Welcome and Happy New
Year! Today I am excited to begin an exciting journey into the profound,
fascinating, and humorous book of Esther! My focus today is to provide some
background to the book so that we can get into the worldview, culture, and
historical context of the events described in this book.
Let’s start with a
super-high-speed review of the history of Israel and then slow down in the
places where it is relevant to Esther. I am particularly interested in the
origin of the enmity between the people of Israel and a group of people that is
the main source of conflict in Esther, a people group that includes the
antagonist Haman.
Recall that God leads
Abraham to a new land and promises to make him the father of many nations who
would be blessed by God. The promise continues through Isaac, Abraham’s son,
and Isaac has two sons, Jacob and Esau. Now the promise continues through
Jacob, who is given the name Israel, and the 12 sons of Jacob basically become
over time the 12 tribes of Israel.
But let’s stop for a
moment and focus on Esau. Esau has
multiple sons, one of which is Eliphaz. Eliphaz has several sons, including one
with his concubine Timna; the name of this son is Amalek. Amalek has multiple
children, who over time multiply to become the nation of Amalek, and its people
are called Amalekites.
Now Jacob treats one of
his sons, Joseph, with special preference, and the other sons become jealous.
This leads to them capturing Joseph and selling him as a slave to traders who
take him to Egypt. But what Jacob’s children mean for evil God uses for good,
because it is through Joseph that the people of Israel are saved from a
terrible famine. The family moves to Egypt and stays there. Their numbers
multiply with each successive generation, and the Pharaoh (the leader of Egypt)
at that time feels threatened by their numbers and enslaves them.
After a period of time,
under the somewhat reluctant leadership of Moses, God orchestrates their
freedom. This only happens after a
spectacular showdown that includes a series of plagues and other miracles
culminating in the parting of the Dead Sea which allows the Israelites to
escape but swallows up the Egyptian army in pursuit of them. The Israelites are
led by God through a pillar of fire at night and a cloud by day.
Rather than being
appreciate of all that God has done, the Israelites rebel, saying they want to
go back to Egypt, that they miss their “fine” food. In response, God begins to
miraculously provide manna for them. Then as water runs out, they complain
again. God this time instructs Moses to strike a rock, and water miraculously
comes from the rock.
Then suddenly, without
provocation or warning, descendants of Amalek attack the Israelites, who have
never been trained in anything but how to make bricks for their masters in
Egypt. Moses instructs Aaron to take some men to fight them while he goes to a
hill with two other men to seek the Lord’s deliverance. It turns out that when
Moses’ arms are outstretched, Israel has the upper hand, whereas when he tires
and lowers his arms, they start to experience defeat. The other Israelites hold
up Moses’ arms, one on each side, and after some time Israel is victorious. I
cannot tell you this story without mentioning that this event is a powerful
foreshadowing of Christ; picture someone with arms outstretched, and you can see
the resemblance. And indeed, it is only because of Christ’s remaining on the
cross with arms outstretched until death that we have been redeemed.
But back to the
Amalekites. Israel had many, many different enemies over the years and decades
and centuries after Israel entered the Promised Land, but there was something
“extra” about the rivalry with the Amalekites, perhaps because of their power. At
any time, their leader was called Agag, much like how the leader of the
Egyptians was always called Pharaoh.
The following concludes
the account of the battle with Amalek:
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write this on a scroll as
something to be remembered and make sure that Joshua hears it, because I will
completely blot out the name of Amalek from under heaven.” Moses
built an altar and called it The Lord is my Banner. He said, “Because hands were lifted up
against the throne of the Lord, the Lord will be at war against
the Amalekites from generation to generation.” – Ex. 17:14-16
Now, we may tend to
think this seems extreme or unfair to the Amalekites, but this is not about
people taking revenge; I believe it is about God knowing people’s hearts and
knowing that the Amalekites will continually be bent only on evil.
Well, the Israelites
continue to complain, even after many more miracles and being given the Law. But
eventually they get close to the Promised Land, and spies are sent out to
explore the area. They bring back wonderful fruit but say there are many
powerful people occupying the land. The Amalekites are mentioned as inhabiting
the Negev. Most of the spies are fearful and greatly exaggerate the situation,
alarming the people, who revolt and threaten to stone Moses. God punishes them
by sentencing them to remaining in the desert for forty years until the older
generation dies off. The people, rather than repenting, defiantly march off
apart from the leading of God (leaving behind the cloud/fire) and are attacked
by Amalekites and others and driven back.
