READINGS ON THE BOOK OF ESTHER (5)
[p. 183] READINGS ON THE BOOK OF ESTHER (5)
Esther 8:1 - 17; Esther 10:1 - 3
JD I would like to ask how you regard the apparent heartlessness of this Persian monarch with this man whom he had promoted above all others and with whom he had drunk. Would it set out that the principles found in man’s world, in Satan’s world, do not stand, as we have come to now? And all this makes room for the governmental ways of God in the establishing of His principles.
JT That is true, no doubt. For while the king represents God’s authority, it also shows how God uses the fickleness of the person. God can use anyone. Even Balaam, one of the worst men, is used to say the greatest things of the people. And immediately afterwards he teaches Balak to cast a stumbling-block before the children of Israel. So that while instrumentalities that God uses may represent peculiarly certain things of Christ Himself and God Himself, at the same time they are just men. This brings out what God can do. So that I think we see in this man’s base fickleness and readiness to turn either to good or evil, what God can do in such circumstances. And, of course, what rulers were then they are now. They are fickle and exposed to political influences of every sort. So that we depend upon God every moment. There is nothing fixed in this world — no assurance in their promises. Whereas with God He is working out His mind — His government is stable and He would draw us into that stability. “Now he that establishes us with you in Christ, ... is God” (2 Corinthians 1:21). There is stability. He establishes us. And that is what we may see in these three chapters. The seventh is important — dealing with how the king is brought thoroughly into [p. 184] the right side of the matter. So that his wrath rose up — he was thoroughly aroused, as if representing the wrath of God itself. Now we have the destruction of Haman. So it says, “So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai”. That is the end of chapter 7. And then chapters 8 to 10 are occupied with the feminine in all this — the establishing of it. Not exactly much added greatness to Esther but added greatness to Mordecai. For what God has in mind is Christ, the male side in all this. Mordecai represents that and there is certain authority with him. Chapter 10 has only three verses and all about Mordecai. That is where our minds are left.
GA Is there any parallel in this chapter with Matthew 28 where the angel has the stone rolled away and is seen sitting on it?
JT Well, there is that. Satan has been overthrown. The resurrection of Christ implies that. So that in Romans 16:20 we have, “But the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly”. That means that what was reached through the death of Christ was rapid and quick — from the divine side the matter is settled, but it takes time to reach it in us — for it is under our feet. We have to be ready with our feet to trample on the devil when God gives us the opportunity. So we have the idea in the third of Genesis — his head is to be bruised. We have to be in readiness with our feet for that purpose. And these chapters show that Mordecai and Esther and the Jews were to be in readiness with their feet to bruise the devil and the wicked one. Not only Haman but his progeny — his ten sons. So in this chapter it is said, “On that day did king Ahasuerus give the house of Haman the Jews’ oppressor to Esther the queen. And Mordecai came before the king; for Esther had told what he was to her. And the king took off his ring, which he had taken from Haman, and gave it to Mordecai. And [p. 185] Esther set Mordecai over the house of Haman”. So there is the complete displacement of Satan’s emissary by Esther and Mordecai. The king now knows who the queen is. The family is now brought into evidence, pointing to the day when the Jews will be exalted, taking the place of other elements of opposition.
JD What would you say as to Esther and Mordecai being given this place as under Ahasuerus? Is it the feminine side recognising the male side?
JT It is a question of the Jews, someone representing Christ in relation to the Jews. In the millennium Christ comes out in many relations — in relation to the assembly — in relation to the Jews, and in other relations — King of kings and Lord of lords. We have this typified in Mordecai.
FR The position is consolidated as they go. They have the house of Haman given to them. Then Esther proceeds with her concern in relation to her people.
