For Such A Time As This – The Story of Esther & Mordecai

Part III – A Tale of Two Paths

We pick up our story with Esther now serving as the Queen of the Persian Empire! We learned from last weeks lesson that this was no accident, but it was the providential hand of the Lord God. This was no mere set of coincidental circumstances that a young Jewish woman would now serve in the roll of the Queen of the mighty Persian Empire but that will show itself in the chapters that follow in the Book of Esther.

Now that Esther is Queen, her status will allow Mordecai (her cousin who probably adopted her and raised her as his own daughter) to have a watchful eye over her. This  position will allow Mordecai to overhear a plot to kill/assassinate King Xerxes and he will report that to Queen Esther who then reports that to King Xerxes and those conspirators are put to death. Unfortunately, Mordecai doesn’t receive immediate credit (he will later but that is for another lesson) and another up and comer by the name of Haman will rise to power as a key leader in the Persian government and he will have the ear of King Xerxes.

Haman (as we will discover) is an evil man and through a set of events will develop a hatred for Mordecai because he refuses to bow down to him. Haman will also find out that Mordecai is a Jew and will hatch an evil plan to kill Mordecai and all Jews throughout the empire. The Jewish heritage of Esther is yet to be revealed but in due time she will reveal her heritage to the King and both her will and her faith will be tested once the evil plot of Haman to kill and annihilate all Jews in the Persian Empire is put into place.

This lesson, titled A Tale of Two Paths, is about good and evil. Haman represents evil and all that goes along with the choice of that path. Mordecai and Esther represent good and all that goes along with choosing that path. It’s much like the lesson that Jesus taught his disciples when he said, “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only few find it.”

Haman will choose the path of evil and will suffer the results of that decision while Esther and Mordecai will choose the path of good resulting in life for both them and their people. The lessons learned here is this study is that good will always triumph over evil and God’s providence will always prevail!