The Book of Esther

Word Study

"obtained favour," Hebrew nasaath chen (נָשְׂאָה חֵן), found grace. After three days of fasting, Esther "put on her royal apparel" (v1) and stepped into the inner court, unbidden, an act that could mean instant death. The whole future of her people hung on the king's response. And "when the king saw Esther the queen standing in the court... she obtained favour in his sight: and the king held out to Esther the golden sceptre." Notice again the language of the book: Esther "obtained favour," the same phrase used repeatedly of God's providential granting of favor (chapter 2:15, 17). The king's heart, which no one could compel, was moved to receive her. This is the answer to the fast: Esther and her people had humbled themselves before God, and now God, unseen, moves the king's heart to grant favor at the critical moment. "The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will" (Proverbs 21:1).

"the golden sceptre," sharvit ha-zahav (שַׁרְבִיט הַזָּהָב), the royal scepter, extending which spared the life of one who approached unbidden. The scepter extended meant her life was spared and she was welcomed. The most dangerous step of Esther's life is met by favor, because God had gone before her. She risked all, having sought God, and found the way open. The extended scepter is a picture of grace: the trembling one who dared to approach is received, not condemned.

Explanation

After three days of fasting, Esther approached the king unbidden, risking death. But the king received her, holding out the golden scepter that spared her life, for she "obtained favour in his sight." This favor, the same providential favor noted throughout the book, was God's answer to the fasting of Esther and her people: He moved the king's heart to receive her at the critical moment. Esther risked all, having sought God, and found the way open, because God had gone before her. The extended scepter pictures grace: the one who dared to approach is welcomed, not condemned.

Gospel Focus

"The king held out to Esther the golden sceptre" is the answer of grace to a fast of faith, and a beautiful picture of access to God. Esther approached the throne at the risk of her life and was received in favor; and the believer, once unable to stand before the King, is invited to "come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need" (Hebrews 4:16). Where Esther risked death to approach an earthly king, we may draw near to the King of heaven with confidence, for the sceptre of grace is already extended to us in Christ, "having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus" (Hebrews 10:19). And the favor Esther obtained reminds us that God rules the hearts of kings and moves them to accomplish His purposes, "the king's heart is in the hand of the LORD" (Proverbs 21:1). Her humbling in the fast preceded her being received; so "humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up" (James 4:10). When God calls you to a daring, dangerous step of obedience, go, having sought Him, and trust that He has gone before you to prepare the way. The God who moved the king to extend the golden sceptre to Esther has, in Christ, extended to us the eternal sceptre of His grace; draw near with boldness, and find favor and help.

Word Study

"joyful and with a glad heart," Hebrew sameach ve-tov lev (שָׂמֵחַ וְטוֹב לֵב). Haman had every reason for joy: he was the second man in the empire, honored above all, and now uniquely invited to a private banquet with the king and queen. He "went forth that day joyful and with a glad heart." Haman had honor, wealth, power, and the favor of the king and queen, yet none of it could give him peace, because his heart was consumed with the need for the homage of every man, including the one man who withheld it. Pride makes a man miserable in the midst of every blessing. Haman could not enjoy the banquet, the promotion, or the honor, because Mordecai would not bow.

"full of indignation," va-yimmale... chemah (וַיִּמָּלֵא חֵמָה), filled with fury. In an instant, all his joy evaporated: "when Haman saw Mordecai in the king's gate, that he stood not up, nor moved for him, he was full of indignation." One man, a lowly Jew at the gate, who would not rise or tremble before him, was enough to poison all Haman's happiness. This is the terrible restlessness of pride: it can never be satisfied, and it cannot bear the smallest slight. The proud heart is a bottomless pit; no amount of honor fills it, and one refusal empties it. Haman's glad heart turned to fury over the smallest wound to his pride, a warning of what pride does to the soul.

Explanation

Haman had every reason for joy, honored above all, uniquely invited to the queen's private banquet, and he went out "joyful and with a glad heart." But the instant he saw Mordecai, who would not stand or tremble before him, all his joy turned to fury. One lowly man's refusal to bow poisoned all his happiness. This is the restlessness of pride: it can never be satisfied and cannot bear the smallest slight. Haman had honor, wealth, and power, yet none of it gave him peace, because his heart craved the homage of every man. Pride makes a person miserable in the midst of every blessing.

