Flourish in Adversity: A 5-Day Journey Through Esther
Getting Away With It
Day 4
Stay on track with Passion Equip
Create a profile or sign in to track your progress and access your bookmarked content.
Esther 6
That night the king could not sleep; so he ordered the book of the chronicles, the record of his reign, to be brought in and read to him. It was found recorded there that Mordecai had exposed Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s officers who guarded the doorway, who had conspired to assassinate King Xerxes.
“What honor and recognition has Mordecai received for this?” the king asked.
“Nothing has been done for him,” his attendants answered.
The king said, “Who is in the court?” Now Haman had just entered the outer court of the palace to speak to the king about impaling Mordecai on the pole he had set up for him.
His attendants answered, “Haman is standing in the court.”
“Bring him in,” the king ordered.
When Haman entered, the king asked him, “What should be done for the man the king delights to honor?”
Now Haman thought to himself, “Who is there that the king would rather honor than me?” So he answered the king, “For the man the king delights to honor, have them bring a royal robe the king has worn and a horse the king has ridden, one with a royal crest placed on its head. Then let the robe and horse be entrusted to one of the king’s most noble princes. Let them robe the man the king delights to honor, and lead him on the horse through the city streets, proclaiming before him, ‘This is what is done for the man the king delights to honor!’”
“Go at once,” the king commanded Haman. “Get the robe and the horse and do just as you have suggested for Mordecai the Jew, who sits at the king’s gate. Do not neglect anything you have recommended.”
So Haman got the robe and the horse. He robed Mordecai, and led him on horseback through the city streets, proclaiming before him, “This is what is done for the man the king delights to honor!”
Afterward Mordecai returned to the king’s gate. But Haman rushed home, with his head covered in grief, and told Zeresh his wife and all his friends everything that had happened to him.
His advisers and his wife Zeresh said to him, “Since Mordecai, before whom your downfall has started, is of Jewish origin, you cannot stand against him—you will surely come to ruin!” While they were still talking with him, the king’s eunuchs arrived and hurried Haman away to the banquet Esther had prepared.
Esther 7
So the king and Haman went to Queen Esther’s banquet, and as they were drinking wine on the second day, the king again asked, “Queen Esther, what is your petition? It will be given you. What is your request? Even up to half the kingdom, it will be granted.”
Then Queen Esther answered, “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 annihilated. 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 Xerxes 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 Haman!”
Then Haman 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 Haman, 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 banquet hall, Haman 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 Haman’s face. Then Harbona, one of the eunuchs attending the king, said, “A pole reaching to a height of fifty cubits 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 Haman on the pole he had set up for Mordecai. Then the king’s fury subsided.
What happens after you get a big speeding ticket?
For the next few days or weeks, you’re much more careful about how fast you drive, right? But if you’re like most people, after a little while, your velocity increases, especially if it’s in an area you feel the speed limit is way too low anyway. It’s probably only a small increase at first, then a little more, until soon you’re blowing through at the same speeds that got you the ticket in the first place. That’s because the longer you ‘get away with it,’ the more likely you are to believe that you won’t get caught… at least, not again!
Lots of verses in both the Old and New Testaments remind readers to be watchful and pay attention (Proverbs 4:23; 8:33-34; Matthew 26:41; 1 Corinthians 10:12).
Scripture makes it clear that we “reap what we sow” (Galatians 6:7) and that sin always has consequences (Proverbs 5:22). The problem is that those penalties don’t always show up immediately. You don’t get that speeding ticket every time you push the limit, do you? You can get away with lying for a while, unforgiveness can be hidden initially, and generally, nothing bad happens the first time you go out with an unbeliever. That delay in consequences is deceptive. Because we don’t see them right away, we’re misled to believe there aren’t any.
But nobody gets away with sin forever… Nobody!
Continuing in the story of Esther, we see a real example of how “pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall” (Proverbs 16:18). Apply the underlying truths revealed in this narrative to keep yourself from a spiritual disaster.