Ester 2:19-23 Overheard Plot
Ester has become queen. Mordecai is a fixture now in the outer courts and he overheard a plot against the king. He passes it onto Ester.
We are not told how long it actually took for Ester to become queen. We are also not told how long into that role this event happens. What is known is that Mordecai has been hanging around the palace since the time Ester was taken to join the haram. Mordecai has become a fixture and people don’t think about the ‘fixtures’ when they talk.
Mordecai was keeping watch over Ester. There wasn’t a lot he could do for her but he couldn’t bring himself to turn lose either. He continued to instruct her even while she was in the haram. He told her to keep her heritage a secret. And she obeyed him in whatever he told her to do.
I’m curious as to why he wanted her to keep the fact that she was a Jew hidden. Did he believe it put her life in danger if others knew? Did he think the king would despise her if he knew? Would she have been treated different or even allowed to be part of the haram if it were known? Would she have automatically been moved to slave status if found out? Whatever his reasons, Ester was successful as passing herself off as just one of the many virgins in Persia.
Was Mordecai and obviously of Jewish descent? Haman would recognize him as such later on but was it because of Mordecai’s own admittance or did his features give him away? Mordecai lived in Susa among the citizens of the capitol city. Was he a servant? Was he a merchant? Was he poor or rich? What place did he occupy in this city? And was it the role of a Jew?
Mordecai was familiar to all those who lived and worked at the palace. He came daily to the courts. He sat by the king’s gate. He didn’t demand attention or bother people. He did ask about Ester’s welfare but that was probably servant to servant discussions. He didn’t raise any suspicions with his presence either. He became invisible to many.
While Mordecai was sitting by the king’s gate one day, two of the king’s eunuchs were in deep conversation when they passed him by. They paid him no mind as the talked on. Their conversation, though confidential, carried to Mordecai’s ears. Their conversation so shocked him that he had to report it. But he couldn’t take this information directly to the king. He had no standing with the king or the officers of the court. He did however have the ear of his cousin Ester. He brought this information directly to her.
Ester didn’t doubt the word of Mordecai even for an instant and she also didn’t balk at his instructions to bring this to the king. She carefully approached the king and told him all she knew, even where the information had come from. She didn’t tell him of her relationship with Mordecai though.
The king trusted Ester even if he didn’t know Mordecai from any of the other subjects in his realm. On her word he searched out the truth. And he found the information to be true. Two of his eunuchs were planning to kill him.
These were two of his personal servants. They most likely saw to his needs regarding women. I wonder what it was that the king had done that so angered them. Had he mistreated one of the women that they were fond of? Had he disrespected them or accused them of some breach of duty? What was it that was so serious that his own servants would turn against him? Bigthan was one of the king’s seven chief eunuchs. One of the ones who went to summon Vashti during the feast. Teresh is not mentioned in any other place. Whatever it was that motivated these two men must have been significant for them to plot against him.
How was the king able to learn the truth of Ester’s words? In Israel a woman’s word was not enough to convict someone. It appears that Ester’s word wasn’t enough either, which is good because she was only passing on overheard information. Had these two men discussed their plans in the hearing of other people besides Mordecai? Were they making provisions for their plan already that were able to be traced? Did they admit as much when confronted? However he ascertained the truth of the matter, the king had no remaining doubts.
The two trusted servants met their end for their proposed crime. The king was not about to wait on them to act before taking action against them. He may well have died otherwise. Instead, the two men were hung, most likely in a public forum as a warning to others who might want to take up their cause. And Mordecai’s name was entered into the royal chronicles as the one who discovered the plot.
This ended the matter on all fronts, for now. The king was safe, the queen was comfortable in her place without her true heritage being discovered, and Mordecai went on doing what he had done since the day Ester was taken.
God placed Mordecai in the right place at the right time as surely as He placed Ester where she was. This event would later be called to remembrance, at the right time. And it would change the course of history once again. But that is a story for another day. For today, we see the fingerprints of God peeking through again.
Father God, You never cease to amaze me with how You orchestrate the lives of all the people in Your stories! In my life too. One small moment in the right place at the right time turns proposed history on its ear. One opportunity given or taken. One choice laid before me. Each one just when it would make the most difference in my life. Those moments are not without risk but they are worth the taking. I wonder what ‘today’s choices’ will mean for ‘tomorrow’. Help me know which road to take when You place them before me. I don’t always listen easily Father. Knock me on the head if You need to in order to get my attention.
