HealingStrong's Around the Word

Episode 56 - The Esther Series: Turning the Tide Against Destruction (Esther 8:1-17 NIV)

• HealingStrong • Episode 56

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We explore Esther chapter 8, where divine providence unfolds as Mordecai rises to power and the Jewish people gain the right to defend themselves against annihilation.

• Haman's estate is given to Esther, who then appoints Mordecai to manage it
• King Xerxes gives his signet ring to Mordecai, symbolizing a transfer of royal authority
• Esther risks her life again by approaching the king unbidden to plead for her people
• The original death decree cannot be revoked, but a new edict allows Jews to defend themselves
• The Jews' right to assemble and protect themselves represents hope in a seemingly hopeless situation
• Many non-Jews begin identifying as Jews, showing a dramatic reversal of social status
• Blue and white royal garments worn by Mordecai mirror today's colors of Israel's flag
• Self-defense against life-threatening danger is affirmed as legitimate and God-approved
• The story demonstrates how hope transforms communities from mourning to celebration

Suggested Resources:

BIBLE PLAN - Trusting God's Plan When You Don't See Him: Lessons From the Book of Esther

PODCAST - Genesis to Revelation Bible Reading

TOOLS - Refresh Your Spirit through God's Word


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Speaker 1:

The Jewish people have been in battle for years and years and years and they constantly are defending themselves. The Lord is okay with that. Do they enjoy it? No, they would rather have peace. But they are allowed, and I think all of us should note well that we are allowed to defend ourselves against life and death.

Speaker 2:

Well, hello, dear listener. My name is Cheryl and you are listening to Healing Strongs Around the Word. Who are we? We're a group of friends that love God and we love learning about His Word. So each day you'll hear me reading a Bible passage and then we'll chat about what we're learning from it. Today I'll be reading Esther, chapter 8, verses 1 through 17, from the NIV version of the Bible. So join us around the word. Esther, chapter 8, verses 1 through 17.

Speaker 2:

That same day, king Xerxes gave Queen Esther the estate of Haman, the enemy of the Jews, and Mordecai came into the presence of the king, for Esther had told how he was related to her. The king took off his signet ring, which he had reclaimed from Haman, and presented it to Mordecai, and Esther appointed him over Haman's estate. Esther again pleaded, with the king falling at his feet and weeping. She begged him to put an end to the evil plan of Haman, the Agagite which he had devised against the Jews. Then the king extended the gold scepter to Esther and she arose and stood before him. If it pleases the king, she said, and if he regards me with favor and thinks it the right thing to do, and if he is pleased with me. Let an order be written overruling the dispatches that Haman's son of Hamadatha the Agagite devised and wrote to destroy the Jews in all the king's provinces. For how can I bear to see disaster fall on my people, how can I bear to see the destruction of my family? King Xerxes replied to Queen Esther and to Mordecai the Jew Because Haman attacked the Jews, I have given his estate to Esther and they have impaled him on the pole he set up. Now write another decree in the king's name in behalf of the Jews, as seems best to you, and seal it with the king's signet ring, for no document written in the king's name and sealed with his ring can be revoked At once.

Speaker 2:

The royal secretaries were summoned on the 23rd day of the third month, the month of Sivan. They wrote out all Mordecai's orders to the Jews and to the satraps, governors and nobles of the 127 provinces stretching from India to Kush. These orders were written in the script of each province and the language of each people, and also to the Jews in their own script and language. Mordecai wrote in the name of King Xerxes, sealed the dispatches with the king's signet ring and sent them by mounted couriers who rode fast horses especially bred for the king.

Speaker 2:

The king's edict granted the Jews in every city the right to assemble and protect themselves, to destroy, kill and annihilate the armed men of any nationality or province who might attack them and their women and children, and to plunder the property of their enemies.

Speaker 2:

The day appointed for the Jews to do this in all the provinces of King Xerxes was the 13th day of the 12th month, the month of Adar.

Speaker 2:

A copy of the text of the edict was to be issued as law in every province and made known to the people of every nationality, so that the Jews would be ready on that day to avenge themselves on their enemies. The couriers riding the royal horses went out, spurred on by the king's command, and the edict was issued in the citadel of Susa. When Mordecai left the king's presence, he was wearing royal garments of blue and white, a large crown of gold and a purple robe of fine linen, and the city of Susa held a joyous celebration For the Jews. It was a time of happiness and joy, gladness and honor. In every province and in every city to which the edict of the king came, there was joy and gladness among the Jews, with feasting and celebrating, and many people of other nationalities became Jews because fear of the Jews had seized them. That was our Bible passage for the day. Now let's see what Susie, jeff, angie and myself were discovering in God's Word.

Speaker 3:

Okay, we're at day 15, and we left off yesterday where Haman had been hanged on the gallows that he had built to hang someone else. So talk about a turn of events and we continue with the story of the events turning in a different direction. A different direction. So in chapter eight now, mordecai is brought before the king, and the king gives Mordecai the authority and the power that had been given to Haman. So not only did Haman lose his life, but the job he had was given to Mordecai, and even the signet ring.

Speaker 2:

Oh, that's a huge deal. That's like that's the keys to the kingdom, essentially, yeah.

