NGH Bible Study – Esther – Session #9

The King’s New Decree

Esther 8:1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17

Esther chapter 8 provides a great narrative on intercession, deliverance and the triumph of joy over sorrow. It continues to provide excellent insight into how God works through imperfect human laws and circumstances to further his purposes. There are some instructive contrasts between the “solution” to the dilemma of the King’s “unalterable decree” and God’s solution to his own unswerving justice in delivering us from sin.

Outline

1. The Transfer of authority (from Haman to Mordecai)
(Esther 8:1,2)

2. Esther’s Intercession & the Dilemma of the Unalterable Law (Esther 8:3,4,5,6)

3. The New Decree & the Strategy for Deliverance
(Esther 8:7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14)

4. The Transformation in Shushan (Susa) (Esther 8: 15,16,17)

Discussion Questions

1. Intercession –What lessons on Intercession can we learn from Esther’s behaviour at the start of the chapter, as she reveals her relationship with Mordecai and her identity with the Jewish people?

2. Navigating Imperfect Circumstances and Flawed Systems – How did Mordecai and Esther work within a flawed legal system to bring about justice? What does this teach us about engaging with the world today? Is our role to overturn existing political and legal structures – or is it to work within them, despite their imperfections, to allow God’s purposes to be furthered?

3. The Gospel Parallel –By nature, we were trapped by an “unalterable law” – the law of sin and death, and the inflexible justice of God. The message of the gospel tells us of the “law of sin and death” but also of the “law of the Spirit of life”. It tells us how God can be “just and the justifier of him who believes in Jesus”. In what ways is God’s ultimate deliverance of us guilty sinners so incomparably better than the compromise that we find in this chapter for the Jews?

4. The joy which comes from deliverance – What are some of the considerable contrasts between the end of chapter 3 after Haman’s edict and the end of chapter 8 after Mordecai’s edict? (confusion & weeping vs joy & celebration, destruction & death vs defense and life, bewildered or perplexed people vs many people joining the Jews). What does this teach us about the true joy that comes from our deliverance
“These things I have spoken to you that My joy may remain in you and that your joy may be full” (John 15:11)