WWUTT 789 Haman's Stupid Pride?

Sometimes, we just don't think about how absurd sin is. That you can disobey the creator of the entire universe and think you're going to get away with that? You incur the judgment of God when we understand the text.

You're listening to When We Understand The Text, an online Bible ministry committed to teaching sound doctrine and exposing the faulty. Find videos and more at our website, www .tt .com. Now, here's our host, Pastor Gabe Hughes.

Esther, Mordecai, and Haman’s Wicked Plot

Thank you, Becky. So, we come back to our study in the book of Esther, chapters 5 and 6 today. If you want to open up your Bible and join with me there. So, Mordecai found out about Haman's wicked plot to kill all of the Jews.

Haman had been appointed second in command over all of Persia. Being so full of himself, he expected everyone to bow down and pay homage to him. Mordecai would not bow before Haman because Haman was an agagite.

He was a descendant of King Agag, who was king of the Amalekites, who King Saul was supposed to wipe out when he was commanded by God to do so. Saul did not wipe out the Amalekites and it was then that he fell out of favor with God.

And God had taken the anointing that he had given to Saul and given it instead to David, who was going to assume the throne of Saul once Saul had died. So, because of Saul's disobedience, now we're in this situation where Haman wants to wipe out all of the Jews.

Because Mordecai didn't want to bow, Haman went to huge extremes to plot to kill all of the Jewish people and convince the king to let him do this. He said, hey, the Jews don't even follow our rules, which was not true.

They were actually very cooperative with the Persians, even though they were in exile because God told them to be. According to what we read about from the prophet Jeremiah in Jeremiah chapter 29, they were to pray for the welfare of their captors, for if their captors were prosperous, then the Jewish people would be prosperous.

So they weren't trying to cause trouble at all. They were obeying the law and going about their own business. But since Mordecai would not bow before Haman, Haman wants to just kill all of the Jews. He got the king drunk.

The king agreed. He gave Haman his signet ring. Then Haman passed this law to have all the Jews wiped out, which confused everybody. All the Persians, they didn't get they couldn't make sense of this.

Why are we wiping out an entire race of people? What have the Jews done to us exactly? So that's the way chapter three ended. The king and Haman sat down to drink. But the city of Susa, the capital of Persia, was thrown into confusion because of this edict that had been passed.

So Mordecai finds out about this plot. He lets Esther know about it. That's what we read last week in chapter four. Now, Esther didn't really concern herself with the king's affairs. She was off in her own little place in the palace with all of her maidens.

So she didn't know about this as queen. She was just supposed to keep the king happy. She was not like an authoritarian figure. She didn't know any of the stuff that was going on, laws that were being passed and stuff like that.

So Mordecai informed Esther about what was going on. Esther, of course, being Mordecai's cousin and Mordecai raised her as though Esther were his own daughter. But he could not be seen with Esther. He told Esther not to let anyone know that she was a Jew.

So he communicated with her via messenger and they went back and forth for a little while. And we have this statement that that's kind of the pinnacle statement of the book of Esther. Everyone who does a study of Esther centers their study around this particular passage that we have in Esther, chapter four, beginning in verse 13.

Mordecai told Esther, do not think to yourself that in the king's palace you will escape any more than any of the other Jews. For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place.

But you and your father's house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this. And it's really that statement there at the end of 14 that kind of becomes the thesis of the book of Esther.

Most teachers don't talk so much about, hey, Esther, if you don't help us out, you will perish. That's not really the uplifting part of the story, but rather people will use the story of Esther to say, hey, God has put you in this place for such a time as this.

So you've got something great that you're going to do. It's not saving an entire race of people, which is exactly what Esther ended up doing. So we see the providence of God come about in this particular part of the story.

And Mordecai's recognition that God is going to deliver the Jews, he's going to fulfill his promises. I already mentioned the prophet Jeremiah who told the people, you will not perish in exile. God will deliver you out of exile back into your land.