Gospel Focus

Haman "joyful and with a glad heart," instantly turned to fury by one man's refusal to bow, is a vivid portrait of the misery of pride. Pride is never satisfied; it cannot enjoy its blessings because it is consumed with the honor it craves and cannot fully get. Haman had everything the world admires, yet one unbowing Jew emptied it all of joy. "A sound heart is the life of the flesh: but envy the rottenness of the bones" (Proverbs 14:30); the proud and envious heart devours itself. This is why Scripture warns so sternly against pride, "pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall" (Proverbs 16:18), for pride not only leads to ruin but robs the soul of peace along the way. The cure is the opposite spirit, the humility and contentment that Christ gives: "learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls" (Matthew 11:29); "I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content" (Philippians 4:11). The humble heart can rejoice in God's blessings without needing the world's homage; the proud heart cannot rejoice at all. Beware the Haman-spirit that lets one slight, one person, one unmet craving for recognition, poison all your joy. Seek instead the lowliness of Christ, in which alone the soul finds rest, and learn to be content, so that no Mordecai at the gate can steal the joy God gives.

Word Study

"all this availeth me nothing," Hebrew kol-zeh einennu shoveh li (כָּל־זֶה אֵינֶנּוּ שֹׁוֶה לִי), all this is worth nothing to me. Haman's confession lays bare the emptiness of pride: after boasting of his riches, his many sons, his promotions, and his unique honor with the king and queen (v11-12), he says, "Yet all this availeth me nothing, so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king's gate." All his abundance was "worth nothing" to him because of one man he could not control.

"gallows," Hebrew etz (עֵץ), literally "tree" or wooden pole, for hanging/impaling, "fifty cubits high," about 75 feet. Then his wife and friends propose the fatal solution: "Let a gallows be made of fifty cubits high", an absurdly tall, ostentatious gallows, seventy-five feet high, meant to display Haman's triumph, "and to morrow speak thou unto the king that Mordecai may be hanged thereon." Haman is delighted: "the thing pleased Haman; and he caused the gallows to be made." Here is the deep irony that runs through the whole book. Haman builds a gallows to destroy Mordecai, but by God's providence it is the very gallows on which Haman himself will hang (chapter 7:10). "He made a pit, and digged it, and is fallen into the ditch which he made" (Psalm 7:15). The proud man, in his rage, prepares the instrument of his own destruction. What Haman meant for Mordecai's death became his own. The unnamed God is at work: even Haman's schemes are being turned, unseen, to accomplish the deliverance of God's people and the ruin of their enemy.

Explanation

Haman confessed the emptiness of all his wealth and honor: "all this availeth me nothing, so long as I see Mordecai." His abundance was worthless to him because of one man he could not control. His wife and friends proposed building a towering gallows fifty cubits high -- about seventy-five feet -- to hang Mordecai in a display of triumph, and Haman gladly had it built. But in a deep irony that runs through the book, this is the very gallows on which Haman himself will later hang. The proud man, in his rage, unknowingly prepared the instrument of his own destruction, while the unseen God turned even this to accomplish His people's deliverance.

Gospel Focus

"All this availeth me nothing" is the epitaph of every soul that has everything but peace with God. Haman had riches, sons, power, and honor, and confessed it was all "worth nothing" to him because of his consuming pride and hatred. So the Lord Jesus asked, "what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" (Matthew 16:26). All the world's abundance "availeth nothing" to the soul that lacks God. And the gallows Haman built to destroy Mordecai, on which he himself would hang, is one of Scripture's clearest pictures of the boomerang of evil: "he made a pit, and digged it, and is fallen into the ditch which he made. His mischief shall return upon his own head, and his violent dealing shall come down upon his own pate" (Psalm 7:15-16); "whoso diggeth a pit shall fall therein" (Proverbs 26:27). The wicked, in their schemes against God's people, prepare their own ruin, for God overrules their plots. There is comfort here for the persecuted: the enemy's gallows will become his own. And there is a final Gospel wonder, for at the cross the ultimate boomerang occurred: the enemy meant the death of Christ for destruction, but God turned that very tree, that "gallows," into the salvation of the world and the defeat of the enemy, "having spoiled principalities and powers... triumphing over them in it" (Colossians 2:15). Beware the pride that finds all its blessings worthless and digs its own pit; and take comfort that God turns the enemy's gallows into his downfall, and the cross into our salvation.