Bible Study - Side Kicks (5) - Haman - Esther 3:1-9, 6:10-14 - August 18, 2024

 

Bible Study – Side Kicks (5) – Haman – Esther 3:1-9, 6:10-14 – August 18, 2024

Whatever you do, do it with humility.

Our focus scripture is Esther 3:1-9, 6:10-14.

This is great scripture which reveals the hand of GOD working to preserve HIS chosen people. I encourage you to read the entire book of Esther. My attempt is to add enough scripture to give you an overview of Esther and for us to see the hand of GOD at work.

Background – Esther 2:7:
Mordecai (A Jew) was the legal guardian of his cousin Hadassah (Myrtle) – Hadassah was also known by her Jewish name Esther. Her Persian name means “morning star.”. She had a beautiful figure and was extremely good-looking. When her father and mother died, Mordecai had adopted her as his own daughter.

When GOD has a plan for our lives, HE directs our path and we have to take action when we have the opportunity. We have witnessed this in this series of study. GOD has a plan for every life. The question is. “Do we seek to do GOD’S will, through faith in JESUS, HIS only Son?” Let’s explore!

In this study, GOD is visible in HIS actions through the lives of those in these events.

GOD so orders our path along the road of life.

Queen Vashti Angers the King

Esther 1: 1 These events took place during the days of Ahasuerus (Xerxes in Greek), who ruled 127 provinces from India to Cush. ² In those days King Ahasuerus reigned from his royal throne in the fortress at Susa. ³ He held a feast in the third year of his reign for all his officials and staff, the army of Persia and Media, the nobles, and the officials from the provinces. ⁴ He displayed the glorious wealth of his kingdom and the magnificent splendor of his greatness for a total of 180 days.

As an uncle of mine used to say, “If you got it, flaunt it.” King Ahasuerus flaunted it.

This is a beautiful study of the hand of GOD working through the lives of HIS chosen to preserve HIS chosen people, the Israelites.

The Israelites left Egypt traditionally dated 1446 BC. The time period for our study was roughly (483 BC-473 BC).

King Ahasuerus wanted to show off his beautiful wife, Queen Vashti as recorded in Esther 1: ¹⁰ On the seventh day, when the king was feeling good from the wine, Ahasuerus commanded Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, Abagtha, Zethar, and Carkas—the seven eunuchs who personally served him— ¹¹ to bring Queen Vashti before him with her royal crown. He wanted to show off her beauty to the people and the officials, because she was incredibly beautiful. ¹² But Queen Vashti refused to come at the king’s command that was delivered by his eunuchs. The king became furious, and his anger burned within him.

So, on the surface this seems like a normal request, but was it?

No! The King wanted her to appear to his guests wearing only her royal crown. Queen Vashti refused which was her death warrant. It also opened up a vacancy for a new Queen.

Her refusal to obey the King sent a shock wave throughout the kingdom. So, they sought counsel from Memucan, who is one of the seven princes of Persia and Media who served King Ahasuerus. 

Memucan is notable for his role in advising the king to depose Queen Vashti after she refused to appear before the king and his guests at a banquet¹².

Queen Vashti’s refusal to obey the King rocked manhood throughout that known part of the inhabited world. Why? Because it might encourage and embolden women to rebel against their husbands. Oh, my potential trouble in the kingdom.

GOD puts HIS people in key positions to obediently serve HIM to accomplish HIS plans. So, in Esther 1: ¹⁹ “If it meets the king’s approval, he should personally issue a royal decree. Let it be recorded in the laws of the Persians and the Medes, so that it cannot be revoked: Vashti is not to enter King Ahasuerus’s presence, and her royal position is to be given to another woman who is more worthy than she. ²⁰ The decree the king issues will be heard throughout his vast kingdom, so all women will honor their husbands, from the greatest to the least.”

²¹ The king and his counselors approved the proposal, and he followed Memucan’s advice. ²² He sent letters to all the royal provinces, to each province in its own script and to each ethnic group in its own language, that every man should be master of his own house and speak in the language of his own people.

To fast forward, Esther becomes Queen because of her beauty but her ethnicity was not known.

Keep in mind that Queen Esther and Uncle Mordecai were Jews.

In Esther 2: ¹⁰ Esther did not reveal her ethnicity or her family background, because Mordecai had ordered her not to make them known.

Esther was in training be queen as recorded in Esther 2: ¹² During the year before each young woman’s turn to go to King Ahasuerus, the harem regulation required her to receive beauty treatments with oil of myrrh for six months and then with perfumes and cosmetics for another six months. ¹³ When the young woman would go to the king, she was given whatever she requested to take with her from the harem to the palace. ¹⁴ She would go in the evening, and in the morning, she would return to a second harem under the supervision of the king’s eunuch Shaashgaz, keeper of the concubines. She never went to the king again unless he desired her and summoned her by name.

In Esther 2: ¹⁷ The king loved Esther more than all the other women. She won more favor and approval from him than did any of the other virgins. He placed the royal crown on her head and made her queen in place of Vashti. 

