Esther 5:1–8:2

Bringing the sermon home:

We finally reach the moment when Esther takes her stand, coming before King Ahasuerus, not knowing whether she'll even survive to make her request. The king does permit her to speak, but she delays voicing her request and instead asks the king to attend two banquets first. Two pivotal events take place in between the first and second banquet.

First, Haman's insatiable pride leads him to have a gallows built on which to hang Mordecai. Pride, when fed for long enough, regularly leads to hate, and hate, when mixed with power, regularly leads to murder. You cannot serve two masters: it can be people, as you seek their approval, or it can be God, as you seek His approval, but it cannot be both.

The second pivotal event is a seemingly random sleepless night for the king. This creates a chain reaction leading to Mordecai being publicly honored rather than hanged. The entire book is structured around this central, pivotal moment, thus highlighting the true hero of the story: God, who is providentially moving all things toward His desired end.

Sermon outline:

1. Pride: the insatiable, joy-sapping thirst for praise from others. (Ch.5)
   
2. Providence: God’s hidden orchestration of all things. (Ch.6)
   
3. Peripeteia: the sudden reversal of fortunes. (Ch.7)

Chiastic structure of the entire book:

1. King’s feast for the nobles across empire

 2. King’s feast for the men of Susa

  3. Feast celebrating Esther’s coronation

   4. Esther’s 1st feast for the king and Haman

     > The king’s sleepless night

   5. Esther’s 2nd feast for the king and Haman

  6. Feast celebrating Mordecai’s decree

 7. Jewish feast of Purim across empire

8. Jewish feast of Purim in Susa