Esther 2:19-23
It was written in the book
He hears of the plot of Bigthan and Teresh, tells Esther, and she tells the king in his name. The men are hanged and the matter is recorded, and there it sits.
People of the Bible
Mordecai
Saved the king’s life, was forgotten for five years, and the forgetting is what turned the book.
Mordecai is a Benjamite in Susa who raises his cousin as his own daughter. He sits in the king’s gate, which means he holds some position, and from there he overhears two doorkeepers plotting against the king and passes it on through Esther. It is written in the chronicles and nothing is done. Years later Haman is promoted and everyone in the gate bows except him. He gives no reason in the text. The decree that follows is aimed at an entire people because of one man who would not bend.
Scroll down to the storyThe movements, in the order the text gives them.
The story of Mordecai
- 01
- 02
Esther 3:1-6
He bowed not, nor did him reverence
The king’s servants ask daily why he transgresses the commandment. He tells them he is a Jew and they tell Haman, to see whether his reason will stand.
- 03
Esther 4:1-8
Sackcloth in the middle of the city
He rends his clothes and cries with a loud and bitter cry, and comes as far as the gate, because none may enter it in sackcloth. He sends Esther a copy of the decree.
- 04
Esther 6:1-11
The night the king could not sleep
The chronicles are read and the entry surfaces. Haman, waiting outside to ask for a gallows, is asked what should be done for the man the king delights to honour, and answers generously.
- 05
Esther 8:9-17
The second decree
The first cannot be revoked, so a second is written in every province’s own script and language, granting the Jews the right to defend themselves on the same day.
Why it matters
The turn of the whole book happens while nobody is acting. The king cannot sleep, calls for the chronicles to be read to him, and the reader happens on the entry about the doorkeepers. Haman is in the court at that moment to ask for a gallows. What the record kept for five years does in one night is the closest the book comes to naming providence, and it does it without ever naming God.
11 songs
The music
Every song in the catalogue whose passage falls inside these chapters.
