Women with a Story to Tell. Esther.14. The Fate of the Jews was Sealed in Wax.

 Esther and Mordecai have pulled off the first step of a rescue operation by discovering and removing an obstacle to God’s plans for the remaining children of Israel. Mordecai had conceived a diabolical plan, a final solution to the “Jewish problem.” Of course, the language has similarities to Nazi Germany, and the problem was not a Jewish problem but rather a Gentile problem. Their problem was race hatred aka ethnocentrism. The key person in this ancient story was a government official named Haman who had the ear of the king, and was able to bribe the king into issuing an executive order that would have authorized people as government agents to kill Jews on sight. 

Now, Haman has been eliminated, but the executive order still stands and cannot be revoked, even by the king. Can Mordecai, Esther, and their team do more?

  “an edict written in the name of the king and sealed with the king’s ring cannot be revoked” (Esther 8: 8).

 So, there is work yet to be done, as is always the case when civil rights are defended. The king has chosen Mordecai, who previously warned him of a plot for a palace coup, and placed Mordecai as the king’s closest advisor. He has even been given the king’s ring. 

 In those days, messages were sealed. The still moist clay or soft wax was then impressed with the king’s official mark. In some cultures, a signet seal was used which was a ring that would leave a design that would be recognized. In others, the tool was a cylinder seal, a hard clay cylinder about the size of your thumb that could be rolled across the wet clay or warm wax. Either way, the seal made it official and the person who received the message could be sure that no one had broken in and then resealed it.   

 The disciples were organized as a team, just as the local church is an on-site team for carrying out Jesus’ commands concerning both belief and behavior in the community. As Bill Medford says, the heart of all Jesus justice work is relationships. Only believers organized and operating as a team; no individual, not the pastor alone, can do the work of bringing justice and righteousness to the local community and beyond (see Medford, The Fig Tree Revolution, 2017, pages 67-93).

 Mordecai and Esther and their team developed a plan to thwart the intent of the executive order. 

Esther 8: 9-10.  ”The king’s secretaries were summoned at that time, in the third month, which is the month of Sivan, on the twenty-third day, and an edict was written, according to all that Mordecai commanded, to the Jews and to the satraps and the governors and the officials of the provinces from India to Cush, one hundred twenty-seven provinces, to every province in its own script and to every people in its own language, and also to the Jews in their script and their language. He wrote letters in the name of King Ahasuerus, sealed them with the king’s ring, and sent them by mounted couriers riding on fast steeds bred from the royal herd.” 

 I left this description intact so that you could begin to appreciate the bureaucratic machinery that runs an empire, both then and now. Mordecai and Esther have commandeered that machinery and intend to use it for good, that is, for protecting a vulnerable minority. The king’s seal stamped in wax confirms that the king had sent this message. What was the message?

Esther 8: 11-14.  ”By these letters the king allowed the Jews who were in every city to assemble and defend their lives, to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate any armed force of any people or province that might attack them, their children, and their women, and to plunder their goods on a single day throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar. A copy of the writ was to be issued as a decree in every province and published to all peoples, and the Jews were to be ready on that day to take revenge on their enemies. So the couriers, mounted on their royal steeds, hurried out, urged by the king’s command. The decree was issued in the citadel of Susa.”

 This is a bold strategy. Will it work? 

 The text goes on to say, when the people heard the new executive order, “the city of Susa shouted and rejoiced.” In addition, “for the Jews there was light and gladness, joy and honor, a festival and a holiday.” What God had done to protect the Jews made an impact on the other people; in effect, it became an evangelistic message for them about the power and love of God. The text says, “many of the peoples of the country professed to be Jews because the fear of the Jews had fallen upon them.” A revival has begun to spread throughout the empire.

 Remember, in another time, that this is also the story of that reluctant prophet and missionary, Jonah, when he appeared before the capital of a previous empire, the Assyrian empire. His visage (what would three days in the belly of the fish do to his skin and hair?) and his story was compelling. He preached God’s call to repent and it was heard and heeded by everyone, from the king down to the people of Nineveh. So a revival broke out there, and Nineveh, Israel’s enemy, was reformed…for a while. 

 When justice is done, reasonable people rejoice at the release of the captive, at the good news that reaches the poor, at the healing that becomes available to those who are sick and disabled, and at the good news that brings freedom to the oppressed. 

 As Jesus himself declared, bringing justice is the ministry of the Son of Man, the Messiah, the Son of God (See Luke 4: 16-21). Should it not also be the ministry of the church and the message of our preachers, evangelists, and missionaries? ‘Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand; and let your new relationship with God inspire your justice work so that society might be reformed as well. The word and the work go hand in hand. The word without the work is hypocritical; the work without the word is short-sighted (see the book of James).