But when Mordecai heard about this plot from Haman to kill the Jews, who knows that God would allow this plot to succeed to a certain degree and many thousands of Jews would lose their lives. Nonetheless, Mordecai knows they would still be delivered.

But if it would come to take effect that many Jews would be killed as a result of this wicked plan of Haman, then it would still cost many lives. So for this reason, he mourned. And it was Esther hearing about his mourning that she sent a messenger to find out why Mordecai was mourning in this way.

So Esther told Mordecai, again, by way of a messenger, and this is chapter four, verse 16, go gather all of the Jews to be found in Susa and hold a fast on my behalf and do not eat or drink for three days, night or day.

I and my young women will also fast as you do. And then I will go to the king, though it is against the law. If I perish, I perish. Mordecai then went away and did everything as Esther had ordered him.

So remember, this is a very secular story. God is not mentioned at all at all. The law isn't mentioned. Prayer is not mentioned. But nonetheless, in this section, in Esther, chapter four, verses 12 through 17, we have an understanding of the Jewish people being safe in God's hand, and he will deliver his people as he promised that he would.

And we take from that a message of salvation, that God is going to deliver his people as he said that he would. We who are believers in Jesus Christ, we are going to be saved. God is not going to turn his back on his covenant promise made to us, sealed in the blood of Christ, sacrifice on the cross for our sins.

All who are in Christ Jesus will be saved. And a day is going to come when at the in the judgment of all people, we will be delivered out of that judgment and rescued into God's eternal kingdom. So we see a reference to God's promise for his people here in Esther, chapter four, even though it's not explicitly stated.

And we also have an understanding that they were praying for God's deliverance, even though the word prayer is not used. Instead, it uses the word fast. And that wasn't unusual for even a pagan people to fast.

This is that concept of asceticism or punishing the body and thinking you will earn favor with the gods, at least among pagans. That's what they believed here. It was calling upon the Lord God of Israel that he would hear their cry and he would show mercy to them.

This was the purpose of their fasting again, though God's name is not mentioned and even prayer is not mentioned here. One other thing that I forgot to say is that Esther can't just walk into the king's presence whenever she want again, because she wasn't an authoritarian figure.

So if the king was having some kind of important meeting that she wasn't allowed to hear or walk in on and it were it were to disrupt or displease the king, he could have her killed unless he extended his scepter to her.

And this went for anybody, not just Esther, but anyone, not just anyone could walk into the presence of the king. They had to be summoned or had to have the favor of the king. So this was why the people were fasting for her.

They were praying for her success, that she might go into the king to appeal for the lives of the Jewish people and that just walking into his presence would not cost her her life, but that the king's heart would be receptive of her and he would listen to what she had to say.

Esther Approaches the King and Finds Favor

So here we get to chapter five on the third day. So they've been fasting now for three days ever since this conversation between Esther and Mordecai on the third day. Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the king's palace in front of the king's quarters while the king was sitting on his royal throne inside the throne room opposite the entrance to the palace.

Basically, Esther puts on her finest royal garb, which only the queen wore. And we don't know exactly what those robes look like. The description of these robes is kind of lost in time, though there are some pieces of art that may shed some sort of light on what these robes look like.

They were just long dresses, very wide sleeves, and sometimes the queen even wore a veil. So who knew? Who knows? But she might have had some sort of veil on that may have hid her face if she had been mourning and fasting for three days.

So the condition of her appearance, she may have tried to conceal or cover up in some way, though she could also have done that with makeup. And then she goes and stands in a place where she would be noticed.

She stands where a Hacerys can see her and she waits for him to either accept her or reject her. So then in verse two, and when the king saw Queen Esther standing in the court, she won favor in his sight and he held out to Esther the golden scepter that was in his hand.

Then Esther approached and touched the tip of the scepter. So a lot of times whenever this is depicted cinematically, if you've ever watched some sort of movie of Esther and there's a lot, there's a lot of them.

But usually how this goes is she walks into the courtroom and she's approaching the king, waiting for him and hoping that he's going to extend the scepter. But according to the description that we actually have in Esther, that's not how that went.

