Esther 8-10: How the Tables Have Turned

Now that Haman is taken care of, everything is good, right? Wrong. The Jews are still going to be slaughtered for their belongings. Esther must find a way to avert this, so she goes back before the king to plead her case.

If it please the king, and if I have found favor in his sight, and if the thing seems right before the king, and I am pleasing in his eyes, let an order be written to revoke the letters devised by Haman the Agagite, the son of Hammedatha, which he wrote to destroy the Jews who are in all the provinces of the king.

The king gives in to her request (that's what he does). But there is a problem. He can't reverse the order he gave out before because it was sealed with his signet ring. It cannot be cancelled. King Ahasuerus is once again displaying his passivity here. Could he really not reverse his royal decree? Could he not have taken responsibility for what his mistake and sent out riders to fix it? Of course he could have.

There is one good thing about the king being passive though: he is willing to do whatever Esther wants. Even though he doesn't take responsibility for his actions, he continues his trend of handing his power away by bestowing his ring on Esther and telling her she can make any decree she likes regarding the Jews.

But you may write as you please with regard to the Jews, in the name of the king, and seal it with the king's ring, for an edict written in the name of the king and sealed with the king's ring cannot be revoked.

Think about that for a second. The king just gave Esther the ability to decree anything she liked regarding the Jews, a decree that could not be revoked. She could do anything with this. She could declare that all land now belongs to the Jews. She could write into law that everyone in the land must give a portion of their belongings to their Jewish neighbors. This is an incredible amount of power the king is giving away here.

Luckily for the king (and the kingdom), Esther, with the advice of Mordecai, grants only the right of self defense to the Jews. The Jews can defend themselves against any armed force which attacks them.

Why would they settle for only this, when they could have declared anything? For one, it sounds pretty innocuous. The king isn't going to balk at this. It seems reasonable as a rebuttal to what was decreed by Haman. Haman decreed anyone could attack the Jews and take their belongings on a certain day. Esther and Mordecai declare the Jews can defend themselves. What is interesting is that the decree doesn't appear to have any limitation. It is now written into law that when anyone attacks the Jews they have the right to defend themselves and plunder the people attacking them. These rights can never be revoked, as long as the Persian kingdom persists. No other people group within the Persian kingdom would have this same right to self defense. If they did, why would they need to make such a decree for the Jews?

It is incredible to see what God does through Esther and Mordecai in this story. He uses them (and a weak-willed king) to save His people. And He does more than just restore them to their previous place. The Israelites are now better off than when the story began. They have rights greater than any other people group, and they are feared throughout the kingdom.

The next time you get discouraged with everything you are going through, when you are disappointed and losing hope, when you wish you just get back to way things used to be, remember the story of Esther. God doesn't want to take you back to the way things used to be. He has som
ething greater in mind for you. Press on and behold what He has in store.