In Esther 2: ²¹ During those days while Mordecai was sitting at the King’s Gate, Bigthan and Teresh, two of the king’s eunuchs who guarded the entrance, became infuriated and planned to assassinate^[c] King Ahasuerus. ²² When Mordecai learned of the plot, he reported it to Queen Esther, and she told the king on Mordecai’s behalf. ²³ When the report was investigated and verified, both men were hanged on the gallows. This event was recorded in the Historical Record in the king’s presence.

Let’s read Esther 3:1-9:

Haman’s Plan to Kill the Jews

3 After all this took place, King Ahasuerus honored Haman, son of Hammedatha the Agagite. He promoted him in rank and gave him a higher position than all the other officials. ² The entire royal staff at the King’s Gate bowed down and paid homage to Haman, because the king had commanded this to be done for him. But Mordecai would not bow down or pay homage. ³ The members of the royal staff at the King’s Gate asked Mordecai, “Why are you disobeying the king’s command?” ⁴ When they had warned him day after day and he still would not listen to them, they told Haman in order to see if Mordecai’s actions would be tolerated, since he had told them he was a Jew.

⁵ When Haman saw that Mordecai was not bowing down or paying him homage, he was filled with rage. ⁶ And when he learned of Mordecai’s ethnic identity, it seemed repugnant to Haman to do away with^[a] Mordecai alone. He planned to destroy all of Mordecai’s people, the Jews, throughout Ahasuerus’s kingdom.

⁷ In the first month, the month of Nisan, in King Ahasuerus’s twelfth year, the pur—that is, the lot—was cast before Haman for each day in each month, and it fell on the twelfth month, the month Adar. ⁸ Then Haman informed King Ahasuerus, “There is one ethnic group, scattered throughout the peoples in every province of your kingdom, keeping themselves separate. Their laws are different from everyone else’s, and they do not obey the king’s laws. It is not in the king’s best interest to tolerate them. ⁹ If the king approves, let an order be drawn up authorizing their destruction, and I will pay 375 tons of silver to^[b] the officials for deposit in the royal treasury.”

Satan’s work is subtle. America pay attention! It is the hidden agenda of those in power that must be revealed.

Esther 3: ¹³ Letters were sent by couriers to each of the royal provinces telling the officials to destroy, kill, and annihilate all the Jewish people—young and old, women and children—and plunder their possessions on a single day, the thirteenth day of Adar, the twelfth month.^[c]

Esther 4:1 When Mordecai learned all that had occurred, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, went into the middle of the city, and cried loudly and bitterly. ² He went only as far as the King’s Gate, since the law prohibited anyone wearing sackcloth from entering the King’s Gate. ³ There was great mourning among the Jewish people in every province where the king’s command and edict reached. They fasted, wept, and lamented, and many lay in sackcloth and ashes.

⁴ Esther’s female servants and her eunuchs came and reported the news to her, and the queen was overcome with fear. She sent clothes for Mordecai to wear so that he would take off his sackcloth, but he did not accept them. ⁵ Esther summoned Hathach, one of the king’s eunuchs who attended her, and dispatched him to Mordecai to learn what he was doing and why.^[a] 6 So Hathach went out to Mordecai in the city square in front of the King’s Gate. ⁷ Mordecai told him everything that had happened as well as the exact amount of money Haman had promised to pay the royal treasury for the slaughter of the Jews.

⁸ Mordecai also gave him a copy of the written decree issued in Susa ordering their destruction, so that Hathach might show it to Esther, explain it to her, and command her to approach the king, implore his favor, and plead with him personally for her people. ⁹ Hathach came and repeated Mordecai’s response to Esther.

Queen Esther had to make a decision whether or not to approach the King on behalf of the Jewish people. To approach the King without an invitation from the King could mean her death. It depended upon whether the king extended his golden scepter to her or not.

Esther 4: ¹⁰ Esther spoke to Hathach and commanded him to tell Mordecai, ¹¹ “All the royal officials and the people of the royal provinces know that one law applies to every man or woman who approaches the king in the inner courtyard and who has not been summoned—the death penalty—unless the king extends the gold scepter, allowing that person to live. I have not been summoned to appear before the king for the last^[b] thirty days.” ¹² Esther’s response was reported to Mordecai.

In Esther 4: ¹³ Mordecai told the messenger to reply to Esther, “Don’t think that you will escape the fate of all the Jews because you are in the king’s palace. ¹⁴ If you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will come to the Jewish people from another place, but you and your father’s family will be destroyed. Who knows, perhaps you have come to your royal position for such a time as this.”

This is a key statement. GOD places HIS chosen to be in the right place at the right time to accomplish HIS will and purpose.

Esther 4:15 Esther sent this reply to Mordecai: ¹⁶ “Go and assemble all the Jews who can be found in Susa and fast for me. Don’t eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my female servants will also fast in the same way. After that, I will go to the king even if it is against the law. If I perish, I perish.” ¹⁷ So Mordecai went and did everything Esther had commanded him.

