The Berean Pursuit
When Mordecai learned of all that had happened, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the middle of the city, wailing loudly and bitterly. But he went only as far as the king's gate, because the law prohibited anyone wearing sackcloth from entering that gate.
In every province to which the king's command and edict came, there was great mourning among the Jews. They fasted, wept, and lamented, and many lay in sackcloth and ashes.
When Esther's maidens and eunuchs came and told her about Mordecai, the queen was overcome with distress. She sent clothes for Mordecai to wear instead of his sackcloth, but he would not accept them.
Then Esther summoned Hathach, one of the king's eunuchs appointed to her, and she dispatched him to Mordecai to learn what was troubling him and why. So Hathach went out to Mordecai in the city square in front of the king's gate, and Mordecai told him all that had happened to him, including the exact amount of money that Haman had promised to pay into the royal treasury in order to destroy the Jews.
Mordecai also gave Hathach a copy of the written decree issued in Susa for the destruction of the Jews, to show and explain to Esther, urging her to approach the king, implore his favor, and plead before him for her people.
So Hathach went back and relayed Mordecai's response to Esther.
Then Esther spoke to Hathach and instructed him to tell Mordecai, "All the royal officials and the people of the king's provinces know that one law applies to every man or woman who approaches the king in the inner court without being summoned-that he be put to death. Only if the king extends the gold scepter may that person live. But I have not been summoned to appear before the king for the past thirty days."
When Esther's words were relayed to Mordecai, he sent back to her this reply: "Do not imagine that because you are in the king's palace you alone will escape the fate of all the Jews. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father's house will perish. And who knows if perhaps you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?"
Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai: "Go and assemble all the Jews who can be found in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day, and I and my maidens will fast as you do. After that, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish!"
So Mordecai went and did all that Esther had instructed him.
On the third day, Esther put on her royal attire and stood in the inner court of the palace across from the king's quarters. The king was sitting on his royal throne in the royal courtroom, facing the entrance.
As soon as the king saw Queen Esther standing in the court, she found favor in his sight. The king extended the gold scepter in his hand toward Esther, and she approached and touched the tip of the scepter.
"What is it, Queen Esther?" the king inquired. "What is your request? Even up to half the kingdom, it will be given to you."
"If it pleases the king," Esther replied, "may the king and Haman come today to the banquet I have prepared for the king."
"Hurry," commanded the king, "and bring Haman, so we can do as Esther has requested."
So the king and Haman went to the banquet that Esther had prepared. And as they drank their wine, the king said to Esther, "What is your petition? It will be given to you. What is your request? Even up to half the kingdom, it will be fulfilled."
Esther replied, "This is my petition and my request: If I have found favor in the sight of the king, and if it pleases the king to grant my petition and fulfill my request, may the king and Haman come tomorrow to the banquet I will prepare for them. Then I will answer the king's question."
That day Haman went out full of joy and glad of heart. At the king's gate, however, he saw Mordecai, who did not rise or tremble in fear at his presence. And Haman was filled with rage toward Mordecai.
Nevertheless, Haman restrained himself and went home. And calling for his friends and his wife Zeresh, Haman recounted to them his glorious wealth, his many sons, and all the ways the king had honored and promoted him over the other officials and servants.
"What is more," Haman added, "Queen Esther invited no one but me to join the king at the banquet she prepared, and I am invited back tomorrow along with the king. Yet none of this satisfies me as long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king's gate."
His wife Zeresh and all his friends told him, "Have them build a gallows fifty cubits high, and ask the king in the morning to have Mordecai hanged on it. Then go to the banquet with the king and enjoy yourself."
The advice pleased Haman, and he had the gallows constructed.
That night sleep escaped the king; so he ordered the Book of Records, the Chronicles, to be brought in and read to him. And there it was found recorded that Mordecai had exposed Bigthana and Teresh, two of the eunuchs who guarded the king's entrance, when they had conspired to assassinate King Xerxes.
The king inquired, "What honor or dignity has been bestowed on Mordecai for this act?"
"Nothing has been done for him," replied the king's attendants.