Speaker 1:

And so the king now knows who Mordecai was to Esther and so there's already. It was like the Lord had already built up a certain amount of respect and honor towards Mordecai because we saw him getting honored for his honesty and integrity towards the king. Kings love, a loyalship, and he could trust that Mordecai would be loyal and the fact that he was Esther's cousin was a major factor so he knew he could trust him even that much more which he was willing to honor and and put the signet ring on his hand right then and there can you imagine just even that conversation between xerxes and and esther, just like, okay, tell me, tell me more about you, let's just have a get to know you again.

Speaker 2:

Let's almost have a first date, because apparently there's a lot I didn't know about you and I want to know you, but still remember that the edict is still out there to kill all the Jews.

Speaker 3:

Yes, yes, and that's the big problem. Yeah, and back then I read I guess you read the same thing that when a king makes an edict it can't be overturned. I mean, it has to be followed through. You can modify it and make further edicts that maybe can lessen the damage, but so Esther's still in great turmoil at this point.

Speaker 1:

That's the thing that drove me crazy is that I thought she only had to go before the king one time and have the golden scepter extended to her, but we see here that she had to do it again because the edict was still out there. So she falls on her face before him and says, if it pleases the king, and I have found favor. It's that pleading again, because part of the job was done but not all of it.

Speaker 4:

And you see before I thought it was interesting too, jeff, that the king had actually given Esther Haman's estate. So you know, he gave Esther the estate, but what did Esther do? The king didn't give it to Mordecai. Esther turned around and gave it to Mordecai to manage right. And so you think about, for the king, he could have stopped there. I mean, he brought Mordecai in. Now Mordecai is part of the kingdom and you know, of course Esther is the protection under the king, so it could have stopped there. But like you said, jeff, esther took it to the steps she needed to, and that was to plead for the protection of her people.

Speaker 3:

But the king quickly had an idea. My translation says the king's secretaries were called in and Mordecai dictated a decree that the judge agreed to, and that was that the Jews could fight back, that this edict couldn't be changed, but the Jews could fight back and defend themselves.

Speaker 2:

And would have the right to assemble, because that's huge. What does the enemy want to do to us? He wants to isolate us. He wants to, you know, make us, you know, go off into our own Hide, hide, power and fear, hide. Yeah, I mean. Look what happened to it during the years of the pandemic. People were isolated and look at all the damage that it did mentally, physically to people, because we couldn't even have the right to assemble. A lot of times churches couldn't even get together and have the right to assemble. I believe the enemy was at work trying to destroy things at that point. But where there's a will, there's a way, you know, and where there's a remnant, god's people will prevail. That's what's happening here. They're given the right now in this new edict, to have the right to assemble and protect themselves. That's huge, because it sounds like beforehand they were just going to have to take it. You know, they were just going to be annihilated and they couldn't do anything, but now they can protect themselves.

Speaker 1:

And I love that because so many people can say you know, they get confused with what should we do? Should we just fast and pray? But now they have the opportunity. You have the opportunity to defend yourself and I think that teaches us that the Lord is okay with that, because we've seen the Lord working through this entire story, that the Jewish people have been in battle for years and years and years and they constantly are defending themselves. The Lord is okay with that. Do they enjoy it? No, they would rather have peace. But they are allowed, and I think all of us should note well that we are allowed to defend ourselves against life and death.

Speaker 3:

And then later in that chapter my translation talks about other people were afraid of the Jews because they again saw the favor of the divine God on the Jewish people and so many of them, I think, didn't even fight and my translation says for some of them, some of the people even pretended to be Jews when they were not Jews.

Speaker 2:

I know I thought that was great. Is that a turn of events or what?

Speaker 1:

Let's go to the winning team right now.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, that made me laugh too. I also noticed that, when Mordecai left, the presence of the king wearing royal garments this time, and did you notice? It mentioned the colors of the garments blue and white. Well, if you look at the flag from Israel, it's blue and white, you know. So I just find that very, just kind of a neat little thing. He also had a purple robe on the color of royalty, just like. But I was like blue and white, how cool is that? That's Israel's colors, you know, and people are wanting to become Jewish now.

Speaker 2:

So there's much celebration, there's feasting amongst the people who, literally, just probably a week prior, were in sackcloth and fasting, and it still means they have a battle. So this is not done yet. There's a battle to come, but they've been given hope. And, oh my goodness, when you have that flame of hope, look what can happen. I'm reminded of the Bible verse from Proverbs 13, 12. It goes.

Speaker 2:

Hope deferred makes the heart sick. I'm reminded of the Bible verse from Proverbs 13, 12. It goes. Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life. And isn't this just a great example of having a little bit of hope in what seems to be a hopeless situation, but with God all things are possible and I think his people in the story knew that. I think deep down inside, their hope was rekindled because of that.

Speaker 2:

Anyway, thank you so much for joining us for Healing Strong's Around the Word podcast. I hope you were encouraged to read God's word and explore it. Please visit us at our website at healingstrongorg, where you can find out more about our mission and our community groups, and, if you haven't had a chance to do it yet, click the subscribe button, so then you'll find out about our latest episode whenever we release it and also tell your friends about us. And, if you like our podcast, take a second and give us a review. That helps us in the search engine and more people can find out about us. Until next time, remember, faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.