JT That is just what is brought out here. The position is established and then we have a new chapter. “And Esther spoke yet again before the king, and fell down at his feet, and besought him with tears to put away the mischief of Haman the Agagite, and his device which he had devised against the Jews. And the king held out the golden sceptre toward Esther. And Esther arose and stood before the king, and said, If it please the king and if I have found grace before him, and the thing seem right to the king, and I be pleasing in his sight, let it be written to reverse the letters devised by Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, which he wrote to destroy the Jews that are in all the king’s provinces. For how shall I endure to see the evil that shall befall my people? and how shall I endure to see the destruction of my kindred? And king Ahasuerus said to queen Esther and to Mordecai the Jew, Behold, I [p. 186] have given Esther the house of Haman, and him they have hanged upon the gallows, because he stretched forth his hand against the Jews. Write ye then for the Jews as seems good to you, in the king’s name, and seal it with the king’s ring. For a writing that is written in the king’s name, and sealed with the king’s ring, cannot be reversed”. Considerable time may have elapsed. This is a new movement. Esther and Mordecai were exploiting to the full the advantage that God had given to what is right, which is an important matter. Do not settle down half-way, but go the whole way in exploiting the advantage God gives His people.
AH “Now is the judgment of this world; now shall the prince of this world be cast out” (John 12:31).
JT “And I, if I be lifted up out of the earth, will draw all to me” (John 12:32). Now it is a question of how Esther and especially Mordecai is coming in to secure a position of importance and influence. Verse 3 brings in a further matter and Esther resorts to falling before the king. It is a question of whether her influence is going to continue. She is dealing with a fickle man but she is continuing and becoming greater and greater in her wisdom and consolidation of what she has taken on. This chapter and the next show the position is consolidated and the advantage increases to the servants of God. For although God is not mentioned there is another feast and chapter 9 is full of joy. And the tenth chapter shows that Mordecai’s position as representative of Christ is fixed. “And all the acts of his power and of his might, and the declaration of the greatness of Mordecai, to which the king advanced him, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Media and Persia? For Mordecai the Jew was second to king Ahasuerus, and great among the Jews, and accepted of the multitude of his brethren, seeking the welfare of his people, and speaking peace to all his seed”. That is fixed — written in the chronicles. Not only the acts of the king upon the throne, but Mordecai’s own position as second to the king. As Joseph was second to Pharaoh and Christ is second to God. That is the position to be reached in our souls in this enquiry, the position which will be reached in the millennium.
LES Somewhat like the latter part of Ezekiel — the prince as seen in the division of the inheritance.
JT Very like that. David is seen there as the prince. It is a question of personality in Ezekiel — the full idea of King of kings and Lord of lords. A prince is surely personality — the moral greatness of the prince. So that David is a type.
CHH Before the establishing of that, is the principle with us important as in Timothy — that of separating from iniquity — withdrawing from it? First from Haman as a person and then his devices.
JT The awful effects of Haman are here so that we see how Esther is agonising that every trace of Haman and his deeds should be effaced, that there should be a reversal. So that John tells us that the Lord Jesus came to undo the works of the devil. Not only the devil himself annulled, but his works annulled in ourselves — in persons.
LES So in the preceding chapter Esther refers to Haman as the adversary and the enemy, not Haman the Agagite, as in this chapter.
JT Well, that shows that she is in sympathy with Mordecai’s determination, seen in refusing to bow to him. She is brought into that — a first principle. It came down from the battle of Rephidim when the conflict began between God and His people, and Satan. She is now brought into that, Mordecai led her into it. So she is thoroughly in the thing now.
RH What is involved in the fact that the edicts cannot be reversed and a new edict is given which [p. 188] permits the Jews to gather together and stand for their lives?
JT It brings out that things are not settled by announcement merely, but by their own power. The Jews are evidently brought into the thing to stand against certain enemies themselves. It is in mind here that Haman is dead but the fruit of his work remains. “And king Ahasuerus said to queen Esther and to Mordecai the Jew, Behold, I have given Esther the house of Haman, and him they have hanged upon the gallows, because he stretched forth his hand against the Jews”. The king is thoroughly with them now. “Write ye then for the Jews as seems good to you, in the king’s name, and seal it with the king’s ring”. So the matter is now in their hands. Well, can they exploit any advantage? When God gives us an advantage, we are to make the most of it.
JD After God gives Saul into the hand of David, in the next chapter David says, I shall one day perish by the hand of Saul. David did not fully exploit the position.
JT That is true. He brought himself into a false position — he went to the Philistines and lost heart. He said in his heart, “I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul”. That is a poor thing! God says something in His heart in Genesis 8:21, but it is nothing like that. God said in His heart, when He smelled the sweet savour from Noah’s sacrifice, “I will no more henceforth curse the ground on account of Man, for the thought of Man’s heart is evil from his youth”. I just wanted to say a word on exploiting for God, because a moral advantage is given David there, he refused to put Saul to death, but then his heart fails him and he says, I will one day perish by the hand of Saul. If God gives an advantage as He does today, for all that is happening has the saints in mind, God will develop something [p. 189] for them in this book. The point is, Are we ready to make the most of any advantage we get?
