Esther 9:1 …it was turned to the contrary…
God Is At Work
Have you ever arm wrestled? It’s a match of brute power, one arm against another. If the two strongest people you know were to arm wrestle, you might superficially assume that the winner of that match would also win in a knock-down, drag-out fight. But that is not necessarily so. The person with raw power is not always the person that wins. In fact, Jujitsu, if I understand correctly, is the art of using your opponent’s momentum, mass, and muscle against him. That is exactly what God did with this wicked man, Haman, who tried to destroy God’s people.
Now, God is much more powerful than Ahasuerus, Haman, or anyone else, but God is also much more brilliant than anyone trying to do His people harm. Esther 9:1 says, “Now in the twelfth month… when the king’s commandment and his decree drew near to be put in execution, in the day that the enemies of the Jews hoped to have power over them, (though it was turned to the contrary, that the Jews had rule over them that hated them;)… Then it explains what happened.
Notice the words, “it was turned to the contrary.” Those words encapsulate not just this chapter but the entire book. God was much more powerful than Haman and his evil schemings, and God literally took the might, authority, and power of Haman and used it to undo him.
You find this in several ways. Esther 7:10 says, “So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai.” This represented Haman’s power. It wasn’t that the power went away. God used that very power against the man who devised it, Haman.
Esther 8:1 says, “On that day did the king Ahasuerus give the house of Haman the Jews’ enemy unto Esther the queen.” The wealth was not destroyed. It was literally used against Haman and for God’s people.
Esther 8:2 says, “The king took off his ring, which he had taken from Haman, and gave it unto Mordecai.” This ring represented the authority of Haman. The authority was not undone. It was merely used against Haman.
Esther 8:11 talks about the royal decree that Haman had the king to sign to destroy the Jews, and even that was turned to the contrary. Ultimately, this is found in the “Feast of Purim.” The word “pur” is a reference to dice, a lot, or sheer chance. Haman used this to determine the day in which the Jews would be destroyed, and now that very day is celebrated as the Feast of Purim. For the Jews, this day was turned “from sorrow to joy, and from mourning into a good day.”
The book of Esther is not about Pur, but Providence. It is not about chance, but about God. God is at work. You may look at your life today and see a number of obstacles to doing the right thing. God can not only overpower these things, He can literally use them against themselves because God can turn those things to the contrary. God is at work, and He is worthy of your trust today.