83. A Sleepless Night

Scene 4:

Queen Esther's Banquet

In the last post, we learned that Haman had been appointed prime minister of all of Persia.  The title used then, in Persia, was "vizier".

After Queen Esther's last visit to the king, she had formulated a plan.  So, probably, in great trepidation, she entered the royal court uninvited.  This could lead to her death sentence!  However, again, the king received her kindly.

Xerxes: What do you desire, Queen Esther? And what is your wish? It shall be given to you even to half of the kingdom. 

Esther: Let the king and Haman come today to the banquet which I have prepared for him. 5:3-4.

Haman was full of fury against Mordecai because he would not kneel before him.  But Haman held himself in (exercised self-control).  When he came home, from "the office", he sent and called for his friends and Zeresh his wife. 

Haman: I am very rich and very important in all of Persia, I have many sons.  It is reported that there were instances where the king of Persia would annually send gifts to the man who had the most sons. Keil and Delitsch Commentary.   

A man's worth was calculated by how many sons he had sired.  The king has promoted me above all the princes and servants of the king.  Not only that, Esther the queen let no man but me come in with the king to the banquet that she had prepared.  Also tomorrow I am invited to her banquet, with the king.  Still, my life is meaningless as long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king's gate. 

Zeresh: Make a wooden gallows, fifty cubits high and tomorrow speak to the king that Mordecai may be hanged on it. Then go in merrily with the king to the banquet. And the thing pleased Haman, and he caused the wooden gallows to be made. Est 5:9-14.

Many Bible scholars agree that the word "gallows" should be "cross" because the Persians did not hang criminals by the neck.  Fifty cubits are about 75 feet high.  The higher the gallows the greater the shame, the more forcefully it would tell others not to commit the same crime.

Scene 5:

Mordecai's Backpay

That same night the king had insomnia.  So he commanded to bring the Book of the Records of the Matter of the Days. And they were read ... and it was found written that Mordecai had told of Bigthana and Teresh ... who tried to assassinate King Xerxes. 

Xerxes: What honor and dignity has been done to Mordecai for this? 

Servants: Nothing has been done for him. 

In the meantime, Haman came to the court to ask the king for permission to hang Mordecai on the new gallows which he had built.

Xerxes: Who is in the court? 

Servants: Behold, Haman stands in the court. 

Xerxes to Haman: What shall be done to the man whom the king delights to honor? 

Self-centred Haman could think only of himself.  Without asking any questions he assumed the king meant to honour him.  He was determined to get as much recognition as possible out of this situation.

Haman: For the man whom the king delights to honor let the royal clothing be brought, which the king wears, and the horse that the king rides on, and the royal crown which is set on his head.  Let this clothing and horse be delivered to the hand of one of the king's most noble princes so that they may dress the man whom the king delights to honor, and bring him on horseback through the streets of the city, and proclaim before him, This is what shall be done to the man whom the king delights to honor. 

Xerxes: Make haste! ... Do not fail to do any of all the things you have spoken. 6:1-10.

Scene 6:

Jehovah is Worshipped

Haman did for Mordecai exactly what he thought some royal prince would do for him.  After that, he went home mourning, and having his head covered in shame.

Haman told Zeresh his wife and all his friends everything that had happened to him. 

Haman's advisers: If Mordecai is of the seed of the Jews, before whom you have begun to fall, you shall not prevail against him but shall surely fall before him.  Jehovah, the God of the Jews, had made His presence and His power known throughout Persia.

• Daniel would rather die in  a lion's den than pray to gods other than Jehovah
• Shadrack, Meshack and Abednego would rather burn to death than worship a golden idol
• Mordicai faced the death penalty by refusing to bow to Haman

The Jewish race is not to be downtrodden by the Gentile nations.  Jehovah Himself has said, He that toucheth you toucheth the apple of My eye. Zech. 2:8.

And while they (his wife and friends) were still talking with him, the king's eunuchs came. And they hurried to bring Haman to the banquet which Esther had prepared. 6:13-14.

He went to the banquet, feeling sort of dejected because of the day's events and yet somehow pleased with himself that he had been invited to the queens special evening but he had no idea what she would be "serving up" in the presence of the king.

82. Esther, Queen of the Jews

Scene 2:

Mordecai The Spy

Since Mordecai was a member of the royal court, part of his job was to sit in the king's gate.  Ostensibly the purpose was to ascertain the "pulse" of the common people.  One day while he was there he heard the plot of two angry men who were planning to assassinate the king.