In Esther 5: On the third day, Esther dressed in her royal clothing and stood in the inner courtyard of the palace facing it. The king was sitting on his royal throne in the royal courtroom,^[a] facing its entrance. ² As soon as the king saw Queen Esther standing in the courtyard, she gained favor with him. The king extended the gold scepter in his hand toward Esther, and she approached and touched the tip of the scepter.

³ “What is it, Queen Esther?” the king asked her. “Whatever you want, even to half the kingdom, will be given to you.”

⁴ “If it pleases the king,” Esther replied, “may the king and Haman come today to the banquet I have prepared for them.”

⁵ The king said, “Hurry, and get Haman so we can do as Esther has requested.” So, the king and Haman went to the banquet Esther had prepared.

There is much discussion about why there was a second banquet. The Jews believe it was the day the Israelites were freed from Egypt.

We read that Haman was ecstatic that he was invited to this intimate banquet consisting of Queen Esther, the King and Haman. As Haman left this first banquet, he passed by Mordecai who did not bow down to him. This infuriated Haman who was in a hurry to go home to tell his wife and family the good news of his private invitation to dine with the King and Queen.

After Haman told his story to his wife, in Esther 5: ¹⁴ His wife Zeresh and all his friends told him, “Have them build a gallows seventy-five feet^[d] tall. Ask the king in the morning to hang Mordecai on it. Then go to the banquet with the king and enjoy yourself.” The advice pleased Haman, so he had the gallows constructed.

In the meantime, GOD was at work.

Let’s read Esther 6:1 that night sleep escaped the king, so he ordered the book recording daily events to be brought and read to the king. ² They found the written report of how Mordecai had informed on Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s eunuchs who guarded the entrance, when they planned to assassinate King Ahasuerus. ³ The king inquired, “What honor and special recognition have been given to Mordecai for this act?”

The king’s personal attendants replied, “Nothing has been done for him.”

⁴ The king asked, “Who is in the court?” Now Haman was just entering the outer court of the palace to ask the king to hang Mordecai on the gallows he had prepared for him.

⁵ The king’s attendants answered him, “Haman is there, standing in the court.”

“Have him enter,” the king ordered. ⁶ Haman entered, and the king asked him, “What should be done for the man the king wants to honor?”

Haman thought to himself, “Who is it the king would want to honor more than me?” 

Assumptions can be devastating and our ego often blinds us.

Haman told the king in glowing detail what should be done for this person, who Haman thought was himself.

The great reveal.

Let’s read Esther 6:10-14:

¹⁰ The king told Haman, “Hurry, and do just as you proposed. Take a garment and a horse for Mordecai the Jew, who is sitting at the King’s Gate. Do not leave out anything you have suggested.”

¹¹ So Haman took the garment and the horse. He clothed Mordecai and paraded him through the city square, calling out before him, “This is what is done for the man the king wants to honor.”

¹² Then Mordecai returned to the King’s Gate, but Haman hurried off for home, mournful and with his head covered. ¹³ Haman told his wife Zeresh and all his friends everything that had happened. His advisers and his wife Zeresh said to him, “Since Mordecai is Jewish, and you have begun to fall before him, you won’t overcome him, because your downfall is certain.” ¹⁴ While they were still speaking with him, the king’s eunuchs arrived and rushed Haman to the banquet Esther had prepared.

Esther 7: ³ Queen Esther answered, “If I have found favor with you, Your Majesty, and if the king is pleased, spare my life; this is my request. And spare my people; this is my desire. ⁴ For my people and I have been sold to destruction, death, and annihilation. If we had merely been sold as male and female slaves, I would have kept silent. Indeed, the trouble wouldn’t be worth burdening the king.”

⁵ King Ahasuerus spoke up and asked Queen Esther, “Who is this, and where is the one who would devise such a scheme?” ^[b]

⁶ Esther answered, “The adversary and enemy is this evil Haman.”

·       Haman stood terrified before the king and queen. ⁷ The king arose in anger and went from where they were drinking wine to the palace garden.^[c] Haman remained to beg Queen Esther for his life because he realized the king was planning something terrible for him. ⁸ Just as the king returned from the palace garden to the banquet hall,^[d] Haman was falling on the couch where Esther was reclining. The king exclaimed, “Would he actually violate the queen while I am in the house?” As soon as the statement left the king’s mouth, they covered Haman’s face.

Trouble in the King’s house. Why did they cover Haman’s face? Haman was considered a Deadman.

Esther 7: ⁹ Harbona, one of the king’s eunuchs, said, “There is a gallows seventy-five feet^[e] tall at Haman’s house that he made for Mordecai, who gave the report that saved^[f] the king.”

The king said, “Hang him on it.”

¹⁰ They hanged Haman on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the king’s anger subsided.

In the words of Dr. Vance Havner, “We must practice in the dark what we learn in the light.” GOD is in control.

We must keep this in mind as we travel along the highway of life.

Blessings!!!