You don’t have to be a theologian to realize that while heaven and salvation are still popular, hell and Divine judgment are taking a beating these days. Whether it’s Gallup polls that reveal that many more Christian Americans believe in heaven than hell or books by self-described evangelicals that dismiss the idea of eternal punishment and teach that eventually everyone will eventually be saved, it all seems to indicate that Christians have become very uncomfortable with the doctrine of God’s wrath.

I was reminded of that recently when, as I went through the book of Esther in my daily devotions, I once again discovered that Esther doesn’t end at chapter eight with the death of Haman the Agagite and the decree of Mordecai. I say I discovered it again, because I am prone to forget that fact. This is probably because in most modern evangelical treatments, the events of chapter 9 are conveniently skipped over and we move directly from Mordecai’s decree in chapter 8 to his exaltation in chapter 10. This is the case for instance with the popular movie One Night With the King which essentially turns the book of Esther into an evangelical romance novel.

I believe Esther comes in for this selective treatment because of the previously mentioned modern distaste for themes of judgment and condemnation. So, while most modern evangelicals are fine with themes like the salvation of God’s people from their wicked enemies, or how the instruments of their salvation are a faithful civil servant and a brave young girl who goes on to become the queen of the world’s largest empire, they are less than happy about the theme of terrible judgment falling upon the enemies of God and his people, or how the instruments of that judgment were once again, the faithful civil servant and the brave young girl who became queen. You see in chapter 9 of Esther, it is not merely Haman, but his sons and the rest of the enemies of the Jews throughout the Persian Empire who are destroyed with a great slaughter:

Esther 9:1 Now in the twelfth month, that is, the month of Adar, on the thirteenth day, the time came for the king's command and his decree to be executed. On the day that the enemies of the Jews had hoped to overpower them, the opposite occurred, in that the Jews themselves overpowered those who hated them.

2 The Jews gathered together in their cities throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus to lay hands on those who sought their harm. And no one could withstand them, because fear of them fell upon all people.

3 And all the officials of the provinces, the satraps, the governors, and all those doing the king's work, helped the Jews, because the fear of Mordecai fell upon them.

4 For Mordecai was great in the king's palace, and his fame spread throughout all the provinces; for this man Mordecai became increasingly prominent.

5 Thus the Jews defeated all their enemies with the stroke of the sword, with slaughter and destruction, and did what they pleased with those who hated them.

6 And in Shushan the citadel the Jews killed and destroyed five hundred men.

7 Also Parshandatha, Dalphon, Aspatha,

8 Poratha, Adalia, Aridatha,

9 Parmashta, Arisai, Aridai, and Vajezatha --

10 the ten sons of Haman the son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews -- they killed; but they did not lay a hand on the plunder.

11 On that day the number of those who were killed in Shushan the citadel was brought to the king.

12 And the king said to Queen Esther, "The Jews have killed and destroyed five hundred men in Shushan the citadel, and the ten sons of Haman. What have they done in the rest of the king's provinces? Now what is your petition? It shall be granted to you. Or what is your further request? It shall be done."

13 Then Esther said, "If it pleases the king, let it be granted to the Jews who are in Shushan to do again tomorrow according to today's decree, and let Haman's ten sons be hanged on the gallows."

14 So the king commanded this to be done; the decree was issued in Shushan, and they hanged Haman's ten sons.

15 And the Jews who were in Shushan gathered together again on the fourteenth day of the month of Adar and killed three hundred men at Shushan; but they did not lay a hand on the plunder.

16 The remainder of the Jews in the king's provinces gathered together and protected their lives, had rest from their enemies, and killed seventy-five thousand of their enemies; but they did not lay a hand on the plunder.

17 This was on the thirteenth day of the month of Adar. And on the fourteenth day of the month they rested and made it a day of feasting and gladness.

It’s not hard to see how the makers of One Night with the King would have cut the part about Esther asking that the dead bodies of all ten of Haman’s sons be hanged on the gallows, or that there be another day added to the original edict so that the rest of the enemies of the Jews in Shushan might be hunted down and destroyed. Modern secular audiences would immediately have gone sour on Esther and Mordecai, and unfortunately modern evangelicals probably would have as well. To the modern mind, being saved from your enemies is fine, but those same enemies being judged and destroyed is not. To many Christians, the idea that it was just and good that75,000 of the enemies of God and His people were put to death, and that this should be followed by feasting and gladness rather than handwringing, regrets, and mourning is simply not acceptable.

But it’s not just the story of Esther that gets what might be called the “All Salvation, No Damnation” treatment. Think of the story of Noah and Ark. In the popular depictions of this event, we have pictures of happy Noah and the animals in an impossibly small Ark, the rain has stopped, the sun is shining, and for some reason that rainbow is already overhead. What we NEVER see are the floating bodies of the men and animals who did NOT get into the Ark and fell under God’s judgment. We also don’t see the debris from the destruction of their cities, towns, and villages. Pictures that look more like the aftermath of a Tsunami would be more realistic, but they are far less acceptable to modern evangelical eyes. The same is true of the Exodus account of the parting of the Red Sea. I can’t tell you how frequently I have seen depictions of Moses parting the waters and Israel crossing safely through to the other side, but how infrequently I also read about how their Egyptian pursuers were all drowned when they tried to do the same thing. Even in depictions of Israel’s war against her enemies, the miraculous salvation element is emphasized, while the subsequent judgment is minimized or overlooked. So the walls of Jericho falling down is remembered, but the subsequent slaughter of the entire city is forgotten. We remember that David kills Goliath with his sling stone, but do we remember that he subsequently cut Goliath’s head off with his own sword? What about the smiting of the Philistine army that followed?