A Wonderful, New Proof (And Maybe Much More)

January 27, 2012

A Wonderful, New Proof (And Maybe Much More)

By Robert Fitzpatrick

You might know about one of the main proofs that Judgment Day began on May 21 of 2011. It has to do with the fact that last May 21 was the 17th day of the second month in the Hebrew calendar. That’s the lunar calendar God instructed ancient Israel to use after they left Egypt (see Exodus 12:1-2). Why is that important?

When we read about the great flood of Noah’s day in the book of Genesis, we find that it began on the 17th day of the second month according to the calendar in use at that time (in 4990 BC). We learn this from Genesis 7:11:

In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.

In the flood, God destroyed all mankind with the exception of Noah and his family. Only eight people out of the whole world survived. Aside from the last day of the world, when God will destroy all the unsaved on earth as well as the earth itself, the flood is the only other occasion when God brought physical judgment on the whole world.

It’s important to realize that the verses about the flood weren’t used to determine that last May 21 was a key date in the timeline. Rather, their connection to May 21 was discovered only after Mr. Camping had calculated that date.

When we read about the flood, we are reading an account of an historical event; but that account can also be understood as a picture or parable of God’s judgment. We know from the Bible that God uses such pictures to instruct us about past and future events. Therefore, the fact that the flood began on the 17th day of the second month is an important confirmation for May 21 as the beginning of Judgment Day.

You may know that the book of Esther is also an historical parable about the end of the world. This was known several years before 2011; it was written about and discussed on many occasions by various Bible teachers heard over Family Radio. Collectively, they have spent many hours looking into this book of the Bible during the last few years. We may, therefore, think it’s amazing that we can still learn something new from Esther; but that is apparently what has happened.

Something New from the Book of Esther

If you’ve ever read the book of Esther, you might not have paid much attention to the dates recorded there. Those dates, however, are very important. The new information has everything to do with those dates.

God has shown us that we can understand His word, which is the Bible, only if and when He opens it up to our understanding; so we really shouldn’t be surprised when we learn something new from the Bible - even if it’s something that was right there in front of us all the time, like those dates from the book of Esther.

What has been learned from Esther proves that we have correctly understood a major date in the timeline. More proofs may yet be discovered as people continue searching the Bible; but this new confirmation is really special. It is the sort of thing that should make us suspect that God has waited until now to reveal it so that He could encourage His people after their disappointment on October 21.

A Wicked Prince, an Evil Plot, and a Courageous Queen

In order to understand what has been learned, some background information about the book of Esther is needed. The time setting for Esther is about two hundred years after the fall of Jerusalem, during the time of the Media-Persian kingdom. Most of the events we read about in this book take place in and around the palace at Shushan.

In the book, we read about a wicked prince named Haman. The king has promoted Haman above all the other princes (Esther 3:1), and now Haman expects all the king’s servants to bow before him (Esther 3:2). However, a man named Mordecai, who is a Jew, refuses to bow before Haman. We read of Haman’s reaction to this in Esther 3:5:

And when Haman saw that Mordecai bowed not, nor did him reverence, then was Haman full of wrath.

Haman decides not only to punish Mordecai, but also to destroy all the Jews throughout the kingdom (Esther 3:6). The date for their destruction is determined by casting a lot (Esther 3:7). Haman then speaks to the king, making the case that the Jews ought not to be permitted to remain in the kingdom (Esther 3:8-9) and should be destroyed. The king agrees to allow Haman to determine what should be done about the Jews (Esther 3:10-11). Haman then has the king’s scribes write a decree for the destruction of the Jews, and has it sent throughout the kingdom (Esther 3:12-15). Notice that this happens on the thirteenth day of the first month.

Mordecai learns about the decree, puts on sackcloth and publicly displays his grief throughout the city, even near the palace (Esther 4:1-2). Esther, who is queen, learns what Mordecai is doing and is grieved exceedingly. In fact, Esther is Mordecai’s younger cousin and was raised by Mordecai (Esther 2:7). Her Jewish ancestry, however, is unknown at the court (Esther 2:20).

Esther sends “raiment to clothe Mordecai, and to take away his sackcloth from him” (Esther 4:4). Mordecai doesn’t accept the clothing, and so she sends one of the king’s chamberlains to speak with Mordecai (Esther 4:5). Mordecai tells the chamberlain about the decree and gives him a copy of it, saying that Esther should go to the king and make a supplication for her people (Esther 4:7-8).

The king’s chamberlain tells Queen Esther what Mordecai has said. She then sends another message to Mordecai, telling him that if she goes into the inner court to see the king without being called, she will lose her life unless the king holds out the golden scepter to her (Esther 4:9-11). Her message includes the detail that she has not been called to come in unto the king “these thirty days.”

In Esther 4:13-14, you can read Mordecai’s response to this message. He tells her not to think that she will escape, being in the king’s house; and that, if she doesn’t speak, help will come from another place. He ends his message to her by saying “and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”

Esther sends her reply to Mordecai, asking him to gather all the Jews present in Shushan and to fast for her for three days. She says “and so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law: and if I perish, I perish (Esther 4:16).”

After the time of fasting, Esther goes to see the king and finds favor in his sight (Esther 5:1-3). Her petition to the king is that he and Haman should come to a banquet she has had prepared for that day (Esther 5:4). At the banquet, the king asks Esther what her petition is. Curiously, Esther asks the king to come with Haman the following day to another banquet that she will prepare for them (Esther 5:6-8).

