Episode 7: Haman’s Fall (Chapter 7)
The pinnacle of Esther’s mediating moment coincides with the demise of the enemy of God’s people, to the praise of God’s glory.
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- How does Esther point us to Jesus?
- How are we beginning to see things reversed in the story?
- What’s challenging and what’s encouraging about God’s justice in this chapter?
- How does all of this make us thankful for Jesus?
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This episode is sponsored by 10ofthose.com. 10ofthose.com hand pick the best Christian books that point to Jesus and sell them at discounted prices. The more you buy the cheaper they get! Check them out at 10ofthose.com.
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The following is an uncorrected transcript generated by a transcription service. Before quoting in print, please check the corresponding audio for accuracy.
Felicity: This podcast is sponsored by 10ofthose.com. 10ofthose.com handpick the best Christian books that point to Jesus and sell them at discounted prices. The more you buy, the cheaper they get. Now, the book I'm going to talk about is by our very own Sarah Dargue. It's called bumps, babies and the Gospel. And it's excellent. And I would say that even if she was not my sister, it is a biblical, down to earth equipping book where Sarah seeks to equip us in every way as we get ready to have a baby. And it's not just equipping in the practicalities, it's actually equipping to the heart. So as she walks us through colossians, she helps us to see how the Lord is preparing our hearts for this adventure of having a child. It's excellent. And you can pick up a copy at ten of those.com.
Sarah: Welcome to two sisters in a cup of tea. My name is Sarah and I live in the UK and this is my sister Felicity and she lives in the US.
Felicity: Hello, everyone. Great to be back. Sarah, I just really want to just get in there first with my outstanding cup of tea I've got.
Sarah: Okay, go on there.
Felicity: It's a loose leaf black tea called Assam Melody.
Sarah: Oh, no. Is it that really smelly oney burning.
Felicity: Burnt oh, no, you're thinking of Darjeeling. I don't know whether you are or not, but it might be that one. No, this is a special one. It's really nice. I went into this really posh tea shop and the lady had got a hopes up because I have an English accent and I was asking about tea and I said, I really like Yorkshire tea. She didn't know what I was talking about, but I said, black tea with milk. And she took me to a range of options in between me picking my t and that moment. She did ask me to sanitize my hands and I pressed the thing and it went straight in my eye, like hand sanitizer in my eye. She was mortified, I was embarrassed. It was all very awkward, but I came out with as a Melody and it's been worth it. I'm not sure it's worth like I suffer.
Sarah: Oh, good. I see you've got a milk jug there as well. It's all very sophisticated today. Yeah, exactly.
Felicity: That's me sophisticated. You're going to have loose leaf tea.
Sarah: You got to go get milk. Well, I've just got a lemon and ginger. No, it's not a lemon ginger. So it's lemon and honey. I've got a little bit of saucepak coming on. So I got my lemon and honey and I've got a wonderful biscuit because we just moved house and a friend popped around a couple of packs of biscuits, including some Vibes, the very ones we were eating in the summer. They have really helped with everything over the last couple of weeks. It's been wonderful. So very thankful for talking about the.
Felicity: Biscuits or the neighbors?
Sarah: Oh, no, the biscuits have been very helpful, but I'm very thankful for Naomi. Shout out to Naomi for providing the biscuits. Very thoughtful. Anyway, what we're going to talk about?
Felicity: So we were talking with one another about I was so encouraging that people have been writing in and telling us that they started reading Esther or one of the other books with a friend or with someone that they know, and that's been so great for us to hear. And we were just thinking, well, if others are thinking about doing that, what do you have to do to be ready to read Esther or one of the other books in the Bible? What do you have to be ready to do that? Because it might seem like we've just somehow got the knowledge. We definitely don't. I don't think it does seem like that.
Sarah: I don't think it's easy. I don't think I've got the knowledge.
Felicity: No, I don't know.
Sarah: I think the biggest thing that you can do before you sit down and read this with someone else is just read and read and read and read and read and read it through. I hope that's what we're doing and what we're modeling is just that we're just sitting down and really reading for what's there. I think that's the first big step. What would you add to that?
