Jesus once asked “What benefit is there in gaining the world (prospering materially) if you lose your soul?” Esther understood this well. The king and Haman have come to her banquet and Ahasuerus offers her anything she desires, even half the kingdom (Esther 7:1-2) . She could have used this opportunity to benefit herself, to gain power and wealth. However, she is mindful of Mordecai’s warning that if her people are destroyed, she will be with them. So, she speaks up for them now. She expresses the seriousness of the situation. The people are not just going to be sold into slavery, this is something that had happened in the past and indeed, that was already their status now. They face annihilation (7:3-4).
Ahasuerus asks who is responsible for this and Esther identifies Haman. He has ingratiated himself with the king but in truth he is an enemy, he is wicked, or as the NIV puts it, he is vile (7:5-6). Notice, that in order to receive salvation, we need to recognise the true nature of our danger. We need to see Satan and sin for what they are, evil, vile, ugly, enemies.
The king is so angry that he storms out of the room. Haman throws himself on Esther, begging for mercy. The king returns and misinterprets this as an attempt to molest her. His rage grows. Haman is seized and the king’s eunuchs report to him that Haman has had a 50 foot impaling stake erected in his own garden. They also let the king know that Haman intended to have Mordecai, the one who had helped the king killed there. Ahasuerus orders for Haman himself to be impaled on this instead of Mordecai (7:8b-10). There is an old saying that “beware your sin will find you out.” Haman does not get away with his evil plot.
Paul says
13 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you[d] alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14 having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. 15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.[1]
We primarily talk about how Jesus bore our judgement and punishment on the Cross. However, the New Testament also uses the image of sin itself being condemned on the Cross and the evil powers defeated and destroyed there, Satan saw Calvary as the place where he would win and where Jesus, like Mordecai would be destroyed. However, although unlike Mordecai, Jesus still most go through through the experience of being hung up to die, like with Mordecai and Haman, it is in fact the enemy who meets his defeat at the Cross.
[1] Colossians 2:13-15.
Faithroots 