To provide context for this story from Esther 4-5, two key figures have emerged: Haman, a high-ranking Persian official plotting to destroy all Jews, and Queen Esther, a Jewish woman who must decide whether to risk her life by approaching King Ahasuerus uninvited to plead for her people. By the end of chapter 5, both Haman and Esther will receive counsel—one leading to destruction, the other to righteousness.
Mordecai’s Counsel to Esther
In Esther 4:13-14, Mordecai counsels Esther after she expresses fear and distress over Haman’s decree. Though Mordecai has told her what she must do to save the Jews, Esther knows the grave risk of appearing before the king uninvited.
Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, “Do not think to yourself that in the king’s palace, you will escape any more than all the other Jews. For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:13-14).
Though Esther’s concerns are valid, and Mordecai acknowledges the risk, he points directly to God’s covenant promise. For centuries, Mordecai and the faithful Jewish people have relied on God’s covenant promises made to Adam in Genesis 3 and Abraham in Genesis 15. To Adam, God promised to preserve a seed that would one day crush the serpent’s head. To Abraham, He promised this seed would come through the Jewish people.
Though Haman seeks to destroy the Jews throughout the Persian Empire, Mordecai stands firm on God’s promises. He knows the promised Messiah will arise from the Jews to crush the serpent’s head. “For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place” (Esther 4:14a). While his counsel to Esther demands great risk and sacrificial courage, it is grounded in Scripture passed down through generations. Thus, Mordecai points Esther toward God and His promise as hope in what seems hopeless.
Zeresh’s Counsel to Haman
Shortly after, Haman receives counsel for his own situation. Having just attended the first feast with Esther and King Ahasuerus, he encounters something on his way home that fills him with rage.
And Haman went out that day joyful and glad of heart. But when Haman saw Mordecai in the king’s gate, that he neither rose nor trembled before him, he was filled with wrath against Mordecai. (Esther 5:9-10 ESV).
The scene is absurd in every way, but for brevity, Haman gathers his friends and wife Zeresh to seek their counsel.
Then Haman said, “Even Queen Esther let no one but me come with the king to the feast she prepared. And tomorrow also I am invited by her together with the king. Yet all this is worth nothing to me, so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king’s gate.” Then his wife Zeresh and all his friends said to him, “Let a gallows fifty cubits high be made, and in the morning tell the king to have Mordecai hanged upon it. Then go joyfully with the king to the feast.” This idea pleased Haman, and he had the gallows made. (Esther 5:12-14 ESV).
Rather than challenging Haman’s outrageous ego and petty vendetta against Mordecai, Zeresh and the others fuel his destructive thinking. They validate his selfishness and manufactured anger with even more outrageous counsel. To put it in modern terms, they suggest building a gallow as tall as two telephone poles stacked together—an absurd feat of Persian engineering just to execute one seemingly insignificant man. Their counsel only intensifies Haman’s destructive impulses.
Implications for Biblical Counseling
This contrast between counselors in Esther 4-5 powerfully reminds us of our role as Biblical Counselors and disciple-makers. Mordecai guides Esther away from fear and toward a satisfying path of faith in God’s Word. His counsel leads her to act in faith, through which God’s mighty providence unfolds. Meanwhile, Zeresh encourages Haman’s ungodly desires, which may seem satisfying initially (Esther 5:14) but ultimately lead to his destruction.
When someone seeks our counsel, which type of counselor will we be? Naturally, we all want to answer, “Mordecai!” Yet sin and the temptation to please others rather than God can make this choice challenging.
Consider someone struggling with workplace resentment. They’re angry because a less experienced coworker received a promotion instead of them. Their resentment has affected their work quality, as they feel working under this person “just isn’t right.” They contemplate quitting. Which counselor will you be?
Zeresh might validate their feelings and encourage destructive behavior: “I totally get it. You deserve to be upset. That should never have happened to you. You should tell your boss how you feel. If she doesn’t listen to you, it might be time to put in your pink slip.”
Mordecai, on the other hand, would lovingly perform spiritual surgery: “My friend, I understand the way this situation might make you feel. If you truly believe that what happened was unjust, do you think that gives you the right to behave in such an ungodly way? Would quitting or slacking off please God (2 Corinthians 5:9; 1 Corinthians 10:31)? Do you trust God that He is sovereign over all things including your workplace? How then can you take steps of faith today to honor Him as Lord?”
Consider other scenarios: a friend indulging in substances because she thinks she’s a bad mom; a dad isolating himself because he feels his wife has lost respect for him; a child wanting to transition because they think they’re trapped in the wrong body; a married couple seeking divorce because they “no longer feel like they love one another”; a teenager wanting to cut off communication with parents because “they don’t understand me.”
Will we minister the unadulterated Word of God even when it costs us popularity points, or will we shrink back from speaking the truth in love for fear of men? Which counselor will we be?
