Esther, Pt. 7: "Everyday Superhero" (Est 7)

EVERYDAY SUPERHERO (ESTHER 7)
An incredible story was untold by Hollywood when the Titanic sank. In 1912 Scottish evangelist John Harper was on the ship with his 6-year-old daughter to answer the call to be the new pastor of the famous Moody Church in Chicago when disaster struck. He got Nana into a boat but yelled at others: “Women, children and unsaved into the lifeboats!”

Survivors report that Harper gave his lifejacket to another man and witnessed to others while he was clinging to a piece of wreckage. Four year later, a man recounted: “I am a survivor of the Titanic. When I was drifting alone on a spar (pole) that awful night, the tide brought Mr. Harper, of Glasgow, also on a piece of wreck, near me. ‘Man,’ he said, ‘are you saved?’ ‘No,’ I said, ‘I am not.’ He replied, ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shall be saved. The waves bore him away, but, strange to say, brought him back a little later, and he said, ‘Are you saved now?’ ‘No,’ I said, ‘I cannot honestly say that I am.’ He said again, ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shall be saved,’ and shortly after he went down; and there alone in the night and with two miles of water under me, I believed.” (The Titanic’s Last Hero, Moody, 1997)
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2000/132/55.0.html

Stories of real heroes, their courage and sacrifice are often lost to the world today. If Hollywood, the media and entertainment industry have their way, the heroes today are the athletes, entertainers and the celebrities. But heroes are ordinary people who take their chances, make their choice and make a change.

Why do we need heroes? W ho is a hero and what does he or she do?

Show No Fear of Evil
7:1 So the king and Haman went to dine with Queen Esther, 2 and as they were drinking wine on that 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.” 3 Then Queen Esther answered, “If I have found favor with you, O king, and if it pleases your majesty, grant me my life-this is my petition. And spare my people-this is my request. 4 For I and my people have been sold for destruction and slaughter and annihilation. 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.” (Est 7:1-4)

A chief left his village for a long journey and put his three children in charge. His eldest son was the best hunter. “Little Eagle,” he said, “you must take command of the hunters; keep them keen and accurate for the winter will be harsh and the people will need much food to survive. Every hunter must be at his very best at all times.”

To his daughter Running Deer he said, “You must watch over the women of the tribe. They must gather food and weave many warm clothes to protect our people from the cold.” To his youngest son he said, “Falling Leaf, you are the tribe’s best dancer. Your responsibility is to free the people’s hearts with your dancing and ease their minds in difficult times. The spirit of our tribe is in your hands; do not fail them.”

Sometime later, when the Chief returned, he found many of his people dead and many more hungry and downhearted. Little Eagle said, “The winter was harsh, Father, as you predicted. The hunters went out every day, but game was scarce, they returned each night empty-handed and soon gave up hope.” The Chief touched his head and said, “No need for shame, my son, you have done your best.”

Running Deer also said, “Forgive me, Father, but the women were so saddened by the lack of food and their dying children that they stopped trying to gather food in the snow. We have woven what we could, but it was not enough for everyone.” The Chief dried his tears and said, “No shame, my daughter, you have done your best.”

Then the Chief turned to Falling Leaf and asked, “My son, when the cold winter oppressed the people and lack of food broke their spirit, did you not dance to give them hope and memories of better days?” “I did not,” said Falling leaf. “It seemed too frivolous and foolish to dance in the face of such despair. I sat in my tepee and wept for our fate.” Then the chief was sad and stern, “In the face of such tragedy, your gift was the only hope for our tribe! But you would not give. You have not done well, my son; you have failed your people. Leave now and let me never see your face again.”
http://www.cpcleb.net/Sermons/UGLYLIZARD.doc

Everyone has a gift to share, a role to play and a duty in life.

The time had finally come for Esther to muster her courage, confront her enemy, call him names and expose his work. She could only be the hands-off beauty queen, looking beautiful and sitting pretty, for so long. Yet Esther did not do anything to compromise her character, to abuse her privilege and to shame her king.

Esther did not do things behind Haman’s back or manipulate the king to act. She bravely faced Haman in the presence of the king so that it was not a matter of “He said, she said.” The queen had bravely planned this meeting independent and unaware of Mordecai’s promotion, which happened after she sought the king for a meeting; so she was all by herself to convince the unpredictable king to choose and believe her above his trusted noble. Esther was not in a hurry to get things done, get to the point and to get things off her chest. She did not wait for the king to get drunk but waited for him to be ready.

Note that she did not stoop to emotional reasons or appeal even when she was promised half the kingdom. Esther was not obsessed with finishing Haman off, getting his confession or admitting his part. She had to state the reason behind her choice, and she used powerful but accurate words to express her reason. She narrated verbatim the text of the edict issued as law in every province and made known to the people of every nationality: destruction and slaughter and annihilation (v 4, Est 3:13-14). She was not that vengeful woman who added salt and vinegar to the issue. In fact she left out that part about the citizens’ opportunity to plunder and keep the goods of the Jews.

Spare No Favor to Evil
5 King Xerxes asked Queen Esther, “Who is he? Where is the man who has dared to do such a thing?” 6 Esther said, “The adversary and enemy is this vile Haman.” Then Haman was terrified before the king and queen. (Est 7:5-6)

自知之明story: Zou Ji (鄒忌)A senior official in the state of Qi/齊國during the Warring States Period was a fine figure of a man. One morning, having dressed, he studied himself in the mirror: “Who is more handsome,” he asked his wife, “Lord Xu/徐公in the north city or me?” “You, of course,” replied the woman. “How can Lord Xu compare with you?”