Let’s fast forward 40
years. Shortly before the Israelites (the younger generation) are to enter the
Promised they ask to pass through several neighboring lands. In one case they
are told “no” and go another way, but in two other cases they are attacked.
They defeat their attackers, and word of this reaches Balak, king of Bashan,
who becomes worried. He calls on Balaam, a prophet, to curse the Israelites.
Balaam explains that he will only speak what God gives him, but Balak has him proceed
anyway. Balaam goes on to bless rather than curse Israel. A frustrated Balak
has him try several more times, but each time Balaam continues to speak well of
Israel. In the third such event, Balaam says,
How beautiful are your
tents, Jacob, your dwelling places, Israel! Like valleys they spread out, like
gardens beside a river, like aloes planted by the Lord, like cedars beside
the waters. Water will flow from their buckets; their seed will have abundant
water. Their king will be greater than Agag; their kingdom will be exalted. –
Numbers 24:5-7
For such a comparison
to have been made, we can infer that the Amalekites must have been the
mightiest nation at that time. (Recall that Agag was their title for king.) Balaam
also says, in his fifth prophecy, reiterating the words of God in Exodus 17,
Amalek was first among the nations, but their end
will be utter destruction. – Numbers 24:20b
The Amalekites are also
mentioned in Moses’ final instructions to the Israelites:
Remember what the Amalekites did to you
along the way when you came out of Egypt. When you were weary and worn out, they met you on
your journey and attacked all who were lagging behind; they had no fear of God. When the Lord your God gives you
rest from all the enemies around you in the land He is giving you to
possess as an inheritance, you shall blot out the name of Amalek from
under heaven. Do not forget! – Deut. 25:17-19
From this account we
learn more about the nature of the Amalekites’ attack. They were attacking and
killing the weakest and slowest members of the party, likely pregnant women and
children and the old and infirm. These were a brutal, amoral people. God also
tells them that a time will come when they or their descendants are to utterly
destroy the Amalekites, and that when that time comes, they should act!
God then uses Joshua
and other members of this younger generation to conquer Canaan, and God assigns
lands to the various tribes of Israel. This is followed by a period of about
300 years during which the Israelites repeatedly forget or reject their God and
are conquered or facing imminent defeat. Repeatedly, they call out to God to
save them, and God provides a leader, called a Judge, who delivers them from
their current threat. Unfortunately, the people soon forget God and return to
their old sinful ways. Were the Amalekites among the enemies of Israel in this
era? Yes. The Amalekites were part of a coalition with the Ammonites and
Moabites that took over the land for eighteen years until they were defeated
under the leadership of Ehud. And the Amalekites worked with the Midianites to
invade the land until they were defeated by Gideon.
Following this era was
a period of about 120 years during which Israel is led by kings. This era begins
with the prophet Samuel helps the people to subdue the Philistines. Led by the
Lord, Samuel anoints Saul as the first king of Israel. Saul initially follows
the Lord and with His help defeats the Ammonites who attack Israel. Under Saul,
there is also a great victory against the Philistines, although Jonathan was
really the one behind the victory.
Then the day comes at
last, after centuries of waiting: Samuel tells Saul that the Lord now wants him
to attack and totally defeat the Amalekites.
Does Saul do this? Not
exactly. He spares the king and many of their possessions. He also spares the
Kenites, people who live among the Amalekites. From what happens later, we know
that many other Amalekites must survive as well. This led to God rejecting Saul
as king.
David was the next
king, and he also had experiences against the Amalekites. He raided the
Amalekites during his time of hiding among the Philistines to escape from Saul,
who wanted to kill him. Then, during the massive battle against the Philistines
in which Saul is killed, the Amalekites raid David’s hideout at Ziklag, taking
their women and children. David and his men overtake the raiders and destroy
them, recovering their family members and taking their plunder.
David’s son Solomon
succeeds David as king, and during Solomon’s reign the Temple in Jerusalem is
built. After Solomon dies, tensions from the excesses of Solomon’s reign along
with the fact that Solomon’s son was very unwise led to the kingdom of Israel
being torn into two. Led by Jeroboam, the rebelling ten northern tribes go by
the name of Israel, and led by Solomon’s son Rehoboam, the two remaining tribes
in the south are known as Judah. Both sides generally ignore the teachings of
God and worship false gods. Over the succeeding years, multiple prophets warn
that unless the peoples repent, they will certainly be overtaken by enemies.
