Date:      4th March 2007                                                                      (Sunday AM)                                                                       Ref: A0294

Place:     Kambah P.S.

Title: Haman’s Anger

Text:        & Esther 3:5-7

Illust:     Today is the feast of Purim  for the Jewish people. Purim is one of the most joyous and fun holidays on the Jewish calendar. It commemorates a time when the Jewish people living in Persia were saved from extermination. – During Purim they read the book of Esther. It is customary to boo, hiss, stamp feet and rattle noisemakers whenever the name of Haman is mentioned in the service. The purpose of this custom is to "blot out the name of Haman." – It is also a time of feasting and a time to send out gifts of food or drink, and to make gifts to charity. It is also customary to hold carnival-like celebrations on Purim, to perform plays and parodies, and to hold beauty contests.

I.                   Beware Wrath

A.               Enemy of God

i.                 The book of Esther is unique in that it is the only Biblical book that does not make direct mention of God. It does however demonstrate the hand of God at work. If you dig deeper into this fascinating little book one of the things that will strike you is that it is a microcosm of the history of the ages. ~ The people of God refuse to bow down to the false religion of the devil - devil gets mad, yet God is still in control.

ii.               Every good story needs a bad guy, The bad guy in this story is Haman. & Est 3:1-2a ~ He is promoted to be the number 2 man in the entire Kingdom; incredible power & prestige

      We need to understand a little bit about Haman: ~  Haman is an Agagite – The name Agag is mentioned in the Bible in 1 Samuel, speaking of King Saul we read:

         1 Samuel 15:8 He captured Agag, the Amalekite king, but completely destroyed everyone else. (NLT)

       A descendant of the Amalekites, these were a war-like people that had attacked Israel soon after they came out of Egypt. God had passed a specific & complete judgement on them.

         Deuteronomy 25:17-18 17 “Remember what Amalek did to you on the way as you were coming out of Egypt, 18 how he met you on the way and attacked your rear ranks, all the stragglers at your rear, when you were tired and weary; and he did not fear God. (NKJV)

         Exodus 17:16 for he said, “Because the Lord has sworn: the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.” (NKJV)

iii.             On the side of the good guys is Mordecai, one small problem he refuses to bow & pay homage to Haman & Est 3:2b – He is questioned as to why? His answer & Est 3:4b - Agagites were the enemy by God's decree. ~ Mordecai not going to bow to God's enemy

      When you refuse to bow down to this culture, to Hollywood, Homosexual agenda, the Music Industry – refuse to be corrupted. When you stand against these things - the devil gets mad, people are going to get mad at you.

B.               Irrational Anger

i.                 The first lesson you need to learn from this story this AM is that you need to be very careful that you don't fall into the trap of Haman. What do I call the trap of Haman?

      Here he is, 2nd in all the Kingdom, power, prestige & wealth yet one man in the Kingdom won't bow down & it consumes him.

       One person hurts you, says something that upsets you. You can be loved by family & friends yet you allow this slight, this hurt to consume you. The love of all others is of no impact in your life. Because of that one person.  – & Est 5:11-13

ii.               He allows this slight to boil over into an irrational anger. – This is a dangerous place to be. Haman is not just satisfied to hurt Mordecai he is going to really make him pay & kill every Jew. & Est 3:5-6- A little bit extreme don't you think?
 – A special fate for Mordecai himself & Est 5:14

iii.             Important that you & I don’t allow anger at offences to take root in our lives. Haman offers 10,000 silver talents - massive fortune. Equivalent to millions to be able to exterminate the Jews. - As the story progresses we know that he loses everything, because of this one little slight. – This can happen to you

         James 1:19 So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; (NKJV)

         Hebrews 12:15 looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled; (NKJV)

      Guard your hearts.

II.                 The Assault of Hell

A.               A Real Enemy

i.                 A second lesson that you need to take from this story is that as a child of God, you have a very real enemy. Haman was the enemy of God’s people, yet he is a picture of the true enemy of your soul, the devil.

         Revelation 12:9 So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth,. (NKJV)

         Revelation 12:17 And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. (NKJV)

ii.               Satan wants you to be destroyed:

         John 10:10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. (NKJV)

      He will bring into your life

         Temptations

         Peer group pressure

         Jobs / Family issues / opportunities

         Sickness

         Real & or imagined hurts

         Bitterness / jealousy / rebellion

         Discouragement

iii.             He is determined to stop you from fulfilling the call of God.

