Esther: The Non-Veggie Tale Account; Week 2

Mid-week series will be changing to a small group setting in May.

Jeanette: Thank you to everyone who helped

Annual business meeting in May 19th as well.

Ray testimony

Good morning. Today we are continuing our short, 3 week series on the book of Esther. Last week we covered chapters 1 and 2. It was my original intent to cover more than 2 chapters, but there is just so much to cover in the first 2 chapters, if you want to cover it well that it. So, we will continue this week with chapter 3 and get to chapter 7, then Dean will finish up next week with the final couple of chapters. Before we pray, I’ll do a quick recap, then we will pray and get right into chapter 3.

So far in our story 3 main characters have been introduced:

The Persian king Artaxerxes

Mordecai

Esther

After banishing his favorite wife, the king had a competition to find the woman that he considered to be worthy of replacing the wife he banished. This is where Esther and her cousin/guardian Mordecai come in to the story. Eventually, Esther found favor with the king…at which point he crowed Esther queen. Poor Mordecai, traveled to the palace every day, hoping that all was going well with Esther. At the very end of chapter 2 the author tells us that 2 of the kings guards were plotting to kill the king…Mordecai learns of their plans and tells the newly crowned Esther…who then relays it to the king. The men are killed for the plot…the author makes the point of telling us that this assassination attempt was written down into the official records of the palace....and that is where we left off.

Let’s go ahead and pray.

PRAY

So, we are all caught up now…Last week during the fellowship meal I was sitting across from Josh…he asks me: how did you talk about the story of Esther the entire time without mentioning Veggie Tales. That make me laugh, as the story of Esther is one of the most popular Veggie Tale episodes…that and the story of the evil Mr. Nezzer with Rach, Shac, and Benny. So, just to make sure that doesn’t happen again…enjoy 5 minutes of the Veggie Tales story of Esther.

SHOW VIDEO OF VEGGIE TALES ESTHER STORY

I figure the best way to cover our material today is to go chapter by chapter. Let’s start with chapter 3, then we will see how far we get.

Esther 3:1–3 “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. 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. The members of the royal staff at the King’s Gate asked Mordecai, “Why are you disobeying the king’s command?””

Just when we thought everything was looking up, the author of Esther introduces our antagonist…otherwise know as

“The Bad Guy”=Haman

We are told in verse 1 that the king promoted one of his officials…this was Haman, who was elevated in position above all the other officials. Not only that, but as any good leader does, Haman commanded the people bow down to him. This is kind of a classic situation that we see throughout scripture…especially when it comes to the kings and officials of Babylon and Persia. I think a quick side note is in order here, as there is actually a deeper story behind the Haman Mordicai situation. There is a reason that the book of Esther gives both, Mordecai’s genealogy ( in chapter 2) and Haman’s genealogy in chapter 3 verse 1. Of course, Mordecai and Esther are Jews, meanwhile, Haman is from different and pretty well-known family lineage.

Way back in the book of Exodus, shortly after the children of Israel left Egypt, they came across a man named Amalek. This man and his people attacked Israel. Israel did end up winning victory against the group, but God made a decree against Amalek and his people

Exodus 17:14–15 “The Lord then said to Moses, “Write this down on a scroll as a reminder and recite it to Joshua: I will completely blot out the memory of Amalek under heaven.” And Moses built an altar and named it, “The Lord Is My Banner.””

God promised that one day He would wipe out these people for attacking Israel.

Fast forward a few hundred years to the time of King Saul. In the book of 1st Samuel God commanded King Saul to go to war against the Amalakites…God gave Saul very specific instructions. It was time to make good on the promise that God made back in Exodus…and it was up to Saul to carry it out. In fact, one of the passages that talk about these instructions is one of the most criticized passage in the O.T....that is , criticized by those who are not follower of Christ, that it…you will see why.