Esther did not even walk into the courtroom where the king was sitting. She simply walked to a place where he would notice her. And then when he saw her and held out the scepter, then she approached him and she touched the scepter.

And the king said to her, what is it, Queen Esther? Because he knows she's put on these fine robes and is maybe even wearing a veil and approaching the king. She has come to a place where she would be noticed by the king because she has something that she wants to say to him.

So the king says, what is it, Queen Esther? What is your request? It shall be given you even to the half of my kingdom. Now, that probably isn't to be taken literally. It probably was not that the king was actually offering half of his kingdom to Esther.

This is not an unusual thing for a king to say to a woman who pleased him. For Herod said it to Herodias's daughter in Mark 6, verse 22. When Herodias's daughter came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his guests.

And the king said to the girl, ask me for whatever you wish, and I will give it to you. And he vowed to her, whatever you ask me, I will give you up to half of my kingdom. So it's simply a statement that he made.

It wasn't necessarily a promise of half of his kingdom. It's the king saying, you have my heart and everything that I have, I share with you. That's essentially what the king is saying to Esther. So then verse four and Esther said, if it please the king, let the king and Haman come today to a feast that I have prepared for the king.

And then the king said, bring Haman quickly so that he may do as Esther has asked. So the king and Haman came to the feast that Esther had prepared. And as they were drinking wine after the feast, the king said to Esther, what is your wish?

It shall be granted you. And what is your request? Even to the half of my kingdom, it shall be fulfilled. Then Esther answered, my wish and my request is if I have found favor in the side of the king, and if it please the king to grant my wish and fulfill my request, let the king and Haman come to the feast that I will prepare for them and tomorrow I will do as the king has asked.

So now she's going to make another feast for them. And Haman went out that day, joyful and glad of heart. But when Haman saw Mordecai in the king's gate, that again, he neither rose nor trembled before him.

He was filled with great wrath against Mordecai. Nevertheless, Haman restrained himself and went home, didn't want to reveal his hand too early here that that Mordecai was really the source of all of his angst against the Jews.

And he sent and brought his friends and his wife, Zeresh. And Haman recounted to them the splendor of his riches, the number of his sons, all the promotions with which the king had honored him and how he had advanced him above the officials and the servants of the king.

So Haman, to make himself feel better, he gets all of his friends together and all of his servants and just starts talking about how great he is so that everybody around him would be like, oh, Haman, you're just so fabulous.

You know, that's kind of the pity party that he's throwing for himself to help lift his spirits up. And then Haman said, even Queen Esther, let no one but me come with the king to the feast that she prepared.

And tomorrow also, I'm invited by her together with the king and everybody be like, oh, Haman, that's just so wonderful. You get to go to the queen's banquet. Yet all of this is worth nothing to me so long as I see Mordecai, the Jew, sitting at the king's gate.

And that's just absolutely absurd. All of the stuff that Haman has, even getting all of his friends together to celebrate how great he is. And it's not enough. It's just simply not enough. It's not enough.

If Mordecai is going to stand there at the king's gate and not bow to me, boy, that is quite an occupation that Mordecai has set up in Haman's head. And he didn't even really have to do anything in order to just haunt and taunt this guy so much.

It's like Haman has this glorious, wonderful, awesome air conditioned mansion. And instead, he's out in the backyard doodling Mordecai's name in the dirt because he just can't get the guy out of his head.

It's ridiculous, this level of hatred that he has for this man. And I, you know, I see this play out on Twitter. Even I've noticed this on social media that people will hate someone so much that it just absolutely consumes their consciousness, especially Donald Trump.

I don't I just don't understand how people can hate a man so much that your social media feed is full of nothing but your hatred for that person. How can you really enjoy life? I just don't get that. I have a fairly neutral opinion about Donald Trump.

He doesn't live in my head. There are entire days that go by. I don't even think about him or stuff that's going on politically. Man, I've got a family to care about. I've got kids I love to play with.

