Esther 8
1On that same day King Xerxes gave the estate of Haman, the enemy of the Jews, to Queen Esther. Then Mordecai was brought before the king, for Esther had told the king how they were related. 2The king took off his signet ring—which he had taken back from Haman—and gave it to Mordecai. And Esther appointed Mordecai to be in charge of Haman’s property.
3Now once more Esther came before the king, falling down at his feet and begging him with tears to stop Haman’s evil plot against the Jews. 4Again the king held out the gold scepter to Esther. So she rose and stood before him 5and said, “If Your Majesty is pleased with me and if he thinks it is right, send out a decree reversing Haman’s orders to destroy the Jews throughout all the provinces of the king. 6For how can I endure to see my people and my family slaughtered and destroyed?”
7Then King Xerxes said to Queen Esther and Mordecai the Jew, “I have given Esther the estate of Haman, and he has been hanged on the gallows because he tried to destroy the Jews. 8Now go ahead and send a message to the Jews in the king’s name, telling them whatever you want, and seal it with the king’s signet ring. But remember that whatever is written in the king’s name and sealed with his ring can never be revoked.” (Esther 8:1-8, NLT)
The Daily DAVEotional
Esther is a short book in the Old Testament that takes place during the time when the Jewish people were in exile and subjects to the Persians, who were the dominant super power on the world stage.
Esther is a young Jewish girl, who, through a series of circumstances, finds herself as the Queen to the most powerful man in the world, Xerxes I, also known as Ahasuerus.
The earlier chapters chronicle Esther’s rise to become queen, along with the plot by Haman, who, as Prime Minister, convinced the King to enact a plot to completely eradicate the Jewish people. I wrote about this in a previous blog post, “An Ancient Example of Cancel Culture”.
At great risk to herself, Esther approaches the king without an official summons and ultimately exposes Haman’s wicked plot to the king. It appears that justice has been served.
However, even though Haman’s plot has been exposed and he has been hung on the very gallows he had built to hang Mordecai, there is still the small issue that Haman’s decree ordering the elimination of the Jewish people was still in force.
One would think that the king would simply rescind his original decree but the Persian empire had an interesting law that said any decree made by the king was irrevocable. In other words, the law had to stand and he could not just reverse it. Perhaps there are good reasons for that to be the case but in this instance, it was inconvenient, to put it mildly.
So Esther finds herself in a bit of a quandary. Does she go to the king uninvited yet again?
Now at this point in the story, I think it might be easy to think that there is virtually no risk for Esther in approaching the king. After all, he was very pleased with her early on, which is why he made her queen. And she’s already gone to him uninvited and his response was very favorable. From our vantage point, there is no reason why he wouldn’t be favorable again.
But as is often the case, there’s more to the story that’s not being reported. And in this instance, there’s a religious element at play.
What we don’t see from the text, and wouldn’t know unless we did some extrabiblical research, is that the ancient Persians were highly committed to a religion known as Zoroastrianism, a monotheistic religion that still has adherents today, albeit very few.
What is not shared in the text is that king Xerxes, unlike his predecessors, kings Cyrus and Darius, was not a religious pluralist. That means he was not the kind of king who saw any value in allowing other religions and faith traditions to exist alongside Zoroastrianism within his kingdom.
While it’s true that he acted extremely favorably toward Esther in her initial meeting there was simply no reason to believe he would see it as beneficial to try to undo the previous edict.
This new information about Xerxes’ religious views places Esther’s request of the king in an entirely new light. Instead of being just a low level added encounter, Esther’s request is quite bold and risky. Esther selflessly put herself at risk in order to intervene and advocate for her people. She used her position in order to secure justice for those who could not advocate for themselves – her own people.
Esther is honored not only for her boldness and faith, but for her example of what it looks like to use your position for the well-being and benefit of others.
Reflection
What situations have you been in that are similar to Esther’s – where you had to do something that required risk on your behalf?
What are some typical reasons people might have for not stepping up like Esther did?
In what ways does the additional information regarding Xerxe’s religious views impact your understanding of Esther’s choice?
What steps can you take to increase the level of faith and boldness in your life?
Photo by Megan Watson on Unsplash
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