Sermon: The King’s Jealousy (Esther 7-8)

The King’s Jealousy
Sunday, March 9th, 2025
Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WA
Esther 7:1–8:17

Prayer

Father, we thank you for your inscrutable wisdom, and that by your wisdom, you work for our good all things, including the evil actions and intentions of the forces of darkness. Please help us to trace in our own lives, and to know in our souls, that you are that God who is fore us and not against us. We ask for this all in Jesus’ name, Amen.

Introduction

In Exodus 20, when God’s voice thundered from Mount Sinai, He delivered through the Prophet Moses the Ten Commandments, and in the explanation of the 2nd commandment God explains to His people why they must not worship other gods. He says, “Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God.”

• You shall not worship idols because I am a jealous God.
• What does it mean for God to be jealous? Is jealousy a name worthy of the Divine Creator, who is omnipotent, all sufficient in Himself, who needs no others and to whom none can be compared? In what sense if any can God be called jealous? Why does He name Himself so?
  • A few chapters later we read in Exodus 34:14, “For thou shalt worship no other god: for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.”
  • And again, in Deuteronomy 4:24 it says, “For the Lord thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God.”
  • And again, in Nahum 1:2 the prophet says, “God is jealous, and the Lord avenges; The Lord avenges and is furious. The Lord will take vengeance on His adversaries, And He reserves wrath for His enemies.”
• So the picture of God that Scripture often paints for us is that of a burning mountain of fire that consumes whatever comes near it. God is like an active volcano. Molten lava is pouring down the hillside to destroy the wicked.
  • Be holy as I am holy, God says. And so, David asks in Psalm 15, “Who shall dwell in thy holy hill? [Who can live on that volcano?] Only he that walks uprightly and works righteousness.”
  • And again, David asks in Psalm 24, “Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart.”
• The church fathers Origen and St. Augustine, both reflecting on God’s jealousy, conclude with one voice that the jealousy of God, far from being harmful to our health, is actually our whole hope of salvation. And to that conclusion we might wonder, uhm how? How is God’s volcanic jealousy in any way good news for us, least of all, our whole hope of our salvation?
  • The answer to this question is actually found here in Esther 7-8. For it is in the very reality of a husband’s love for his wife, and of a king’s love for his queen, that God’s jealousy for you finds its soil.
  • Where there is no jealousy, there is no love, St. Augustine says. For what husband who loves his wife, would not be enraged if she became a harlot? Or what king who loves his queen, would allow her to be assaulted and the assailant go unpunished? A husband without jealousy for his wife, is a husband who does not love his wife, and so it is with God.
  • It is this metaphor of marriage, of a solemn covenant between man and woman, that God takes up and uses to explain His jealous love for His people, and the wrath He reserves for those who assault His bride.
    • “Marriage is a great mystery,” Paul says in Ephesians 5, “but I speak concerning Christ and the church.”
• We hear from the Prophet Zechariah, who was preaching in Jerusalem during the days of Esther, Mordecai, Ahasuerus, and Haman, that God’s jealousy for His people has been aroused.
  • It says in Zechariah 1:14, “Thus saith the Lord of hosts; I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy. And I am very sore displeased with the heathen that are at ease: For I was but a little displeased, and they helped forward the affliction. Therefore thus saith the Lord; I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies: My house shall be built in it, saith the Lord of hosts.”
• What does God’s jealousy mean for Jerusalem? It means God’s mercy will return to them, and His Holy House will be built up again.
  • Likewise, we hear later in Zechariah 8:2-5, “Thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘I am jealous for Zion with great jealousy; With great fervor I am jealous for her.’ “Thus says the Lord: ‘I will return to Zion, And dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. Jerusalem shall be called the City of Truth, The Mountain of the Lord of hosts, The Holy Mountain. Old men and old women shall again sit in the streets of Jerusalem, Each one with his staff in his hand because of great age. The streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in its streets.”
• Do you see what God’s jealousy does for His people? It is the promise of His return to them. The promise that God will make us into His Holy Mountain, His dwelling place, His temple, where little children are numerous and can play in the streets of New Jerusalem, and grandparents (even great grandparents) can sit and watch them in peace. This is what God’s jealousy forebodes, it is the expression of His burning love for His Bride which many waters cannot quench.
• And so while the Prophet Zechariah is preaching in explicit terms the jealousy of God, the book of Esther is preaching that same message but in narrative form. For here we have illustrated at the climax of the book, at Esther’s second feast: the King’s jealous love that brings about the Jews salvation.

Division of the Text

Our text divides into three sections:

• In verses 1-7 of chapter 7, The King’s Jealousy Is Stirred.
• In verses 8-10, The King’s Wrath Is Pacified.
• And then in all of chapter 8, we see The King’s Authority Is Given.
  • So let us briefly survey these three sections but with a special eye to how Christ fulfills this motif in His love for the Church.