WM It is like a blank cheque given to Esther and Mordecai. “Write ye then for the Jews as seems good to you”.
JT The Lord gave the apostles a blank cheque, “Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted to them” (John 20:23). He gave them the opportunity to show grace and they used it, too. Peter used it to the Jews in Acts 2. And today in the assembly any advantage that God gives should be exploited to the full. Even to the smallest particle of it. Use everything, as we have in this book. So take the Reformation, God gave a death blow to the devil in Rome. It was a terrible blow to Rome when Luther and others came in. But how was the advantage used? That is the point. They did not go the whole length at the time of the Reformation.
LES Is the recovery of the truth as we have it today, the full exploiting of the position?
JT Yes. Exactly. Luther did not go the whole way — he still had the idea of a state church. And that idea is everywhere in Europe. The idea of a state church is everywhere in Christendom. So the opportunity is lost and the devil gets a footing again. The point for us is that if God gives us an advantage, can we use it? Are our feet waiting to trample on Haman? Because God will bruise Satan under your feet shortly. He has already been trampled under foot in the death of Christ, but we have to come into that. We have to be ready with our feet to trample on the devil.
CHH In exploiting the advantages in respect of the authorities as standing for our consciences, we support the government in buying War bonds and the like.
JT Anything supporting the government is right abstractly, we should be able to discern what is [p. 190] of the devil. In Romans 16:20 God says, that He will bruise Satan under our feet. It reads “under your feet”. I think we have the light to see these things and that covers what we are saying. Matters that are constantly under question, should be dealt with according to God. “Tribute to whom tribute is due” (Romans 13:7). Romans is the great epistle for these matters.
CHH The matter comes into evidence in Matthew 17 when Peter is asked whether the Lord pays the tax?
JT Of course, that was the temple tax. It was not an urgent matter, but the Lord says, “But that we may not be an offence to them” (Matthew 17:27). It shows the importance of paying whatever is due, and so having a good conscience as to it.
JD “Pay what is Caesar’s to Caesar, and what is God’s to God” (Mark 12:17). We are obligated to know what the government require in that way.
JT It is not there the temple tax but what is Caesar’s — the inscription on the coin. And no doubt too the coin that came out of the fish’s mouth had the inscription of Caesar to pay the temple tax. A man may have a hundred dollars — silver coins — Caesar’s inscription on them — they are Caesar’s, but our bodies are not Caesar’s. That makes the difference. Let them have your money! Let them take it, it is their due, no doubt they need it, let them have it, if you can spare it.
RH Is the exploiting seen in verse 11 — the invading of the territory of the enemy, “... the king granted the Jews that were in every city to gather themselves together, and to stand for their life, to destroy, to slay, and to cause to perish, all the power of the people”?
JT Yes. It looks as if power is now with Mordecai and Esther. Or it should be Esther and Mordecai, for she is still queen here. The position is [p. 191] dependent upon her conduct. That is another thing — we cannot assume that things are fixed in that sense. They depend upon our own conduct and attitude. She is very particular as to that. She falls down before the king and uses similar expressions as before; “And Esther spoke yet again before the king, and fell down at his feet, and besought him with tears to put away the mischief of Haman ... And the king held out the golden sceptre towards Esther”. Then in verse 7, “And king Ahasuerus said to queen Esther and to Mordecai the Jew, Behold, I have given Esther the house of Haman”. She secured her position by her own attitude. She is making sure her own attitude is right. We cannot sit down and expect things to right themselves. Now is a time of fasting and carrying on matters. Let us not forget that God looks for conduct in us. The principles of the kingdom are to be seen in us. And God gives prosperity to this line of thing.
JD “Write ye then for the Jews as seems good to you”. That is said to Esther.
JT It shows the confidence the king has in her and in Mordecai. She is wise.
Rem Mordecai has been on high ground from the outset.
JT He has. He went back to Rephidim in his mind and Esther comes into that and this chapter is the outcome of it.
CHH Present ministry would strengthen the assembly that she should be trustworthy.
