Queen Esther

Correct information about armor and size.

The Bible only tells us specifically that David had not tested it.

INTRODUCTION.

The Book of Esther - 10 Chapters / 167 verses.

A story of the failed attempt of genocide.

Time between the first return of the Jews after the seventy-year captivity in Babylon under Zerubbabel and the second return led by Ezra.

Mordecai.

is from the tribe of Benjamin.

a descendant of Saul.

Esther.

Cousin to Mordicai.

Parents where dead.

Mordecai raised her as his own child.

King Ahasuerus.

Hebrew transliteration of the Persian name Khshayarsha

Greek = Xerxes.

Known as Xerxes I, the first son of King Darius.

Haman the Agagite.

Agagite derogatory title given to Hamn.

Showing him as Decedent of Agag king of the Amalekites.

There is a similarity between the two books, Exodus and Esther.

Both books show how foreign powers tried to eliminate the Jewish race and yet God in His sovereignty preserved His people.

God did this in accordance with His covenant promise to Abraham.

The problem between the Jews and the Amalekites goes back many years since the time that the Jews were coming out of captivity from Egypt.

The Jews were attacked by the Amalekites.

The Amalekites came from Amalek the grandson of Esau.

King Saul was orderd to kill all the Amalekites he disobyed.

Samuel finally hacked Agag into pieces.

Since Haman was a decedent of Agag he carried a deep hostility towards the Jews.

God covenant promise appeared to be jeopardized with Haman going to annihilate the Jews. However Gods love for Israel and His covenant promise to Abraham once agin rise to the top.

Psalm 121:4 “4 Behold, He who keeps Israel Will neither slumber nor sleep.”

Theme verse - Ester 4:14

Esther 4:14 NASB95

14 “For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place and you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not attained royalty for such a time as this?”

MESSAGE.

I. God’s Involvement.

1. God’s providential hand at work.

Providential = occurring at a favorable time or involving divine foresight and intervention.

God removes Vashti and replaces her with a Jew named Esther.

Esther 2:17 NASB95

17 The king loved Esther more than all the women, and she found favor and kindness with him more than all the virgins, so that he set the royal crown on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti.

2. God’s Sovereign hand at work.

Haman killed in place of Mordecai.

Esther 7:7–10 NASB95

7 The king arose in his anger from drinking wine and went into the palace garden; but Haman stayed to beg for his life from Queen Esther, for he saw that harm had been determined against him by the king. 8 Now when the king returned from the palace garden into the place where they were drinking wine, Haman was falling on the couch where Esther was. Then 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 standing at Haman’s house fifty cubits high, which Haman made for Mordecai who spoke good on behalf of the king!” And the king said, “Hang him on it.” 10 So they hanged Haman on the gallows which he had prepared for Mordecai, and the king’s anger subsided.

Those trying to kill the Jews where killed in stead.

Psalm 7:15–16 “15 He has dug a pit and hollowed it out, And has fallen into the hole which he made. 16 His mischief will return upon his own head, And his violence will descend upon his own pate.”

Psalm 57:6 “6 They have prepared 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.”

Good triumphs over evil.

II. Esther’s Involvement.

1. Courage.

Esther 4:11 NASB95

11 “All the king’s servants and the people of the king’s provinces know that for any man or woman who comes to the king to the inner court who is not summoned, he has but one law, that he be put to death, unless the king holds out to him the golden scepter so that he may live. And I have not been summoned to come to the king for these thirty days.”

2. Fatih.

Esther 4:14 NASB95

14 “For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place and you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not attained royalty for such a time as this?”

3. Action.

Esther 4:16 NASB95

16 “Go, assemble all the Jews who are found in Susa, and fast for me; do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my maidens also will fast in the same way. And thus I will go in to the king, which is not according to the law; and if I perish, I perish.”

CONCLUSION.

Three Characteristics of a True follower of Christ.

Courage.

Faith.

Action.

What is God calling you to today.

What is your “for such a time as this?”