work through weak and misguided Christians to accomplish His will. There are no limits to His will being done to the salvation of His people. When we are weak this example strengthens us and assures us that God is patient, forgiving, merciful and kind in spite of who we are and what we do. This story magnifies the grace of God, there's no doubt about it.
The Jews were given success. Their enemies were pretty much eliminated. So on the fourteenth and fifteenth day of the 12th month - the month of Adar - Mordecai declared a national holiday should be held which was called "Purim" - after the lot or the "pur" which was cast and landed on the 12th month - giving the Jews time to prepare and defend themselves. The Jews annually still celebrate this deliverance. It usually happens in our month of February. Its like a combination of Halloween and New Year's Eve. Children wear costumes, paint their faces, and there is partying. The book of Esther is read. This reading is interrupted with noisemakers at every mention of Haman's name and with festive songs. Gifts of food to friends and to the poor are another part of the holiday. One unique food is a cookie they eat called "Haman's ears." They do this every year in celebration of their deliverance in the Persian Kingdom.
Like the Jews we can celebrate; but for a bigger reason; not just one day of the year but every day of the year; for we know that God has delivered us from a much greater threat than physical annihilation. Our gracious and loving, merciful and beautiful King has delivered us rotten beasts from eternal hell. Satan's accusations fall on deaf ears through the declaration of Christ saying that our debt has been paid in full. He has declared us to be His brides and clothed us in the righteous and holy blood of Christ. We have free reign to His majesty. Even though we still live with the dangers of Satan and the sinful world and our own sinful flesh, God's golden scepter of love is extended to us through the Word and sacrament every day. He gives us royal privileges as we live in temporal kingdoms. Even when we face death and annihilation, we still celebrate, because we know that the King of the Universe rules over it all in a hidden and yet glorious way. He directs the casting of lots, the sleeping patterns of kings, and the night time stories that they read. In everything and in every way - God is still in charge. Our Beauty has betrothed Himself to His beast - and made us His Beautiful in the process. Because of that, we rejoice.
How do we rejoice? Sometimes we put on costumes, as we dress up in our finest clothes to approach the King with respect on a Sunday morning. During Christmas and Easter we sing festive songs - songs of rejoicing and happiness over the birth and resurrection of our King. Even during Lent we rejoice throughout our sorrow in the forgiveness of sins Christ earned for us on the cross. Instead of eating cookies called "Haman's ears", we eat Jesus' body and blood in celebration of our deliverance from sin. In Christian fellowship we enjoy other foods in celebration of the friendships and fellowship we have with one another under Christ. Our whole lives are filled with an underlying joy at the greater deliverance we have from sin, death, and hell.
And so our story of Beauty and the Beast is concluded. Is it just a nice story where we can say of the Jews, "and they lived happily ever after"? Or is there more to it? I hope you've seen more through it. Throughout it all, don't forget God's BIG PURPOSE. What was the whole point? God had a promise that He had given to Adam and Eve, which was refined and clarified through Abraham , David and the Prophets. An offspring of Abraham - the Jews - would be born in Bethlehem to live and die for the sins of the world. This would mean that one way or another, a remnant of the Jews would need to remain to be born in Bethlehem.
A slaughter of millions of Jews throughout the 127 provinces of Persia and Media would make this very difficult to happen. These Jews would not be able to spread the promises of the Old Testament if they were dead. They would not be able to join Ezra in the second return to the Promised Land if they were dead. God could not and would not allow this to happen. And so God worked with what He had. In grace and mercy He worked through beautiful but scared Esther, stubborn and proud Mordecai, and the beast Xerxes to protect His people and to ensure that Jesus would be born. In the end, He was preserving His most precious promise - the promise of salvation in Christ.
That same God of the Universe - the same beautiful King - is still alive yet today. The same Beautiful King that protected His promise and His people is still protecting His promise and His people yet today. The same King is still as passionate about saving the world as He always has been. The King who made sure He would be born through the Jews will be sure to come again in the clouds. He is still passionate about your salvation. So rejoice in the LORD always. I will say it again. Rejoice. Amen.