JT That is a great matter with God, that God can have anything like that. Philadelphia is just that. “Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee out of the hour of trial, which is about to come upon the whole habitable world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. I come quickly: hold fast what thou hast, that no one take thy crown” (Revelation 3:10,11). And then, “Behold, I [p. 192] make them of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews, and are not, but lie; behold, I will cause that they shall come and shall do homage before thy feet, and shall know that I have loved thee” (verse 9). The feet are brought in there again. That is the position — the Lord can trust them.
CHH Fully seen in the heavenly city. She has the glory of God.
JT Quite so. Our care meetings are to take that on now. Leadership will be found there in this kind of thing, and the brethren are to take it on. So that the foot is ready. God is going to bruise Satan under our feet shortly.
JD The conflict goes on with Amalek in the power of the Spirit.
JT Just so. We must have our feet ready as well as our hands and our mouths. God uses us in completeness. Where are our feet in the care meetings? Are our feet used in dealing with the enemy? Esther is thoroughly in this; she is a great woman now. And so it goes on, “And the king said to Esther the queen, The Jews have slain and destroyed five hundred men in Shushan the fortress, and the ten sons of Haman; what have they done in the rest of the king’s provinces? And what is thy petition? and it shall be granted thee; and what is thy request further? And it shall be done. And Esther said, If it please the king, let it be granted to the Jews that are in Shushan to do to-morrow also according to this day’s decree, and let Haman’s ten sons be hanged upon the gallows” (Esther 9:12 - 13). Someone may say, You are a bloodthirsty woman, Esther. But she is thoroughly in line with the position. The ten sons are not only killed, but let them be hanged, that is a curse.
JF The king only smote thrice and the prophet was wroth.
JT You are meaning in 2 Kings 13?
[p. 193] JF Yes, the king is given the opportunity to carry forward the judgment but stays his hand — that is not wisdom.
JT He should have smitten five or six times, the prophet says, and that would have been the complete destruction of Syria.
JG David killed Goliath completely. He cut off his head.
JF What is the difference between slaying and hanging?
JT You might say the slaying may be enough. We often hear of the idea of persons being extreme. But we must be extreme — we have read of the goodness and severity of God. That is the idea here as the king tells her what has been done. “And the king said to Esther the queen, The Jews have slain and destroyed five hundred men in Shushan the fortress, and the ten sons of Haman; what have they done in the rest of the king’s provinces?” So she proceeds in line with the occasion in every way — proceeding in wisdom with the thing, not allowing anything of the devil to remain. Why leave one single work or evidence of the work of the devil? “And Esther said, If it please the king, let it be granted to the Jews that are in Shushan to do to-morrow also according to this day’s decree, and let Haman’s ten sons be hanged upon the gallows. And the king commanded it so to be done; and the decree was given at Shushan; and they hanged Haman’s ten sons. And the Jews that were in Shushan gathered themselves together on the fourteenth day also of the month Adar, and slew three hundred men at Shushan; but [p. 194] they laid not their hand on the prey”. It is a question of conduct there. “And the other Jews that were in the king’s provinces gathered themselves together, and stood for their life, and had rest from their enemies; and they slew of them that hated them seventy-five thousand (but they laid not their hand on the prey), on the thirteenth day of the month Adar; and on the fourteenth of the same they rested, and made it a day of feasting and joy. But the Jews that were at Shushan gathered themselves together on the thirteenth day thereof, and on the fourteenth thereof; and on the fifteenth of the same they rested, and made it a day of feasting and joy. Therefore the Jews of the villages that dwell in the country towns make the fourteenth of the month Adar a day of joy and feasting, and a good day, and on which they send portions one to another”. Well, now, it seems to me that Esther is maintaining her ground through right conduct. And so the idea of greed here is not seen. “They laid not their hand the prey”. That is, the Jewish natural propensity is denied. I think the lesson is to go the whole way in what is right. Go all the way whatever the suffering or the extremes, if it is a right thing to do, do it.
Ques Do we become trustworthy in that way?
JT It is a great thing to know that the Lord has confidence in you in what you are doing.
Rem In dealing with matters we sometimes do not go the whole way because of sentimentality coming in.
JT It is said, There is no need to be so extreme. But this matter of going the whole way with what is right is urgent. We have already seen how Saul failed to destroy in not going the whole way against them.
