Esther 5 Commentary
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On the third day, Queen Esther took the dangerous mission of presenting herself before King Xerxes uninvited. The third day happens to be the last day of prayer and fasting, herein simply called fasting. In answer to the prayers of Esther, and the other Jews in the capital Susa, Xerxes favorably invites Esther into his presence.
Faith may be spelled as ‘RISK’. But after prayer, Risk becomes Safe Risk. You will have left it in the hands of the LORD. The LORD then decides what happens afterward. We can draw parallels with Nehemiah’s prayer before he approached King Artaxerxes. Nehemiah had prayed to the LORD for favor before the king.
It’s not at all stupid for the saint to pray for favor before approaching human authorities.
Suspense is the currency of this book. So Esther keeps the king waiting for her request. Let the king first enjoy a special meal prepared by Queen Esther. The enemy Haman has also been invited. It is a moment of great pride for him. He would go on and boast about it to his wife and friends. But there is a problem: Mordecai, the Jew.
For Haman, pride is ruling, ruthlessly. When pride shows up, everything becomes insignificant. Greediness is part of the entourage. You can have everything but because you don’t have Mordecai’s respect, your ‘everything’ becomes nothing. That is greediness at its best. Evil has a way of destroying everything. The saint is warned.
Contentment is a gift from the LORD.
The chapter ends with an introduction to yet another plot. Mordecai must die, at the earliest possible time. A pole is set up immediately for Mordecai’s head. Now we are worried. Queen Esther’s time-wasting may be very costly. Haman is moving very fast.
Have you been in a situation like this? There are times when events seem to overtake your prayers. The LORD’s response doesn’t appear to work at the right pace. You pray for healing in the morning but in the afternoon a doctor gives you an appointment for amputation. These are moments for total surrender to the LORD who alone knows all things.
In the meantime, King Xerxes is waiting for Esther’s request as the pole awaits Mordecai’s head. Let’s see what the next chapter gives us, tomorrow; here.
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