Women with a Story to Tell. Esther.15.

 This is the way that empires work, including sprawling nation states like China, Russia, and the United States. First, they control on their citizenry through the use of census data, the classification of kinds of people which is useful for dividing and manipulating the population, the management of news and information including undermining the free press and overwhelming the media with their own propaganda, and the suppression of dissent including shutting down the venues for criticizing or protesting the government and defunding local governments so they have to depend on national largesse.   

Second, empires are constantly probing and pushing the boundaries to see what they can get away with both with their neighbors and with their own citizenry. They lean heavily on their client states and are intent on establishing security perimeters far beyond their own borders. The more they can destabilize their enemies, the better. That is the way the Persian Empire operated.  

The story of Esther is an extraordinary case of what can happen in an empire when God has people in place to thwart evil intentions. If Esther had not been on the inside of the Persian Empire and if Mordecai had not reported a coup plot when he overheard it, then the Jews would have had little leverage to protect themselves in the belly of the beast. 

We have seen how this team, which began as two, managed to organize their scattered immigrant ethnic group to put pressure on power. The Jews appear to have been scattered among all the major cities. The original edict was written “to the king’s satraps and to the governors over all the provinces and to the officials of all the peoples, to every province in its own script and every people in its own language” (Esther 3:12). So, the Jews were neither centralized nor organized.

However, the Jews were not the only captive refugees or immigrants from the Persian wars. There were at least 127 provinces of the empire (Esther 1:1). Some people remained in their homeland, but a good number were uprooted and scattered throughout the empire so that they would not be able to organize a rebellion. Thus, there were many people who were as vulnerable as the Jews were and would be sympathetic to their attempt to defend themselves. 

Long has it been a major concern of God to perpetuate this community as a vehicle to bring the blessings of salvation to all people (see Genesis 12). On earth it took a team of two to begin the change and that expanded to all the scattered communities of the Jews, and to other ethnic groups who could see the danger to themselves. When the day came, not many other minorities took the chance to kill and steal from the Jews.

Esther 9:1-2.  “Now in the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar, on the thirteenth day, when the king’s (original) command and edict were about to be executed, on the very day when the enemies of the Jews hoped to gain power over them, (the plan) had been changed to a day when the Jews would gain power over their foes. The Jews gathered in their cities throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus to kill those who had sought their ruin, and no one could withstand them, because the fear of them had fallen upon all peoples.”

 When the people gather together to support and protect each other, and the empire has failed to divide them against their neighbors, then order replaces the chaos of empire. A few rose up against the Jews, but the majority had learned the lesson not to go against the salvation that God had provided. 

Esther 9: 3-5a, 10b.  ”All the officials of the provinces, the satraps and the governors, and the royal officials were supporting the Jews because the fear of Mordecai had fallen upon them. Mordecai was powerful in the king’s palace, and his fame spread throughout all the provinces, …. So the Jews struck down all their enemies with the sword… but they did not touch the plunder.” 

 Why did the Jews not confiscate the property of their enemies? In this chapter, the phrase “but they did not touch the plunder” is repeated three times. Remember that the king’s second executive order permitted self-defense but did not mention taking other people’s possessions or land. That would have been overkill; that is, revenge beyond what is reasonable. Revenge, at most, should be proportionate; that is, Only an eye for an eye and only a tooth for a tooth. Since Genesis 4 the problem of excessive revenge has haunted mankind, and it still does today. 

 Jesus undermined all claims of revenge when he told Peter and the disciples to forgive someone who sinned against them 7 x 70 times (that’s 490 times in case you are wondering). Jesus put an exclamation point on his teaching when he said from the cross: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” 

Esther 9: 20-23. ”Mordecai recorded these things and sent letters to all the Jews who were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near and far, enjoining them that they should keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar and also the fifteenth day of the same month, year by year, as the days on which the Jews gained relief from their enemies and as the month that had been turned for them from sorrow into gladness and from mourning into a holiday, that they should make them days of feasting and gladness, days for sending gifts of food to one another and presents to the poor. So the Jews adopted as a custom what they had begun to do, as Mordecai had written to them.”

 One of the most common commands of God is “Remember.” A high point of the Gospels is when Jesus sat down to supper with his disciples and, after offering them bread and wine, said, “Do this in remembrance of me.” An experience with God is good for one generation, but it also should be commemorated as a celebration that brings the next generations into the experience. That is what Mordecai and Esther are doing by creating a holiday to make sure that the people remember God’s salvation.

 Notice that remembering God’s salvation involves sharing with one another as well as taking care of those who are not of your group, the poor.

Esther 9:24-28.  For Haman … had plotted against the Jews to destroy them and had cast Pur—that is, “the lot”—to crush and to destroy them…. Therefore these days are called Purim, from the word Pur. Thus because of all that was written in this letter and of what they had faced in this matter and of what had happened to them, the Jews established and accepted as a custom for themselves and their descendants and all who joined them that without fail they would continue to observe these two days every year …. These days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation, in every family, province, and city, and these days of Purim should never fall into disuse among the Jews, nor should the commemoration of these days cease among their descendants.” 

 The team of Esther and Mordecai reached out and created a movement among the Jews, not just to raise awareness of a problem, but to bring about change; to fix the problem. Bill Mefford calls this “redemptive advocacy” (The Fig Tree Revolution, 2017, Page 89). 

 When Jesus saw someone who was sick or disabled, he did not say, ‘Somebody should do something about this.” When Peter was brought before the council for preaching the gospel about forgiveness for all, he was told to shut up. Peter responded to this authority: ‘You do what you have to do, but we will not shut up about God’s love for everyone and God’s gracious gift of forgiveness through Jesus Christ” (Acts 4:19-20, my paraphrase). 

 So, the Jews were saved, the line of descent continued, and the Jews celebrated what God had done. It all began when a little Jewish girl rose to the occasion when someone needed to act. Notice the last line here.

Esther 9:29-32.  Queen Esther, daughter of Abihail, along with Mordecai the Jew, gave full written authority confirming this second letter about Purim. Letters were sent wishing peace and security to all the Jews, to the one hundred twenty-seven provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus, and giving orders that these days of Purim should be observed at their appointed seasons, as Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther enjoined on the Jews, just as they had laid down for themselves and for their descendants regulations concerning their fasts and their lamentations. The command of Esther fixed these practices of Purim, and it was recorded in writing.