B.               Total Warfare

i.                 You must understand that the devil is not into limited warfare, he doesn't fight fair. Wants to kill steal & destroy, to annihilate you - & Est 3:13

         Destroy: 8045 שָׁמַד [shamad /shaw·mad/] 1 to destroy, exterminate, 1b (Hiphil). 1b1 to annihilate, exterminate. 1b2 to destroy.[1]

         Kill: 2026 הָרַג [harag /haw·rag/] 1 to kill, slay, murder, destroy, 1a (Qal). 1a1 to kill, slay. 1a2 to destroy, ruin.[2]

         Annihilate: 6 אָבַד [’abad /aw·bad/] 1 perish, vanish, go astray, be destroyed. 1b (Piel). 1b1 to destroy, kill, cause to perish, to give up (as lost), exterminate. 1b2 to blot out, do away with, cause to vanish,[3]

         Plunder: 962 בָּזַז [bazaz /baw·zaz/] 1 to spoil, plunder, prey upon, seize. 1a (Qal) to spoil, plunder, despoil..[4]

ii.               Do you get the picture that he is serious here? Critical you understand that you are not called to be long haired, dopey, love, peace and flowers hippies.  - Devil will chew you up & spit you out - mean sucker

iii.             Cannot be negotiated with or appeased. Hates you! – Calls for total war. Don’t compromise with the world, don’t think that you can play around with sin, with watching those movies or shows on TV (inc music videos), with reading those magazines or books. Endulging those fantasies, pandering to self pity, always wanting more things.  The devil is going to use every strategy in the book to try to destroy you. – Not satisfied with half measures.

III.              Casting the Lot

A.               God in Control

i.                 The 3rd & best lesson of all that you can take from this story is that even when God is not obvious, He is still in complete control & He is watching over you & caring for you.

         Isaiah 49:15-16 15 “Can a woman forget her nursing child, And not have compassion on the son of her womb? Surely they may forget, Yet I will not forget you. 16 See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; Your walls are continually before Me. (NKJV)

ii.               This day is the feast day of Purim:

         The word pûr, which in Est. 3:7; 9:24, 26, is said to mean ‘lot’, is not a Hebrew word, but is almost certainly the Assyrian puru, which means a pebble, or small stone, which would be used for casting lots.[5]

      The picture here is of the highly superstitious Persians throwing the dice to determine when the best date would be to set down as the day for the people of God to be destroyed

iii.             Even here it is evident that God is still in control. The date chosen is 11 months distant, time for Mordecai & the people to pray & seek God & for Esther to work a strategy to approach the King to thwart the plot

         Proverbs 16:33 The lot is cast into the lap, But its every decision is from the Lord. (NKJV)

B.               Fight Back to Victory

i.                 Esther’s strategy is simple, but full of wisdom. She fasts for 3 days & then approaches the King. – Invites both he & Haman to a banquet. Yet she doesn’t lay out her petition, but invites them both to a 2nd banquet, here, she lays out the wickedness of Haman. Haman fearing for his life, falls on the couch where Esther lay, the King comes back in & thinks he is assaulting her. Doomed! – Hung on his own gallows.

ii.               Don’t just accept the assaults of the enemy, there is a need to fight back. - Interesting to note that the decree of the King for the slaughter of the Jews could not be overturned so even though Haman was defeated there was still the decree to be dealt with.

      Mordecai who is now made no.2 sends out another decree in the Kings name. This decree gives the Jews the right to fight back. The governors of the land, realising that Mordecai is now their boss, support the Jews, and on the day that it was set down for them to be destroyed, the Jews destroyed their enemies.

         1 Timothy 6:12 Fight the good fight of faith (NKJV)

iii.             To have the victory, you have to take a hold of what God has done for you. By faith claim the promises of the word over temptation, sickness, & assaults. Repent of sin, don’t pamper bad habits / sins – Cast them out ruthlessly from your life.

IV.             Altar Call

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[1]Strong, J. (1996). The exhaustive concordance of the Bible : Showing every word of the test of the common English version of the canonical books, and every occurence of each word in regular order. (electronic ed.) (H8045). Ontario: Woodside Bible Fellowship.

[2]ibid

[3]ibid

[4]ibid

[5]Wood, D. R. W., & Marshall, I. H. (1996). New Bible dictionary (3rd ed.) (991). Leicester, England; Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press.