Courage for Life for Women - Flipbook - Page 18
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EsthEr 8
“Tell me what you want, Queen Esther.
What is your request? I will give it to you,
even if it is half the kingdom!”
3
Queen Esther replied, “If I have found
favor with the king, and if it pleases the
king to grant my request, I ask that my life
and the lives of my people will be spared.
4
For my people and I have been sold to
those who would kill, slaughter, and annihilate us. If we had merely been sold as
slaves, I could remain quiet, for that
would be too trivial a matter to warrant
disturbing the king.”
5
“Who would do such a thing?” King
Xerxes demanded. “Who would be so
presumptuous as to touch you?”
6
Esther replied, “This wicked Haman
is our adversary and our enemy.” Haman
grew pale with fright before the king and
queen. 7 Then the king jumped to his feet
in a rage and went out into the palace
garden.
Haman, however, stayed behind to
plead for his life with Queen Esther, for he
knew that the king intended to kill him.
8
In despair he fell on the couch where
Queen Esther was reclining, just as the
king was returning from the palace garden.
The king exclaimed, “Will he even assault the queen right here in the palace,
before my very eyes?” And as soon as the
king spoke, his attendants covered Haman’s
face, signaling his doom.
9
Then Harbona, one of the king’s eunuchs, said, “Haman has set up a sharpened pole that stands seventy-five feet*
tall in his own courtyard. He intended to
use it to impale Mordecai, the man who
saved the king from assassination.”
“Then impale Haman on it!” the king
ordered. 10So they impaled Haman on the
pole he had set up for Mordecai, and the
king’s anger subsided.
A Decree to Help the Jews
On that same day King Xerxes gave
the property of Haman, the enemy of
the Jews, to Queen Esther. Then Mordecai
was brought before the king, for Esther
had told the king how they were related.
2
The king took off his signet ring—which
he had taken back from Haman—and
gave it to Mordecai. And Esther appointed Mordecai to be in charge of
Haman’s property.
3
Then Esther went again before the
king, falling down at his feet and begging
him with tears to stop the evil plot devised by Haman the Agagite against the
Jews. 4Again the king held out the gold
scepter to Esther. So she rose and stood
before him.
5
Esther said, “If it please the king, and
if I have found favor with him, and if he
thinks it is right, and if I am pleasing to
him, let there be a decree that reverses
the orders of Haman son of Hammedatha
the Agagite, who ordered that Jews
throughout all the king’s provinces should
be destroyed. 6 For how can I endure to
see my people and my family slaughtered
and destroyed?”
7
Then King Xerxes said to Queen Esther and Mordecai the Jew, “I have given
Esther the property of Haman, and he has
been impaled on a pole because he tried
to destroy the Jews. 8Now go ahead and
send a message to the Jews in the king’s
name, telling them whatever you want,
and seal it with the king’s signet ring. But
remember that whatever has already
been written in the king’s name and
sealed with his signet ring can never be
revoked.”
9
So on June 25* the king’s secretaries
were summoned, and a decree was written exactly as Mordecai dictated. It was
sent to the Jews and to the highest officers,
7:9 Hebrew 50 cubits [23 meters]. 8:9a Hebrew on the twenty-third day of the third month, the month of Sivan, of the
ancient Hebrew lunar calendar. This day was June 25, 474 B.C.; also see note on 2:16.
worth the risk
7:1-10
P R A Y • Abba Father, you are sovereign over life and death. Give me the courage to obey you
no matter the cost.
O B S E R V E • While King Xerxes and Haman were at Queen Esther’s second banquet, Esther
revealed that her life and the lives of her people were in danger and begged to be spared. Xerxes
demanded to know who was responsible, and Esther told him that Haman was behind the plot.
The king then ordered Haman’s execution.
I N T E R P R E T • When Queen Esther asked for the lives of her people to be spared, she did not
know how King Xerxes would react or whether he would value Haman’s life over her own. Given
Queen Vashti’s fate, Esther may have wondered what the consequences would be for her boldness. Yet she determined that doing what was right was worth the risk, no matter the cost. While
following Jesus can come at a high cost, living for him is always worth it.
A P P LY • Uncover your true
self: Are you willing to risk losing
your job, your friendships, or
even your life to follow the Lord
and do what pleases him (7:3)?
Ask God to give you courage to
live for him. • Grasp God’s love
for you: Read Isaiah 53:5, and
journal how Jesus’ willingness
to give up his life for you inspires
you to take risks for him.
List other COURAGE steps you
will take no matter the cost.
8
