The Triumph of Mordecai, study for a tapestry cartoon, 1736–39
Jean François de Troy (French, 1679–1752)
In this installment of the book of Esther we see Esther moving forward with the decision to approach the king (her husband) and plea for the safety of the Hebrew nation in spite of the real possibility that this could be her own undoing.
She makes the decision and says, "If I perish, I perish".
Her biggest fear was approaching the king. If you approached the king's inner chamber, without an expressed invitation from the king then you were killed. If the king was in a good mood and he decided to extend his golden scepter towards you then you lived.
Esther puts on her royal robes and stands in front of the royal hall where the king can see her. As we mentioned before, he was enthralled with her beauty and thankfully extends the golden scepter to Esther sparing her life.
The king inquires of her visit and he states that she can have what ever she likes (even up to half the kingdom!). She tells the king that she would like the king and Haman to join her in a banquet that she has prepared.
The king summons Haman and they immediately attend Esther's banquet. After a nice meal and some wine the king again asks about Esther's request again reminding her that she can have up to half of the kingdom. Esther's response is that the king and Haman join her at another banquet the next day.
In the meantime, after the dinner, Haman is headed home and runs into Mordecai again. Once again Mordecai refuses to bow down to him. Haman is enraged and his family and friends recommend that he build a 75 foot high gallows and seek to have Haman hung right away.
That night the king can't sleep and decided to have the "book of chronicles" read to him (this is the book of his official edicts and actions). He finds that Mordecai has not been rewarded for saving the king's life. As he learned of this he further learns that Haman is in the outer court and summons him into his court.
He asked Haman, "what should I do for a man that I delight in?" Haman thinking that the king is thinking of him, suggests that "this man" be dressed in royal robes upon the king's horse and paraded through the town proclaiming him to be a delight to the king. To Haman's horror, the king orders Haman to do this deed for Mordecai and that Haman should personally parade Mordecai around the town.
Haman is grief stricken and humiliated from this task and runs home afterwards with his head hung. His family tells him that he had better be careful regarding this man Haman to which the king's eunuchs rush him off to the next banquet.
This is the end of our story for this episode. Now...how to apply this to our lives today!
Jamie Rasmussen, the senior paster at Scottsdale Bible Church inquires about Esther's strategy. Why on earth would Esther, having survived near death by approaching the king's inner court, respond by offering two banquets? The king was so enamored with her that he offered her half of his kingdom. Wasn't this the time for her to drop the bomb and ask the king to spare the Jewish nation?
There has been a lot of speculation about her behavior but Jamie suggests that Esther is leaving room for God to move, act and breath life into her plan. She was clearly at her wits end and she wanted to leave room for the mighty hand of God to move in.
As we meditate about the story it really is a remarkable series of events. Haman runs into Mordecai and gets upset. Haman builds a gallows to hang Mordecai. The king can't sleep and happens to learn that Mordecai wasn't rewarded for saving his life and orders Haman to parade him through town as a royal gesture and honor.
All this happens after the first banquet and before the second! A mighty series of events is happening that will ultimately lead to Haman's demise and the safety of the Jewish nation. All of this happening, by the way, because Esther left some "God Room".
This is the point that Jamie lands on for most of his message. "God room", he tells us, "is getting to the end of yourself and the beginning of God. Leaving room for God to act in your life."
He points out that many people, and even churches, are living within the limits of their own human efforts. Larry Crabb has called this natural accessible reality. Jamie is challenging us to live in supernatural accessible reality. To go into areas where clearly our human natural abilities cannot solve the challenge and allow God to act.
This message was clearly speaking to my life and times. I shared with you earlier that we sold our business in Michigan (exactly on my 50th birthday as dreamed of many years before) and now find ourselves sitting in wait. I have no idea what the next period of my life is going to be. I have certainly gained a lot of skills from creating and selling a successful business, but for now I wait.
I have told myself, my family and friends that I don't want to be on my deathbed with a rich life of accumulating money. I want my life to be about working for the Kingdom of God and working in peoples lives in a powerful way.
It has been a little over a year. Still I wait and listen. I have taken to deep study of God's word. I have devoured Genesis, Revelation, Acts, currently working on Romans and now Esther as well. To be honest, I have had periods of impatience and have been tempted to run off and do something of my own doing. To be even more honest, I don't have a clue how I will even get this answer or that I will even get one! Well..actually..I believe I will get an answer...but I sure don't know when, how or where. I guess that is called faith. A few of my friends are beginning to scratch their heads I am sure. Has Dave gone off the deep end?
This I do believe, that God called me many years ago into a relationship with Him. He has been incredibly gracious to me and allowed me to gain a certain measure of success. BUT...as I have also shared, when all was said and done with the business, I took the credit. I allowed pride and arrogance to creep in. Don't take this wrong, I make this sound a LOT worse than it really was. But nonetheless, its true.
I am looking forward to Jamie's second installment on this topic.
Here is a link to this week's audio message from Jamie Rasmussen.
