221211 Esther 5-7: "...For Such a Time as This" Pt II

PR 24:11 “Deliver those who are being taken away to death, And those who are stumbling to the slaughter, Oh hold them back.”

Introduction

Context:

Need to max out the suspense of what is going to happen:

The malice of Haman and his pride

Mordecai’s hesed

Esther’s beauty and courage

Her starvation and fasting

Her willingness to confront death to save her people

The ineptitude of Ahasuerus

Focus on the three days without food and water, the extreme fasting and peril that the people faced

Most people cannot survive longer than 2-4 days without food and water

Esther 5–7 (LSB)

I. The Ugliness of Pride (Ch5)

CHAPTER 5

1 Now it happened on the third day, that Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the king’s house in front of the king’s rooms, and the king was sitting on his royal throne in the throne room, opposite the entrance to his house.

2 Now it happened that when the king saw Esther the queen standing in the court, she advanced in favor in his eyes; and the king extended to Esther the golden scepter which was in his hand. So Esther came near and reached out and touched the top of the scepter.

3 Then the king said to her, “What is troubling you, Queen Esther? And what is your request? Even to half of the kingdom it shall be given to you.”

4 And Esther said, “If it seems good to the king, may the king and Haman come this day to the feast that I have prepared for him.”

Cross References

Pro 21.1 “The king’s heart is like channels of water in the hand of Yahweh; He turns it wherever He pleases.”

5 Then the king said, “Bring Haman quickly that we may do the word of Esther.” So the king and Haman came to the feast which Esther had prepared.

6 Then, as they drank their wine at the feast, the king said to Esther, “What is your petition? For it shall be given to you. And what is your request? Even to half of the kingdom it shall be done.”

7 So Esther answered and said, “My petition and my request is:

8 if I have found favor in the eyes of the king, and if it seems good to the king to give heed to my petition and to do my request, may the king and Haman come to the feast which I will prepare for them, and tomorrow I will do according to the word of the king.”

9 Then Haman went out that day glad and merry of heart; but when Haman saw Mordecai in the king’s gate and that he did not stand up or tremble before him, Haman was filled with wrath against Mordecai.

10 But Haman controlled himself, went to his house, and sent for and brought his friends and his wife Zeresh.

11 Then Haman recounted to them the glory of his riches and the number of his sons and every instance where the king had magnified him and how he had advanced him above the princes and servants of the king.

12 Haman also said, “Even Esther the queen let no one but me come with the king to the feast which she had prepared; and tomorrow also I am called to come to her with the king.

13 “Yet all of this is worth nothing to me every time I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king’s gate.”

14 Then Zeresh his wife and all his friends said to him, “Have a gallows fifty cubits high made and in the morning say to the king that Mordecai should be hanged on it; then go gladly with the king to the feast.” And the word was good to Haman, so he had the gallows made.

Cross reference

Ezek 16.13 ““Thus you were adorned with gold and silver, and your clothing was of fine linen, silk, and embroidered cloth. You ate fine flour, honey, and oil; so you were exceedingly beautiful and advanced to royalty.”

PR 16.18 “Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before stumbling.”

PR 29.23 “A man’s lofty pride will bring him low, But a lowly spirit will take hold of glory.”

Main Point

Context

Themes

Doctrine

Theology

How does this support my Main Point

Does anything in here detract from my main point

Questions

Observation

Principle

Implications

Application to Christians/Non-Christians

Cross Reference Support

II. The Humiliation of Haman (Ch6)

CHAPTER 6

1 During that night, sleep had fled from the king, so he said for them to bring the book of memoranda, the chronicles, and they were read before the king.

2 And it was found written what Mordecai had told concerning Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s eunuchs from those who were doorkeepers, that they had sought to send forth their hand against King Ahasuerus.

3 And the king said, “What honor or greatness has been done to Mordecai for this?” Then the king’s young men who attended him said, “Nothing has been done for him.”

4 So the king said, “Who is in the court?” Now Haman had entered the outer court of the king’s house in order to speak to the king about hanging Mordecai on the gallows which he had set up for him.

5 And the king’s young men said to him, “Behold, Haman is standing in the court.” And the king said, “Let him come in.”

6 So Haman came in, and the king said to him, “What is to be done for the man whom the king delights to honor?” And Haman said in his heart, “Whom would the king delight to honor more than me?”

