Esther’s Intercession

Scripture: Esther 4:9-17
Hathach went and told Esther what Mordecai had said. Then Esther spoke to Hathach and gave him a message for Mordecai, saying, “All the king’s servants and the people of the king’s provinces know that if any man or woman goes to the king inside the inner court without being called, there is but one law—all alike are to be put to death. Only if the king holds out the golden scepter to someone, may that person live. I myself have not been called to come in to the king for thirty days.” When they told Mordecai what Esther had said, Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, “Do not think that in the king’s palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. For if you keep silence at such a time as this, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another quarter, but you and your father’s family will perish. Who knows? Perhaps you have come to royal dignity for just such a time as this.” Then Esther said in reply to Mordecai, “Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and neither eat nor drink for three days, night or day. I and my maids will also fast as you do. After that I will go to the king, though it is against the law; and if I perish, I perish.” Mordecai then went away and did everything as Esther had ordered him.

—

Esther’s story looms large; she and Ruth are the only women to have their own books. While there isn’t extra-biblical literature to verify her story as history, her story lives in an annual festival called Purim. It is a celebration with food to share and costumes to wear... for us outsiders, it might help us to think of it as the best parts of Thanksgiving and Halloween in one day. With the festive celebration, there is a tradition of reading this book as comedy. There are extremes and extravagances like foolish kings and a year of spa treatments for a first date. Which sure, might have been comedy, but for my ears, if it is a comedy... it is a dark one. Purim is a celebration, but it is a celebration of a time when the Jewish people lived through an edict that allowed people to kill them and take their possessions. Adding to the ugliness of this story, the whole genocidal plot emerges because one assistant to the King had his feelings hurt. One bruised ego almost led to the destruction of a whole people. So if it is a comedy, perhaps it has the edge of something like the Daily Show or Stephen Colbert - comedy that outs absurdity and dysfunctional folks in power.

The other space that makes this a bit challenging is the gender dynamics. First, this is a story about a woman who leads her people, risks her life and takes charge. Which is something I want to celebrate... no joke.1 Additionally, it is hard for me to read the story and not hear how it resonates with narratives of human trafficking today. Esther is taken into custody, she is groomed for a year, and being Queen may be a great deal, but it is still pretty transactional and not much of a partnership. So there are spaces in the book of Esther that require us to look at how we are different. Today, we don’t understand Kings to be quite so all-powerful or view women as property (most of us). And as we read this text, if we are honest, there are many ways we are not as different as we would like to be (which is perhaps the best reason of all to read it).

The book of Esther actually begins with another Queen, Vashti. Vashti was queen of the Persian Empire, and she is throwing a great banquet for all the ladies of the realm. Her husband, the King, is throwing a party for all of the men. These men, powerful underlings of the King, are partying, and normally the only women at this party are ‘dancers.’ The king seems to be having a great time, everyone is drinking, admiring his wealth, and he gets an idea of the only other thing he needs to show off. He sends for Queen Vashti to appear in only her royal signet (her crown alone). He wants her to appear naked, and Vashti... well, she declines. A few scholars, even women scholars, have suggested she was trying to protect the King from his own poor judgment. But I really like thinking of her as a powerhouse woman, taking a stand and dropping the mic. You can choose how you feel about her.

The King decided he felt ANGER. With the blow to his ego fresh... his aides step in, and they were worried too.

1 Jeanne Porter names Esther as model of intercessory leadership in her book Leading Ladies: Transformative Biblical Images for Women’s Leadership. 

‘Not only has Queen Vashti done wrong to the king, but also to all the officials and all the peoples who are in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus.17 For this deed of the queen will be made known to all women, causing them to look with contempt on their husbands, since they will say, “King Ahasuerus commanded Queen Vashti to be brought before him, and she did not come.”18 This very day the noble ladies of Persia and Media who have heard of the queen’s behavior will rebel against the king’s officials, and there will be no end of contempt and wrath! (Esther 1: 17-18)

So the officials devise a plan to keep Vashti from smashing the patriarchy in one act of defiance. An edict goes out to all the land that Vashti is not permitted in the presence of the King and all women are reminded that they have to listen to their husbands. Then the King’s servants come up with another idea sure to make his day.

‘Then the king’s servants who attended him said, ‘Let beautiful young virgins be sought out for the king.3 And let the king appoint commissioners in all the provinces of his kingdom to gather all the beautiful young virgins to the harem in the citadel of Susa under the custody of Hegai, the king’s eunuch, who is in charge of the women; let their cosmetic treatments be given them.4 And let the girl who pleases the king be queen instead of Vashti.’ (Esther 2: 1-3)

And the really shocking point is the sentence to follow. “The King thought this was a very good idea.”

This is where Esther enters the story. She is one of the young beautiful women “brought into custody.” It was not like American Idol and women are lining up to audition, the scripture names this as taken into custody. Esther’s cousin, Mordecai, the man who adopted and raised her, suggests she might keep her Jewish roots a secret, and she is taken to the citadel to compete for the king’s heart. She is groomed for a year, and during that time we can only assume she is as lovely on the inside as she is on the outside. She wins the hearts of the folks in charge of the harem, and in the end she wins the heart of the King. He chooses her to be queen and holds a banquet in her honor. As they celebrate her new royal role, Mordecai uncovers a plan to assassinate the King... and he and Queen Esther prove their worth.

