Today's Meditation - Wednesday, September 30, 2020

 Today's Meditation

Read Esther 8:1-17

On that day King Ahasuerus gave to Queen Esther the house of Haman, the enemy of the Jews; and Mordecai came before the king, for Esther had told what he was to her. ²Then the king took off his signet ring, which he had taken from Haman, and gave it to Mordecai. So Esther set Mordecai over the house of Haman.

³Then Esther spoke again to the king; she fell at his feet, weeping and pleading with him to avert the evil design of Haman the Agagite and the plot that he had devised against the Jews. ⁴The king held out the golden scepter to Esther, ⁵and Esther rose and stood before the king. She said, “If it pleases the king, and if I have won his favor, and if the thing seems right before the king, and I have his approval, let an order be written to revoke the letters devised by Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, which he wrote giving orders to destroy the Jews who are in all the provinces of the king. ⁶For how can I bear to see the calamity that is coming on my people? Or how can I bear to see the destruction of my kindred?” ⁷Then King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther and to the Jew Mordecai, “See, I have given Esther the house of Haman, and they have hanged him on the gallows, because he plotted to lay hands on the Jews. ⁸You may write as you please with regard to the Jews, in the name of the king, and seal it with the king’s ring; for an edict written in the name of the king and sealed with the king’s ring cannot be revoked.” ⁹The king’s secretaries were summoned at that time, in the third month, which is the month of Sivan, on the twenty-third day; and an edict was written, according to all that Mordecai commanded, to the Jews and to the satraps and the governors and the officials of the provinces from India to Ethiopia, one hundred twenty-seven provinces, to every province in its own script and to every people in its own language, and also to the Jews in their script and their language. ¹⁰He wrote letters in the name of King Ahasuerus, sealed them with the king’s ring, and sent them by mounted couriers riding on fast steeds bred from the royal herd. ¹¹By these letters the king allowed the Jews who were in every city to assemble and defend their lives, to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate any armed force of any people or province that might attack them, with their children and women, and to plunder their goods ¹²on a single day throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar. ¹³A copy of the writ was to be issued as a decree in every province and published to all peoples, and the Jews were to be ready on that day to take revenge on their enemies. ¹⁴So the couriers, mounted on their swift royal steeds, hurried out, urged by the king’s command. The decree was issued in the citadel of Susa.

¹⁵Then Mordecai went out from the presence of the king, wearing royal robes of blue and white, with a great golden crown and a mantle of fine linen and purple, while the city of Susa shouted and rejoiced. ¹⁶For the Jews there was light and gladness, joy and honor. ¹⁷In every province and in every city, wherever the king’s command and his edict came, there was gladness and joy among the Jews, a festival and a holiday. Furthermore, many of the peoples of the country professed to be Jews, because the fear of the Jews had fallen upon them.

    With Haman's plan of revenge against Mordecai thwarted, it only remained that the rest of his plan be changed as well.  So Queen Esther pleaded before the king to save her people from annihilation that Haman had devised to occur on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar.

    It seems a bit strange to me that the king didn't send letters out to the people of his kingdom telling them to stand down against the Jewish people of their province or city.  Instead, he had letters sent telling the Jews that they could defend themselves, verse 11, "By these letters the king allowed the Jews who were in every city to assemble and defend their lives, to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate any armed force of any people or province that might attack them..."

    Through this reading of Esther, and other leaders throughout the scriptures, as well as my continued reading of history of kings/queens, rulers and presidents, I've come to the conclusion that many leaders are weak in integrity, strategy, and having a longer view of history.  Many want immediate gratification.  They want easy victories.  They want to do what is popular in the eyes of those who look up to them.  Look how easily King Ahasuerus was manipulated by Haman and now by Esther.

    Coming from a Judeo-Christian background as a Christian, you might think that I'd stand on the side of Esther in this story...and I do, to a point.  The fault I find is that Esther could/should have pleaded for the king to simply have his troops and the people who were against the Jews to "stand down", not to simply give the Jews permission to defend themselves.  To me, this shows how weak of a king Ahasueras was and the real fault, of course, lies with him.  Perhaps if he was a stronger leader, one who had led the people through expansion and leadership by negotiations and brilliant strategy, a letter of standing down would have been accepted and followed.  But, he was just another bully, who won victory only by force and he knew that his people would not back off and stand down, because they had won victory in the past only by force.  The phrase, "If you live by the sword, you die by the sword" comes to mind.  In order for the Jews to be saved was to give them permission to defend themselves and allow the "chips to fall where they may", as you might say.

    It is easy to be a leader for the select few who benefit from your power.   It's much more difficult to be a good leader, one with integrity and with the best interest of everyone.  In tomorrow's reading, we'll see how the story ends.

Create In Me a Clean Heart, O God