Mordecai to Queen Esther: Today while I was sitting in the gate I heard the plot by Bigthan and Teresh to kill the king.  You must go and warn the king.

Esther: Surely you know that if I go into his presence without being asked to, he could execute me!

Mordecai: That I know, but the king needs to be warned.

Esther to the king: Mordecai told me that Bigthan and Teresh are planning to assassinate you.  

When the matter was searched into, it was found out, and the two of them were hanged on a tree.  2:22-23.   

The daring fortitude of the queen and the astuteness of Mordecai were recorded in the royal archives but apart from that they were completely ignored and forgotten.

Scene 3:

Esther In A Hopeless Situation

After these things King Ahasuerus promoted Haman to be the prime minister ... and set his seat above all the princes who were with him. And all the king's servants in the king's gate bowed and worshiped Haman, for the king had so commanded concerning him. Esther 3:1-2.  Haman was so "full of himself" that he could not imagine that anyone would not be thrilled to bow to him.

When Haman saw that Mordecai did not bow nor worship him, then Haman was full of wrath. 3:5.  This lack of obedience on Mordecai's part was enough to warrant the death penalty.  Mordecai was a descendant of King Saul of Israel and he knew what had happened to Israel because they had bowed to gods other than Jehovah.  He was not going to make the same mistake his forefathers had made.

Haman was not content to kill only one Jew, so he plotted an evil scheme whereby he could eradicate all the Jews in all the provinces of Persia; from India to Greece and Africa.

Haman to the king: There is a certain people scattered abroad ... in all the provinces of your kingdom. Their laws are different from all people, neither do they keep the king's laws. And it is not for the king's gain to allow them to live.   If it pleases the king, let it be written that they may be destroyed. 3:8-9.

Xerxes, the thoughtless, spineless king to Haman: I have given you signing authority for anything that happens in my kingdom; do with those people as you see fit.

So Haman wrote letters to all the provinces, signed them with the king's seal and had them delivered, as fast as possible, by "pony express".  The letter said, "you have the king's permission to destroy, to kill, and to cause to perish, all Jews, both young and old, little children and women, in one day, on the thirteenth of the twelfth month." 3:13.

Esther, being secluded in "the house of the women" was not aware of the letter which was sent, but Mordecai, who mingled with the people heard about it and tore his clothes, and put on sackcloth with ashes and went out into the middle of the city, and cried with a loud and bitter cry. And in every province, wherever the king's command and his decree came, there was great mourning among the Jews, and fasting, and weeping and wailing. And many lay in sackcloth and ashes. 4:1+3

Mordecai to Esther: Go in to the king to make supplication to him, and to seek help for her people. 

Esther: whoever, whether man or woman, shall come to the king into the inner court, who is not called, there is one law of his, execution, except such to whom the king shall hold out the golden scepter so that he may live. But I have not been called to come in to the king these thirty days.

Mordecai: Do not think within yourself that you shall escape in the king's house more than all the Jews. ... how do you know if Jehovah has not placed you into the palace at this time so that you might be the source of our rescue? 4:8-13.

Esther: If all the Jews in this city will fast for three days and three nights I will go in to the king, which is not according to the law. And if I perish, I perish. 4:16.  For the preservation of the Jewish race, I will offer my life as a sacrifice!

She was graciously received by the king, so now she must devise a plan to foil Haman's wicked plot.

81. Vashti, Queen of Womankind

Scene 1.

The Kings Drinking Party

The backdrop: The court of the garden of the king's palace. White, green, and blue hangings were fastened with cords of fine linen and purple to silver rings and pillars of marble. The beds were of gold and silver, on a pavement of red and white, and pearl, and black marble. Esther 1:5-6.

The word beds here refers to the couches in the dining room used to recline on while eating.  We find this word again, used in the same way, in 7:8.

In the third year of his reign, Xerxes made a feast. Est 1:3  They provided drink in vessels of gold, the vessels being different from one another, and royal wine in abundance, ... according to every man's pleasure. 1:7-8.   The king had said, "The drinks are on the house".

