Esther 2 vs 12-23 and 3 vs 1-15

Esther Chapter 2 Verses 12 – 16

·    This is incredible intelligence put on display but its remarkable and worthy to be talked about thousands of years later because it is intelligence within the constraints of humility, which makes it wisdom. Can you imagine the impression she has on Hegai… All of the women choosing what they will take to impress the king, and this one, Esther, looks around and give Hegai the choice!? What a moment and oh by the way…, supremely smart! “He hates these things…, he loves these things…,” Hegai would know! She found the elevator to success! Anyone that tells you to take the stairs is a fool! Find the elevator! HA!

Esther Chapter 2 Verses 17 - 18

·    Lovely, beautiful, compliant, wise, brave, humble (she requested nothing but what was provided to her) and chaste. And it says here that she gained favor in the eyes of all that saw her, which means, just taken literally here and reading no further into it, she was given preference because she was so pretty. Listen, that is reality and that happens. How you present yourself is a great way to gain advantage and I’m not sure I hear anyone talk about this…

·    It’s true that beauty is only skin deep… That’s completely true, but the point I want to make for consideration is why so many beautiful people waste their advantage by being prideful or unpleasant or rude or careless? I just think it’s foolish…

·    Consider, right, wrong or indifferent, that folks are pleased with well kept, well groomed, well presented, pretty and handsome people… AND when that combines with wisdom and virtue and humility, you get a discount on everyone’s trust…, on everyone’s affections, on everyone’s courtesy…, it costs you far less than others! It’s ok if you don’t want that or that turns you off but that kind of advantage is utilized in the life of the wise. We even read of Jesus in Luke 2:52, as Jesus made Himself subject to His parents that, “Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men!”

Esther Chapter 2 Verses 19 – 23

·    She is wise, we have already established that. Her wisdom matches her incredible beauty. And now we learn that she is savvy, opportunistic, and loyal. Xerxes by this time was losing steam as a ruler. He had been beaten back in his expedite to Greece. Alexander the Great wouldn’t come for some time but for Xerxes to not win every battle and to return home not the victor, in that time and culture, terrible…

·    And so, all this hub bub about finding him a new wife and boy did this, specifically this event, probably change everything mentally for him, personally. Why? He didn’t just find a wife. With this action she has unlocked a part of his heart that a man desperately desires to be fulfilled. He has found a protector. Esther is messaging to him, communicating to him, something she could never accomplish with words or just her presence. She has showed him that he is safe because she is there… That “watch my back,” “ride or die,” is absolutely everything to a man because it is respect in the tangible.

·    This was so life-changing for Xerxes that he had it written into the history of his empire, that he has found a wife that would preserve him… Esther stands out as an example on so many levels and planes and it is no doubt that God would see fit to use her mightily in her life and in the history of millions of lives!

Esther Chapter 3 Verse 1

·    At this point in the story, we are introduced to a new character, Haman, and yet we aren’t given any details as to how he got to where he is. Jewish writings are interesting on this topic. You will find in the writings of Moshe Bogomilsky, a pulpit rabbi for over thirty years, a rendering of Jewish tradition that states that Haman and Esther were actually good friends at this time and it was Haman who influenced Xerxes to put away Vashti and find a better queen, which Esther became. As a partial reward for Esther’s loyalty to Xerxes, he promoted her trusted ally, Haman…

·    Whether that is what actually happened, we aren’t sure because the account we have in the Bible doesn’t tell us how or why Haman was promoted. Interestingly, the same writings tell us that Mordecai was exempt from bowing to Haman as an honor to Mordecai for the uncovering of the assassination plot… Again, not Biblical, but interesting.

