Esther 2:21-23
In those days, while Mordecai sat within the king’s gate, two of the king’s eunuchs, Bigthan and Teresh, doorkeepers, became furious and sought to lay hands on King Ahasuerus. So the matter became known to Mordecai, who told Queen Esther, and Esther informed the king in Mordecai’s name. And when an inquiry was made into the matter, it was confirmed, and both were hanged on a gallows; and it was written in the book of the chronicles in the presence of the king.
Here, Mordecai uncovers a plot against the king Ahasuerus by the two doorkeepers. The good deed was written in the book of the chronicles. However, he receives no reward from the king for saving his life. It appears that the King and even the Lord had forgotten his good deed. The king may have overlooked Mordecai’s good deed, God never forgets.
However, the Lord purposefully saved the reward for the right time. God delays a reward not because He forgets and then suddenly remembers but rather he chooses to bless us in the moments when it would do us the greatest good and bring Him the greatest glory.
Gal 6:9 - And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.
God has an eye on each and every one of us. So, we must not tire of doing the good deeds. God has a reward to be given at the right time.
Jeremiah 17:10 “I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind, to reward each person according to their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve.”
Let us imagine that the king wanted to immediately reward Mordecai.
He would have called Mordecai and asked him what he wanted. What would have Mordecai asked? I am sure he would not have asked what Haman said, “Give me your robe, and your horse, and your ring, and proclaim throughout the city what I’ve done!” Mordecai would have probably asked the king the well-being of Esther and himself or his people at the most. Nothing much! Since the Jews had no trouble at that moment.
But God had preserved the reward for a greater good. God does not think or act the way we do.
Isaiah 55:8-9 - “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.
Sometime after his incident of forgotten reward, the king promoted an official named Haman and set him above the princes. This Haman hated Mordecai since he did not bow down or pay homage to Haman and the Jews in general (because that was the custom of the Jews) and got permission from the king to annihilate the Jews. The king took his signet ring and gave it to Haman strongly establishing the decree.
Esther 3:10-11 - So the king took his signet ring from his hand and gave it to Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews. And the king said to Haman, “The money and the people are given to you, to do with them as seems good to you.”
Queen Esther, Mordecai, and every Jew in the Empire prayed and fasted for three days for God to intervene. Esther approached the king risking her life but received favour from him. She was however wise in how she went about making her request. She invited the King and Haman for the banquet of wine that she had prepared. In the banquet, the queen requested the king that he and Haman should also come to the second banquet she had prepared the following day. The king readily agreed. Haman was very glad that the queen had invited him and the king alone for the banquet. But when he saw Mordecai at the king’s gate who did not stand or tremble before him, he was angered. Then, his wife and his friends counselled him to prepare a gallows and suggest the king in the morning to hang Mordecai.
That particular night, the king couldn’t sleep (Esther 6:1). Strange enough! After a huge feast, a banquet of wine, one would have expected the king to have a sound sleep. It was God who took the sleep from the king. God was working behind the scenes to honor Mordecai and answer the prayers of the Jews.
To help him sleep, the king ordered to have the record of the chronicles read (Esther 6:1). It so happened by God’s divine intervention that the passage concerning Mordecai rescuing the king’s life from the assassination attempt by the gate keepers was read. The king inquired about the reward given to Mordecai for his good deed for which the servants replied that no reward was given. The king now decided to reward Mordecai for his deed done long ago (years had passed by).
The king wanted to give the best reward and wanted to have a second opinion from someone in the court. It so happened that Haman entered the court at that moment to get official permission from the king to hang Mordecai. Again, this is the Lord’s timing. How perfect! So, the king called Haman to have his opinion. However, instead of directly narrating the matter to Haman, the king asked him, “What shall be done for the man whom the king delights to honor?” (Esther 6:6). Divine intervention once again! Had the king mentioned the name Mordecai, Haman’s reply would have been different. But now, Haman thought that it was himself (Esther 6:6 - Now Haman thought in his heart, “Whom would the king delight to honor more than me?) and so told the best.
Esther 6:7 - And Haman answered the king, “For the man whom the king delights to honor, let a royal robe be brought which the king has worn, and a horse on which the king has ridden, which has a royal crest placed on its head. Then let this robe and horse be delivered to the hand of one of the king’s most noble princes, that he may array the man whom the king delights to honor. Then parade him on horseback through the city square, and proclaim before him: ‘Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to honor!’ ”
And the king replied:
Esther 6: 10 - “Hurry, take the robe and the horse, as you have suggested, and do so for Mordecai the Jew who sits within the king’s gate! Leave nothing undone of all that you have spoken.”
Haman was forced to carry out the king’s orders. Can you imagine how embarrassing it would have been for Haman? Haman had to dress Mordecai up and take him through the city square and proclaim Mordecai’s greatness. How grateful to God Mordecai would have felt? Let us learn to wait for the Lord’s timing.
It was as if God purposefully saved the reward for the right time – when Mordecai’s life was at stake.
Jeremiah 17:10 “I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind, to reward each person according to their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve.”
That evening, again Haman went for the second banquet that the queen had prepared. In that banquet, she placed her petition before the king and also mentioned that Haman was the man behind the plot to kill her people, the Jews. King arose in anger and went to the palace garden. Haman knew that evil was determined and for him and began to plead for this life to the queen. When the king returned, he had fallen across the couch where Esther was. This angered the king even more that he gave the final verdict. At that point, one of the eunuchs pointed out that Haman had prepared a gallow for Mordecai to be hanged. Then the king said, “Hang him on it!”
Not just that Mordecai was honoured, not just that he was saved from the gallows, not just that his enemy was put to death, but God worked still more. The king reverted the verdict. The Jews were saved. And the Lord elevated Mordecai to great heights in the Persian kingdom.
Esther 10:3 - For Mordecai the Jew was second to King Ahasuerus and was great among the Jews and well received by the multitude of his brethren, seeking the good of his people and speaking peace to all his countrymen.
Lessons to learn:
Had Mordecai received immediate reward, it would not have been so meaningful. Mordecai would have probably been rewarded greatly. But not as much as being the second to the king of the Persian empire that included 127 provinces. When I look back at my life and see how God answered certain prayers, it amazes me. Those answers were delayed but brought in greater glory than it would have been had I received it earlier. God knows the moment when His blessing will have the greatest impact in our lives. God doesn’t forget all that we do for Him, He doesn’t forget what he has promised us.
Hebrews 6:10 - For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward His name
Revelation 22:12 - “And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work.
Hebrews 10:23 - Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful
He waits for the perfect time!