Knowing that Xu was the most handsome man throughout the state, Zou could not quite believe his wife. So he asked his concubine, “Who is more handsome, Lord Xu or me?” “How can Lord Xu compare with you?” answered the concubine.

The next day, a friend of his came to see him. Zou Ji asked the visitor during their conversation, “Would you tell me who is more handsome, Lord Xu or me?’ “Xu is not nearly as handsome as you,” the friend replied.

On the third day, Lord Xu himself called. Comparing his looks with Xu’s, Zou Ji concluded that he himself was by far the plainer of the two. “The fact is that I am not as handsome as Xu,” Zou Ji thought afterwards. “But my wife, concubine and my friend all said that I am more handsome than Lord Xu. This is because my wife is biased, my concubine dares not offend me and my friend wants me to do him a favor.” (Best of Chinese Idioms, Situ Tan)

In our present society, we are made to believe there are no such things as “sin,” absolutes and moral standards. Good people, however, should not be terrified of bad people; bad is terrified of good.

The word “terrified” (v 6) for Haman’s reaction is an excellent translation; it is not as common as “fear” in the Bible and the response is more fearful than the normal “fear” word. This is the same word used for David’s terror of the angel of the Lord (1 Chron 21:30) and for Daniel’s fear of the angel Gabriel (Dan 8:17). This terror occurs only 16 times in the Bible but half of them appear in the book of Job, more than any book of the Bible. The infirmed Job had lots to say about God’s terror that terrifies him so (Job 7:14, 9:34, 13:11, 13:21, 15:24, 18:11). The translation are four times for “terrified” (Est 7:6, Job 7:14, 13:11, Dan 8:17), thrice for “overwhelmed” (2 Sam 22:5, Job 3:5, Ps 18:4) and twice for “torment” (1 Sam 16:14, 15) and “frighten” (Job 9:34, 13:21), and once each for “afraid” (1 Chron 21:30), “fill with terror” ((Job 15:24), “startle” (Job 18:11), “alarm” (Job 33:7) and “tremble” (Isa 21:4).

Note that Esther did not hold back. The Queen of Nice called Haman the adversary and the enemy and “vile” (or “wicked”), the first time the word is used in Esther. The queen everybody liked called Haman the worst name, gave him the ugliest label and pinned him down. Not one to hide her values or mince her words, she did it to his face in such a rude and forceful manner; she was not a Dowager but she was not a pushover. She identified Haman as the bad guy, a small man, a dirty, rotten scoundrel – rotten inside, mean to others, bad to the bone.

Show No Friendship to Evil
7 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. 8 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. 9 Then Harbona, one of the eunuchs attending the king, said, “A gallows seventy-five feet high stands by Haman’s house. He had it made for Mordecai, who spoke up to help the king.” The king said, “Hang him on it!” 10 So they hanged Haman on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the king’s fury subsided. (Est 7:7-10)

I am a big fan of the Star Wars prequel only after the innocent, cute and helpful little boy Anakin made his debut. Fans know he would turn bad and become the evil Darth Vader. The Associated Press posed a question to George Lucas, the creator of the series: “Was Darth Vader born bad?” Lucas replied: “No, that’s why most people got upset about ‘Episode I.’ They said, ‘Well, he should be a monster.’ But he’s not a monster. He has sort of heightened skills and awareness, and he’s smarter than most people, but at the same time, he makes rather bad decisions. It only has to do with greed and the flip side of greed is possessiveness. If you’re a Jedi, you can’ have possessiveness. You can love people, you can care about people, but you can’t hold on to them. As a result, that’s where he goes wrong, and it takes him down to a path of gaining power; and that power corrupts itself. And pretty soon, he’s thinking about becoming the emperor of the universe.”

Esther wanted nothing to do with Haman. The pleasant, popular and personable queen did not say a word, look at him or have any sympathy. Haman made the same mistake the former Queen Vashti did. If you recall, Vashti refused to talk to the king and Haman, too, forgot to talk to the king. Although he was smarter than the proud Vashti who refused to parade herself, he, nevertheless, talked to the wrong person. He did not talk to the king but asked the queen for help. Why did he beg the queen when it was the king who decided his fate (v 7)? Note that he did not ask for forgiveness either.

Unknown to Haman, he was preparing a seventy-five feet high gallows to his own detriment and for his own death. In a sense, when we hate and hurt others we are preparing ourselves to fail. All the energy should be spent on good, never fascination with evil.

Can you imagine building a seventy-five feet high gallows (v 9) that is longer than a badminton court, a volleyball court or even a basketball court? How outlandish and how evil were his thoughts. The gallows made from sticks, wood and planks was taller than a tree itself. The Hebrew text says the gallows were fifty cubits high (Est 7:9). According to The New Unger’s Bible Dictionary, a cubit is the length of the arm from the point of the elbow to the end of the middle finger, about eighteen inches.

Conclusion: It’s been said, “Evil persists because good people do nothing.” Are you afraid to speak truth, counter evil, and help the innocent? Do you join in resisting man’s evil, repaying others’ kindness and restoring public order? Evil has no fear or boundaries unless good people acts. The wicked never rest, so the righteous must not, either.