Pageant Queen with a Purpose, #31 The rest of the story. As this amazing book comes to a close, we see how God continued to move. Read Esther 10:1-3. King Xerxes imposed tribute throughout the empire, to its distant shores. And all his acts of power and might, together with a full account of the greatness of Mordecai, whom the king had promoted, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Media and Persia? Mordecai the Jew was second in rank to King Xerxes, preeminent among the Jews, and held in high esteem by his many fellow Jews, because he worked for the good…

Pageant Queen with a Purpose, #30 Esther finalized the decree. She took everything that had happened and she finalized it. Read Esther 9:29-32. So Queen Esther, daughter of Abihail, along with Mordecai the Jew, wrote with full authority to confirm this second letter concerning Purim. And Mordecai sent letters to all the Jews in the 127 provinces of Xerxes’ kingdom—words of goodwill and assurance— to establish these days of Purim at their designated times, as Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther had decreed for them, and as they had established for themselves and their descendants in regard to their times of fasting and lamentation. Esther’s decree confirmed these regulations about…

Pageant Queen with a Purpose, #29 Remember. Share the story and make sure that we remember what God has done. Read Esther 9:20-28. Mordecai recorded these events, and he sent letters to all the Jews throughout the provinces of King Xerxes, near and far, to have them celebrate annually the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month of Adar as the time when the Jews got relief from their enemies, and as the month when their sorrow was turned into joy and their mourning into a day of celebration. He wrote them to observe the days as days of feasting and joy and giving presents of food to one another…

Pageant Queen with a Purpose, #28 Celebration! The Jews have been saved and they defeated their enemies. Now they take time to celebrate. Read Esther 9:16-19. Meanwhile, the remainder of the Jews who were in the king’s provinces also assembled to protect themselves and get relief from their enemies. They killed seventy-five thousand of them but did not lay their hands on the plunder. This happened on the thirteenth day of the month of Adar, and on the fourteenth they rested and made it a day of feasting and joy. The Jews in Susa, however, had assembled on the thirteenth and fourteenth, and then on the fifteenth they rested and…

Pageant Queen with a Purpose, #26 Continued blessing. Because of all that has happened, there are continuing blessings for Mordecai. Read Esther 9:1-10. On the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar, the edict commanded by the king was to be carried out. On this day the enemies of the Jews had hoped to overpower them, but now the tables were turned and the Jews got the upper hand over those who hated them. The Jews assembled in their cities in all the provinces of King Xerxes to attack those determined to destroy them. No one could stand against them, because the people of all the other…

Pageant Queen with a Purpose, #25 Hope. The Jews now had hope where before they had nothing. Read Esther 8:15-17. Then Mordecai went out from the presence of the king in royal robes of blue and white, with a large crown of gold and a garment of fine linen and purple; and the city of Susa shouted and rejoiced. For the Jews there was light and gladness and joy and honor. In each and every province and in each and every city, wherever the king’s commandment and his decree arrived, there was gladness and joy for the Jews, a feast and a holiday. And many among the peoples of the…

Pageant Queen with a Purpose, #24 The right to fight back. Esther knew that they could not change the decree that had already gone out giving people the right to try and kill the Jews. However, she and mordecai came up with another solution. Read Esther 8:4-14. The king extended the golden scepter to Esther. So Esther arose and stood before the king. Then she said, “If it pleases the king and if I have found favor before him and the matter seems proper to the king and I am pleasing in his sight, let it be written to revoke the letters devised by Haman, the son of Hammedatha the…

Pageant Queen with a Purpose, #23 Still a problem. While we saw yesterday that the king addressed the problem with Haman, Esther still has a problem that she needs to bring before the king. Read Esther 8:1-3. On that day King Ahasuerus gave the house of Haman, the enemy of the Jews, to Queen Esther; and Mordecai came before the king, for Esther had disclosed what he was to her. The king took off his signet ring which he had taken away from Haman, and gave it to Mordecai. And Esther set Mordecai over the house of Haman. Then Esther spoke again to the king, fell at his feet, wept…

Pageant Queen with a Purpose, #22 Irony. Haman had determined to destroy the Jews all because of Mordecai, yet he is hung on the very gallows that he built to hang Mordecai on. Read Esther 7:5-10. Then King Ahasuerus asked Queen Esther, “Who is he, and where is he, who would presume to do thus?” Esther said, “A foe and an enemy is this wicked Haman!” Then Haman became terrified before the king and queen. The king arose in his anger from drinking wine and went into the palace garden; but Haman stayed to beg for his life from Queen Esther, for he saw that harm had been determined against…