Do not Esther and her "seven maidens" excel all the examples of remnant activity in time of old? Her heart went out after all the people of God in those days, and she was the means of saving all. If Biblical chronology is to be trusted, she was received into the royal house of Artaxerxes just after Ezra and his band started for Jerusalem. (Compare Ezra 7:88And he came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, which was in the seventh year of the king. (Ezra 7:8) with Esther 2:1616So Esther was taken unto king Ahasuerus into his house royal in the tenth month, which is the month Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign. (Esther 2:16)). If this is so, little did Ezra and his company know that the intercessions of weakness were going on, not only for him and his band, but for all the people of the Jews. The flesh, set at work by Satan, through Haman, scorned to do only a small work of malice to the Jews (Esther 3:66And he thought scorn to lay hands on Mordecai alone; for they had showed him the people of Mordecai: wherefore Haman sought to destroy all the Jews that were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus, even the people of Mordecai. (Esther 3:6)); so all the people of Jehovah must be aimed at—destroyed by him. Perhaps Ezra knew nothing of this terrible intention. However this many may be, weakness learned the secret from Mordecai. Death was hanging over Ezra and all his and Esther's people. Is it fighting and military prowess that is to triumph? No; "she that tarried at home" will gain a wonderful victory. Is not Esther’s way of deliverance beyond a Deborah’s?
The Two Courts
Then notice the place into which she goes. Haman may enter "the outward court" (Esther 6:44And the king said, Who is in the court? Now Haman was come into the outward court of the king's house, to speak unto the king to hang Mordecai on the gallows that he had prepared for him. (Esther 6:4)). He is covered with outward glory, too—like the coming apostate. But Esther enters "the inner court of the king's house" (See Esther 5:11Now it came to pass on the third day, that Esther put on her royal apparel, and stood in the inner court of the king's house, over against the king's house: and the king sat upon his royal throne in the royal house, over against the gate of the house. (Esther 5:1)). It was death or full blessing to go in there (Esther 4:1111All the king's servants, and the people of the king's provinces, do know, that whosoever, whether man or woman, shall come unto the king into the inner court, who is not called, there is one law of his to put him to death, except such to whom the king shall hold out the golden sceptre, that he may live: but I have not been called to come in unto the king these thirty days. (Esther 4:11)). If the king "delighted" still in her, what wondrous grace would be shown her, and how widespread the blessing that should follow! She is too weak to fight, but she is not too weak to reach the heart of the monarch of unlimited power. To "touch the golden scepter" would do all. That could be done only by entering his presence in the inner court.
The Banquet
Notice too, the greatness of her faith in the king. She prepares a banquet for him, and does so before she presents her request. She let him see that she expected him to come. Was this a trespass on his grace? No, it was a test of his love to her, for the blessing must be for all, or none. The answer would be either utter destruction or magnificent deliverance in royal bounty. Either Haman is to triumph supremely, or utter weakness is to bring in sovereign grace, joy and gladness, to all the people of God.
Notice, too, how Haman is allowed to go on until a moment in which he is just about to place the crown, as it were, on his own head. But, like "the chief baker" in Genesis 40, he is hanged. Such will be the end of "that wicked one" by-and-by. But I am only illustrating the way flesh, boasting at any time, may come down in a moment. What a trial for faith to both Esther within and Mordecai in sackcloth without! She feasts within as he fasts without, for she must enter as becomes the queen of Ahasuerus.
The Place of Weakness
Ah! this place of utter weakness is a blessed one. Here is the golden scepter as it were, for us to touch. Really, all depends on Him now. But we must let our thoughts go out to all the people of God if we are coming towards "the inner court" in the time of the boastfulness and pride of the flesh. If the flesh can boast of its success (as Haman will manifestly do by-and-by when the church is caught up), still the moral truth of Psalm 17:1515As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness. (Psalm 17:15) is there for us now. In the expression "As for me," there is the recognition of weakness amid many foes around. May it be ours!
And notice, it was not only the valiant ones—the mighty men—who got the joy and gladness and feasting then. All got it—the weak, the outcasts, all in "the kindness of God." This is deliverance and blessing according to His righteousness, worthy of the Holy and the True, and "the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God" (Rev. 3:1414And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; (Revelation 3:14)).
Adapted from the Bible Herald