The Consequence of Pride

A sleepless night

We start with this story where Xerxes couldn’t sleep.

-This is a reminder that God is working throughout this story even when we don’t hear his name.

-He asks for records to be told to him. This are the records of everything that happens in the kingdom.

-Then he was reminded of the actions of Mordecai who had saved him from an assassination. He remembers he never gave Mordecai his due for what he had done. (And now we see again, God’s hand on the situation from the beginning).

Then Xerxes brings in Haman.

-Notice that Haman is just hanging out, from what we last saw we can probably assume he is coming to ask to kill Mordecai.

-Now if Haman knew who was to be honored he would have given a totally different answer, but he didn’t know!

-So he thinks of the most grand celebration he can think of, basically adorning this person as royalty. He wants to be adorned like he see’s himself, truthfully he thinks he would be a better king than Xerxes. And notice he doesn’t ask for more power, or wealth, he just wants “to dress like a king” like a child might. He just wants a moment of glory, just a “passing experience of public prestige.”

-Now…I want you to think for a second. Let’s say one of your parents comes up to you and they ask “hey, if I were to throw a great surprise birthday party for someone what would be a great way to do it?” Would your immediate reaction be “they are trying to throw a party for me!” No, because that would be a dumb plan. But that is how prideful Haman was.

We may not be like Haman but have you ever felt you deserved more credit than you were getting? Or so “that is unfair!” About something that really isn’t that bad? Have you asked for something that you got only to still ask for me that you asked for at the beginning?

Then after this celebration that he is forced to put on he does home to his wife and friends and they realize that what happened to Haman’s ancestors, when God showed He was greater than the Edomites, was about to happen again.

We see the irony is that the more that Haman tried to secure his own future the more it slipped away. The more he put effort and worry into his reputation the more he lost it.

The more in this life you try and gain things the more you will realize that you will lose the things that you really value.

-Brad talks about this on Sunday. “Seek first the kingdom of God and all these things will be provided unto you.”

We talks last week about how when we are faced with losing someone that we want that we go into attack mode. We used the example of how we might talk about someone in our class who does the right thing, or about how people talk about those how have different political views then us. It is language of violent, it is action to protect our interest.

But God will always, in the end, protect His interests and the interests of His people.

Obadiah 3-4 “Your arrogant heart has deceived you, you who live in clefts of the rock in your home on the heights, who say to yourself, “Who can bring me down to the ground?” Though you seem to soar like an eagle and make your nest among the stars, even from there I will bring you down. This is the Lord’s declaration.”

Romans 1:28-32 “And because they did not think it worthwhile to acknowledge God, God delivered them over to a corrupt mind so that they do what is not right. They are filled with all unrighteousness, evil, greed, and wickedness. They are full of envy, murder, quarrels, deceit, and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, arrogant, proud, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, senseless, untrustworthy, unloving, and unmerciful. Although they know God’s just sentence—that those who practice such things deserve to die—they not only do them, but even applaud others who practice them.”

What would you be willing to do for a little bit of fame? For a little bit of attention from others? What is it worth to you?

The Final Banquet

Esther: An Introduction and Commentary (Reid) 8. Partial Success: The Death of Haman (Esther 6:12–7:10)

If chapter 6 is the turning point of the story, then chapter 7 is perhaps its heart (Beckett 2002: 77). Irony and coincidence continue along with a number of other tension-raising devices, such as double meanings, sharp-edged phrases, unexplained pauses and farcical elements. The scheduling of events is tight, with one event, revelation or decision building the foundation for the next.

The characterization of Esther is developed in this section, as her passivity and reticence give way to forceful pro-activity. As she rises, Haman falls (fulfilling his wife’s prediction) from honour to shame (mourning), reversing Mordecai’s movement from shame (mourning) to honour in chapter 6. Esther’s

Haman is pulled away from his house to this banquet with Esther and Xerxes. No doubt with his thoughts swirling.

Again, Xerxes tell he she can have whatever she want. Thinking she will ask for land, possessions, or money.

But Esther goes out on a limb for her life and her families life. She knows what the king might do, she calls out Xerxes most trusted advisor.

-She needs to be careful, she is trying to accuse Haman without implication Xerxes.

-We see a masterful use of rhetoric to get her point across. She

But she tells the king what is happening and that Haman is the one planning it.

-Haman is terrified because he did not know Esther was a Jew and that she was a part of it. He knows how it looks, that he was trying to kill the queen

-Then he pleads to Esther, not Xerxes, to spare him.

-To make matters worse it looked like he was trying to abuse Esther after this.

-He probably was kissing her feet and begging her for forgiveness, but from another angel it did not look that way.

-But from an etiquette standpoint he was going too far. And, again, in his attempt to remove his fate he just made it worse. He sealed his own fate.

-There is the irony that the one who wanted a Jew to bow down to him is now bowing down to a Jew.

-Ironically, it is a false accusation that is his downfall of all the true aspects that were told.

-the irony is the gallows that Haman created for the Jews was now used for him.

Esther: An Introduction and Commentary (Reid) ii. Haman Is Put to Death (7:9–10)

Although the reversal of fortunes for Haman and Mordecai has been achieved, the crisis of the story has not yet been resolved. There is still an edict out there that needs to be made null and void. With Haman’s fall finally achieved, Esther can now re-emerge (she has been kept out of the story while Haman’s death was secured). Esther re-emerges with her triumph over Haman inspiring her with confidence and the reader with hope. Mordecai can also re-emerge, because Haman’s demise has not been a result of his personal vendetta against him, but has resulted from Haman’s own evilness being uncovered. Haman has faced death and pleaded for life, but has now died. Esther’s people are facing death and she has pleaded for their lives, but, despite flickers of hope, their future is still in the balance.