1 Samuel 15:1–3 “Samuel told Saul, “The Lord sent me to anoint you as king over his people Israel. Now, listen to the words of the Lord. This is what the Lord of Armies says: ‘I witnessed what the Amalekites did to the Israelites when they opposed them along the way as they were coming out of Egypt. Now go and attack the Amalekites and completely destroy everything they have. Do not spare them. Kill men and women, infants and nursing babies, oxen and sheep, camels and donkeys.’ ””

As I mentioned gave king Saul some pretty pointed instructions…God was fulfilling His promise. As you might imagine, King Saul did not follow the Lord’s instructions. Instead of following the instructions as he should have, Saul went into the city…killed everything they viewed as worthless, but kept the valuable things…including the Amalekite king, Agag.

1 Samuel 15:9 “Saul and the troops spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, goats, cattle, and choice animals, as well as the young rams and the best of everything else. They were not willing to destroy them, but they did destroy all the worthless and unwanted things.”

Neither Samuel the prophet or the Lord was pleased with this. In fact, it was because of this disobedience that God rejected Saul as king…check that…that’s not accurate, I’m not sure why I wrote that. This was the straw that caused God to let Saul know that he and his line of sons would be rejected as king. There is a difference between the two…God had David in mind from the get-go…but he was not ready. Anyway, after learning that Saul captured king Agag we get another interaction that has been tough for many people to read.

1 Samuel 15:32–33 “Samuel said, “Bring me King Agag of Amalek.” Agag came to him trembling, for he thought, “Certainly the bitterness of death has come.” Samuel declared: As your sword has made women childless, so your mother will be childless among women. Then he hacked Agag to pieces before the Lord at Gilgal.”

Lot’s of violence in this story, that is for sure. This is where we fast forward to the book of Esther…remember, the author of Esther refers to Haman as:

Haman, son of Hammedatha the Agagite

Turns out, Haman, if you follow the line of the Amalakites, Haman is the 16th generation after King Amalek…Because Saul did not do what he was told and destroy everything, the Amalakite line survived. Here in Esther, hundreds of years after King Amalek attacked the Jews in the desert, we have a descendent of King Amalek seeking to destroy the Jews once more.

Back to Esther chapter 3, when Haman saw that Mordecai was not obeying the law and bowing down to him…he got angry.

Esther 3:5–6 “When Haman saw that Mordecai was not bowing down or paying him homage, he was filled with rage. And when he learned of Mordecai’s ethnic identity, it seemed repugnant to Haman to do away with Mordecai alone. He planned to destroy all of Mordecai’s people, the Jews, throughout Ahasuerus’s kingdom.”

This is how we know that Haman still carried the Amalakite hatred for the Jewish people.

As chapter 3 continues, we read that Haman sends out a royal decree to all of the provinces in Persia, including Suza…which is where Mordecai and Esther were from. This royal decree had very specific instructions

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.”

chapter 3 goes on to say that the people of Suza were “confused,” which is probably the understatement of the year. The Jews had been living in peace with the king, as well as the previous 2 before the current one. Now all of a sudden, the King was approving this massive genocide of the Jews. The fact that the king was ok with this shows exactly how terrible he was. Now, when we read the story of Daniel or Shad., Mesch., and Abend., we can see that the Babylonian king (Nebuchadnezzar) also made laws similar to Haman. However, there is one big difference between Haman and Nebuchadnezzar…if someone disobeyed the law of Neb., the king would kill…or try to kill that person; however, with Haman, because Mordecai (a Jew) disobeyed, Haman decided to kill every Jew in Persia....needless to say, Haman was bad.

That brings us to chapter 4, where the Royal decree was now in every province. Of course, Mordecai learned of this and immediately went into mourning…

mourning, not morning

The Jewish people had a very specific way to mourn. We really do not have anything to compare it with today.

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.”

We see this a number of times in scripture, people would mourn like this for a couple of different reasons:

Main reasons for Jewish mourning…not morning

For repentance of sin

Death

A Spiritual Attack

The actions of tearing one’s clothing and putting on sackcloth and ashes have a specific purpose and meaning.

Scriptures on mourning:

2 Samuel 3:31; Genesis 37:34; Jonah 3:5–7; Psalm 30:11

Tearing of Clothes symbolizes ones heart being torn before the Lord

Sackcloth was a coarse material usually made of black goat’s hair, making it quite uncomfortable to wear. It was usually used to make large large sacks, similar to burlap.

