Ester 5

Ester 5

Morris comments... With such a carte blanche promise from the king, it seems surprising that Esther did not immediately make the appeal for her people, instead of requesting a second banquet. Whether or not she temporarily lost her courage, the delay was providential (Ed: In other words, it was not an "accident" but God was in the details!) for it was on the sleepless night in between that Ahasuerus learned of Mordecai's earlier report to Esther which had saved the king's life (Esther 2:21-23; 6:1,2). Esther 5:7 So Esther replied, "My petition and my request is:: Warren Wiersbe sees three evidences of God's providence in this section... At the banquet, we see three more evidences of the sovereignty of God. First, the Lord restrained Esther from telling Ahasuerus the truth about Haman. While there may have been fear in her heart, I don’t think that’s what held her back. The Lord was working in her life and directing what she said, even though she wasn’t aware of it. God was delaying the great exposure until after the king had honored Mordecai. We also see the sovereign hand of God at work in the way the king accepted the delay and agreed to come to the second banquet. Monarchs like Ahasuerus aren’t accustomed to being told to wait. “To man belong the plans of the heart, but from the Lord comes the reply of the tongue” (Pr 16:1NIV). “Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails” (Pr 19:21NIV). Whatever plans Ahasuerus had made for the next evening were canceled to make time for the queen’s second feast. A third evidence of God’s sovereignty is that none of Esther’s attendants who knew that she was a Jewess tried to convey this important information to Haman. Had Haman known the queen’s nationality, he would have immediately devised some plan to prevent her from interfering. Palace intrigue is a dangerous game, and any of the attendants could have profited by telling Haman what they knew. (Be committed. An Old Testament study. Ruth and Esther)