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Wednesday, October 16, 2019

Wisdom in Esther

What wisdom can we gain from the main characters, Mordecai, Esther and Haman, in the book of Esther?

We learn that the wise decline to act on bad advice, but they respond positively to good advice.

  • Day after day, the king's servants pressed Mordecai to obey the command of the king, to kneel and bow down to Haman, but Mordecai resisted. This appears early in the narrative (Est. 3.2-4) and it's only toward the end that we see that Mordecai's determination not to obey a bad command proved to be wise.
  • In Esther 4.15-17, Queen Esther tells her relative, Mordecai, to arrange a fast for all the Jews in the city of Susa. Implicit in the narrative is an appeal for all Jews in the city to pray for her. Mordecai acted on Esther's word, and God acted in response to the Jews' fasting and prayers, and he saved them. Here, the wise Mordecai acted on a good command, as verse 17 says, "he did everything that Esther commanded him."
  • In another place, Queen Esther was prompted by Mordecai to "go to the king and make supplication to him and entreat before him for her people" (Est. 4.8). Thus she did, contrary to the custom--even at risk of her own life. The wise take good advice!

We also learn from the book of Esther that fools reject good advice, but they act upon bad advice.

  • The wicked Haman took the bad advice of his wife and all his friends (he must have kept bad company!) As Esther 5.14 says, they advised him to erect "gallows" on which to hang Mordecai; "The advice pleased Haman, so he had the gallows made." Later in the story, we learn that the fate he intended for his enemy came upon him instead--and his ten sons!
  • In contrast, when Haman's advisers and his wife gave him good advice, warning him that he would "not prevail against [Mordecai] but certainly fall before him," Haman rejected it (Est. 6.13). His baseless hatred for the righteous Mordecai compelled him to reject words of wisdom and act in folly instead.

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