Theological Commentary: Click Here
Esther makes
good on her promise. She goes before the
king, hoping to be pardoned. The king
does pardon her and gives her the opportunity to invite him and Haman to a feast
she has prepared. Haman is summoned and
they go together to the feast. When the
king asks what he can do for her, she invites them back the next day where she
will reveal her will.
We can’t be
sure why Esther pauses and waits a day.
In my blog post from 6 years ago, I list some potential reasons. The effect of her waiting, though, gives us a
neat view into Haman’s life. He reacts
to the delay in Esther’s request rather positively. He thinks that he is given special treatment
because he has been invited two days in a row to dine with the king.
However, on
the way home, Haman sees Mordecai. His
mood is ruined. There is a deep lesson
here. In the grand scheme of things, Haman
has already won. He has gotten the king
to issue an edict against the Jews. He
has gotten to feast with the king and queen two days in a row. He’s in a great position. Yet he allows Mordecai to sour the mood!
How often do
we do this? We have many things to celebrate
and rejoice over, yet we focus on the things going wrong. We have reason to be glad and we choose to
worry instead. I am just as guilty of this
as the next person. When we step back, this kind of behavior doesn’t make
sense. In the moment, when we can’t see
the forest for the trees, we think it makes sense. The reality, however, is that we should behave
otherwise. How many times do we need to
see how blessed our lives are before we decide to celebrate with God and the
people around us who share in our blessing?
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