· Esther 7:6: Haman had been bold in public, and he was the king’s right-hand man. But not now! I am reminded of Satan and his boldness in Job 1-2. He had the audacity to challenge God with respect to the integrity of Job. The “power of death” gives Satan that kind of boldness, even as with Haman. He had, by the unchangeable law of the Medes and Persians, the authority to put to death all the Jewish people. But in the end, as with Haman, so with Satan: he is foolish to display such audacity. Esther had something better: the favor of the king! The believer has something better. To be in the presence of God, in the name of Jesus the Son of God, is far greater than anything Satan can muster. But remember: it is not us. Yet Michael the archangel, in contending with the devil, when he disputed about the body of Moses, dared not bring against him a reviling accusation, but said, “The Lord rebuke you” (Jude 1:9)! Esther did not confront Haman directly but through the king. So we deal with our enemy by coming to the Father in Jesus name.
· Esther 7:9-10: Here is yet another deep thought about NT truth from Esther. The place for Mordecai’s death became the place for the defeat of Haman. The place of Jesus’ death, the cross of Calvary, became the place of Satan’s defeat. This is the teaching of Col. 2:11-15. There was a “handwriting of requirements.” so to speak, against the Jewish people, and Mordecai was the cause (his refusal to bow before Haman) and centerpiece (to be hung high for all to see) of it all. A legal document that all the Jews must die. So, Jesus “wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us.” He took the Law that rightfully indicted us as sinners, and He nailed it to the cross. The obvious difference in this story and THE story is that in Esther the transgressor died, and in the story of salvation Jesus was numbered with the transgressors.
· Esther 7:10: Note that the hanging of Haman on the gallows he had built for Mordecai satisfied the wrath of the king. The king’s wrath subsided. Of the 5 times this specific term is used in the OT, it’s used twice in Esther and almost with the same words. In 2:1 it says, when the wrath of King Ahasuerus subsided. Certainly this king was a sinful man. But on the other hand, of all the people in the land the king has the most right to be angry. If he or his efforts are hurt, he get angry. There must be satisfaction. In Ch. 2 he had deposed Queen Vashti and then some time had passed before his anger was satisfied. In Ch. 7 it took the hanging of Haman to satisfy his anger which it appears had risen on the same day it subsided. The same term in Num. 17:5 says God “rid” Himself of the complaints of Israel in the wilderness. There had been a rebellion against the leadership of Aaron and Moses; God’s anger was aroused so that he judged the rebels and then with the budding rod of Aaron He rid Himself of that which stirred Him to anger. God is not like an evil tyrant. As with Ahasuerus, so with God: He has every right to be angry and His anger must be satisfied. That is the definition of the word “propitiation” or “sacrifice of atonement” in the NT (Rom. 3:25; Heb. 2:17; 1 Jn. 2:2; 4:10). All these passages say the same: Christ is the propitiation for our sins. He satisfied God’s anger.
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