LES When the seven sons of Saul who were hanged were buried, then God was propitious to the land (2 Samuel 21:14).
JT That brings up the whole question before us. David was very dilatory in dealing with the matter. He was quite content with allowing the sons of Saul to hang there from the beginning of the harvest until the water poured on them out of the heavens. And here again a woman is mentioned. Then David sends and has them buried. That is, burying is the thought.
[p. 195] Deuteronomy requires that a person should not be left overnight. Burying is the thought. David sent and had them buried. He came to it in time. But he was very tardy. Then God was propitious to the land. But David kept God waiting. We should not do that. Go the whole way! Go the whole way in the smallest thing.
AP The way the non-combatant corps is being formed shows that the authorities have become favourable. The proving of a clear conscience before the authorities makes for the recognition of it.
JT Quite so. There is no doubt that the law of Great Britain is much more favourable to conscience than it was at first.
CB Would the hanging of the ten sons of Haman indicate a special answer in the saints to the royal edict of the king regarding Haman?
JT Yes, quite so. The ten sons of Haman have been slain, is that satisfactory to you? It is not satisfactory to Esther, she is going beyond that. So that the point is, Are we ready to go the whole way in exploiting the advantage that God has given us? Because every trace of Haman must be destroyed.
GA “But they laid not their hand on the prey”. That is where Saul failed.
JT They showed that they were not on that line. The prey was not for them, showing this conflict was not for personal advantage but for spiritual.
Rem That is where Achan failed, too.
JT He coveted the gold and raiment.
JF We might fail in going before the authorities if we are concerned about the monetary side of things.
JT That is very clear. Our young men may have to fell trees and the like. Some have to do worse things. They come into suffering. God says it is to their advantage. Well, you say, They do not get any salary. That is nothing in comparison with the [p. 196] moral side. Let us make clear that we are not concerned about the prey, but the moral issue, like Haman’s ten sons.
CHH It proves that the second is established with these persons in a moral way, in that the Jews do not take the prey.
JT They are concerned with what is seemly. So is Esther and Mordecai, too.
JD Regarding the wholesale slaughter in Shushan and in the Provinces. There is a point I would like to draw attention to. “And in the twelfth month, that is, the month Adar, on the thirteenth day thereof, when the king’s commandment and his decree drew near to be put in execution, in the day that the enemies of the Jews hoped to have power over them”. Is there the Amalekite feature going through and the idea is to stress that the Amalekite is to be destroyed?
JT It is the undoing of the works of the devil. We are to undo them. You always find in the works of the Lord down here that everything was done completely. If there was a malignant member it was entirely made well. If persons were possessed of demons, the demons were entirely cast out. Persons that had relief were clothed and in their right minds. That is real Christianity implying a complete reversal of what has been before.
LES I was wondering if there is any connection here in the third month to the incoming of divine power at Pentecost. What is the spiritual import of the third month, the month Sivan?
JT The ninth chapter enlarges also on the feast in the month Adar. This feast does not seem to have anything to do with the service of God. God is not mentioned. Still there is something there. It is the outcome of having the devil denied, or robbed. It is the idea of the taking over of Pur or the lot of Haman. That is to say, the idea of the spoiling of [p. 197] the Egyptians — the robbing of the world — the breaking up of the world. As when Israel came out of Egypt they took the silver and gold — spoiled the Egyptians. That is to say in a spiritual manner we carry over everything, leave nothing of God behind. They took it all with them. Because if you leave it behind they will use whatever is real. If one, a Christian, comes from a human organisation, he should leave nothing of God behind. As far as in your power may lie take all of God with you. Your family and belongings — make it clear that it belongs to God and take it with you.
CHH What is implied in the scripture, “Make to yourselves friends with the mammon of unrighteousness that when it fails ye may be received into the eternal tabernacles” (Luke 16:9)?
JT Well, quite so. Use what you have got in view of the future. I think that the gold, silver and clothing that the Israelites secured from the Egyptians would come into use in God’s tabernacle.
JF What have you to say about the special days made in Shushan and in the villages in the way of joy and feasting?
JT Well, the capital represents the administrative position and the Jews held their feast there. God is going to bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The power of Satan is destroyed in Shushan — the very centre of the empire. There was complete victory for the Jews. And that is what Esther has in mind — the completing of the matter, going the whole way in what is right.
