It is rather sad to follow the dysfunctional laws of the Persians. They had a law that a law could not be dismissed. Another law had to be written to counter a previous law. Thus in this case, the law that Haman had sent out stood and the law that Mordecai had sent out stood as well. There was guaranteed to be blood shed, due to the corrupt manner of these laws.
While we see that the Jews were given authority to take control of things and to defend themselves by whatever means necessary, the environment was such that the only way forward was through killing. This is certainly not the way God designed things to work. There is no mention of anyone seeking to explain God’s law to the king or the people.
In verse 2 we see that the Jews were well prepared to defend themselves against any attacks. The Gentiles feared the Jews, but there was no effort made to try to make peace with them. In verse 3 we see that the leaders of the provinces chose to help the Jews. The reason being that the fear of Mordecai fell upon them. Again we do not read anything of the fear of the LORD, but rather the fear of man.
In verse 4 we read that Mordecai had managed to move up the ranks quickly. He was great in the king’s eyes. His fame spread across all the provinces. Mordecai had a different attitude than that of Haman. Yet it seemed that He too knew nothing of mercy, but only of vengeance.
In verse 5 we see that the Jews stood their ground. They used their swords to slaughter, not just to kill. There was a brutality to this defence. The Gentiles would certainly get a very vivid picture in their minds of the nature of the Jews.
We know that there were times when God told the Jews to go and kill off all those in a certain area. This was the law of God for them when they entered the land of Canaan. That land was promised to them in the days of Abraham and became their possession in the days of Moses. We do not read anything of this in this account. We need to keep in mind that the Jews were foreigners in Persia. These Jews could have gone back to Israel. King Cyrus had made that decree. Yet, there was a large number of Jews that chose not to go back, but instead given the opportunity, they would inflict as much pain on the Persians as they could.
We read that the Jews went after those who hated them. In verse 6 we read of the number of people killed in Shushan the palace. We are even given the names of the ten sons of Haman who were killed. Sometimes the only solution to curtail wickedness is to destroy those closest to the evil actions.
We are also told that the Jews did not lay hold of the spoil of the people. Their goal was not to get rich off of the Gentiles. Their goal was to protect themselves against those that hated them.
Today as well, we see that God is giving Israel limited victory against their enemies. The world is developing its opinion of this. The majority are choosing to firm up their position against Israel. Things will continue to escalate until the Lord comes back and fixes the problem. The fix will be when Israel turns to God in repentance and trusts in the Lord Jesus Christ as their Messiah. The current conflict is largely interpreted as Israel the aggressor and the poor “Palestinians” as the victims.
It is important for those who are saved to be able to see God’s hand at work and to also proclaim His power and authority in the midst of the current conflict. While Israel is currently a very secular nation, they will not be destroyed. God is going to protect them and the Arabs and their allies who are choosing to fight against Israel are the losers.
There are reports of an Israeli airstrike against Iran that took place yesterday. Apparently there was extensive damage done in that attack. Iran is trying to downplay the damage, and yet they have had to announce restrictions of flights due to the attack. Iran was not able to defend itself in the same way that Israel did when they were attacked by Iran last week. God is watching. This current situation is drawing Iran’s allies further into the conflict. It is important to keep your eyes and ears on the Middle East and on the Word of God, not the ungodly media.
In verse 11 we are told that the number of people killed in Shushan was reported to the king. He needed to know what was going on in his empire. He did not seem to have an opinion on the matter. He was content to let Haman write his letters of hate and send it out to all provinces. He later allowed Mordecai to write his letters and send them out to all the provinces. The king was safe and it seemed the killing of people in his land was not a problem for him. Yes, there were Jew haters there. There were also Gentile haters in Persia. As we mentioned, the victory that was gained at this time was a short term victory. There was no voice of reason. There was no challenging the people to know the Lord and avoid the bloodshed. There was just a fight for survival.
Those who are saved can see the hand of God at work throughout the book of Esther. There are times in history where His work is not recognized by the ungodly. However, the godly can see it and need to remind the rest of the world that God has not left the scene. He is very much in control and His will is being accomplished. His goal is still to see people saved.
As we have noted, the way of peace in any conflict is always through surrender to the Will and Word of God.
Pastor Bartel