On the seventh day ... the heart of the king was merry with wine.  Drinking excessively can lead to all kinds of trouble, as it did for Xerxes in this situation.  It robs its victims of self-respect and manliness, and sends them to wallow in the mire with swinish obscenity. What they would not dream of stooping to in their sober moments, they revel in with shameless ostentation when their brains are clouded with intoxicating drink. Husbands, who are gentle and considerate at other times, are then transformed into brutes, who can take pleasure in trampling on their wives. It is no excuse to plead that the drunkard is a madman unaccountable for his actions; he is accountable for having put himself in his degraded condition. Expositors Bible commentary.

Queen Vashti 

Xerxes, to his eunuchs: bring Vashti the queen ... wearing nothing except the royal crown, in order to show the people and the princes her beauty.  For she was beautiful to look on. 1:10-11.

Proper women were not allowed to be seen in public gatherings with men.  If Queen Vashti would have obeyed the king's command, by joining the party, even fully dressed, she would have debased herself lower than the level of a prostitute.  Some Jewish writings suggest that the king wanted the queen to appear in the nude except for the royal crown. Gill's Bible Commentary.

Queen Vashti to the king's eunuchs: I refuse to come at the king's command. 1:12.

She well knew that this act of disobedience would cost her her crown, if not her life also: but her virtue and honor were at stake. Clarke's Bible commentary.

This next quote is just too meaningful not to repeat here: all women should honour Vashti as the vindicator of their dues. ... The very existence of the home, the basis of society itself, depends on those more profound and inalienable rights that touch the character of pure womanliness. The first of a woman’s rights is the right to her own person. But this right is ignored in Oriental civilisation. The sweet English word "home" is unknown in the court of such a king as Ahasuerus  (Xerxes). Expositors Bible commentary.

This act of disobedience on the queen's part put the king into a legal position to execute her.

The king to his advisers: What shall we do with Queen Vashti according to law, because she has not done the command of the King. 1:15.

Advisers to the king: If she isn't punished for her disobedience, all the women will rise up against their husbands.  Make an unchangeable law that will ban her from ever again entering the presence of the king. 

The spineless, thoughtless king made the nationwide proclamation, as he was advised, which, legally, could not be undone.  However, when his anger assuaged and his natural hormones "kicked in" he found himself in a bind.  His favourite bedtime partner was no longer available to him.  He remembered Vashti; her beauty, and was grieved ... that she was removed from him. Josephus says that he passionately loved her, and could not bear parting with her, and therefore was grieved that he had brought himself into such difficulties. Gill's Bible Commentary.

What is the king to do?

In his drunken stupor, King Xerxes had "shot himself in the foot"; he had divorced his beautiful, loving wife, and according to the law he enacted, she could never again come into his presence.

When he finally recovered from his drunken debauchery he again went to his advisers for guidance as to what to do for his "loneliness".

Advisers to the king: Let beautiful young virgins be sought for the king and let the young woman who pleases the king be queen instead of Vashti. 

Xerxes: "This is a good idea, let's do it." Esther 2:2+4.

Queen Esther

This process would take more than a year.  After the ladies had been chosen to enter "the contest" to be the next queen, some of them might be a long time in transit to the palace in Shushan.  After that, they would need one year to purify themselves so that they would be fit to enter the king's presence.  That year of purification would also prove that they were not pregnant at the time they were first chosen.

In the meantime, the king took his army and went to fight Greece.  He was soundly beaten, the Persian army was completely removed from Europe, and Xerxes came home to "lick his wounds".

Here, Mordecai and his cousin, Hadassah, that is, Esther, are introduced.  Mordecai, when her father and mother were dead, took Esther for his own daughter. 2:7.  The name Esther is a Persian word for Aster, which means star.

Mordecai to Esther: According to the law of the land you are required to report as a candidate for "the contest".  Don't tell anybody that you are a Jew.  There are far too many folks who hate people of our race! 2:10.

Esther was among the young women who lived in the "ladies residence" for a year.  After that year was finished each of the ladies spent one night with the king.  If the king was not especially pleased with her, she would never again enter his presence.

Esther, however, pleased him.  The king loved Esther above all the women, and she rose in grace and favor in his sight more than all the virgins. And he set the royal crown on her head, and made her queen instead of Vashti. Esther 2:17.

80. The Book of Esther

The Most Beautiful Queen

We covered the books of Ezra and Nehemiah in one post each.  Now we are starting with The Book of Esther and it looks like it might require six posts to finish it.

