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In chapter two Esther is chosen to be Queen . She goes through the normal twelve months of beauty treatment before meeting the King .
Chapter two also records the good deed of Mordecai in saving the Kings life by alerting him of an assassination attempt on his life . This deed is recorded in the record books and later serves as a blessing for Mordecai in the future .
God never forgets our labour of love ( Hebrews 6:10 ).
In Chapter three Haman is honoured by the King and given a high position in the kingdom . Haman is annoyed with Mordecai because Mordecai refused to kneel down to him . Haman ' s anger leads him to plot the execution of all the Jews in the kingdom .
In order to prevent the execution of all the Jews Mordecai calls on Esther to intercede to the King . The only problem here is that the King does not know that Esther is a Jew . Esther has no idea of how the King will respond to this news . Although God is never mentioned in the book of Esther we can see His acts in the background . Nothing takes God unaware .
Esther ' s reluctance to approach the King is met by stern words from Mordecai . In Chapter 4:14 he say :
For if you keep silent at this time , relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place , but you and your father ' s house will perish . And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this ?
Esther eventually agrees to appeal to the King . Prior to this she asks Mordecai to organise a time of fasting for her . She is well aware that she needs God ' s favour if she is to succeed .
Fasting , the abstinence from food for a pre-determined period , is a godly exercise which bring us closer to God .
In Chapter five Esther approaches the King and invites him and Haman to a banquet . This is an attempt to get the timing right before she informs the king about Haman ' s plot to kill the Jews of which she is one . Esther had hid the fact that she was a Jew from the King on Mordecai ' s advice .
God ' s timing is always best . We need to wait for God ' s timing in doing things . It is dangerous to jump out before time .
Meanwhile Haman ' s hatred for Mordecai is growing and on the advice of his friends and wife he has a special gallows prepared beside his house on which to hang Mordecai . In Chapter six God moves to save the Jews . The King cannot sleep and asks for the record books to be read aloud to him . The deeds of Mordecai in saving the king in the past are read out .
In an extraordinary twist of events the King asks Haman what should be done to a man who the king wants to honour . Haman , in his arrogance , thinks the king is referring to him and advises a lavish display of wealth and honour to be bestowed on the man publicly . The King orders Haman to do this for Mordecai . Can you imagine the shock , horror and humiliation Haman must have suffered ! ( You must read the book of Esther )
In chapter seven Esther reveals to the king that she is a Jew and that Haman has plotted to kill them all . Events now take a drastic turn for Haman who ends up getting hanged on the gallows he erected for the death of Mordecai . In Chapter eight , nine and ten all the Jews are saved and Haman ' s children are killed .
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