Part 1 – The King’s Jealousy Is Stirred (Esther 7:1-7)

Recall that Haman has just been out and about in Shushan, extolling how great Mordecai is. And then chapter 6 ended with Haman being hastened away to this feast.

• We read in verse 2, “And the king said again unto Esther on the second day at the banquet of wine, What is thy petition, queen Esther? and it shall be granted thee: and what is thy request? and it shall be performed, even to the half of the kingdom.”
  • So after that first feast and that sleepless night, the offer still stands, Ahasuerus is dying to know, what is Esther going to ask me for? What is the meaning of her risking her life to invite me and Haman to two feasts?
• And then in verse 3 we have the big reveal, “Then Esther the queen answered and said, If I have found favour in thy sight, O king, and if it please the king, let my life be given me at my petition, and my people at my request: For we are sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be slain, and to perish. But if we had been sold for bondmen and bondwomen, I had held my tongue, although the enemy could not countervail the king’s damage.”
• What is Esther doing here?
  • First, she is tying her own personal fate as Queen with the fate of all the Jews (“I and my people”).
  • Second, she is heightening the threat and urgency, by stating that if she had been sold into slavery, she would have kept silent. But this is a decree so egregious and unjust, that it would be to the king’s loss to allow it to take effect. This is what she means by saying, “although the enemy could not countervail the king’s damage.”
  • So this is not just a threat against Esther and her people, it is also a threat to the king. Esther has now tied Ahasuerus’ fate and reputation in with her own and the Jews. This is persuasion at its finest, and every word of it is true.
    • It would be to the king’s great damage for the people of God to be exterminated by Haman in the king’s name. What did God promise to Abraham and his seed? “Those who bless you I will bless, And those who curse you I will curse.”
• In verse 5 we then hear how the king responds, “Then the king Ahasuerus answered and said unto Esther the queen, Who is he, and where is he, that durst presume in his heart to do so?”
  • Here is the jealousy of the king being stirred up to wrath. Name him and locate him and I will deal with him.
• And then in verse 6, like the Prophet Samuel before King David, Esther points the finger and says, Here is the man. “The adversary and enemy is this wicked Haman.”
• This is news to Haman, who did not know that Esther was a Jew. And therefore, we read in verses 6-7, “Then Haman was afraid before the king and the queen. And the king arising from the banquet of wine in his wrath went into the palace garden: and Haman stood up to make request for his life to Esther the queen; for he saw that there was evil determined against him by the king.”
  • If Esther had any doubts about the king’s love and loyalty towards her, the king’s wrath in this moment is a wonderful comfort to her soul. The fact that the king’s jealousy has been aroused is a sign of his love, and the fact that he is burning with anger against Haman, is a sign that justice shall soon be done. And so it is.
  • And this brings us to part 2…

Part 2 – The King’s Wrath Is Pacified (Esther 7:8-10)

Verses 8-10

Then the king returned out of the palace garden into the place of the banquet of wine; and Haman was fallen upon the bed whereon Esther was. Then said the king, Will he force the queen also before me in the house? As the word went out of the king’s mouth, they covered Haman’s face. And Harbonah, one of the chamberlains, said before the king, Behold also, the gallows fifty cubits high, which Haman had made for Mordecai, who had spoken good for the king, standeth in the house of Haman. Then the king said, Hang him thereon. So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then was the king’s wrath pacified.

• Notice what makes satisfaction for the king’s wrath: the death of the evildoer.
• Haman’s attempted murder of Esther, and his plot to hang Mordecai, are both criminal acts that God’s law punishes with death. Attempted murder is to be punished as murder.
  • And in this instance, Haman’s empire wide decree against the Jews, and the fifty-cubit-high gallows at his house, are public and incriminating testimony to his guilt. Far more than 2 or 3 witnesses could be supplied.
  • And so the king in his jealous wrath executes righteous judgment. By his own gallows Haman is hung, and only “then was the king’s wrath pacified.”
• Again, we see that the king’s jealousy is the hope for the Jews salvation. He crushes the head of the serpent Haman, and then in chapter 8, He gives to Esther and Mordecai the authority that Haman had abused.

Part 3 – The King’s Authority Is Given (Esther 8:1-17)

There are three key gifts that Ahasuerus bestows, and each of them corresponds with a gift that Christ bestows.