Felicity: Yes, I'd absolutely agree with that. I'm reading it regularly, so it's not like we've just done all our reading and now we're just having a few conversations. We're reading it all the time, aren't we, as we're having these conversations. And then I have, and I know you have as well, listened to a couple of sermons on it, just from people that we trust have given us a bit of that's been helpful, I think, in giving us a kind of overview and hearing kind of how it can be applied. That's been helpful. I wouldn't say that I've gone into the commentary world on this.
Sarah: No, partly because we're not wanting to necessarily do that. We're just wanting to realistically, 20 minutes is about the kind of time frame we've got to sit down and go, Right, let's just see what else has got to say to us today. And I guess that's what other people are thinking of doing as well, aren't they?
Felicity: Yeah, I think we'd probably say, Give it a read, give it a go. See what happens if you get stuck when you're with your friend. You can just both go away and have a little research, have a think about it and then come back together. I think that's what we do, isn't it? Sometimes we have a conversation before this conversation, like, oh, that was helpful. That's not what I was thinking.
Sarah: Okay, we should get into chapter seven, though. So I'm going to read for us, and then we'll get talking. So the king and Hayman went to Queen Esther banquet. And as they were drinking wine on the second day, the king again asked Queen Esther, what is your petition? It will be giving you what is your request? Even up to half the kingdom, it will be granted. Then Queen Esther answers, if I have found favor with you, Your Majesty, and if it pleases you, grant me my life. This is my petition and spare my people. This is my request, for I and my people have been sold to be destroyed, killed and isolated. If we had merely been sold as male and female slaves, I would have kept quiet, because no such distress would justify disturbing the king. King Xrksweed asked Queen Esther, who is he? Where is he, the man who has dared to do such a thing? Esther said, an adversary and enemy, this vile Hayman. Then Hayman was terrified before the king and queen. The king got up in a rage, left his wine, and went out into the palace garden. But Hayman, realizing that the king had already decided his fate, stayed behind to beg Queen Esther for his life. Just as the king returned from the palace garden to the banqueting hall, hayman was falling on the couch where Esther was reclining. The king exclaimed, Will he even molest the queen while she is with me in the house? As soon as the word left the king's mouth, they covered Hayman's face. Then Harbona, one of the eunuchs attending the king said, a pole reaching to the height of 50 qubits stands by Haman's house. He had it set up for Mordecai, who spoke up to help the king. The king said, Impale him on it. So they impaled Hayman on the pole he had set up for Mordecai. Then the king's fury subsided.
Felicity: Thank you, Sarah. It's worth saying, isn't it? But one of the things about the structure of Esther is that we do have this mirroring of the chapters. And so in this chapter here, it kind of mirrors what's going on in chapter five. And then chapter six is kind of the pivot point that everything changes. And we mentioned last time the fact that the great reversal and various other reversals are going to all point to that. And we're kind of moving into that, aren't we? So these mirroring chapters are kind of almost going to be undoing what has happened before.
Sarah: Yeah, definitely. And the big mirror point in this chapter is the banquet. So Esther's second banquet, her first banquet, is in chapter five. This is her second banquet. So we're still on tenter hooks. Is she going to ask when? Is she going to ask what's he going to say? And we're kind of at that point, aren't we?
Felicity: Yes. And we're still exactly the suspense. And here it is. She does it. And if we just consider the way that she does it I love the way that Esther has sort of risen in dignity, hasn't she's? Very much. Queen esther, if you think back to the very beginning, she was just a young girl, not really knowing who she was or where she was at. And actually, here she is. Queen Esther answered, if I found favor with you, graph me my life and spare my people. And isn't that a bold move to say to the king, I am one of those people that you have decreed need to be destroyed? And I think that's quite something that she very much intercedes and mediates for her people here.
Sarah: Yeah, she's really identifying with God's covenant community, isn't she? She's putting herself right back in the center of God's promises to his people, as she kind of says, Save my people. Like, for me, I was reading it and it could have been brought back the extra language of, what is it?
Felicity: Let my people go.
Sarah: Let my people go. It's that kind of thing, isn't it, where she's almost kind of saying in God's voice, these are my people. Let my people go. Save my people. Which is just really wonderful to see that progression in her faith, isn't it? The way that she's standing up in that way and the way that she's mediating for God's people in this moment.