The validity of The Book of Esther is questioned more than any book in the Bible.  Some, of course, argue that the Bible is perfect and that it must be accepted as it is.  Others have their studied reasons why this book cannot be accepted as ever having happened.   

Note their reasons:

1. It is very doubtful whether the haughty Persian aristocracy, always highly influential with the monarch, would have tolerated the choice of a Jewish queen and a Jewish prime minister (Mordecai), to the exclusion of their own class.

2. Perhaps the most striking point against the historical value of the Book of Esther is the remarkable decree permitting the Jews to massacre their enemies and fellow subjects during a period of two days. If such an extraordinary event had actually taken place, should not some confirmation of the Biblical account have been found in other records? Again, could the king have withstood the attitude of the native nobles, who would hardly have looked upon such an occurrence without offering armed resistance to their feeble and capricious sovereign? A similar objection may be made against the probability of the first edict permitting Haman the Amalekite to massacre all the Jews. Would there not be some confirmation of it in parallel records? This whole section bears the stamp of free invention.

3. Extraordinary also is the statement that Esther did not reveal her Jewish origin when she was chosen queen (ii. 10), although it was known that she came from the house of Mordecai, who was a professing Jew (iii. 4), and that she maintained a constant communication with him from the harem (iv. 4-17).

4. Hardly less striking is the description of the Jews by Haman as being "dispersed among the people in all provinces (The division of the empire into 127 provinces (in the Book of Esther) contrasts strangely with the twenty historical Persian satrapies of thy kingdom".  Haman describes the Jews as disobedient "to the king's laws"  but there is no record of rebellious tendencies on the part of the Jews against the royal (Persian) authority.

5. The chief conflicting points are as follows: 

• (a) Mordecai was permitted free access to his cousin in the harem, a state of affairs wholly at variance with Oriental usage, both ancient and modern. 
• (b) The queen could not send a message to her own husband (!).  
• (d) The fact that Haman tolerated for a long time Mordecai's refusal to do obeisance is hardly in accordance with the customs of the East. Any native venturing to stand in the presence of a Turkish grand vizier would certainly be severely dealt with without delay. 
• (f) Most of the proper names in Esther which are given as Persian appear to be rather of Semitic than of Iranian origin. 
• (g) It is the only book in the Bible which does not mention God.

The canonical Book of Esther undoubtedly presents the oldest extant form of the Esther story. ... Naturally, the Jews' well-known skill in transforming and enriching traditional narratives was applied especially to those incidents which were touched but lightly in the Biblical Book of Esther. Such variations and additions have been preserved in the Greek version, but the assumption that they were based on a Hebrew original has been proved erroneous. The Jewish Encyclopedia compiled in 1906.

The Feast of Purim

Whether, or not, this book is actually history is not the main point.  At the very least this is one person's explanation of why the Jews began to celebrate The Feast of Purim.  

However, there is a lot more to this book than that; 

• it teaches the value of high moral standards; 
• the value of maintaining faith in the darkest days of life and the
• value of earnest, meaningful prayer. 

Now a note about the name of, the feast of Purim.  

Ever since the beginning of the nation of Israel, the priests using the Urim and Thummim made some decisions by "casting the lot".    I presented a theory on how that might have been accomplished in

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If there is no logical explanation, as I suggest, it seems very arbitrary, like making a decision based on the tossing of a coin; but this was a very common practice in those early days, and the Persians also practised it.

By "casting the lot" Haman decided which would be the best day to eradicate the Jewish people from the Persian empire. The Persians, however, did not call it "the lot", they called it "pur". Therefore, they (the Jews) called these days Purim after the name of Pur. Esther 9:26.

The Book of Esther has one basic plot; it is an intriguing crime drama.  The story has all the requirements for a money making movie; racial hatred, political power, beautiful women, prestige, sex, subterfuge, scandal and lies.  Let's take a textual look at this "movie".

The main characters: 

1. Harbonah, 
2. Mordecai and his exquisitely beautiful cousin 
3. Esther, 
4. King Xerxes, who is also called Ahasuerus, 
5. Haman and 
6. Vashti, the Queen, who is the king's wife.

The background: The Jewish people had been captives in Babylon for about 123 years when the story of Esther began and some of them did not return to Judah when Cyrus gave them permission to go, because, after so many years, they felt at home in Babylon.

Next, we go into the book.