"Who is in the court?" the king asked.
Now Haman had just entered the outer court of the palace to ask the king to hang Mordecai on the gallows he had prepared for him. So the king's attendants answered him, "Haman is there, standing in the court."
"Bring him in," ordered the king.
Haman entered, and the king asked him, "What should be done for the man whom the king is delighted to honor?"
Now Haman thought to himself, "Whom would the king be delighted to honor more than me?"
And Haman told the king, "For the man whom the king is delighted to honor, have them bring a royal robe that the king himself has worn and a horse on which the king himself has ridden-one with a royal crest placed on its head. Let the robe and the horse be entrusted to one of the king's most noble princes. Let them array the man the king wants to honor and parade him on the horse through the city square, proclaiming before him, 'This is what is done for the man whom the king is delighted to honor!'?"
"Hurry," said the king to Haman, "and do just as you proposed. Take the robe and the horse to Mordecai the Jew, who is sitting at the king's gate. Do not neglect anything that you have suggested."
So Haman took the robe and the horse, arrayed Mordecai, and paraded him through the city square, crying out before him, "This is what is done for the man whom the king is delighted to honor!"
Then Mordecai returned to the king's gate. But Haman rushed home, with his head covered in grief.
Haman told his wife Zeresh and all his friends everything that had happened. His advisers and his wife Zeresh said to him, "Since Mordecai, before whom your downfall has begun, is Jewish, you will not prevail against him-for surely you will fall before him."
While they were still speaking with Haman, the king's eunuchs arrived and rushed him to the banquet that Esther had prepared.
"To the angel of the church in Ephesus write:
These are the words of Him who holds the seven stars in His right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands.
I know your deeds, your labor, and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate those who are evil, and you have tested and exposed as liars those who falsely claim to be apostles. Without growing weary, you have persevered and endured many things for the sake of My name.
But I have this against you: You have abandoned your first love. Therefore, keep in mind how far you have fallen. Repent and perform the deeds you did at first. But if you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.
But you have this to your credit: You hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who overcomes, I will grant the right to eat from the tree of life in the Paradise of God.
To the angel of the church in Smyrna write:
These are the words of the First and the Last, who died and returned to life.
I know your affliction and your poverty-though you are rich! And I am aware of the slander of those who falsely claim to be Jews, but are in fact a synagogue of Satan.
Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Look, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison to test you, and you will suffer tribulation for ten days. Be faithful even unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who overcomes will not be harmed by the second death.
To the angel of the church in Pergamum write:
These are the words of the One who holds the sharp, double-edged sword.
I know where you live, where the throne of Satan sits. Yet you have held fast to My name and have not denied your faith in Me, even in the day when My faithful witness Antipas was killed among you, where Satan dwells.
But I have a few things against you, because some of you hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to place a stumbling block before the Israelites so they would eat food sacrificed to idols and commit sexual immorality. In the same way, some of you also hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. Therefore repent! Otherwise I will come to you shortly and wage war against them with the sword of My mouth.
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who overcomes, I will give the hidden manna. I will also give him a white stone inscribed with a new name, known only to the one who receives it.
To the angel of the church in Thyatira write:
These are the words of the Son of God, whose eyes are like a blazing fire and whose feet are like polished bronze.
I know your deeds-your love, your faith, your service, your perseverance-and your latter deeds are greater than your first.
But I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. By her teaching she misleads My servants to be sexually immoral and to eat food sacrificed to idols. Even though I have given her time to repent of her immorality, she is unwilling.
Behold, I will cast her onto a bed of sickness, and those who commit adultery with her will suffer great tribulation unless they repent of her deeds. Then I will strike her children dead, and all the churches will know that I am the One who searches minds and hearts, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds.
But I say to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned the so-called deep things of Satan: I will place no further burden upon you. Nevertheless, hold fast to what you have until I come. And to the one who overcomes and continues in My work until the end, I will give authority over the nations. He will rule them with an iron scepter and shatter them like pottery -just as I have received authority from My Father. And I will give him the morning star.
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.