Thought for the Week

Queen Esther has an amazing response to Mordecai’s proposal. In order to truly understand this Book, I need to deal with some history both secular and Biblical. I need some detail but I don’t want to get so detailed that I lose you. Please bear with me. By the year 550 B.C. Cyrus became king of Persia. He overcame any Median opposition to do this. Xerxes became king of Persia in 485 B.C. That is about 65 years later. I am bothered by the fact that prayer is not mentioned in the Book of Esther and that Esther’s response to Mordecai does not include prayer. Commentator J. Vernon McGee says there is no prayer because the Jews were out of the will of God for not going back to their homeland when they had the opportunity. I read as much of Cyrus’s decree freeing the Jews as I could. It seems he gave opportunity for all to go home but many chose not to and stayed where they were. McGee says that put them out of the will of God. My next concern is, “Does God not hear prayers from people out of His will?” The easy answer is: “He does.” For He hears the prayers of these who repent. Only those who are out of His will need to repent. So, my dilemma remains. Back to the Book: Mordecai’s next response to Esther is classic. “Being the queen will not exempt you from this decree, it includes you. If you do not get involved, you will perish too. So, go to the king and plead our cause. If you don’t do it, we will be delivered in some other way.” This tells me that Mordecai is believing and trusting God will fulfill His promises to Abram and deliver His people. For he believes the Jews are, have been, and will always be God’s people. Then he proposes that Esther might have been placed in this situation, queen, by God, to deal with this exact issue from her chosen and placed position. I am sure Esther must have given this very serious thought. Her response is amazing. “Go back to Mordecai, tell him to have all the Jews including himself, living in the capital city to fast for the next three days. I will also fast and enlist my handmaidens to fast with me. Still no mention of prayer but I cannot imagine they did not pray. At the end of three days, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. If it costs me my life, I will still do it. I do not think this statement is given in a sense of fatalism but rather in the spirit of faith in God to deliver her. Remember years ago, when three Hebrew children faced Nebuchadnezzar under penalty of death in a fiery furnace. They said, “Our God is able to deliver us from the fiery furnace but even if He does not, we will still not fall down and worship your idol.” God did deliver them. Hebrews 11 tells us God does not always choose to deliver them but His faithful servants will still love, worship, and serve Him. Esther could not command her handmaidens to fast. I think they did it out of a sincere love for her because she was such a loving and lovely person. Mordecai complies with Esther’s request. I expect the Jews in the capital city did fast as well. Of course there may have been some, as there usually are, who did not. But God has always been concerned for the remnant, those few who remain faithful in spite of the odds against them. I believe fasting is a wonderful preparation for humble, sincere, earnest, urgent prayer.