By Brenda Cannon Henley
People have developed such cavalier attitudes about the lives of other people, but oh, boy, when it comes to their own, they are very cautious and careful. Nothing illustrates that thought better in my opinion today than the backstory found in the delightful Book of Esther in the Bible. I have loved Esther and her courage since the first time I heard about her in a Sunday school class in the Christian Missionary and Alliance Church in Avondale Estates, Georgia, when I was very young. The one line in her story that has stuck with me since I was a teen is, “You may have come to the kingdom for such a time as this.” Even secular institutions, business, and universities need a godly touch and the wisdom that Christians bring to any situation or enterprise.

Wherever we are in our lives today, God knows about it, and He may have arranged the circumstances to get you right where you are to allow you to shine for Him in a way we never could before in our lives. Although Esther is the primary focus of this great writing in Scripture, we meet some other characters that are also very interesting and teach us quite the lesson, if we are willing to learn.

Several great writers define “Esther” as meaning “star,” and “a goddess.” Esther is the Persian name of Hadassah who was chosen by Ahasuerus to be his queen after the overthrow of Vashti, and from biblical descriptions, we believe her to be quite lovely, sincere, and willing to follow her God even at great possible cost to her. She is held as a captive in a foreign land. Mordecai is a Jewish national that later became a vizier of Persia, and his name means “dedicated.” I first learned that he was Esther’s uncle, but later teaching proved that he was her cousin instead. In either role, he loved the beautiful young lady and helped her to see her role as helping to save the Jewish people from total destruction. We can read more of Mordecai’s story in both the Book of Esther and Ezra.

Now enter the villain and the plot begins to thicken. Haman was an evil man whose name means “celebrated human.” Sometimes those humans we celebrate most are proven to have the most vile, ugly spirit, and their personality usually reveals that truth in time. He rose to power and became the prime minister for King Ahasuerus who plotted against the Jews. He had a special hatred and jealousy of the lowly Mordecai. Ahasuerus ruled over 127 provinces from his formal palace in Shushan and was considered haughty and unwise in many of his decisions.

Haman’s hatred of Mordecai rose to such a level that he decided he would get rid of his annoyance once and for all. He ordered the workers to construct a heavy gallows on which he would hang the Jew in the town square for everyone to witness. However, wicked Haman did not know what we can read in Esther 2:21-23, where Mordecai had saved the king’s life by telling him of a plot among his servants to take his life. This good deed was written in the Chronicles of the king. Mordecai refused to bow down before Haman or the king as had been ordered and that became the stance he would take to end Mordecai’s life. He was proud of the great gallows that were constructed for his enemy’s death. Every time he saw Mordecai, the faithful Jew, who refused to bow down and worship, he became even more angry. Verse 14 of Chapter 5 details the building of the tall gallows, fifty cubits high.

Something wonderful happened on that very night. The king could not sleep and he called for his servants to bring the Chronicles, records of his great deeds, to be read to him until he became drowsy. The scribe read the story of Mordecai, the Jew, saving the king’s life by revealing the plot some of his servants had to take his life. The king asked the reader, “What has been done to honor this good man for saving my life?” The scribe could not find an answer.

And so, the king called for Haman, his servant, to come before him and he commanded that he should take some of his royal clothing, his own ring, and the best horse in the land, and that Mordecai the Jew should be put upon the animal and led through the province declaring, “This is the man that the king delights to honor.” Don’t you just know this made Haman so mad he could have spit nails? Here he was, having to give honor to the very man he hated and intended to kill.

Esther told the king what Haman had plotted and in his anger over the situation, he ordered that Haman be hanged until dead on the very gallows that he had built for Mordecai. You can read this exciting account in Esther 7:7-10. Point of the story is this — Be careful when you take it on yourself to censor, hurt, dispose of, or even kill one of God’s own. He has ways of reversing the situation, bringing more shame than we can imagine, and if necessary, take the very life that is up to no good. God always makes a way for His own, and He often does it publicly to make His point known in the land.

Brenda Cannon Henley can be reached at (409) 781-8788 or at [email protected].

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