The ashes signified desolation and ruin.

So Mordecai began the process of mourning and knew that he had to get to the palace to tell Esther, who probably wasn’t aware of this order. Eventually Mordecai gets word to Esther, and they begin to exchange messages through another person…Mordecai tells her that she needs to go to the king and ask him to stop the order to kill all of the Jews. There is only one problem though, approaching the king, without being summoned is a sure-fire death sentence, and everyone knows it. Still, Mordecai implores Esther to go to the king because he knows that she would not be safe either…remember, the king doesn’t know Esther is a Jew.

This is where we get the most famous and and faith filled interaction in the book of Esther; I think it’s important to read it in its entirety.

Esther 4:13–16 “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. 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.” Esther sent this reply to Mordecai: “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.””

Both Mordecai and Esther had (what I believe) is the perfect amount of faith verses action. Obviously, this was a very dire situation, one which required some action on the part of Mordecai and Esther, as well as the faith to believe that God would continue to show favor to Esther. Notice though what Mordecai said in verse 14…if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will come to the Jewish people…but you and your father’s family will be destroyed. What exactly is Mordecai saying here? Mordecai knows that God’s will for the Israelites (as a nation) will always come to be. This represents the ultimate will of God..the macro plan of God…the one that can not be changed or thwarted in any way shape or form. On the other hand, it also represents God’s plan for our individual lives. God has a purpose for every one of us, but this plan takes some action on our part. Of course, to be clear, I’m not talking about the process of Salvation…rather, I’m talking about how God’s best for us comes about. For example, if I want to be a mechanic like Rick, I can’t just hope I learn how one day…I need to work on it and practice.

In verse 16 we see that Esther is determined to go to the king…despite the fact that she is risking her life. This brings us to the end of chapter 4. Let’s quickly go through chapter 5, then we will talk about how all of this relates to us.

Esther chapter 5 opens up with Esther getting herself all gussied up to go to the king. As we talked about, even the kings favorite wife was not supposed to approach the king, in order to speak with him. If, however, a person deemed a matter important enough, they could request an audience with the king by approaching him while he is on his throne....2 things could happen as a result:

The king holds out a scepter, indicating that you can approach and speak with Him.

The king does not hold out the scepter, thus condemning the person to death

Esther 5:1–2 “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, facing its entrance. 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.”

Thankfully, the king extended the scepter when Esther approached Him, In fact, it says that when the king saw Esther, she immediately gained favor with him. The king then asked Esther what she needed from Him. In order to understand just how unprecedented and rare this is, we have to understand a bit about the Persian Royal Court…which we know bits about from documents. The king did not just sit on the throne to relax. When the king was on this throne that meant that he was conducting official business. Upwards of 3 to 4 hundred people could be in the grand throne room. Not only that, but standing right next to the king was the royal protector. If someone approached the king that was not summoned the royal protector will kill them on the spot…no trial, no waiting in jail…you were killed, instantly. Now imagine queen Esther walking down grand hall, slowly approaching the king. Everyone would have been staring at her, wondering why in the world this lady is crazy enough to approach the throne.

I’m sure this was a big sigh of relief for Esther…Now, if this were me, I would have immediately tried to explain to the king what is happening, but apparently Esther is way smarter than me, because that is not what she did. If fact, the question she asked the king had nothing to do with the dire situation involving Mordecai or her people.

Esther 5:4 ““If it pleases the king,” Esther replied, “may the king and Haman come today to the banquet I have prepared for them.””

Remember, Esther was approaching the king in private. Tons of people would have been privy to their conversation. Esther showed much patience and discernment in this situation…as I said, most people would have simply blurted out their issue. We must understand though, not only was there a large crowd, but he complaint was against the kings right hand man. Accusing Haman of wrongdoing would have put the king in an awkward situation, possibly embarrassing him in front of everyone. This shows just how wise Esther was. Instead of hitting the king with a major complaint, asking Him to reverse a law, Esther waited for the correct moment. Including Haman was also very smart. Including him in the dinner party disarms him, meaning, Haman would not expect anything, as he was one of the honored guests.

