After the three days of fasting Esther went to the king, and he held out the golden scepter and asked what her request might be (Esther 5:1-2). Esther carefully set up the scenario for two days (5:4-8), negotiating for one special dinner and then another. Then, finally, she pleaded for the life of her people (7:2-4).

The king was enraged at what Haman had done – though perhaps more at the potential financial loss than at the potential loss of a people (7:4). Soon it transpired that Haman was hanged on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai (7:9-10).

We could see the foreshadowing of Haman’s fate when he had built that gallows for Mordecai (5:13-14) and then had to honor him instead. Even in the honoring, we can see it starting to slip away from Haman when he thought he was giving advice about how he himself would be honored, and then discovered that he would play the role of servant in honoring Mordecai. His own wife and advisors had encouraged him to build the gallows fifty cubits high to hang Mordecai: at a height of about 75 feet, everyone would have a really good view of anyone who got hanged on it. But Mordecai turned out to be the man the king was glad to honor, and Haman’s wife and advisors ended up predicting that Haman’s good fortune was about to be reversed (6:10-13).

It feels like kind of a fairy tale ending, with the heroes living happily ever after and the villain hanged on his own gallows. Yet it aims to be more than a fairy tale. We are to see the unseen hand of God at work behind the visible events: and even more, we are to see the devotion inherent in three days of prayer and fasting. If we are wise, we will ponder what it would be like if we ourselves were to have such serious dedication to aligning ourselves with God; and we will also consider why we are so reluctant to offer even a small portion of such devotion.

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Teach us to seek your will and your mercy, O Lord: teach us to draw near to you with prayer and fasting, with deep heart-felt dedication, that we may see the effects of your strong and saving arm.

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