Esther: Trust in the Storm
Estimated reading time: 13 minutes
Trust is a Journey
Esther 1:1–4 ESV:
Now in the days of Ahasuerus, the Ahasuerus who reigned from India to Ethiopia over 127 provinces, 2 in those days when King Ahasuerus sat on his royal throne in Susa, the citadel, 3 in the third year of his reign he gave a feast for all his officials and servants. The army of Persia and Media and the nobles and governors of the provinces were before him, 4 while he showed the riches of his royal glory and the splendor and pomp of his greatness for many days, 180 days.
History refers to this king as Xerxes I. While king, he greatly expanded his territory. He reigned from 486 BC to 465 BC. Years prior to this, when Cyrus was the king of Persia, he had made a decree that the Jews could go back to Jerusalem. And some did, but they had not yet rebuilt the temple.
This Xerxes married Esther, and they had a son, Xerxes II, who was the one who told Nehemiah that he could go back and rebuild Jerusalem. So this record is intertwined with the whole history of Ezra and Nehemiah.
The record of Esther in history is so specific, and it sets the stage for history going forward. Esther was a key person in history.
Ahasuerus (Xerxes I) had a queen. Her name was Vashti. He wants to show Vashti off during his big party. She refuses to come, and he becomes so angry that he removes her from being queen. A couple of years go by, and we pick up the story there.
Esther 2:5–6 ESV:
5 Now there was a Jew in Susa the citadel whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jair, son of Shimei, son of Kish, a Benjaminite, 6 who had been carried away from Jerusalem among the captives carried away with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away.
Mordecai was among the first of the Jews to have been carried away into captivity. He has been living in captivity for more than 70 years. He is raising Esther, the daughter of his uncle, which makes her his cousin.
Esther 2:7–9 ESV:
7 He was bringing up Hadassah, that is Esther, the daughter of his uncle, for she had neither father nor mother. The young woman had a beautiful figure and was lovely to look at, and when her father and her mother died, Mordecai took her as his own daughter. 8 So when the king’s order and his edict were proclaimed, and when many young women were gathered in Susa the citadel in custody of Hegai, Esther also was taken into the king’s palace and put in custody of Hegai, who had charge of the women. to the king’s palace and put in custody of Hegai, who had charge of the women. 9 And the young woman pleased him and won his favor. And he quickly provided her with her cosmetics and her portion of food, and with seven chosen young women from the king’s palace, and advanced her and her young women to the best place in the harem.
Esther had a whole year to think about what was going on and wonder about what would happen to her.
Trust is a journey, step by step.
Psalm 119:5 ESV:
Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
God’s Word and wisdom is always a light to our path. But sometimes we only see the next couple of steps ahead. Once you get through those steps, then you’ll see more light.
She listened to Hegai and followed what he said. She was very meek and won favor with everyone around her.
Esther 2:15 ESV:
When the turn came for Esther the daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her as his own daughter, to go in to the king, she asked for nothing except what Hegai the king’s eunuch, who had charge of the women, advised. Now Esther was winning favor in the eyes of all who saw her.
The present tense here means that she was winning favor constantly.
Esther 2:15–16 ESV:
16 And when Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus, into his royal palace, in the tenth month, which is the month of Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign, 17 the king loved Esther more than all the women, and she won grace and favor in his sight more than all the virgins, so that he set the royal crown on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti.
She hadn’t told anyone that she was Jewish. At the end of Chapter 2, Mordecai hears about a plot to assassinate the king, and he tells Esther, who tells the king, and the plot is foiled.
In Chapter 3, when King Ahasuerus promoted Haman, Haman wanted everyone to bow down to him, but Mordecai refused. Why? Because Haman was an Agagite. Agag was an Amalekite king. Remember that God had told Saul through Samuel to kill all of the Amalekites, but he failed to do so. Haman is also an Amalekite.
Even as far back as the time of Joshua, God had said he would have war with Amalek forever. Amalek was the grandson of Esau. In the Word, he is symbolized as one who is filled with hatred, fury, and anger against anything Jewish. That carries on through all the records about the Amalekites. That’s why Mordecai refused to bow down to him. That would be bowing down to the enemy of his people.
Let’s look at Haman’s plot.
Esther 3:8–11 ESV:
8 Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom. Their laws are different from those of every other people, and they do not keep the king’s laws, so that it is not to the king’s profit to tolerate them. 9 If it please the king, let it be decreed that they be destroyed, and I will pay 10,000 talents of silver into the hands of those who have charge of the king’s business, that they may put it into the king’s treasuries.” 10 So the king took his signet ring from his hand and gave it to Haman the Agagite, the son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews. 11 And the king said to Haman, “The money is given to you, the people also, to do with them as it seems good to you.”
They cast lots to determine when this would happen, and it came out to be 11 months from that time. After the decree goes out, there is so much sadness in the kingdom.
Esther 4:8–11 ESV:
8 Mordecai also gave him [the messenger] a copy of the written decree issued in Susa for their destruction, that he might show it to Esther and explain it to her and command her to go to the king to beg his favor and plead with him on behalf of her people. 9 And Hathach went and told Esther what Mordecai had said. 10 Then Esther spoke to Hathach and commanded him to go to Mordecai and say, 11 “All the king’s servants and the people of the king’s provinces know that if any man or woman goes to the king inside the inner court without being called, there is but one law—to be put to death, except the one to whom the king holds out the golden scepter so that he may live. But as for me, I have not been called to come in to the king these thirty days.”
Esther knew that going before the king without being summoned or called would risk her death.
