Monday, December 9, 2013

Reverse the Letters Esther 8:5 - Equipped for Battle

As Queen Esther fell to the floor with tears in her eyes before King Ahasuerus, she plead for her people the Jews to be spared from the edict given for their extermination. When the king saw her he raised his golden scepter to his queen, and she stood before him. In chapter eight and verse five we see the intercessory words of Esther and notice the wonderful humility in which she presents them. We read:

And said, If it please the king, and if I have found favor in his sight, and the thing seem right before the king, and I be pleasing in his eyes, let it be written to reverse the letters devised by Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, which he wrote to destroy the Jews which are in all the king's provinces:

The verse begins, “And said, If it please the king, and if I have found favor in his sight, and the thing seem right before the king, and I be pleasing in his eyes,...” If there has ever been an example of entreaty with humility, Esther demonstrates it for us here. Notice how she uses the words “if” it please, “if” I have found, and “the thing seem right” and “I be pleasing”. She leaves room for a choice to be made by the king. He could say, no, you do not please the king, or no, you have not found favor, or no, the thing does not seem right, or even, no, you are not pleasing. She doesn't approach him presumptively with demands that because of her position he should do as she says, no, rather, Queen Esther bows her will to his, and gives him the option of refusing her. Although she desires to please the king, find favor in his sight, that the thing seem right before the king, and be pleasing in his eyes, she gives place for him to not grant her ambition.

The verse goes on to say, “let it be written to reverse the letters devised by Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, which he wrote to destroy the Jews which are in all the king's provinces:” After her humble approach to the king, Esther gives him her request. She wants letters of reversal to be written against the edict devised by Haman. Let us notice that she names his father “Hammedatha” which means “double” and states that he is “the Agagite”. (This is significant because if we look into the Jewish history, we will see that King Saul of Israel preserved King Agag of Amalek, and even though the prophet Samuel struck King Agag down, the influence of this evil king continued to Esther's day.) Esther also reminds the king that the purpose of these letters was to “destroy the Jews which are in all the king's provinces:” This was the very essence of Esther's appeal. She desired that her people be saved, and her humility, reverence and respect for the king only demonstrated her passion to save her people the Jews.

Once again we have been reminded by Esther to intercede on the behalf of those who are condemned. In the gospel of John in chapter three and verse seventeen we read:

For God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved.

Jesus came into the world to give His life as a substitution for those who were already condemned for theirs sins to die. Will we intercede for them? Will we live our lives in humility before our King of Kings Jesus that He will take notice of our willingness to bow our wills to His? As we take our inspiration from Queen Esther, may we evermore be concerned with those among us who are condemned by the enemy's edict and make our appeal to the Lord that their fate be reversed as well.

Next time we will see Esther's further appeal to King Ahasuerus for her people, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.
 
Until tomorrow...there is more...
 
Look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation” and the new marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married” in all major bookstore sites, www.amazon.com ; www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore



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