Divine Retribution

August 10

Esther 6-7

Psalm 89:46-52

Proverbs 20:5-6

I Corinthians 16

Divine Retribution

“So they hanged Haman on the gallows which he had set up for Mordecai, and the king’s wrath subsided.”  Esther 7:10 LSB

Esther’s cousin, Mordecai, refused to bow to Haman, King Ahasuerus’ advisor. He was enraged and plotted not only to kill Mordecai, but all the Jews in Persia.  He persuaded the king to make an edict having all the Jews killed on a certain day and sent it out to all the provinces.  Mordecai asked Esther to intervene on behalf of her people.  She asked the Jewish people to fast and pray for her and she agreed to talk to the king, even though doing so put her in danger because she was not allowed to go before the king unless he called for her.  Esther invited King Ahasuerus and Haman to a banquet.  At the banquet, the king asked her what he could do for her and she asked him to join her the next night for another banquet where she would tell him what she wanted. 

By this point, Haman was very impressed with himself.  He is the only one joining the king and queen for a banquet.  When he left the palace he saw Mordecai at the king’s gate and became enraged that Mordecai didn’t bow to him.  Instead of being content with his position of honor in the king’s court, he was obsessed with the fact that one man would not bow to him.  His hatred and bitterness for the Jewish people would not allow him to enjoy the benefits he had been given.  Haman bragged to his wife and friends about his high position and told them about being invited by the queen to a banquet.  But he told them that he could not be satisfied because Mordecai would not honor him.  They suggested that he build gallows and have Haman hanged on it in the morning before the banquet.  This pleased him so he had them built and planned to ask the king to order that Mordecai be hanged.  That night the king couldn’t sleep so he had his servant’s read to him out of the book of records.  They read to him about Mordecai saving him from an assassination attempt.  It is no coincidence that he was restless and asked someone to read to him or that they happened to pick that record to read.  God orchestrated the events exactly as He had planned.  Esther did not know that God was working behind the scenes to coordinate events in a way that would make the king’s heart receptive to her request.  She just followed the leading of the Lord and God worked out the details. 

The next morning when Haman arrived at the palace to ask the king to have Mordecai hanged, the king asked him what he thought should be done for the man that the king wanted to honor.  Haman thought that the king was talking about him.  He couldn’t imagine anyone else that the king would want to honor so he told the king that they should dress him in a royal robe and crown that the king had worn and put him on a royal horse that the king had ridden and have the king’s most noble prince lead him through the city square and proclaim to everyone that the king wished to honor him.  The king thought this was a great idea and he told Haman to do this for Mordecai.  Not only was Mordecai not hanged, but Haman was also forced to parade him through the city honoring him.  When he finished, Haman hurried home to tell his wife what had happened.  While he was telling her everything, the king’s eunuchs came to take him to the banquet. 

Haman and the king came to Esther’s banquet the second day.  When they sat down to drink wine, the king again asked Esther what he could do for her.  He promised to give her up to half of his kingdom.  She explained to the king that her only request was that her life and the life of her people be spared.  She revealed that she was a Jew and told the king that if her people had only been sold into slavery she would not have bothered him but they were all going to be killed so she had to beg him to spare them.  The king was furious and asked who would dare to do such a thing to the queen.  She explained that it was Haman.  The king arose and went out into the garden to decide what to do.  Haman fell before the queen begging her to spare him but when the king returned he found Haman falling over Esther and accused him of assaulting the queen in the palace.  One of the eunuchs informed the king that Haman had built gallows to have Mordecai hanged on.  The king ordered that Haman be hung on the gallows he had built for Mordecai.  Only God could orchestrate something that neatly.  It sounds like a movie script and yet it actually happened.  We often cannot see what God is doing behind the scenes but we can be confident that He is at work on our behalf and that He will bring events together at just the right time to accomplish His purposes.