The Ultimate Comeback by Tommy Tenney

Author:Tommy Tenney [TENNEY, TOMMY]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: REL012000
ISBN: 9780446555043
Publisher: FaithWords
Published: 2008-12-21T00:00:00+00:00

Up All Night Constructing an Instrument of Execution

We infer that Haman didn’t sleep because, at the urging of his wife and friends, he decided to seek permission from King Xerxes the next morning to execute Mordecai the Jew so he could go and be happy the evening of Esther’s second banquet.4

So intense was his hatred toward Mordecai that Haman apparently stayed up all night on “that night ” to construct an instrument of execution for Esther’s adopted father. That way it would be ready and waiting for action before Haman’s early morning visit to petition the king for the execution.5

Meanwhile, Esther was gripped with heartbreaking secrets she could not reveal to anyone before the proper time. She wrestled with the anxious knowledge that no decision was being made and no action had been taken to save her people. The jury was still out; in fact, the petition had not even been presented yet!

(Have you ever had one of those days when you felt totally exasperated because key events had been taken completely out of your control or influence? You want to shout in protest, “Wait! I didn’t even get to have my say!”)

In the small enclave of the women’s quarters in the royal palace, construction noises would carry far enough for Esther to hear the echoes of Haman’s midnight work crew. Although the Scriptures do not confirm it, I believe that Esther suspected Mordecai was the intended victim for Haman’s homicidal whims (she’d always had good and trusted relationships with the king’s eunuchs, who seemed to see and hear everything).

Imagine how difficult it would be for Queen Esther to fall asleep while being forced to listen to the racket of pounding hammers and rasping saws. Could it be that she was literally listening to her enemy build an instrument of execution for Mordecai, her adopted father, the man who had raised and nurtured her from childhood?

While Esther tossed and turned, alternating between prayers of desperation and unsuccessful attempts at sleep, Haman happily engineered the demise of Mordecai. Meanwhile, the Bible tells us, “On that night could not the king sleep.”6

Perhaps to help him overcome his divine insomnia, the king asked for someone to read the court records to him. (If anything should put you to sleep, it would be the reading of court records.)

The servant droned on and on while Persia’s supreme monarch stared at the ceiling. Suddenly his attention was jarred by a paragraph describing the deeds of a royal scribe named Mordecai. This man had learned of a plot to assassinate the king hatched by two of his own royal chamberlains, “the keepers of the door.” (Today we call them personal bodyguards.)

Mordecai had reported the news to Queen Esther and she certified the informant’s validity and had it entered into the royal diary. After an investigation confirmed the plot, the plotters were hung on a gallows.7

The king was pleased to be reminded of such a great service to the throne, but suddenly he sat upright in bed when the servant abruptly moved on to the next record.

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