Such a Great Salvation

Press the play button to watch the video above or press 'more' to read the transcript of the daily devotion below. Please read Esther 8:3-17 (use your own Bible or use the link above to access the in-App Bible).

‘Then Esther spoke again to the king; she fell at his feet, weeping and pleading with him to avert the evil design of Haman the Agagite and the plot that he had devised against the Jews.’ Esther 8:3

Since the screening of Mr Bates vs The Post Office early in 2024 things have certainly improved for the hundreds of sub-postmasters and mistresses who were wrongly accused and convicted of crimes because of the Post Office’s faulty IT system. True, a lot of these cases still await a satisfactory conclusion—and sadly there are those who died without being exonerated or compensated—but thankfully the story is now rightly celebrated for the great reversal that the victims have come through.

Turning to today’s passage from Esther 8 we have another great reversal story, but this time involving God’s people. The evil Haman is now dead—hoist with his own petard at the end of chapter 7—but there’s still the terrifying matter of that awful decree signed and sealed by king Ahasuerus as a result of Haman’s false accusation back in chapter 3. Unless something is done the Jews living throughout the Persian Empire will face genocide.

But there is someone who might be able to do something – Queen Esther. Esther was a Jewess but when she married Ahasuerus she had kept her ethnicity a secret (2:10); but now was the time to break cover and put her life on the line (4:16) and plead with the king. Even though she was the queen this would mean breaking the law, but she had to risk everything with her people in such danger.

A repeated theme in Scripture is that God’s people are saved through the courageous faithful intervention of just one person. Usually it’s a man—think of Joseph, Moses and David. But here God surprises us by sending a woman, “for just such a time as this.” (4:14) And so Esther makes her plea to king Ahasuerus in chapter 8. And wonderfully he listens and issues a new decree that allows the Jews to defend themselves (8:11). The chapter ends with great rejoicing because everything has been reversed for God’s people. And we too should rejoice that Jesus reverses everything for us.

Let us pray: O God we rejoice that You have delivered us from the dominion of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of Your beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Amen

The Revd Canon Mark Jones, Retired Vicar of St Leonard’s, Padiham and St Margaret’s, Hapton.