Felicity: Yeah, it is quite something, isn't it? And it then kind of helps us to see, as Mordecai suggested earlier on in the narrative, maybe God has put you here for such a time as this. And this is the time Esther praised God that she is there to mediate for her people. And as we see her mediating, so we're reminded, obviously, of the greater mediator, the better mediator in the Lord Jesus. And I was thinking about what's that aspect of this that kind of points us to the better mediator. I think something for me is that there's been so much suspense. Is Esther going to ask what's the king going to say? What's going to happen with it? It's also uncertain, whereas when we think of Jesus as the mediator, there is such certainty because he has died on the cross for us already. And so the mediation is secure, like it has been achieved already in a way, which with Esther, we're never quite sure until actually two or three chapters later than this. So I think that's one aspect of me. Have you got any other thoughts on that kind of thing?
Sarah: I think it can have back to what Nana was saying a couple of weeks ago in terms of her willingness and the beauty of that, that she's willing to stand and be counted. And I think just a reminder as well, this is a reminder again that God's people are absolutely helpless without her mediating, without her stepping up to be counted in this way. And that should force us and it should kind of point us to the fact that we are utterly helpless without our perfect mediator. We are completely hopeless without the Lord Jesus intervening and saving us in the way that he does. And I think this should just point us to that, shouldn't it?
Felicity: Yeah, that's really helpful. And I think probably we see more of that the more we understand the peril that the people are in here. And so then we understand more the peril that actually we are in as sinful people deserving of judgment. And it kind of points it to that as well.
Sarah: So that's where we've got to with Esther. And then we've got this kind of continued reversal of what's happening to Hayman, haven't we, in the couple of chapters before he set up this big pole because he wants more to cry on it. And then it's very speedy, the decline. And he is impaling on the pole, isn't it?
Felicity: Yeah, absolutely. He's reed versus five and six. Where is he, the man who does do such a thing? And then that's it an adversary and enemy. Hayman, he's not being the enemy in the king's eyes, this vile, Hayman condemning phrase.
Sarah: It's the switch of the roles, isn't it? So we got the king and queen. The queen is very much with the king at this point. And Hayman, who used to be with the king and was kind of wearing the signet ring and was very much identified himself as the king's top man in the chapter before. He's now the enemy. And he's taken out the picture, isn't he?
Felicity: Yes. It's so helpful to see that the shift, Sarah, that you've pointed out there. And as we see that, then actually our hopes for the people are kind of bolstered, aren't they? Because Hayman is gradually or speedily being moved out of the picture and it really happens. It's almost comical, isn't it, this moment? The next moment, the king got up in a rage, went out to the garden. And then Haman is trying to plead for his life. And from the king's point of view, it looks like he's about to assault the king or molest the queen, as it says here. And suddenly that's it. And the guy who comes in, as soon as the word left the king's mouth, they covered him, his face. And then one of the Munichs, he says, so quickly, there is a pole ready and waiting. I think it maybe shows us a little bit of how they all felt about Hayman that's reading into the text. But I feel like the unit wasn't a fan.
Sarah: I think building on last week as well. So I've noticed just the difference in the clothing that's going on in these chapters. So we've got kind of Mordecai. We talked about the humility of Mordecai last week. He started in Satclass ashes and then he was robed in the king's robe on the king's horse. And that kind of changed. And then you've got Hayman, who's gone from wearing the king's signet ring and having all power in the empire to then his head being covered and been taken to death. And just that the way those shifts are happening and the way that we're seeing God at work in those moments, I think is really cool. Again, as we see this unpacked in the book.
Felicity: Yes, I agree. One of the things I think we really see here is that Heyman is, as he swiftly delivered over to death, justice is done. And I think we rejoice as we see Mordecai rescued and Haman judged. And it's not so much that we're delighting in the death, but this is a person who has been against God's people from the very beginning. And as we've seen him getting his just desserts, then I think that's a good thing, isn't it? So as we see this justice done, god is dealing out justice in a righteous way, a triumphant way.
Sarah: Yeah, definitely. It's not irrational, is it? Fairly gruesome. But this is what Hayman had devised for his enemy, Mordecai, and so he's getting what he intended for someone else.
Felicity: Yeah, exactly. And I think we're going to see, as we go on into the rest of the book, we're going to see some more kind of potentially gruesome things as justice is dealt, but it always is dealt with as a just thing. And I don't think the narrator comments on these things because that's not the big picture, that's not to diminish what's going on. But if we see it in a kind of God's justice is being done, it is a good thing. I think that's helpful. I was thinking with the pole being so high and the irony of Hayman being raised up so high, but only in his death, because he's been trying to be raised up all the way through, hasn't he's been basically wanting to be king? And actually, as he's hanging on that pole, that's the highest yeah, I know. So high and yet it's so dead.
