Esther 6-10

Happy Anniversary to my lovely wife!   And now, on to “Esther’s revenge…..:”
 
Haman is called an Agagite.    Agag was king of the Amalekites, the sworn enemies of the Jews.   In Deuteronomy 25 the Lord tells the Jews to wipe out the Amalekites completely.  In 1 Samuel 1 Saul is told the same thing again…which he fails to do and loses the kingdom over.   On one hand it seems unnecessarily violent to extinguish a whole tribe of people, doesn’t it?   But whatever God tells us to do is always for the best, therefore, He must have known the hardship and death that the unrepentant Amalekites would inflict upon Israel.   It was an Amalekite that killed Saul (ironically).   If the Jews had done what they were told and completely wiped out the race, then there never would have been a man named Haman, from the family of Agag…and this whole episode would be unnecessary.
Here’s another crazy thought.   Since the Jews were doing so well in Babylon, if they all had returned home when they were released by Cyrus or Darius…they probably could have constructed the temple Ezekiel had revealed to them.   They would have had the resources and the manpower…I wonder if they were even supposed to still be in Babylon.    Isn’t that the case with all of us though, we hesitate to go when God tells us to, and then we hesitate to leave for the  same reason?    It seems we are always lagging behind what God tells us to do,  and getting in trouble because of it.
 
I’ve read this account often and I imagine that most others have as well.  It’s a short story, filled with intrigue and romance and danger…an easy book to  read through in one sitting.    But today I notice a couple  of things that I hadn’t thought too much about before…maybe it’s because  I am reading in the New Living Translation..
 
Haman’s family tells him that he should give up opposing Mordecai, because he’s a Jew.  Apparently the people of Susa already recognized that the Jews were blessed and had God’s favor.   It’s too late for Haman though…his sins have caught up with him.    After his stinging humiliation from walking Mordecai around town praising him, he will soon be killed on the very pole that he had  reserved for Mordecai.   By the way, the NLT identifies the “gallows” as a “sharpened pole” that the offender would be impaled upon.
 
When Haman is killed, Mordecai receives his entire estate, which was certainly substantial.  And, Mordecai goes on to become prime minister of the whole kingdom, second in authority only to the king himself.   This passage reminds me of Joseph who became second to  Pharaoh.  
 
Esther seems to have a violent streak, right?
 
Mordecai’s edict didn’t give the Jews the right to attack other people, only the right to defend themselves.   However, since the society was antagonistic toward the Jews the others felt they could defeat them, and attacked anyway.   Greed and prejudice became their downfall, just like Haman.    If the people had not attacked, then their would have been no slaughter necessary.
 
Because Mordecai had become “in favor” with the king, all the government officials backed the Jews.   That is the opposite of what would have happened if Haman were still alive.
 
This whole event explains why the Jews have the festival of Purim, which I believe is also known as the festival of lights.   It signifies one more time that God has delivered the Jews from annihilation.
 
I find myself marveling at the large number of Jews still left in Babylon!  I know this edict was carried throughout the kingdom, so it reached Jerusalem as well as other places.   Even still, I can’t help but wonder how many Jews continued to live outside of Israel for the rest of their lives, and how many people in countries like Iran and Iraq have Jewish bloodlines?
 
Faithfully,
 
 
PR