So the king and Haman attend the banquet that evening…once again, the king asks Esther what she would like…surely she did not interrupt official business to ask the king to a dinner party. The king knew something else was on Esther’s mind. Again though, Esther bides her time, waiting for just the right moment. She requests that the king and Haman come back a 2nd dinner party, at which time she will reveal her true question. The king agrees that Haman and himself will come back tomorrow evening.

The remainder of chapter 5 takes place between the first banquet and the 2nd banquet…so it is a short period of time. The author says that Haman was very happy as he left the first banquet…but, of course, he just so happens to come across Mordecai at the king’s gate. While everyone else is bowing down to Haman, stubborn ol’ Malachi refuses. This angers Haman…so, he goes to his own family and begins to complain about Mordecai…his wife suggests to him that he should build a gallows 75 feet tall and then ask the king to kill Mordecai, obviously before the official day that all of the other Jews were set to be killed…

Esther 5:14 “His wife Zeresh and all his friends told him, “Have them build a gallows seventy-five feet 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.”

and that is how chapter 5 ends....definitely on a cliff-hanger....while I was studying the end of Esther chapter 5, I literally laughed out loud at one of the comments that was written in a commentary I sometimes use…and it wasn’t meant to be funny.

Wiersbe’s Expository Outlines on the Old Testament (Chapters 5–10)

In his proud wrath, Haman decided to trump up some charge against Mordecai and have him executed. Like Adam, Haman listened to his wife and followed her advice.

I’m not quite sure that is the intended lesson to be learned here. While yes, they both did bad things after listening to their wives, Adam did not do so in prideful anger. The two situations are different. As bad as Haman’s wife was, she was just telling Haman what he wanted to hear. Eve wasn’t doing that…in fact, what she did was much worse. Sometimes we try to connect one story to another, to help support something we are trying to convey.

Anyway, that is the conclusion of chapter 5…it leaves us on a cliff-hanger. Esther has displayed a very special kind of courage and patience in the face of the death of her family. What makes the book of Esther so special is that God is always working behind the scenes to make sure that his will goes forward. We can also see what happens when we allow rage and anger toward others to fill our hearts. Haman hated Mordecai and the Jews with a special demonic kind of hatred.

I want to wrap up today by taking us back to Esther chapter 4, but first I’ll tell you a story.

Story of Harriet Tubman

A little girl was born into slavery in Dorchester County, Maryland, in 1822. Her nights in the slave quarters were most often cold, and she slept as close to the fire as possible. Sometimes she even stuck her toes into the smoldering ashes to avoid frostbite.

By the age of six, she was considered old enough to work all day and was hired out to temporary masters, some who were cruel and negligent. That lasted just until she was caught stealing a sugar cube; the mistress of the house whipped her and sent her back home.

While working as a field hand as a young teen, she was injured by a blow to her head from an iron weight, thrown by an angry overseer at a fleeing slave. The severe injury resulted in occasional seizures and headaches for the rest of her life.

When she was 27 years old, her owner died, leaving her and her family at risk of being sold to pay his debts. Late in the fall of 1849, she tapped into an Underground Railroad that was already functioning well on the Eastern Shore: traveling by night, using the North Star and instructions from white and black helpers, she found her way to Philadelphia. She had escaped the chains of slavery.

But that didn’t end her problems. In fact, she later described upon arriving, “I had crossed the line and I was free, but there was no one to welcome me to the land of freedom. I was a stranger in a strange land.”

She sought work as a domestic, saving her money to help the rest of her family escape. From 1850 to 1860, the woman conducted at least eleven escape missions, aiding approximately seventy individuals, including her brothers, parents, and other family and friends, while also giving instructions to fifty more who found their way to freedom independently.

She would devote the rest of her life to rescuing slaves from the South and leading them to free states in the North.

Her name was Harriet Tubman.

Considered one of the most fearless conductors along what was known as the Underground Railroad, Tubman was known only by the complimentary nickname Moses.

