Esther, queen for such a time as this

The book of Esther is unique in the Bible: it does not mention the name of God even once. There are no visible miracles, no prophets, no visions. And yet it is one of the stories where God’s hand is most clearly seen, working behind every “coincidence” to save his people from destruction. It is the story of a young Jewish orphan who became queen of Persia and risked her life with extraordinary courage. Her most famous phrase, “for such a time as this”, still inspires millions of people.

The setting: Jews in Persia

After Cyrus, king of Persia, allowed the Jews to return to Jerusalem in 538 BC, many remained scattered throughout the Persian empire, which stretched from India to Ethiopia, with a hundred and twenty-seven provinces. Esther’s story takes place in Shushan (Susa), one of the empire’s capitals, during the reign of Ahasuerus, identified by most historians with Xerxes I, who reigned from 486 to 465 BC.

Queen Vashti and a new queen

King Ahasuerus held a banquet lasting a hundred and eighty days to display the riches of his kingdom, followed by a seven-day feast in Shushan. On the seventh day, merry with wine, he sent for Queen Vashti to show her beauty to the guests. Vashti refused. The king, angry and advised by his wise men, deposed her and ordered a search for a new queen among the young women of the whole empire.

In Shushan lived a Jew named Mordecai, of the tribe of Benjamin, whose family had been deported from Jerusalem. He had raised his cousin Hadassah, called Esther, because she had lost both father and mother. Esther was beautiful and was taken to the palace with the other young women. On Mordecai’s advice, she did not reveal that she was Jewish. Esther won the favour of all who saw her, and when she was brought before the king, he loved her above all the women and made her queen instead of Vashti.

Mordecai saves the king

Mordecai, who sat at the king’s gate, discovered a plot by two chamberlains to kill Ahasuerus. He told Esther, who informed the king in Mordecai’s name. The conspirators were executed and the matter was written in the king’s chronicles. Mordecai received no reward at the time, a detail that would later prove decisive.

Haman and the decree of extermination

The king promoted Haman the Agagite and set him above all the princes. All the king’s servants bowed before him, but Mordecai did not bow. Haman was filled with wrath, and learning that Mordecai was a Jew, he decided to destroy not only him but all his people throughout the empire.

They cast lots (in Persian, pur) to choose the date, and it fell on the twelfth month, the month Adar. Haman told the king there was a scattered people whose laws were different and who did not keep the king’s laws, and offered ten thousand talents of silver for the royal treasury. The king gave him his ring, and letters were sent to every province ordering all Jews, young and old, children and women, to be destroyed in a single day. “And the king and Haman sat down to drink; but the city Shushan was perplexed” (Esther 3:15).

“For such a time as this”

When Mordecai learned what had been done, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes and cried out through the city. In every province there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping and wailing. Mordecai sent Esther a copy of the decree and asked her to go before the king to plead for her people.

But Esther reminded him of a law: anyone who went in to the king uncalled must die, unless the king held out his golden sceptre. And she had not been called for thirty days. Mordecai answered with words that have become a call to believers of every age:

“Then Mordecai commanded to answer Esther, Think not with thyself that thou shalt escape in the king’s house, more than all the Jews. For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; but thou and thy father’s house shall be destroyed: and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”

Esther 4:13-14

Esther made a courageous decision. She asked Mordecai to gather all the Jews in Shushan to fast for her three days and nights, and she and her maidens would do the same. “And so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law: and if I perish, I perish” (Esther 4:16).

Before the king

On the third day Esther put on her royal apparel and stood in the inner court of the palace. When the king saw her, she obtained favour in his sight, and he held out the golden sceptre. He asked what she wanted, offering her up to half the kingdom. Wisely, Esther did not present her request at once, but invited the king and Haman to a banquet. At the banquet she invited them again for the next day.

Haman went out joyful, but when he saw that Mordecai still would not bow, his wife and friends advised him to build a gallows fifty cubits high to hang Mordecai the next morning.

A sleepless night

That very night the king could not sleep. He asked for the book of records of the chronicles to be read to him, and there was read how Mordecai had uncovered the plot to kill him. The king asked what honour had been given him, and was told none. At that moment Haman arrived in the court, precisely to ask permission to hang Mordecai. The king asked him: “What shall be done unto the man whom the king delighteth to honour?” Haman, thinking it was himself, proposed dressing him in royal robes, setting him on the king’s horse and leading him through the city proclaiming his honour. The king ordered him to do exactly that for Mordecai. Haman had to parade his enemy through the square.

Esther reveals her identity

At the second banquet the king again asked Esther for her request. Then she spoke: “If I have found favour in thy sight, O king… let my life be given me at my petition, and my people at my request: For we are sold, I and my people, to be destroyed.” The king, outraged, asked who had dared to do this. Esther answered: “The adversary and enemy is this wicked Haman.” Haman was hanged on the very gallows he had prepared for Mordecai.

The people saved

Since a Persian law could not be revoked, the king authorised Mordecai to write a new decree allowing the Jews to gather and defend themselves on the appointed day. Mordecai went out from the king’s presence in royal apparel, and “the Jews had light, and gladness, and joy, and honour”. When the day came, the Jews defended themselves and were delivered. Mordecai became second to the king, “seeking the wealth of his people”.

The feast of Purim

To remember this deliverance, Mordecai and Esther established the feast of Purim, celebrated on the 14th and 15th of the month Adar, as days of feasting and joy, of sending portions to one another and gifts to the poor. The name comes from pur, the lots Haman had cast to destroy them. To this day Jews around the world celebrate Purim by reading the scroll of Esther.

Places in the story

Interesting facts

Lessons for our lives

God works even when we don’t see him. There are no coincidences for those who trust God. Everyone has a purpose “for such a time as this”. Courage sometimes means risking everything. Fasting and prayer precede great decisions. Wisdom knows how to wait for the right moment. Pride and hatred end up destroying those who harbour them.

On the road to Jesus

Esther risked her life going in to the king to intercede for her people condemned to death. Jesus Christ did something even greater: he did not merely risk his life, he gave it to save us from condemnation. Esther said: “if I perish, I perish”; Jesus said: “No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself” (John 10:18). Thanks to him, we can come boldly to the throne of grace without fear, because the sceptre of mercy has been held out to us (Hebrews 4:16). And just as God preserved the Jewish people from extermination, he preserved the line from which the Messiah would be born.

In the next episode we will meet Ezra and Nehemiah, the leaders of the rebuilding of Jerusalem.

Prayer

Lord, thank you that you work even when I cannot see you. Help me recognise that I am where I am “for such a time as this”. Give me Esther’s courage to stand up for those who suffer and Mordecai’s faithfulness to bow to nothing but you. Thank you for Jesus, who gave his life to save me. Amen.