·    What’s sticks out like a sore thumb for some and certainly for me is the fact that a wicked man gets put into power. Promoted. Unfit for leadership and truly evil to his core. You’ll see that in just a few verses… BUT, even though that happens, Romans 13:1 says, “Let every soul be subject to governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God.” So, here’s the promise, (and we have the luxury of all ten chapters of Esther, I don’t have the luxury of all ten chapters of my career or my country, but the same truth applies), there is a plan and a purpose even for this terrible leader to be empowered…

Esther Chapter 3 Verses 2 – 4

·    This is perhaps the reason why Mordecai would not bow to Haman. Or maybe better said, the reason that Mordecai gave to those questioning him, seeing as Haman was an Agagite…

Esther Chapter 3 Verses 5 – 6

·    What do you do when you are filled with wrath? This is an interesting examination. The son of the Agagite, those cursed by God and a man that is entirely self-focused, his wrath turns into hate and retaliation (and a disproportionate amount). God filled with wrath sent His only Son to die for His enemies. WOW. Jesus said that our original design is to love…, to not return evil for evil, Luke 6:27-28, “But I say to you who hear: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you…”

Esther Chapter 3 Verse 7

·    With this verse we are given a bit of information, that Esther had now been queen for five years and this was about nine years after the incident with Vashti…

Esther Chapter 3 Verses 8 – 11

·    That just blows my mind! This is an intense parallel picture to the danger of sin in my life! Hundreds of years before, per the word of God, the Amalekites were to be dealt with completely! If so then there would be no Agagites. And because it was not so, all of the people have been made subject to the enemy! How? ONE AGAGITE!

·    Be put on alert! If you give the enemy an inch, he won’t stop until he gets not a foot, yard, or mile…, he will devise a plan to take it all! The scariest part of that is his intense patience! 600 years! But here it is…, the destination of not dealing with sin!

·    Poor leadership again by Xerxes as well! Not so much in that he makes an evil decision here but that he has put an evil, self-absorbed person into a trusted position. Good leadership isn’t just decision making, leading and casting a vision. It isn’t just caring for the people around you and being personally responsible for all corners of everything. Leadership is all of those things and yet all of that can be undermined and destroyed by making poor selections regarding the people you put in trusted positions!

·    Some say Xerxes should have verified this information given to him by Haman. Bible commentators make good preachable points about Haman giving Xerxes a half-truth…, but all of those things are lesser thoughts, symptoms…, the real problem here is that Xerxes has placed his trust in someone who is self-focused. You cannot be an effective leader unless you raise up people around you that you can trust. It’s just that simple. Or, perhaps you can be a leader, just of a very small portion. But the more authority and span of influence God gives you, it will be proportionate to the amount that you are willing to trust others and are able to discern and avoid those that are, underneath it all, self-absorbed…

Esther Chapter 3 Verses 12 – 13

·    Is anyone else entirely BLOWN AWAY that this command of this earthly king is a complete counterfeit of the original command of the King of kings towards the Amalekites!! This is a slap in the face, a finger in the air, from Lucifer to his God whom he hates! And this is always how it happens! God gives a command through His word for the preservation and provision of His people. When we choose to distrust Him…, that gives the enemy opportunity to take authority and use that stolen authority to launch an afront against God through me, through us. The devil has zero authority…, only that which we give him. Exactly why we read, “resist the devil, and he will flee from you!”

Esther Chapter 3 Verses 14 – 15

·    What an incredible word, perplexed. The word in the Hebrew is, “buk,” and it literally means, “entangled.” We cannot master sin. We mess with it, (and all sin is is not obeying the word of God and rejecting the mind of God, that is sin…) We mess with it, we wake up entangled. One of my most hated things to ever have to do is untangle cords. I’d rather just cut them and buy new ones on Amazon.

·    Enter repentance!!!! Thank God for repentance! In that I confess my sin, face it, take responsibility for it, and then let that tangled mess be… Not returning to it but turning from it… This is not something to be done about an issue, this is a lifestyle to walk out and it is the only way to learn, grow, mature and above all, is the only way to lead! The opposite of self-absorption is God-absorption!! If you ain’t one, you’re the other!!