Scripture Daily

Context No. 1249 of 4322 · Esther (Greek)

Context · Reflection

Esther (Greek) 4:9-14: in context

9So Hathach went in and told her all these words. 10Esther said to Hathach, “Go to Mordecai, and say, 11‘All the nations of the empire know that any man or woman who goes in to the king into the inner court without being called, that person must die, unless the king stretches out his golden sceptre; then he shall live. I haven’t been called to go into the king for thirty days.’” 12So Hathach reported to Mordecai all the words of Esther. 13Then Mordecai said to Hathach, “Go, and say to her, ‘Esther, don’t say to yourself that you alone will escape in the kingdom, more than all the other Jews. 14For if you keep quiet on this occasion, help and protection will come to the Jews from another place; but you and your father’s house will perish. Who knows if you have been made queen for this occasion?’”

Haman's decree to destroy the Jews has gone out, and Mordecai sends word to Queen Esther, urging her to go to the king and plead for her people. Esther hesitates: anyone who approaches the king unsummoned may be executed unless he extends his golden scepter, and she has not been called in thirty days. Mordecai's reply is one of the great challenges in scripture: do not think that you alone of all the Jews will escape because you are in the palace. If you keep silent now, relief will come to the Jews from another place, but you and your father's house will perish. And who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this.

Mordecai's words hold two truths that belong together. First, God's purposes do not depend on Esther. If she stays silent, he says, deliverance will arise from another place; God will save his people with or without her. Esther is not indispensable, and neither are we; God's work will get done. But second, and this is the summons, her position was not an accident, and refusing to use it will not spare her: who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this. Esther has been placed, providentially, exactly where she is, at the exact moment her people need someone in the palace, and the question is whether she will step into the role her position has prepared her for. The combination is bracing. God does not need you, and yet God has placed you, at this time, in this position, for a purpose you may be the one meant to fulfill. That takes away both the pride that thinks the cause depends on us and the passivity that thinks our position is meaningless. Esther could not save herself by silence, and she could serve God's people by courage. Perhaps you were made queen for this.

Where has God placed me, at this time, in a position I did not fully choose, and is there a courageous thing my position uniquely equips me to do, for such a time as this?

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