Let’s continue the Regency romance of the Book of Esther.
Yesterday, we left the king agreeing with Haman that the Jews should be wiped out. A decree goes out saying that on such and such a day, all Jews were to be killed. Mordecai is horrified, but Esther does not speak out. So, Mordecai asks to speak with Esther, but she says that there is nothing that she can do because no one can enter the throne room without the king’s permission. If they do; they are dead, unless the king grants them mercy. But, Mordecai replies with a line that has become a classic in various sermons.
Then Esther said to Hathach, “Go to Mordecai and say, ‘All the nations of the kingdom know that any man or woman who goes into the inner court to the king who has not been summoned, there is no deliverance for him unless the king holds out his golden scepter to save that person. And I have not been called to go in to the king for thirty days.’ ” So Hathach related all Esther’s words to Mordecai. And Mordecai said to Hathach, “Go and say to Esther, ‘Do not say to yourself that you alone will be saved in the kingdom apart from all the other Jews. For if you choose not to heed this request at this time, help and deliverance for the Jews will arise elsewhere, but you and your father’s house will perish. Besides, who knows whether it is for this occasion you reign as queen?’”
None of us knows for what occasion we have been raised up. We do not know our future, and we do not know whether it will fall to us to live a simple honest life or to be called to great deeds and foul terrors, as J.R.R. Tolkien would have said. Frodo and Sam Gangee in “Lord of the Rings” are the classic example of the answer to Mordecai’s question. It is for this reason that you have been chosen. It is for this time and this day that God has called out to you. It is you who must make the crucial decision to act. And, so, Queen Esther acts. She asks all the Jews of the capital to go on a three-day no food, no water fast. She prepares herself with prayer, and she steps into the royal court chamber at the beginning of the fourth day when the king is sitting on his throne. But, it is here that Septuagint Esther most sounds like a modern Regency romance. For, it says:
And it happened on the third day, when she ceased praying, she took off the garments of the solemnity, and put on her glorious apparel. And having become resplendent, appealing to the all-seeing God and Savior, she took with her two of her favorite maids. Upon the one she leaned as an elegant woman and the other maid followed behind her, bearing her train. She was aglow in the perfection of her beauty. Her face was as radiant as it was lovely, but her heart shrank with fear. And having entered through all the doors, she stood face to face with the king. He was sitting on his royal throne, clothed in all his glorious apparel, covered with gold and precious stones. He was awesome. And as he looked up, resplendent in his glory, at the very edge of anger, the queen collapsed, her complexion paled, and she slumped against the head of the maid who went before her. But God changed the spirit of the king to gentleness. And full of great concern, he leapt from his throne and held her in his arms until she recovered. He comforted her with calming words and said to her, “Esther, what is it? I am your brother. Be of good cheer! You are not going to die because of this usual ordinance. Come near!” And lifting his golden scepter, he laid it upon her neck, and he embraced her and said, “Speak to me.” And she said to him, “I saw you, my lord, as an angel of God, and my heart was troubled for fear of your majesty, for you, my lord, are awesome, and your face is full of kindness.” But while she was speaking to him, she fainted. And the king was troubled, and all his servants comforted her.
Fainting damsels in distress and handsome kings leaping off their thrones to hold them until they recover! Wow! Definitely romance novel material there. But, this is no mere fainting heroine waiting to be rescued. No, this is a woman who is weak from lack of food, lack of water, and the incredible stress of believing that she is going to her death. Yet, this is a woman on a mission, and a mission to save herself and her people. And, as she comes out of her faint, she proceeds with her well-crafted plan. She invites the king and Haman to a banquet. He agrees, to come, and why not. The woman he loves has fainted in his court-room. She has shown the daring to beard him in his den. He wants to please her and so he agrees to dinner.
Yet, she does not tell him what she wishes that first night, instead she invited him and Haman to a second dinner, where she will reveal all. The king is no idiot. He well had to know that she was leading up to something. But, self-centered Haman was not aware of the trap that was being laid until the next day. He began to know in the morning of the second day that something was wrong. But, it was not until that second evening’s dinner that Esther springs the well-planned trap. For, she tell the king that she is about to die.
So the king and Haman came to the banquet to drink together with the queen. And the king said to Esther on this second day of the banquet, “What is it, Queen Esther? What is your request? What is your petition? Let it be granted to you, even up to half my kingdom.” She said in reply, “If I have found favor in the sight of the king, let my life be given to me at my request, and my people at my petition. For both I and my people are sold into destruction, pillage, and bondage. We and our descendants have already been enslaved as male and female slaves, and I refuse to listen to this, for the accuser of my people is not worthy of the king’s court.” Then the king said, “Who is this who dared to do this thing?” And Esther said, “The enemy is this wicked man, Haman.”
No, she did not wait to be rescued. She outsmarted, out thought, and strategized better than Haman ever did. Haman tried to accomplish what he wanted by relying on brute force and influence at the court. Esther set him up with great wile and the conviction that the man that loved her would never allow her to be killed. She was cunning enough to realize that though the king might save her if she simply accused Haman openly, that she dared not take a chance and dared not let the courtiers have any word whatsoever, lest they convince the king to save her but kill her people. She had to make sure that all were saved. And so, she takes a daring step into the court with great fear. Then she invites the king to a dinner which will soften him up, along with his favorite advisor who will be lulled into the somnolence of death. She cannot let Haman live, lest he plan another great evil. And, so she deftly plans Haman’s death, using the very love that the king has for her as the opening to strike against the great foe.
Yes, this reads like a romance novel. But, it was no enjoyable novel for those who had to live through it. The end of Haman comes swiftly and brutally. Remember, that this is not a king bound by the rule of law. This is a king who rules because he can. This is no Christian nor Jewish king. This is a potentate, a conqueror, who executes justice as he wills and as he interprets it. Esther relies on that fact, that she is married to a man capable of great violence and swift action. She is not married to a man who would classically be called a “good” king. There is indeed a bit of “Beauty and the Beast,” in this tale from Scripture.
The king arose from the banquet and went into the garden, but Haman was pleading with the queen, for he realized that he was in desperate circumstances. The king returned from the garden, and Haman, while entreating the queen, had fallen upon the couch. And the king said, “So! Will you force yourself upon my wife in my own house?” And hearing this, Haman changed in his countenance. Then Harbona, one of the eunuchs, said to the king, “Look! Haman has prepared a gallows for Mordecai, the one who spoke for the benefit of the king. A gallows fifty cubits high has been set up at Haman’s place.” Then the king said, “Hang him on it!” And Haman was hung on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the wrath of the king was appeased.
The rest of the Book of Esther is basically conclusion and epilogue. The Jews are allowed to fight back against those who would kill them. Mordecai is appointed the new vizier. And, apparently, the couple live happily ever after. But, I suspect that future courtiers thought better of trying to outsmart Queen Esther. All in all, an enjoyable romance with a very spiritual set of points. I highly recommend that you read the unusual and sometimes uncomfortable romance of Queen Esther, savior of her people.
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