• 1. We read in verse 1 that Ahasuerus gives to Esther the House of Haman. And what does this signify but Christ giving to His Bride, the New Eve, the New Jerusalem, power in His name over the forces of darkness.
  • Jesus says to his disciples in Luke 10:18-19, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.”
  • And in this is fulfilled the marriage blessing of Rebekah. It says in Genesis 24:60, “And they blessed Rebekah, and said unto her, Thou art our sister, be thou the mother of thousands of millions, and let thy seed possess the gate of those which hate them.”
  • So Esther and Mordecai, the disciples and the saints, we are all descendants of Rebekah. For as Paul says in Galatians 3 and Romans 4, those who put their faith in Christ the seed of Abraham, have not only Abraham as their father but God.
  • So when Jesus said, “I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” That was because Christ was going to suffer and die to give us the House of Haman, Satan’s abode.
    • What does Jesus say in Revelation 1:18, “I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. And I have the keys of Hell and of Death.”
    • What does Paul say in 1 Corinthians 3:21-23, “For all things are yours; Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours; And ye are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s.”
    • Jesus has the keys to Satan’s house, and he has bound the strongman so that we can now plunder his kingdom, waging spiritual warfare to liberate those in bondage.
    • Summary: The King gives to his bride the house, the gates, of our enemies.
  • This leads us to the second gift Ahasuerus bestows.
• 2. We read in verse 2, “And the king took off his ring, which he had taken from Haman, and gave it unto Mordecai. And Esther set Mordecai over the house of Haman.”
  • So while Esther signifies the bride of Christ. Mordecai signifies the apostles, the pastors, the elders in the church who receive from Christ the keys of the kingdom.
  • Remember that Mordecai is Esther’s adopted father. And how does the Apostle Paul speak of his relationship to the church?
    • He says in 1 Corinthians 4:15, “For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel.”
    • Paul considers himself a spiritual father to the churches he planted.
    • And then he builds on this theme in 2 Corinthians 11:2 where he says, “For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.”
    • So Paul is a father, like Mordecai. The church is a daughter, like Esther. And Paul has betrothed that daughter (the church) to Christ and he is jealous to preserve her chastity for Christ.
    • And so to protect the bride, to keep watch over her, the king gives to a steward his signet ring, even as Christ gives the ministry of the word, the office of overseer, to the apostles and elders.
      • Paul says in 1 Corinthians 4:1-2, “Let a man so consider us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover it is required in stewards that one be found faithful.”
  • So it is not in our own name that we preach or speak or execute the pastoral office. It is only in the name of Jesus Christ, and by His commission, and in accord with His Word, that we exercise real spiritual authority. So when we say in the liturgy, “your sins are forgiven through Christ” you should hear that as if God himself is speaking, because He is.
  • Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:20, “We are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.” This is what the king’s signet ring is for: reconciling sinners to God. Or Jesus says to the disciples in Matthew 16:19, “And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
  • And this brings us to third and final gift, which illustrates how the king’s signet ring is used.
• 3.  We read in verses 7-8, “Then the king Ahasuerus said unto Esther the queen and to Mordecai the Jew…Write ye also for the Jews, as it liketh you, in the king’s name, and seal it with the king’s ring: for the writing which is written in the king’s name, and sealed with the king’s ring, may no man reverse.”
  • So this third gift is the power to write in the king’s name. Next week we will consider in greater detail the content of this decree, but for now just observe the extent to which this new decree goes forth. Like the gospel, it is universal and communicated in every language. This decree is a foreshadowing of Pentecost.
    • Haman, like Satan, had promulgated in all the empire a law of death that led to confusion. Whereas Mordecai and Esther promulgate a new law that leads to life for the righteous, death to the unrepentant, and joy to all who receive the truth.
    • What else could be signified by this new decree, but the universal gospel of Jesus Christ, the New Testament, the Four Gospel Accounts, the 14 Pauline Letters that bear the king’s seal, “Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.”
    • Jesus said, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.”
    • As we will see next week, this is in essence the same message that Esther and Mordecai author in the king’s name. A day of judgment is coming. The King’s armies shall defend the righteous. And anyone who attacks or attempts to kill the Bride, the Queen’s people, shall suffer punishment unto death.
  • Notice in verses 16-17, how this new law and decree is received: “The Jews had light, and gladness, and joy, and honour. And in every province, and in every city, whithersoever the king’s commandment and his decree came, the Jews had joy and gladness, a feast and a good day. And many of the people of the land became Jews; for the fear of the Jews fell upon them.”
    • Remember what happened when Haman’s decree went forth? It says the city of Shushan was perplexed (Esther 3:15).
    • But what happens when Mordecai’s decree goes forth? An evangelical harvest. Mass conversion to the true religion. Gentiles becoming Jews.
    • This is what the gospel effects in those who believe: light, gladness, joy, honor, and feasting.

Conclusion

And so in closing let us return to the question we began with: What does it mean for God to be jealous?

• It means that God burns with love for you.
• It means that God loves you so much that He makes life apart from Him miserable.
• The jealousy of God is your whole hope of salvation because it means that if you ever wander into idolatry, as our hearts are tempted to do, God will be provoked, and in His jealous love He will make your life miserable until you return to Him.
• Paul warns of this spiritual fornication in 1 Corinthians 10:21-22 saying, “You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the Lord’s table and of the table of demons. Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy?”
• Who is the spouse of your soul? Who have you made a covenant with? Whose name were you baptized into and sealed with the king’s ring?
• Where there is no jealousy, there is no love. And for those who have been joined to Christ by faith, to them the name of God is Jealous and His jealousy is our whole hope of salvation.
• In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.