Ester 4:1-17 Help Please!
Haman’s despicable act is known throughout the land. Mordecai calls out for Ester’s help. It is time her heritage is known. “Help please!” is his cry.
Haman has hatched a plot to kill ALL the Jews. His hatred of Mordecai over the fact that he wouldn’t bow to him is at the root of it. But Haman’s hatred isn’t limited to Mordecai or even the act that started it all. He is consumed with hatred and it spills all over the kingdom of Persia. It will consume every Jew within its boundaries, unless someone does something to stop him.
Mordecai knows something that no one else does. He has a ‘secret weapon’ hidden in plain sight. His weapon against this catastrophe is Queen Ester, his cousin and fellow Jew. Mordecai and Ester have been passing messages back and forth since she was taken for the king’s haram. Ester’s servants know of their closeness, even if they don’t know that they are related. When they see Mordecai before the gate in sackcloth they tell her of it.
The fact that Ester didn’t already know of the decree tells me that she was sheltered. When the news came out the whole town was in an uproar but Ester knew nothing of it. If she had known she would most likely have been upset too. The fact that she tries to cover Mordecai’s grief by sending him clothes speaks to her not understanding his pain and dismissing it.
I want to recognize the servants who carried messages back and forth between Queen Ester and Mordecai. Ester’s maidens could bring her word of what they saw but they could not interact with Mordecai because of propriety sake. But it just so happened that Ester was also assigned a male servant. He was a eunuch so the king would have no fear of him molesting her. He was able to speak directly to Mordecai and get the story. His name was Hathach. I wonder if he was a eunuch by choice or by demand. Was he a slave that was castrated so he could fill this roll or was he a loyal servant who took this path of service? I can’t see any man voluntarily choosing this path but this king certainly had quite a few of them. They are all over this story.
When Ester hears the essence of Mordecai’s trouble she doesn’t immediately offer help. “What do you expect me to do? I can’t go to the king without risking my own life.” She thinks it would be too dangerous for her. After all, no one knows that she is a Jew so she should be safe.
“God is big enough to work out a miracle another way if you won’t act but you WILL be killed, along with everyone in your family; namely me” is Mordecai’s response. People WILL figure out that Ester is a Jew. There has been enough evidence with the two of them communicating back a forth to prove some kind of relationship. Her position will not shield her if this edict is enacted. And besides all that, GOD has placed her here for a reason.
Ester reluctantly agrees to go to the king but NOT without a LOT of prayer on her behalf. “Gather every Jew in the city. Pray and fast DAY & NIGHT for three days. I and my attendants will do the same. Then I will give it a try. If I die, so be it. At least I will have tried.” I wonder if she wanted to add “is this good enough for you” to the end of her statement.
Ester had always obeyed Mordecai, even while serving as queen. She would obey him unto death if it came to that. She was a loyal daughter. She was also a Jew who believed in her God. She knew He listened to the prayers of His people. And she put her life in HIS hands. She would accept His will.
How much do we trust Him? I haven’t personally had a ‘life or death’ situation where I laid myself in His hands but my husband has. His was an emergency brain operation. He laid himself in God’s hands and said “If I wake up before You it’s ok, and if I wake up here it’s ok too.” He had no idea what the outcome would be but he trusted fully in the Lord. And God gave him amazing peace with the process. The after effects of waking up still here still takes work on his part as his life was forever changed. Some days he is angry about it but then I remind him of all the gifts God gave him by letting him live a while longer; including being able to see his grandchildren.
I’ve put my future in His hands on MULTIPLE occasions; both big and little things. And even when He says to go the direction I didn’t really want to go, He walks beside me. He knows where I need to be and when I need to be there. He also knows how to motivate me to ‘keep walking’. ‘For just such a time as this’, He will lead you and me.
Father God, I know I can trust You with my future. You know the steps I need to take to be where You would have me be. You know what it takes to make me walk that path. What motivation I need; whether a stick or a carrot. Keep me walking in Your ways. Take me to the places You have prepared for me. And help me trust even deeper along the way.
