Esther 5:8

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 haste." 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.

But it is worth thinking about how Esther was led to delay the request that filled her heart. Nature would have poured it out to the king at once, for he was so moved by her beauty. And even one day's delay, promising as the day was, must have been a hard trial for the Jews — and perhaps for her cousin too! But the Unseen was guiding in secret. He would use that delay, dangerous as it looked, to work for her and for everyone, and for His own deep and good purposes.

She is received in grace! Deliverance has not happened yet, but the grace that brings deliverance has appeared before Esther's eyes. Yet as long as the Enemy is powerful, the wisdom of a serpent must go together with the innocence of a dove. Esther postpones her request to a later time. She invites the king and Haman to her feast, and so gives him the chance to confirm his promise. And once the king had confirmed such a promise, binding himself alone, no one could cancel it.

Is this, I ask, mere patience? Is it just calmness and self-control? Is it just a well-ordered heart, unlike the hot-headed way of Herodias, who had been offered the very same thing? (Mark 6:23) It may have been all this; but it was more. It was the way of one who knew and imitated God's way in like cases. The Lord holds all power, yet He is patient. He can bear with an Amorite for 400 years, until that man's sin reaches its full measure. So here, the one who had learnt from Him... can be patient also, and let the "man of the earth" go on to the full measure of his sin.

At the banquet, however, Esther did not divulge the purpose of her plans. The king asked her again what she wanted. She asked only that he and Haman come to a second banquet the next day, when she would make her request. Why did she do this? So that the pride of Haman would be built up to such a level that his fall would be that much greater.

Not a single one of them even attempts to suggest to him a means of escaping his misfortune... at that very moment, "the king's chamberlains came, and hurried to bring Haman to the banquet that Esther had prepared." Oh, how that expression, "Tomorrow also I am invited to her with the king," turns against him. The sun of his glory is darkened.

Esther had asked the king to attend a second festive meal she would prepare. She uses this occasion to inform the king of the plight of her people — and her own plight. Haman is named as the man behind this evil plan to wipe them out, and he is sentenced to death. This reminds us of how the remnant will pour out their sorrows to God — as many Psalms show.