From the time of the
split, the northern kingdom (Israel) lasted roughly 200 years before being
defeated by Assyria and its people being led into exile. The southern kingdom
(Judah) lasted a little longer, about 350 years, before being defeated by the
Babylonian Empire (which had at this point already defeated and taken over the
Assyrian Empire). Ultimately, the Temple and much of Jerusalem was destroyed,
and the people were brought into captivity.
Thus, the period of
captivity begins. Through this succession of empires, the Israelites (now
called Jews) are scattered over the entire region of middle-eastern
civilization. They hold to their religious beliefs and culture as much as they
can, but it is difficult. These empires each try to separate people from their
cultures. The pulling out of a young Daniel and his young friends for
leadership in which they are given cultural and practical training, and even
new names, is an example of what the people were up against. The Babylonian
empire is overtaken by the Persian empire and the process continues. It is in
the middle of this context that the events of Esther take place.
Apart from his role in
the book of Esther, Xerxes is known for his failed invasion of Greece. He also
worked on many construction projects his father had begun at Susa and
Persepolis. Overall, his accomplishments pale when compared to those of his
father.
Mordecai is another
important character. Like King Saul long before him, he is a descendant of
Benjamin, in fact, both are descendants of Kish. He had adopted his orphaned
cousin, Esther, and brought her up as his own daughter. I won’t say more about
Esther at this point, but the book is named after her, so she is obviously an
important character.
Haman works for the
king and has been raised to the highest position at the court. Haman is
described in Esther as an Agagite. This means that he is a descendant of Agag,
which means, yes, he is an Amalekite.
Again, I don’t want to
get into the plot details of the book, because we will do this in the coming
weeks. But suffice it to say that Haman comes close to utterly wiping out the
Jewish people. Because of the nearly total extent of Xerxes’ empire, an edict
saying that the Jewish people should be killed would be effective at completely
decimating their population; it would be nearly total genocide. It is ironic
and fascinating to me that someone from close to the line of Saul would become
the one opposed to a descendent of Amalek, the people that Saul failed to wipe
out. It certainly seems like the consequences of Saul’s misdeeds were connected
to the existential crisis that we see in the book of Esther, and it is equally
fascinating to me that this whole drama was hinted at all the way back in
Exodus and Deuteronomy. You can see God working behind the scenes in all of
this.
And yet, we need to
discuss the major character who is conspicuously absent in the entire book of
Esther: God Himself! God is never mentioned, even once, in this book. But at
the same time, God is everywhere, behind the scenes. As we will see, there are
many, many “coincidences,” “fortunate situations,” being at the right time at
the right place, unplanned consequences, and so on, that are clearly the work
of God, even though He is never mentioned by name. In fact, it is quite reasonable
to argue that God is the most important character in the entire book, even
though He is never mentioned explicitly.
And this fact is one of
the things I most like about the book of Esther, and it is one of the reasons I
think there is a lot we can take from this book. Our lives are a lot more like
the events in the book of Esther than they are in other books of the Bible. It
is unlikely we will experience angelic visitations or see major miracles like
the parting of the Red Sea in our lives here on Earth. But God working behind
the scenes – this is exactly what we are likely to see! God is at work behind
the scenes in every softened heart and every salvation, in every fortunate
“coincidence” that helps us to spread His love and grow His kingdom. The book
of Esther will show us how to have faith amidst a crisis, how to rely on
prayer, and how to act and overcome fear when situations are difficult. Perhaps
most importantly, the book of Esther will help us to walk by faith in a world
that doesn’t believe in God.
One of the things the
book of Esther does is instruct the Jews to celebrate the feast of Purim in
celebration of the events described in this book. We as Christians are not in
any way obligated to celebrate Purim, but it is an interesting holiday. Purim
this year falls on the night of March 20 and the day of March 21, which takes
place very close to the end of the series. Perhaps, instead of a traditional
game night in March, we will have some kind of Purim-themed party. Traditional
celebrations include exchanging gifts of food and drink, donating to the poor,
eating a celebratory meal, retelling the story of Esther, drinking lots of
alcohol (that part we will definitely skip!), and wearing masks and costumes.
