8/17/2023 0 Comments Story of esther bible study![]() She must approach the king and hope he extends the golden scepter to her. And you can’t undo what the gods command.īut with the lives of her people in jeopardy, Esther has no choice. We run into this in Daniel when Darius makes an irrevocable law that anyone who prays to anyone but him gets thrown into the lion's den ( Daniel 6:6).Īlthough kings can later run into snags with these immutable laws, as we see in the cases of Xerxes and Darius, Medo-Persians made laws unchangeable because the kings supposedly spoke from the gods, explains this commentary from Enduring Word. When Esther later reveals to the King that he intends to wipe out her people, they have to do a bit of creative thinking, as he cannot undo the law he created ( Esther 9). Of course, Haman tricks Xerxes into signing this. This inability to reverse a law comes later in the text when Haman has King Xerxes issue a decree to destroy the Jewish people ( Esther 3:8-15). ![]() He sobers up later and even gets a little sad about that decision, because he can’t reverse it ( Esther 2:1). We see a foreshadowing in the text about Xerxes’ inability to reverse laws when he divorces and banishes his first wife, Vashti, when she refuses to appear at his banquet ( Esther 1:10-22). Why Couldn’t Persians Reverse the Laws They Created? Mordecai’s refusal to bow was the straw that broke the camel’s back, and he enacted a plan to destroy the Jews. So, Haman had a history of hatred for the Jews. Because Saul didn’t completely obey the command ( 1 Samuel 15:3) the Jews faced nationwide extinction. Saul ran into a problem with them during his reign when God commanded him to wipe out the Amalekites. Haman descended from a group of people known as the Agagites, otherwise known as the Amalekites ( Exodus 17:8-16), one of Israel’s enemies. Even if bowing meant paying homage to someone and Haman felt a dearth of respect from one member of the Jewish community, it doesn’t mean he should wipe out an entire nation of people.Įxcept, we have to look at the contextual clues. Nevertheless, Haman appears to have an extreme reaction. Mordecai gives the reason for refusing to bow as, essentially, “I’m a Jew.” The ESV Study Bible presents the reason for Mordecai’s refusal that perhaps Haman had set himself up in too high a position, like that of a deity. When Mordecai refuses to bow to Haman (a typical Persian court custom according to Herodotus, as per a note in the ESV Study Bible), Haman vows to wipe out Mordecai’s people ( Esther 3:2-6). Haman, a close confidant of King Xerxes, who had a certain sway over the king’s decisions, held a deep-seated hatred for Mordecai, Esther’s cousin, and by association all the Jewish people. Both of these elements enrich the reading of the text, allowing us to see where the animosity from Haman originated, why the king couldn’t reverse laws, and why Esther risked her life just to walk in the presence of the King. ![]() But many may not know the history or politics involved in the story.
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