Sarah: Yeah. And yet isn't it interesting? And I don't know whether you can draw these parallels or not, but actually in the Lord Jesus death, that is the height, because that is where.
Felicity: His.
Sarah: Glory is seen in the cross, isn't it? And that's kind of the height of his salvation. I don't know. Can you draw those kind of parallels? I don't know.
Felicity: I think so. I think you can go there. And maybe from a slightly different angle, you could say that Jesus, he stooped so low and he's hung on the cross, which is the lowest, the criminals cross the lowest, that you could go in some ways that we might then be raised high. And so as we depend upon the lowliness, the stooping of Christ, so we can be certain that we will be raised up. And Hayman, who did not depend on anyone but himself, is not anywhere. He is left low.
Sarah: Yeah. It's really sobering, isn't it? And I think it comes back to that kind of pride and humility thing that we talked about last week as well. I'm struck with them a bit of Philippians, chapter three. If I just read out, I've often told you before and now tell you again, even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their God is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things, but our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly await a savior from there. I think it's just really striking that for me, that kind of describes what's happening here. It kind of describes Hayman completely in. His appetite is only for himself, and his destruction has happened here. His glory is in his shame, in being hung high on that pole. And the people are awaiting a savior, aren't they? And the savior has come in the form of Esther, but they still need salvation. They're still waiting for that. But the edict is still there. We're still kind of waiting with bated breath. Are they still going to be saved? And the citizenship is not of this empire, is it? It's of somewhere completely different.
Felicity: Yeah, absolutely. I think that's a really helpful perspective to bring on it. So let's consider how then this drive to the heart, how does it help us to live for Jesus as we see all this in action?
Sarah: Yeah, I think it grows our view of Jesus, doesn't it? As we've been saying the last couple of weeks, as we see those connections, we're able to springboard back into Esther, but also into other parts of the Bible and go, wow, Jesus is this bigger deal. He's this perfect, he's this beautiful, he's this glorious. And that is as much heart application as it is to go off and do something as a result of it.
Felicity: I think that's right, absolutely. And we're more convinced of that as we see this. And I think as we see Hayman, the aggregate destroyed, we know that God champions his people and will not let their enemies triumph. And we know ultimately that comes about through Jesus on the cross. And so I think as we see a picture of that here, we're all the more confident that our God is in charge, that he is in control, and that as he purposes, so things will happen. And I think that's a wonderful reassurance to me. And even just looking at Esther as the mediator, so he's put her there and he's put Jesus in exactly the right spot so that we can trust Him and know that we're okay. It's going to be okay, isn't it? Because we've got Jesus.
Sarah: Yeah. Even when it doesn't look like it on the ground, I think we have that big picture, don't we have that big view? So good, so needed.
Felicity: Absolutely. What, you want to pray for us, Sarah, as we draw to the close?
Sarah: Yeah, I'd love to. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we just thank you so much in the restor and in the Gospel itself. We see you at work. Ultimately, we see the Lord Jesus raised high. We see Him and his glory on that cross in a way that in the world's eyes is only shameful. And yet in your eyes, it's his complete glory as he works to bring us from death to life. And we just prayed you so much that we get to be a part of that big picture. We thank you that your story stretches into the 21st century and that we get the privilege of reading Esther and seeing the Lord Jesus through it. We prayed so much of that Lord, and we pray that our hearts would be warmed with the beauty of Christ and what it is to be trusting you. And your purpose is to be at work. We pray in Jesus wonderful name. Amen.
Felicity: Amen. Thank you. I've just really enjoyed this cup of tea. I've really enjoyed Esther, but the cup of tea has been a very good accompaniment.
Sarah: I wish I was in the same room as you, and I could actually have a cup.
Felicity: I know. Imagine that someday. Someday. Thanks, everyone, for listening. And we always have questions in our show notes to help the discussion. So do check that out and anything else we need to add.
Sarah: Sarah, I think that's it. See you next time.
Felicity: See you next time. This podcast is sponsored by Tenobose.com. Check them out for great resources.
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