During the telling of the story of Esther, Haman’s name is mentioned 54 times.
Traditionally, people make as much noise during the moments when his name is
read, so much noise that his name cannot be heard. This is done with both
shouting and using noisemakers specially made for the occasion. Outlandish
dramas and songs are also a part of the holiday. Special foods include triangular pastries
called hamantaschen (“Haman’s pockets”) or oznei Haman (“Haman’s ears”).
And the following may
be a coincidence, but I think one should be careful to relate anything to
coincidence when talking about Esther and Purim. In early 1953, many of the
most prominent Jewish doctors were accused in the Soviet Union of planning a
vast conspiracy to poison top Soviet leaders. Many were arrested, and it was
expected that many more would be arrested a short time later. But Stalin was
suddenly paralyzed on Purim 1953, and he died a few days later. As a result,
due to lack of evidence and the lack of Stalin being around to pressure people
to make up false charges, charges were dropped for lack of evidence. Was it
God, or coincidence? I’ll leave that for you to decide.
I do want to leave you
with two applications. In preparation for the first, I ask you to think about
the long-lasting effects of Saul’s disobedience. Do you ever think about the
effects of your disobedience, your sin? It does not only affect you! It can
affect your family, your friends, your church, and it can even affect people
you have never met and will never meet, as it affects people who then affect other
people.
The proper response to sin after it
happens is prayer and repentance. And we need to understand that Christ died
for sin, for our sin, and that forgiveness is immediately available to us not
because of what we have done (or have failed to have done) but because of what
Christ has done. At the same time, Jesus calls us to living by the power of the
Holy Spirit, to living lives in which we are far from cavalier about our sin
but instead do everything we can, relying on the Holy Spirit to help us in our
weakness, to live lives in which we sin less and less egregiously, and we sin
less and less often.
Here are some verses that come to mind:
If you love Me, keep My commands. – John 14:15
You are My friends if you do what I command.
– John 15:14
And this is love: that we walk in obedience
to His commands. – 2 John 1:6a
As obedient children, do not conform to
the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as He who called
you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I
am holy.” – I Peter 1:14-16
Yes, in one sense this is an impossible
command, as we fall short to some degree countless times in a day. But I think
the key to the second sentence in I Peter is to seek to obey the first: Do not
conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. As believers,
there is no reason for us to continue to live in ignorance. Spending time in
God’s Word will help you change your ignorance. Assuming then we know which
desires of ours are evil, and which are not, the verse says to not let your
self be conformed to those evil
desires. In other words, our self is no longer automatically stuck in those
evil desires; in fact, the default is the opposite! The verse is saying, don’t
let yourself be sucked back into that old way of thinking! We do this by breaking the old patterns, the
old habits, anything that makes us go back to what we know is wrong. Apart from
Christ we can do nothing. But in Christ, real change is not only impossible; it
is assured.
Here we are at the first week of a new
year. What patterns do you need to break? What good patterns do you want to start?
The second application has more to do
with the Mordecai and Esther, the “good guy” and “good gal” in the story. Are
they perfect though? Are they completely holy? Absolutely not. We will see more
of this in the coming weeks, so I don’t want to give you examples yet. But the
message is that even when our lives are a mess, even when it is due to the mess
we have made ourselves, God is still at work. Even when we don’t have our lives
all put together, God desires to use us! This does not mean sin is no big deal,
or that we have a license to sin. Far from it! As Paul puts it,
What shall we say, then? Shall we go on
sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to
sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or
don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were
baptized into his death? We were therefore buried
with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was
raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a
new life. – Romans 6:1-4
But God doesn’t demand perfection before
we can serve Him. He wants brokenness, humility, acknowledgement of weakness. At
the same time, however, He doesn’t want weakness in faith. This is the message behind the account of the disciples in
the stormy boat, and it is the message behind the account of Peter walking on
water.
He replied, “You of little
faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the
winds and the waves, and it was completely calm. – Matt. 8:26
Then Peter got down out
of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw
the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!” Immediately Jesus reached out His hand and
caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”
– Matt 14:29-31
Finally, I close with the admonition
from James:
Consider it pure joy, my brothers and
sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the
testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let
perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not
lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, you
should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it
will be given to you. But when you ask, you must
believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the
sea, blown and tossed by the wind. – James 1:2-6
Let us grow both in keeping God’s
commands and in having faith that God can make enable us to do it!
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