I've got a wife that I adore. I've got a church that I am shepherding and looking after. I've got God's word to study. I've got writing to do. I've got more what videos to put together. I haven't done one of those in a while.

You know, there's so many other things to do. And you just miss out on the joy of life when your mind is so consumed by the thought of one particular person or group of people. I'm grateful that I can't wrap my mind around that level of hatred.

Well, actually, I can. I mean, I have experienced that before. But praise God that he's rescued me from that level of pride, that level of animosity toward another human being and the self-absorption that I have just throwing a pity party for myself and hating that this person is enjoying life.

And so because they're enjoying life, I can't enjoy mine. That's just such a level of obsession that thankfully my heart is not so consumed by. But if that's you, and even as we're talking about this, maybe you feel convicted about it.

Boy, yeah, that person that pops into my head all the time. I just don't understand why I let my thoughts be consumed for for my contempt for that person. And I realize that it's sin. It's prideful and it's sin against this other person.

That's something that you need to take to the Lord and you need to ask God's forgiveness and that he would give you a spirit that loves people regardless of whether or not this person has actually done something to you that is worthy of your contempt.

You could probably share this story with somebody else and they would say, yeah, sounds like to me you've got a good case for hating this other person. That doesn't matter. Don't let your conscience be so consumed by another person.

You need to give that to the Lord. You need to ask God's forgiveness for that hatred that's in your heart. And anytime you have those kinds of thoughts, take those thoughts captive. Second Corinthians 10 five and make them obedient unto the Lord that you would think thoughts that are pleasing unto Christ instead of being so consumed by hatred for things or for people.

The joy of the Lord cannot be full in your life if if that's the thing that is constantly consuming your thoughts all the time. So let us have thoughts that are that are obedient unto the Lord. And because of this wicked pride that Haman had in his own mind and in his heart, it's eventually going to lead to his own destruction.

But here is how he resolves the issue for the time being where he he can't find any joy or satisfaction because Mordecai won't bow to him. So then in verse 14, his wife Zeresh and all of his friends said to him, let a gallows 50 cubits high be made.

And in the morning, tell the king to have Mordecai hanged upon it. Then go joyfully with the king to the feast. And this idea pleased Haman. And he had the gallows made. I don't know if I mentioned this before we were talking about gallows, but the gallows in particular, because there was another story of someone being hanged on a gallows.

Oh, that was back in chapter two when Mordecai had discovered that plot of those guys that wanted to kill the king and they were hanged on a gallows. So I don't know if I mentioned this here or not, but the gallows that we're talking about are specifically huge poles for impaling a person on it.

It's not like hangman, you know, in the in the Old West when a person was lynched or hung from a gallows. No, the gallows specifically that we're talking about is a huge impaling pole. So Haman's intention was to impale Mordecai 75 feet in the air.

That was what he wanted. And this would be just this massive monument to his achievement. Hey, here's what I do to people who won't bow down to me full of pride to a to a ridiculous degree. And any kind of sin that we commit against God is ridiculous.

Haman’s Pride, Hatred, and the Call to Take Sin Captive

To not obey the God who created the entire universe to not worship him is about the most ignorant thing we could do. Let's conclude with prayer. Our God, we ask for your forgiveness for our sins. And if there is any wicked way in us because of our selfish, ridiculous pride, attempting to exalt ourselves and rebel against you and think that we're actually going to get away with that, may we be convicted by our sin.

May we commit all our thoughts, all our actions, all of our griefs and anxieties to you because you care for us, because Jesus has died for our sin and there's forgiveness for our sins. So help us to be convicted and listen to that conviction that it would be a conviction that leads to godliness.

And we may grow all the more in the in the knowledge of Christ, in the joy of who you are and what you have done for us and what we've been promised in Christ Jesus. Why do we let our minds be so consumed by the things in this world that are not even going to last?

Give us peace in our hearts that that our hearts may desire you above all else. And we pray this in Jesus name. Amen.

Gabriel Hughes is the pastor of First Southern Baptist Church in Junction City, Kansas. Find out more online at www .tt .com.