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In the Protestant Bible, Esther is the last of the Historical Books. It is named after a Jewish woman, Esther, who was made queen of Persia by King Ahasuerus. Her rise to prominence began when Esther won the favor of a eunuch and was brought to the king, who fell in love with her. But the situation became complicated when Esther’s cousin Mordecai refused to bow down before Haman, a high official in the king’s court. After Haman learned that Mordecai was a Jew, he devised a plan to kill all the Jews in the kingdom. The Book of Esther teaches us that God is at work to deliver us from destruction, provided we wisely and courageously engage the world around us.
When Mordecai learned of the plot to kill the Jews, he told Esther and she decided to take action. At the start, Esther had no clear vision of how she could save her people, since she and her cousin were aliens in a strange land — Jews living in the Persian Empire in the fifth century before Christ. But they did not let their outsider status prevent them from engaging the great powers of the empire. They developed a set of standards that would be called “Rules of Engagement” today. The FBI has these rules, as does the U.S. military and NATO. Rules of Engagement are ground rules for responding to threats and intimidation. They’re specific procedures that provide guidance on when and how to deal with extreme situations. Esther and Mordecai developed a set of rules that ensured that Haman, the architect of the anti-Semitic plot, would be neutralized.
Esther and Mordecai were not perfect people, but they performed well in a complex and confusing situation. Intrigue, deceit and hatred run throughout the Book of Esther, whether the spotlight is on the Jews or their enemies. And yet, this book is accepted as sacred Scripture, and is a reminder that God is at work in situations marked by anger and aggression, in places where laws are ignored and the name of God is never mentioned. In short, our Lord is active in the real world — the down-and-dirty world of politics and power-plays.
So what were the Rules of Engagement that Esther and Mordecai used as they engaged the powers of the Persian Empire? The first was: Act. Although she was putting herself in danger by acting, Esther arrived at the court of the king “for just such a time as this” (Esther 4:14). Choosing inaction would be suicide, both for Esther and for the Jews of Persia. At a royal feast Queen Esther said to the king, “If I have won your favor, O king, and if it pleases the king, let my life be given me — that is my petition — and the lives of my people — that is my request. For we have been sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be killed, and to be annihilated” (Esther 7:3-4). At the right time, she took bold action to save the lives of herself and her people.
Then she moved to the second Rule of Engagement: Collaborate. Esther and Mordecai knew that everyone had to be on the same page and acting in concert. Esther instructed Mordecai to gather the Jews for a fast (Esther 4:16) and then said to the king, “If we had been sold merely as slaves, men and women, I would have held my peace; but no enemy can compensate for this damage to the king” (Esther 7:4). She stated her case in such a way that she showed that she was concerned not only for her fellow Jews but for the king himself. Then the king asked her, “Who is he, and where is he, who has presumed to do this?” Esther said, “A foe and enemy, this wicked Haman!” The book says that “Haman was terrified before the king and the queen” (Esther 7:5-6).
Although Esther had identified the evildoer, she was not yet out of danger. “The king rose from the feast in wrath and went into the palace garden, but Haman stayed to beg his life from Queen Esther” (Esther 7:7). Esther was in danger by staying alone with Haman, but it was a risk that she was willing to take, in order to achieve her goals. The third Rule of Engagement, Risk, was an important part of her plan, and her risk paid off beautifully. The book reports that one of the eunuchs said, “‘Look, the very gallows that Haman has prepared for Mordecai, whose word saved the king, stands at Haman’s house, fifty cubits high.’ And the king said, ‘Hang him on that.’ So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai” (Esther 7:9-10).
Act. Collaborate. Risk. Although Christians will take a variety of approaches to political action, the God of Esther demands some kind of engagement with the world around us. After all, we follow a Christ who calls us not to disengage, but to engage — to go into the world “like sheep into the midst of wolves … wise as serpents and innocent as doves” (Matt 10:16). This passage from Esther is one of the Bible’s greatest hits because it challenges to engage the world that God loves so much, and to develop rules that will enable us to act, to collaborate, and to take risks, based on our deepest religious commitments.
Questions:
1. When have you taken bold action, and what was the result?
2. Where do you see value in collaboration with people around you?
3. What kinds of risks are you willing to take, based on your faith?
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