“¹⁹ When the virgins were assembled a second time, Mordecai was sitting at the king’s gate. ²⁰ But Esther had kept secret her family background and nationality just as Mordecai had told her to do, for she continued to follow Mordecai’s instructions as she had done when he was bringing her up.

²¹ During the time Mordecai was sitting at the king’s gate, Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s officers who guarded the doorway, became angry and conspired to assassinate King Xerxes. ²² But Mordecai found out about the plot and told Queen Esther, who in turn reported it to the king, giving credit to Mordecai. ²³ And when the report was investigated and found to be true, the two officials were impaled on poles. All this was recorded in the book of the annals in the presence of the king.”
(Esther 2:19-23 NIV)

Sometime after Esther was crowned queen, her guardian-cousin Mordecai was at the city gate (the center of trade and commerce), and found out about a plot to assassinate the king.  We don’t know Mordecai’s position or rank, but we do know (as the story progresses) that he was often at the king’s gate as part of his normal daily events.  The story does not say if he was a government official or a merchant; either way, he seemed to have a reason to be there every day.

As a person in exile from Israel, living in Persia (especially Susa, the captial), Mordecai likely heard complaints about the Persians from other exiles, all wanting life to go back to how it was before the overthrow.  But that was not to be.  Mordecai recognized the danger to Esther (as well as himself and all the other Jews living in exile), and reported the conspiracy to Queen Esther, who reported it to the king, citing Mordecai as the one uncovering the plot.  The conspiracy was found to be true, and the conspirators were killed (most likely by the very means they had conspired to kill the king).  The king had the conspiracy recorded in the daily log of events (some Bible translations call it the journal, or annals, or chronicles).

Once again, we see God’s Providence working quietly but forcefully behind the scenes, orchestrating events to expose evil and corruption and protect the innocent.  God works through both natural and supernatural means to do His will.

We will likely never know this side of eternity the unseen battles that the Lord has fought for us while we are on this earth, as well as His protection from our weaknesses and temptations.  I am humbled just to think about this, and so thankful for His Provident hand working behind the scenes for our good.

Time for worship…

Blessings,
~kevin