When Haman comes home after the first banquet (Esther 5:10), he tells his friends and his wife how he is being honored by Esther’s invitations (Esther 5:11-12). Nevertheless, he is upset at the sight of Mordecai (Esther 5:13). His friends and his wife advise him to have a great gallows prepared, and to speak to the king the following day so that Mordecai can be hanged on it (Esther 5:14). Haman is pleased by this advice, and has the gallows built.

That night, the king cannot sleep. He orders a certain book of records to be brought and read before him (Esther 6:1). During the reading, the king hears the record of a plot that had been made against him. It had been discovered and reported by Mordecai (Esther 6:2). The king learns that nothing has been done to honor Mordecai for his service (Esther 6:3).

At that same time, Haman has come to the court to speak with the king about having Mordecai hanged on the gallows (Esther 6:4-5). Before Haman has an opportunity, the king - intending to honor Mordecai for his past service - asks Haman what shall be done for a man whom the king takes delight in honoring (Esther 6:6).

Haman advises the king to have the man dressed in the king’s royal apparel, and a crown set on his head, and led through the city on the king’s own horse by one of the king’s most noble princes as it is proclaimed before him “Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delighteth to honour” (Esther 6:7-9). The king then commands Haman to do all those things to honor Mordecai, the Jew (Esther 6:10).

Haman manages to carry out the king’s command (Esther 6:11); but in Esther 6:12, we read about his state afterwards:

And Mordecai came again to the king's gate. But Haman hasted to his house mourning, and having his head covered.

Haman tells his wife and his friends what has happened, and while they are yet talking the king’s chamberlains arrive to quickly bring Haman to the banquet Esther had prepared (Esther 6:14).

At the banquet, the king again asks Esther what her petition is. He tells her it will be granted to her (Esther 7:2). Esther then tells the king that her petition is for her life and the lives of her people (Esther 7:3). She tells the king “For we are sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be slain, and to perish” (Esther 7:4).

The king asks Esther “Who is he, and where is he, that durst presume in his heart to do so?” In Esther 7:6, we read Esther’s answer:

And Esther said, The adversary and enemy is this wicked Haman. Then Haman was afraid before the king and the queen.

The king, in anger, gets up and goes out into the palace garden (Esther 7:7). Haman realizes that his life is in jeopardy and goes over to where Esther is reclining, even falling over her to ask for his life. The king returns to see what he believes is Haman assaulting Queen Esther. One of the king’s chamberlains points out to the king the great gallows that Haman had built for Mordecai’s execution, and the king orders Haman to be hanged on it (Esther 7:8-10).

The New Proof

It’s important to realize that the book of Esther is an historical account. In it, we read about events that actually happened over two thousand years ago. However, this account is also a parable; and in the parable, Haman represents Satan.

Here are some things pointing to Haman as a picture of Satan. First, notice that Esther calls him the adversary and enemy (Esther 7:6). We know that Satan is the enemy of all the elect. Also, later on in the book of Esther we learn that Haman had ten sons and that all ten of them are executed (Esther 9:7-10). Compare this information with what we read about Satan in the book of Revelation. There (Revelation 13:1), he is pictured as a beast having ten horns. It’s important to keep these things in mind, because the new proof has a great deal to do with God’s judgment over Satan.

We are now ready to examine the new information by reviewing only a few verses. Recall that the decree ordering the Jews to be destroyed was written by the king’s scribes on the 13th day of the first month (Esther 3:12). The decree would have had a date on it. Regardless of which calendar was used in the kingdom at that time, the date would have been the 13th day of the first month according to the Hebrew calendar.

Next, we know that Esther told Mordecai she hadn’t been called to see the king “these thirty days” (Esther 4:11). Esther knew about the decree (Esther 4:8) because Mordecai had given a copy of it to the messenger to be given to her; besides, Esther in all likelihood had heard about the decree even sooner than that because she was queen! Therefore, we have every reason to understand the words “these thirty days” to mean 30 days since the date of the decree.

Recall that the Hebrew calendar’s months are based on the lunar cycle. The time from one new moon to the next is consistently and almost exactly 29.5 days. Based on a 30-day month for the first month of that year and counting 30 days after the 13th day in the first month brings us to day 13 in the second month of the Hebrew calendar. (See the note at the end of this article for additional information about this.)

The next thing we need to notice is in Esther 4:16. Esther’s message to Mordecai, recorded in that verse, is that he and the other Jews of Shushan should fast for her for three days. This was in the hope that the Lord would preserve her life and bless her effort to save the Jews when she appeared before the king. After three days of fasting that began on the 14th day of the second month, the date would be day 16 in the second month.

It was on that 16th day in the second month that Esther went to speak to the king (Esther 5:1-3). She asks him to come with Haman to a banquet that day. The king agrees to this (Esther 5:5).

At that banquet on the 16th day of the second month, the king asks Esther what her petition is. She asks the king to come to another banquet – again with Haman – on the following day, and she tells the king she will make her request then. It is at the second banquet, held on the 17th day of the second month, when Esther accuses Haman and the king orders him to be executed. Notice that the king’s chamberlain was able to see the gallows Haman had prepared some distance away, thus indicating that the sun had not yet gone down and that it was still the 17th day.

Based on what we read in Esther 8, we can conclude that Haman was executed that same day: the 17th day of the second month. Here is a summary of dated events leading up to Haman’s execution.

Timeline for Haman’s Execution

The decree to kill the Jews is

written (Esther 3:12): First month, day 13

Esther’s message to Mordecai that

she hasn’t seen the king for 30 days

since the decree (Esther 4:11);

Esther asks Mordecai to fast with

the Jews of Shushan for three days

(Esther 4:16): Second month, day 13