But before Harriet ever became a hero to the western world, she was first an outlaw. So much so, in fact, that rewards were posted throughout Maryland offering $50,000 for her capture—the equivalent of nearly one million dollars today.

Tubman was hunted on numerous occasions by professional gunmen, dogs, and even wild animals, but she managed to elude them all. And in spite of their constant pursuit, she continued to fulfill her mission of rescuing slaves. She determined to fight for their freedom as long as she had strength, and she sincerely believed that when it came time for her to go, God would let her be captured.2

Harriet’s abiding sense of calling and purpose compelled her to eventually lead more than a thousand slaves to freedom.

Throughout the Civil War she provided badly needed nursing care to black soldiers and hundreds of newly liberated slaves who crowded Union camps. Tubman’s military service expanded to include spying and scouting behind Confederate lines.

When an early biography was being written about her, Frederick Douglass, a former slave who became a well-respected entrepreneur and abolitionist, was asked to write words of commendation on her life. Instead, he penned these stirring words to Harriett in a letter dated August 29, 1868:

I need words of commendation from you more than you need them from me, especially where your superior labors and devotion to the cause of the lately enslaved of our land are known as I know them. The difference between us is very marked. Most that I have done and suffered in the service of our cause has been in public, and I have received encouragement at every step of the way. You, on the other hand, have labored in a private way. I have wrought in the day—you in the night. I have had the applause of the crowd and the satisfaction that comes of being approved by the multitude, while the most that you have done has been witnessed by a few trembling, scarred, and foot-sore bondmen and women, whom you have led out of the house of bondage, and whose heartfelt “God bless you” has been your only reward. The midnight sky and the silent stars have been the witnesses of your devotion and I know of no other who willingly encountered more perils and hardships to serve our people than you have.

The story of Harriet Tubman is inspiring, as she is a person who was willing to sacrifice herself for others. Stories like hers should inspire us…how much more should the accounts like Esther cause us to a look at our lives. There are so many lessons for us learn through these passages in Esther. For me, when I think of everything that has happend between chapter 1 and chapter 5 my mind thinks about the difficulty of sacrifice. When Mordecai first came to Esther and asked her to go to the king, she basically said “no.”

Esther 4:11 ““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 thirty days.””

Yet, it did not take hardly an convincing at all, and once Esther committed to the cause, she was all in. She was willing to sacrifice her own life. Esther had a good thing going in the palace. She had everything she had always wanted and more. Why would she want to ruin that?

This got me thinking about the things I’m unwilling to sacrifice in my own life…either for the benefit of others or for my own long-term benefit. After all, that is exactly what a sacrifice is

Sacrifice: the act of giving up something that you want to keep especially in order to get something better in the future or for the benefit of another.

Parents sacrifice sleep in order to care for their children.

We sacrifice buying something today so that we can get something better in the future.

We cease or sacrifice a sinful activity, so that we can be better used of the Lord in the future.

In the OT, the people would sacrifice a prized animal in order to receive something better…forgiveness of sin.

Jesus sacrificed for us, so that we might know the Father.

Being willing to sacrifice our want of instant gratification is what separates a mature person from an immature person. Before a child understands the concept of sacrifice, all they care about is themselves and their needs and they want it now…there is no consideration of others or the future.

A central part of our life with Christ is being willing to sacrifice.

Twice in the New Testament we are told to offer ourselves as a living sacrifice

Romans 12:1 “Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your true worship.”

1 Peter 2:5 “you yourselves, as living stones, a spiritual house, are being built to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”

Thankfully most of us are not called to make the same sacrifice as Harriet Tubman, or Esther or Abraham or even Paul. We are very blessed in that regard…so, what does this look like in everyday life today?

We sacrifice things that do not please the Lord, so that the Lord can work His plan.

We sacrifice our old ways of thinking and attitudes, such as pride, anger, lust, etc...

We sacrifice the thing that we hold as more important than the Lord: money, another person, our job, our kids or grand kids, etc...

We all have something…probably more than one thing that the Lord would have us sacrifice. Let’s pray!