Esther 5:6

She is received in grace! Deliverance has not come yet, but the grace that brings deliverance has already appeared before Esther's eyes. From the very first instant, she is sure of sharing half of the king's possessions. She may ask far more than she ever meant to ask him. But while the Enemy is still strong, she must join the caution of a serpent to the innocence of a dove. So Esther puts off her request. She invites the king and Haman to her feast, and gives him the chance to confirm his promise. (See v. 3 and 6) And a confirmed promise, binding the king alone, could not be cancelled.

For the third time Ahasuerus repeats to Esther his offer of half of his kingdom. Whatever may happen, she may have full confidence, because the king's own mouth has confirmed the promise twice. And so she now becomes bold.

God gave her wisdom. She does not at once bring out what was so heavy a burden on her heart. "Whoever believes will not be in a hurry." The unseen God who was the object of her trust enabled her soul to wait. She asks not only the king to the banquet, but the king and Haman. How often this happens. It is the same with the Lord when He hands Judas the piece of bread, just before that terrible betrayal which led to the cross. Haman had no idea what the God who did not appear was preparing for him.

It is worth considering how Esther was led to put off the request that filled her heart. Natural feeling would have poured it out before the king at once, moved as he was by her beauty. And what a trial that delay must have been to the Jews, even for a single day that looked so promising — and to her cousin too! But the Unseen One was guiding in secret. He would use that delay, dangerous as it seemed, to work for her and for them all, and to carry out His own deep and good purposes.

But she is patient. She invites the king and Haman to her banquet of wine. They come, and again half of the kingdom is put within her reach. Still she waits, and invites them a second time. Is this mere patience? It was the way of someone who knew God's way in cases like this and copied it. The Lord holds all power, and yet He is patient. For 400 years He could bear with an Amorite, until the measure of his sin was full. (Gen. 15:13-16.) So here, the one who had learned from Him could be patient too, even with a kingdom's resources in her hand, and let the "man of the earth" go on to the full measure of his sin.

At the banquet, Esther did not reveal her plans. The king asked her again what she wanted. She asked only that the king and Haman come to a second banquet the next day, when she would make her request. Why did she do this? So that Haman's pride would swell so high that his fall would be all the greater.

How different this scene is from the one in Mark 6. There another king, Herod, says the same words to the daughter of Herodias: "Whatever you ask me, I will give you, up to half of my kingdom." But Herod spoke out of a heart on fire with his guilty desires. Here we find something very different. Ahasuerus had neglected Esther for a time. Yet when she comes back to him, after three days of fasting, with the marks of her pain and distress on her face, his interest wakes and his heart goes out to meet her. He grants her everything before she asks. We discover God behind all this scene.