Playing detective in Esther
- Mike Flynn - Vicar
Q: Make a list of ironic reversals from the book of Esther that occur in this chapter.
Q: Can you think of other times in the Bible where the judgement of God works through irony and reversal of circumstances?
Q: Even though Haman is dead his edict remains. Why?
Q: The foolish edict of Haman plays out across the empire over the remaining chapters of the book of Esther. Why is evil (destructive behaviour) so difficult to stop once it reaches the centre of a culture?
Q: The book of Esther shows us what happens but offers no explanations. Instead it puts its meaning in observations (for example of Xerxes) and a code of words, phrases, allusions that people who knew the Hebrew Scriptures would understand. Can you think of two reasons why the book of Esther was written this way?
Q: The code in Esther points us to lines of evidence of God’s work in Esther’s day that go back into the Scriptures but also forward to us: Here are four of those lines.
Wisdom
- Back > Proverbs 30, Kings and wine. Ecclesiastes 6 the ironies of wealth (Haman’s unhappiness)
- Forward > Jesus the wise > the wisdom from above (James 3:13-18)
Enemies
- Back > the Ammalekites (Haman’s line) > Enemies of God’s people > Cain, the serpent's seed > Serpent (the murderer John 8:44)
- Forward > Jesus warning of persecution > the dragon making war on the people of God (Revelation 12)
Kingdom
- Servant leaders: Back > Noah> Abraham > Moses et al…
- Servant leaders: Forward > Jesus (the uncompromised servant leader) > us
Exile
- People of God in exile > Seeking the good of the city they were exiled to (Jeremiah 29)
- We are in exile > (James 1:1, 1 Peter 1:1) to seek the good of the time we are placed in
A summary of these themes for us - signs of God’s work then and now
- Be wise enough to fear God
- Be aware of the battle the people of God are in
- Be servants of the true King and work, live, rule by serving
- Be seeking what is good for our times and speak the good news to it.
Courage and faith in Esther and in us.
Like Esther, we may not know if following the evidence of God’s work in our world will give us personal success (if I perish I perish - 4:16). It will take faith and courage to follow the Biblical themes in our lives: to live in wisdom, to battle the enemy, to live in the Kingdom of Christ the servant, to seek the good of the city while we are in this time of exile. But this is the time we were raised up for.
Q: How can we live out the evidence of God’s presence in the book of Esther in our lives today?
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