JD In Numbers 31 when the children of Israel are avenging themselves on the Midianites. “And Eleazar the priest said to the men of war that had gone to the battle, This is the statute of the law which Jehovah hath commanded Moses”. That is every exercise is gone over in the light of the Lordship of Christ. Then it goes on, “Only the gold, and the [p. 198] silver, the copper, the iron, the tin, and the lead, everything that passeth through the fire, ye shall make it go through the fire and it shall be clean”.
JT Well, that is just an amplification of what has already been remarked as to the spoiling of the Egyptians. It is a question of what is of God. God set up man at the beginning in certain things before the flood, and after the flood God took up a people out of the world in Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He does not intend to leave the world with anything morally belonging to Him. They did not like to retain God in their knowledge and God is not leaving anything that belongs to Him in that condition of things. So when a Christian leaves the world he saves up everything that God can use. The world rejects God and God says, You are not having any of My things there. Ultimately the world is left a mere shell when the church is taken away, nothing left and the man of sin allowed full scope. Western Europe is going to be ultimately destroyed — the Romish Empire — nothing to be left at all. Whatever there will be will be in the East. When the church goes everything will be lost. So now if a Christian leaves a human organisation he brings everything with him.
JD The final stage of conflict is in the East.
WM Babylon has become the hold of every unclean thing.
DR Western Europe’s civilisation then is to perish.
JT Yes, and all its outgoings. What advantages from God it has had and did not use them! Making use of the Bible and of many other things that God has allowed them to have. But when the time comes God will take everything out of it. The West has everything now — Christianity. Since the Spirit of God came down the West has had everything. But it is going to end. The West has been built by Christianity, but God is not leaving it there always.
[p. 199] He has possessions in it now. But when the assembly is taken away, the Spirit of God leaves nothing but a shell to be burnt up.
JD “Behold then the goodness and severity of God: upon them who have fallen, severity; upon thee goodness of God, if thou shalt abide in goodness, since otherwise thou also wilt be cut away” (Romans 11:22).
JT Just so. That is where the point comes up.
PB Is there any relation between the overcoming to the ten sons and the stone cut out without hands?
JT Well, Esther and Mordecai could hardly be said to be that. It is the idea of God’s judgment going the full length here. It is remarkable how thoroughly the thing is done in these two chapters, how Esther is leading; the woman has prominence in regard to Haman and his sons.
CHH Good triumphing over evil — do you take that influence to refer to the Eastern influence?
JT The book of Revelation is in mind for our instruction now. The West is at its best today. For nearly two thousand years it has had the presence of the Spirit.
PB Will there remain no remnant of the Western world?
JT Of course the millennium comes in immediately. The Jews come up quickly. There will be nations but they are born again of God.
LES It makes way for Isaiah 61:3 “... to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, that beauty should be given unto them instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of the spirit of heaviness: that they might be called terebinths of righteousness, the planting of Jehovah, that he may be glorified”.
JT If we only had more knowledge of the prophets we could see how everything is taken up and [p. 200] dealt with. The book of Revelation shows how things are finally taken up. The time it covers is very short — three and a half years. Things are done very quickly. It is sub-divided into days and weeks to show how thoroughly things are taken up.
LES Unless the days were shortened the very elect would not be saved.
JT God wants us to get into the knowledge of what is coming in, we are on the fringe of it.
JD Do you see today things working up to an end especially with the British Isles on the side of the East?
JT I think so. The Empire will probably work out — Britain, France and America take part in it. That is still the West and the beast will have domination of the West — the beast and the false prophet. That is this very country and the British Isles will be in that. See how fickle the rulers are; as Ahasuerus in this book of Esther. It is a solemn consideration when you think of what is going to happen to this country, when the Holy Spirit is taken away and the Church is taken away. There is just a shell left — the man of sin comes up and God is holding everything for vengeance.
JD The armies of God will centre around Palestine.
