ESTHER: The Beauty and The Beast
TLC/SM Spring Study 1999
Session 6
The King's Edict in Behalf of the Judahites (8)
Theme Verses
"5If it pleases the king," she said, "and if he regards me with favor and thinks it the right thing to do, and if he is pleased with me, let an order be written overruling the dispatches that Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, devised and wrote to destroy the Judahites in all the king's provinces. 6For how can I bear to see disaster fall on my people? How can I bear to see the destruction of my family?" Esther 8:5-6
Goal
The King intervenes in a most ordinary manner to save the people because
One whom He favors has petitioned him.
What's Going on Here?
Xerxes bestowed the house of Haman on Esther, and advanced Mordecai to Haman's place of prime minister. Esther then earnestly besought the king for the abolition of the edict published by Haman against the Judahites, and the king permitted her and Mordecai to send letters in the king's name to all the Judahite sin his kingdom, commanding them to stand for their life, and to slay their enemies on the day appointed for their own extermination. These measures diffused great joy throughout the kingdom.
Searching the Scriptures
1. Even a cursory reading of Esther reveals doublets, the literary repetition of previous events. Review 3:1-4:3 and compare its features to 8:1-17. Why would the author cast the events in language echoing previous incidents?
2. In Scripture often previous enemies of God's people are used as typical enemies, their names applied to later situations, e.g., Babylon applied to Rome (1 Peter 5:13). What is the necessity of repeating Haman's ethnic heritage at this point in the story? How is this in one sense the essence of the entire book?
3. Consider the Collects for the Day in The Lutheran Hymnal. What kind of structure do they have? Define the structure of Esther's petition to Xerxes (8:5,6).
4. What is the "fear of the Judahites" (8:17)? Read Exodus 16:16 and Deuteronomy 9:25; see also Acts 13:26, 17:4,17.
5. One of the themes of Esther is hiddenness, especially the hiddenness of Yahweh. Who is the most prominent character in chapter 8? Why?
The Word for us
1. Reflect again on the manner of Esther's petition. In what way might Esther's request help create a form for our own petitions?
2. Read Matthew 5:16. In what way might this relate to Esther 8:17?
3. Though Esther should not be treated as an allegory, what parallels can you draw between the benefits bestowed upon Mordecai and the gifts that God gives to the Christian in Baptism?
Closing