7 Then Haman said to the king, “For the man whom the king delights to honor,

8 let them bring a royal robe which the king clothes himself in, and the horse on which the king has ridden, and on whose head a royal crown has been placed;

9 and let the robe and the horse be given over to the hand of one of the king’s most noble princes, and let them clothe the man whom the king delights to honor and lead him on horseback through the city square and call out before him, ‘Thus it shall be done to the man whom the king delights to honor.’”

PR 18.12 “Before destruction the heart of man is haughty, But humility goes before glory.”

10 Then the king said to Haman, “Take quickly the robes and the horse as you have said, and do so for Mordecai the Jew, who is sitting at the king’s gate; do not fall short in anything of all that you have spoken.”

11 So Haman took the robe and the horse and clothed Mordecai and led him on horseback through the city square and called out before him, “Thus it shall be done to the man whom the king delights to honor.”

12 Then Mordecai returned to the king’s gate. But Haman hastened home, mourning, with his head covered.

13 And Haman recounted to Zeresh his wife and all his friends everything that had happened to him. Then his wise men and Zeresh his wife said to him, “If Mordecai, before whom you have begun to fall, is of the seed of the Jews, you will not overcome him, but will surely fall before him.”

14 While they were still speaking with him, the king’s eunuchs reached Haman’s home and hastily brought Haman to the feast which Esther had prepared.

Ge12.3 “And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.””

PS 57.6 “They have set a net for my steps; My soul is bowed down; They dug a pit before me; They themselves have fallen into the midst of it. Selah.”

PR28.18 “He who walks blamelessly will be saved, But he who is crooked—double dealing—will fall all at once.”

Main Point

Context

Themes

Doctrine

Theology

How does this support my Main Point

Does anything in here detract from my main point

Questions

Observation

Principle

Haman’s happiness depended upon the glory that he received from people

Mordecai just went back to work

Implications

Application to Christians/Non-Christians

Cross Reference Support

III. The Fiend Revealed (Ch7)

CHAPTER 7

1 Then the king and Haman came to drink wine with Esther the queen.

2 And the king said to Esther on the second day also as they drank their wine at the feast, “What is your petition, Queen Esther? It shall be given you. And what is your request? Even to half of the kingdom it shall be done.”

3 Then Queen Esther answered and said, “If I have found favor in your eyes, O king, and if it seems good to the king, let my life be given to me as my petition, and my people as my request;

4 for we have been sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be killed, and to be caused to perish. Now if we had only been sold as slaves, men and women, I would have remained silent, for the adversity would not be worth the annoyance to the king.”

5 Then King Ahasuerus said—he said to Esther the Queen, “Who is this one, and where is this one, who fills his heart to do thus?”

6 So Esther said, “An adversary and an enemy is this evil Haman!” Then Haman became terrified before the king and queen.

7 And the king arose in his wrath from drinking wine and went into the garden of his palace; but Haman stayed to seek for his life from Queen Esther, for he saw that calamity had been determined against him by the king.

8 Now the king returned from the garden of his palace into the place where they were drinking wine. And Haman was falling on the couch where Esther was. So the king said, “Will he even assault the queen with me in the house?” As the word went out of the king’s mouth, they covered Haman’s face.

9 Then Harbonah, one of the eunuchs who were before the king, said, “Behold indeed, the gallows—which Haman made for Mordecai who spoke good on behalf of the king—are standing at Haman’s house fifty cubits high!” And the king said, “Hang him on it.”

10 So they hanged Haman on the gallows which he had set up for Mordecai, and the king’s wrath subsided.

Main Point

Context

Esther obviously knows her husbands propensity for wrath while drinking

The suspense has been maxed out

Themes

Doctrine

Theology

How does this support my Main Point

Does anything in here detract from my main point

Questions

Observation

Principle

Implications

Application to Christians/Non-Christians

Cross Reference Support

Introduction

Main Point

Context

Application

Conclusion

ALL POINTS FOR SERMON

Main Point

Context

Themes

Doctrine

Theology

How does this support my Main Point

Does anything in here detract from my main point

Questions

Observation

Principle

Implications

Application to Christians/Non-Christians - THIS IS NOT THE MAIN POINT BUT IT IS SEVERAL PRACTICAL TIPS AS TO HOW TO DO THE MAIN POINT

Cross Reference Support