JT Quite. Things will happen quickly then. “And Mordecai wrote these things, and sent letters to all the Jews near and far that were in all the provinces of king Ahasuerus, to establish this among them, that they should keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar, and the fifteenth day of the same, yearly, as the days on which the Jews rested from their enemies, and the month that was turned to them from sorrow to joy, and from mourning into a good day; that they should make them days of feasting and joy, and of sending portions one to another, and gifts to the poor. And the Jews undertook to do as [p. 201] they had begun, and as Mordecai had written to them. For Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the oppressor of all the Jews, had devised against the Jews to destroy them, and had cast Pur, that is, the lot, to consume them and to destroy them; and when Esther came before the king, he commanded by letters that his wicked device, which he had devised against the Jews, should return upon his own head; and they hanged him and his sons on the gallows. Therefore they called these days Purim after the name of Pur. Therefore, according to all the words of this letter, and for what they had seen concerning this matter and what had happened to them, the Jews ordained and took upon them, and upon their seed, and upon all such as joined themselves to them, so that it should not fail, that they would observe these two days according to their writing and according to their fixed time, every year; and that these days should be remembered and observed throughout every generation, in every family, every province, and every city, and that these days of Purim should not fail from among the Jews, nor the memorial of them cease from among their seed. And queen Esther the daughter of Abihail, and Mordecai the Jew, wrote with all authority to confirm this second letter of Purim. And he sent letters to all the Jews, to the hundred and twenty-seven provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus, words of peace and truth, to confirm these days of Purim in their fixed times, according as Mordecai the Jew and queen Esther had enjoined them, and as they had decreed for themselves and for their seed, as to the matters of the fastings and their cry. And the decree of Esther confirmed these matters of Purim; and it was written in the book”. That is the last we hear of Esther. All is full authority and went down as written in the book. If we go back to the beginning in Exodus 17 we find the book and things written in [p. 202] the book. It is remarkable that this is the last we hear of Esther. She is seen as queen confirming these matters of Purim which are written in the book. That is to bring in all the people of all generations into this great exercise. And then the next chapter shows Mordecai’s place and Esther is not mentioned. “And king Ahasuerus laid a tribute upon the land and the isles of the sea. And all the acts of his power and of his might, and the declaration of the greatness of Mordecai, to which the king advanced him, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Media and Persia? For Mordecai the Jew was second to king Ahasuerus, and great among the Jews, and accepted of the multitude of his brethren, seeking the welfare of his people, and speaking peace to all his seed”. He is morally fit to rule.
FR Would verse 31 show that Mordecai is occupying the position morally that the king occupied officially?
JT The male side is clearly established especially in the last chapter. Ahasuerus the king is representing God and Mordecai is Christ, second to Him — the millennial day.
DR “And the Jews undertook to do as they had begun, and as Mordecai had written to them”. Mordecai’s leadership is not only at the beginning but it goes right through.
JT You could say that the real power is in Mordecai. He is the leader in the whole position. It is a great matter, this matter of leading and going through to the climax, in our own times in Christ, God’s Christ — the only One in mind all the time — whether in us or in others.
JD Would the king here typify God, in the acts of his power and might and the declaration of the greatness of Mordecai?
JT That is the impression which this chapter leaves. It is a short chapter but gives an impression [p. 203] of the results of the exercises and of the power that is there.
JC Mordecai was accepted by his brethren. Why does it say multitude of his brethren?
JT I would say that ‘multitude’ is the full thought of the Jews. “For Mordecai the Jew was second to king Ahasuerus, and great among the Jews, and accepted of the multitude of his brethren”. There is nothing negative there. The whole idea is there.
LES Would it correspond with 1 Chronicles 29:20? “And David said to all the congregation, Bless now Jehovah your God. And all the congregation blessed Jehovah the God of their fathers, and bowed down their heads, and did homage to Jehovah and the king”.
JT Well that is how it works out. Any spiritual person reading the book can see that Mordecai has a great place here. It is really God and the Messiah — the counsels of God. You cannot stop at anything less than that. Mordecai has a great place. “Mordecai the Jew”. Still the Jew. God coming to His people. God gives greatness to him. But the greatest is to be the humblest and smallest like Paul. “Seeking the welfare of his people, and speaking peace to all his seed”. The word ‘seed’ is the last word in the book — a wholly right seed.
AH Suggesting those who are to follow.
JT Yes. And so the book closes with Ahasuerus prominent in power and excellence and Mordecai as second. The Father and the Son, or Jehovah and the Messiah, “Speaking peace to all his seed”. What a word that is during the present suffering, conflict and strife!