Things are going great until a new guy is promoted. His name is Haman, and he is so excited about his promotion that he believes everyone should bow down to him... and everyone does... except Mordecai. This is where things take a bad turn. Haman needs something to fix his bruised ego, and dealing with Mordecai directly doesn’t seem to be an option. So he requests the total destruction of all the Jewish people, and he wants it so bad he will reimburse the King’s treasury the lost taxes. The King could have responded, “really, that sounds extreme," but instead he seems to responds... “Sure.”

The king’s secretaries were summoned on the 13th day of the first month, and an edict, according to all that Haman commanded, was written to the king’s satraps and to the governors over all the provinces and to the officials of all the peoples, to every province in its own script and every people in its own language; it was written in the name of King.

Ahasuerus and sealed with the king’s ring.13 Letters were sent by couriers to all the king’s provinces, giving orders to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate all Jews, young and old, women and children, in one day, the 13th day of the 12th month, which is the month of Adar, and to plunder their goods.14 A copy of the document was to be issued as a decree in every province by proclamation, calling on all the peoples to be ready for that day.15 The couriers went quickly by order of the king, and the decree was issued in the citadel of Susa. The king and Haman sat down to drink; but the city of Susa was thrown into confusion. (Esther 3:12-15)

Mordecai tears his clothing, dawns sack cloth and ashes, and grieves publicly in the city of Susa. Esther’s servants share the news of Mordecai’s public grief and she reaches out to learn what is happening... apparently the news is not well reported in the haram. Mordecai urges Esther to intercede and save her people.

Hathach went and told Esther what Mordecai had said. Then Esther spoke to Hathach and gave him a message for Mordecai, saying, ‘All the king’s servants and the people of the king’s provinces know that if any man or woman goes to the king inside the inner court without being called, there is but one law—all alike are to be put to death. Only if the king holds out the golden scepter to someone, may that person live. I myself have not been called to come in to the king for 30 days.’ When they told Mordecai what Esther had said, Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, ‘Do not think that in the king’s palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. For if you keep silence at such a time as this, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another quarter, but you and your father’s family will perish. Who knows? Perhaps you have come to royal position for just such a time as this.’ Then Esther said in reply to Mordecai, ‘go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and neither eat nor drink for three days, night or day. I and my maids will also fast as you do. After that I will go to the king, though it is against the law; and if I perish, I perish.’ Mordecai then went away and did everything as Esther had ordered him. (Esther 4: 9 -17)

“For such a time as this.” This is where Esther goes from passive to active... at least in the story that is before us. It is where she takes charge and commits to the risk. She asks Mordecai to gather all of the Jewish people and to pray and fast with her for three days. She pauses when others might have jumped right in. She stops to listen to and for God. At the end of the three days, she goes before the King, dressed in full regalia and he does not deal a death sentence... he invites her to ask her petition. Once again, she is patient. She invites the King and Haman to a banquet.

Her leadership saves her people. After feasting, when the moment is right, she names her fear of the King’s edict that may end her life and kill her people. And her well placed intersession works. Haman is brought low, killed with the very instrument he planned for Mordecai, and Esther is lifted up. The King does not reverse his edict (apparently when you are infallible that is a problem). But he does grant Esther authority to draft a new edict that allows the Jewish community to gather and to defend themselves.

Esther’s intersession works. Her role as leader is clarified and she carries the weight of the King’s authority in this work. She listened to her people, she understood the systems at work, and she risked it all. We might be reading this story and thinking, “Wow, well good story... good story for Esther to risk her life and save the Jewish people from genocide... but not for me.” It is a pretty big ask and most of us live with enough privilege that that level of risk is pretty distant. Maybe we are asked to make little steps of intersession and without that practice how could we even prepare for a request as big as Mordecai’s?

Perhaps for us this looks like standing with someone vulnerable at work, someone with little authority or voice needing us to listen to their voice and use ours. And that can be risky. Maybe outside of the work place it looks like training to be a CASA volunteer, standing with children as an advocate in court. Maybe it looks like learning and listening with OTOC and speaking up against laws that keep some people in poverty. Esther modeled a leadership of listening and praying and preparing and her story urges us to explore our own call. Or maybe there are spaces we are asked to Mordecai, to care for a leader, particularly a young leader, to see his/her potential and promise and to call it out of them. To be the people that encourage, challenge and hold them in prayer.

Questions for discussion:
• What is your experience with the story of Esther? Have you read/heard it before and in what context?
• What do you see in Esther or Mordecai that you see in yourself? What do you see in them that you wish to see more of in yourself?
• What are the places where you stand with someone vulnerable and intercede? What do you need to do that work in our world?
• Would you try praying this week for another person in your group? (if you need help thinking about this kind of prayer... see below). 


Intercessory Prayer:
“Praying for friends and enemies is intercessory prayer. In intercessory prayer, we pray on behalf of others. We ask not for ourselves but for them,” says Jane Vennard in the opening of her book, Praying for Friends and Enemies. For me, intercessory prayer is about relationship—relation with God and with those for whom I care and am concerned—whether it's a brother-in-law undergoing cancer treatment or the folks of the Middle East amidst their fear, violence, and hopes.

I have discovered that one of the most healing and wholeness moments for me is the experience of the sun warming my back—it creates such a sense of well-being and the presence of the Divine. So when I want to pray for others, I find myself holding them in the presence of sacred sunlight—warming, healing, infusing them with the Divine—not speaking, not requesting, just holding—letting God do the rest.”
—Rev. Susan Davies, Retired UMC Clergy