Esther 4:12–14 ESV:
12 And they told Mordecai what Esther had said. 13 Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, “Do not think to yourself that in the king’s palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. 14 For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”
You really see Mordecai’s trust here. He fully expected that God would deliver the Jews one way or another.
YouTube: Mandisa, Born For This:
The second key to trusting that I see here in Esther is that you have to pray and ask for the answer.
YouTube: Steven Curtis Chapman, Warrior:
Esther 4:15–16 ESV:
15 Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai, 16 “Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my young women will also fast as you do. Then I will go to the king, though it is against the law, and if I perish, I perish.”
She prayed for three days, and God gave her the answer.
The third key that I see here is that, once you know what the steps are, you have to walk them out with a peaceful mind.
Isaiah 26:3 KJV:
Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.
Once Esther knew the steps, she walked them out with great confidence, not fear. How do we know this? Because she prepared the banquet before she left to go to the king. God had told her to invite the king to a banquet, so she prepared the banquet before she went to the king.
Meanwhile, miserable Haman, with the influence of his wife, had built a gallows to hang Mordecai on. These gallows were like a precursor of the cross.
Let’s see what happens after the first banquet. She didn’t lay all of her cards on the table at the first banquet, but said she would like them to come back for another banquet.
Esther 6:1–11 ESV:
On that night the king could not sleep. And he gave orders to bring the book of memorable deeds, the chronicles, and they were read before the king. 2 And it was found written how Mordecai had told about Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s eunuchs, who guarded the threshold, and who had sought to lay hands on King Ahasuerus. 3 And the king said, “What honor or distinction has been bestowed on Mordecai for this?” The king’s young men who attended him said, “Nothing has been done for him.” 4 And the king said, “Who is in the court?” Now Haman had just entered the outer court of the king’s palace to speak to the king about having Mordecai hanged on the gallows that he had prepared for him. 5 And the king’s young men told him, “Haman is there, standing in the court.” And the king said, “Let him come in.” 6 So Haman came in, and the king said to him, “What should be done to the man whom the king delights to honor?” And Haman said to himself, “Whom would the king delight to honor more than me?” 7 And Haman said to the king, “For the man whom the king delights to honor, 8 let royal robes be brought, which the king has worn, and the horse that the king has ridden, and on whose head a royal crown is set. 9 And let the robes and the horse be handed over to one of the king’s most noble officials. Let them dress the man whom the king delights to honor, and let them lead him on the horse through the square of the city, proclaiming before him: ‘Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to honor.’ ” 10 Then the king said to Haman, “Hurry; take the robes and the horse, as you have said, and do so to Mordecai the Jew, who sits at the king’s gate. Leave out nothing that you have mentioned.” 11 So Haman took the robes and the horse, and he dressed Mordecai and led him through the square of the city, proclaiming before him, “Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to honor.”
They had a great banquet, and the king asked her what she wanted, what she would like.
Esther 7:3–10 ESV:
3 Then Queen Esther answered, “If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it please the king, let my life be granted me for my wish, and my people for my request. 4 For we have been sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be killed, and to be annihilated. If we had been sold merely as slaves, men and women, I would have been silent, for our affliction is not to be compared with the loss to the king.” 5 Then King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther, “Who is he, and where is he, who has dared to do this?” 6 And Esther said, “A foe and enemy! This wicked Haman!” Then Haman was terrified before the king and the queen. 7 And the king arose in his wrath from the wine-drinking and went into the palace garden, but Haman stayed to beg for his life from Queen Esther, for he saw that harm was determined against him by the king. 8 And the king returned from the palace garden to the place where they were drinking wine, as Haman was falling on the couch where Esther was. And the king said, “Will he even assault the queen in my presence, in my own house?” As the word left the mouth of the king, they covered Haman’s face. 9 Then Harbona, one of the eunuchs in attendance on the king, said, “Moreover, the gallows that Haman has prepared for Mordecai, whose word saved the king, is standing at Haman’s house, fifty cubits high.” And the king said, “Hang him on that.” 10 So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the wrath of the king abated.
The king issued a new decree that allowed the Jews to defend themselves on that future day, and he elevated Mordecai to second in command. Mordecai took Haman’s place. Mordecai was given Haman’s house, his ring, everything.
Esther 8:15–17 ESV:
15 Then Mordecai went out from the presence of the king in royal robes of blue and white, with a great golden crown and a robe of fine linen and purple, and the city of Susa shouted and rejoiced. 16 The Jews had light and gladness and joy and honor. 17 And in every province and in every city, wherever the king’s command and his edict reached, there was gladness and joy among the Jews, a feast and a holiday. And many from the peoples of the country declared themselves Jews, for fear of [respect for] the Jews had fallen on them.
The last key I see here is that the experience of trusting yields patience, and the results of God’s wisdom can be seen by others.
James 1:2– APNT:
2 You should have all joy, my brothers, when you enter into various and numerous trials,
3 for you know that the experience of faith [or trust] causes you to obtain patience.
4 Now patience should have a full work that you may be mature and complete and not lacking in anything.
5 Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask [for it] from God, who gives generously to all and does not reproach and it will be given to him.
We’ve seen some keys here in the book of Esther.
- Trusting is a journey. You don’t see all the steps at one time.
- You must pray and ask for the answer.
- Walk out the steps with a peaceful mind. Stay your mind on the promises of God.
- God works behind the scenes to deliver.
- Trust yields patience, and others will see the results.
We were born for this, too. We were born to trust God. He has works for us to walk in just as He had works for Esther to walk in.
Scripture References
Scripture quotations marked (ESV) are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
See Also:
From the Acts Now Fellowship website:
Our Refuge audio teaching
Bookstore Suggestions:
