Hopefully you are familiar with the events in Esther because we’re just going to jump right to Haman’s hatred for Mordecai. Haman’s hatred was so diabolical that he didn’t seek just to kill Mordecai but to wipe out his entire kinsmen. Esther 3:6 says the Haman “disdained to lay hands on Mordecai alone.” Haman convinced the king that there was a group of people who refused to obey him, and therefore, they could possibly start a rebellion. So the king told Haman to write a letter as he saw fit and deliver it to all the provinces on how to deal with the Judeans.
Before we go any further, I need to make a correction on the timeline. In the first installment, I said that it was at least the fourth year of the king’s reign before Esther went before him. Esther 2:16 says that it was the twelfth month in the seventh year of the king’s reign when she was called in to the king. Four years had passed from the removal of Vashti as queen until Esther pleased the king and became his new queen. Furthermore, Esther 3:7 says that Haman had made his decree to the king in the twelfth year of his reign. Esther would have been queen for four years when Haman wrote his letter, the first decree of the king. The reason it is four years instead of five is because Esther became queen in the 12th month of the seventh year and Haman wrote his letter in the 1st month of the twelfth year. The annihilation of the Jews was to happen in the 12th month on the fourteenth day, eleven months hence. (Is everyone up to speed on that math?)
Concerning the first decree, Esther 3:10 says that the king removed his signet ring and gave it to Haman to seal the letter, saying, “11 You hold the silver, and deal with the nation (Judeans) as you see fit.” And on the thirteenth day of the 1st month, the scribes wrote the letters to the 127 provinces. Haman’s and Esther’s letters are only available in the LXX and in the Apocrypha, so I will post those later for anyone who wants to read them.
As the story goes, Esther told Mordecai to have all the Jews fast for three days and she would go before the king and petition to save her people. To jump to the quick, she convinced the king that Haman was the one who sought to kill her and all of her kinsmen. The king had Haman killed for his treachery and asked Esther what he could do for her. Here’s where things get interesting. The king told her to write a letter that would allow the Jews to defend themselves against the first decree. Esther’s letter, the king’s second decree, did not override or eliminate the first decree. Here’s why.
Esther 8:8 “But you may write as you please with regard to the Jews, in the name of the king, and seal it with the king’s ring, for an edict written in the name of the king and sealed with the king’s ring cannot be revoked.”
Did you catch that? Ahasuerus said that an edict (decree) of the king CANNOT be revoked. That is predicated on the seal of the king accompanied with the decree. So the same would be true with the letter written by Haman. The first decree could not be revoked. Therefore, the second decree could not override the first but only allow a protection against the first. Do you see how this relates to the cross?
If the authority of a king (a mere mortal) is enough that his word cannot be revoke, how much more is the authority of God that He would be faithful to His Word so it cannot be revoked? The work of Yeshua (Jesus) on the cross did not remove the penalty of death that the Law requires because the Law of God cannot be revoked. But the Lamb is our substitute taking death upon Himself so the penalty of death was paid on our behalf. The Law is still in effect. Death is still inevitable.
Some say that the Law was done away with at the cross. But how can that be if the Law of God cannot be revoked? Furthermore, if the Law was done away with, then there is no more death penalty. There should be no more death after the cross, yet people still die. That verifies that the Law is still in operation. And it’s been that way since the Garden. Genesis 2:17 says that God told Adam that if he ate of the forbidden tree that he would surely die. The death penalty for disobedience has been in effect since the beginning. The cross didn’t change that. Hebrews 9:27 says that it is appointed for us all to die and then face judgment. Why? Because the wages of sin is death. (Romans 6:23). There is no escaping that because the Law says so. Let’s look at the context of Hebrews 9:27.
Hebrews 9:24-28 “For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. 25 Nor was it to offer Himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, 26 for then He would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, He has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. 27 And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, 28 so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for Him.”
Do you see the timing in those verses? Christ has appeared “at the end of the ages” to put away sin, and “will appear a second time…to save those who are eagerly waiting for Him.” How is that timing possible? How is it that He appeared at the end of the ages to present His sacrifice but will return before the end of the ages for a second time to save those who are waiting for Him? Verse 24 tells us. His sacrifice was not made in the Temple on earth but in the Temple in heaven where time does not exist. As Yeshua told the Sadducees that the Father was not the God of the dead but the living, referring to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. (see Mark 12:27 or Luke 20:38). To us, they are dead in the ground awaiting the resurrection. But to God, who is outside of time, they are alive because He exists through all time.
Yeshua’s sacrifice was made at the end of time (end of the ages) because that’s when we need it. The Law still holds the power of death because all still die. But when we are resurrected, that’s when His blood will cover us and His substitute death will protect us from the second death.
Death is still coming for us. Similarly, death was still coming for the Jews according to the first decree of the king. But the second decree allowed them to prepare to defend themselves the day before that death was decreed. We, too, have the opportunity to prepare ourselves before death comes by accepting Him, by repenting of our sins and submitting to His authority. The One who has authority to decree death for sin has also proclaimed life for those who accept His Son and follow Him.
It says that after the days that the Jews defended themselves, they set up a memorial celebration (Purim) to remember the day they got relief from their enemies, had their sorrow turn to gladness, and their mourning into joy. And they feasted. Such will it be when believers get relief from the enemy of death and we are resurrected into gladness and joy. And there will be a wedding feast for the Lamb.
Happy Purim, everyone!
