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Reading Esther 6 and 7 where Haman is truly embarrassed by his own cunning, which also leads to his own destruction. Visit wwutt.com for all our videos!
Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall, or so we read in Proverbs 16, 18, and we see this exemplified in a wicked man named Haman when we understand the text.
You are listening to When We Understand the Text, an online Bible ministry so that we may know all the riches freely given to us by God. For questions and comments send us an email to whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com.
Here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. We continue with our study of the book of Esther. Chapters 6 and 7 is where we will be today if you want to open up your Bible and join with me there.
So last week at the end of chapter 5, Haman was having a bit of a pity party for himself. He was the second most powerful man in the world, having been appointed to that position by the king of Persia, but he could not be happy.
He was not satisfied. With all that he had, he could not find contentment because one man, Mordecai, the Jew, would not bow down to him whenever he passed. And so to solve this problem, since Haman was a descendant of the Agagites who were sworn enemies of the Jews for hundreds of years, there was a point when Saul, who was the king of Israel at that time, was supposed to wipe out all of the Amalekites and King Agag, and he would not do it.
He disobeyed God. And because Saul did not do what God had commanded him to do, now we're in this situation hundreds of years later. We would not even be in this place had Saul obeyed the Lord in the first place.
And so you've got Haman, who is a descendant of King Agag, who sees Mordecai not bowing down to him. So he decides, I'm going to wipe out all the Jews. He gets the king to sign off on it. The order is passed.
It cannot be reversed. Well, Esther, who was Mordecai's cousin, who is married to the king of Persia, and yet nobody knows that she's a Jew. She has wined and dined the king. That's what we read about in chapter five last week.
And she's setting the stage to be able to appeal to him for the deliverance of her people. It's in Esther 414 where Mordecai says, who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this.
Esther is the most secular book in the Bible. God's name is never even mentioned. Yet his providence is clearly seen that he has arranged all of these events by his hand, even putting Esther in the palace, married to the very man who passed an edict that would lead to the annihilation of the Jews if that decree were to be carried out.
And now Mordecai is appealed to Esther, who is married to this man and said, you have this opportunity to deliver your people. And Mordecai knows that the Jews will be delivered. They may suffer heavy losses as a result of of this decree, but he knows that they're going to be delivered.
For earlier in verse 14 there, Mordecai says, if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place. So he knows what was decreed through the prophet Jeremiah.
When God said to his people, you have been exiled, but you're not going to perish in exile. They had been exiled to the Babylonians and now currently under the Persians. But God had said through Jeremiah that they would have the chance to to return to the land that they were exiled from.
They would go back to the promised land. So Mordecai knew that and he was looking forward to that. But he did not want to see any loss among his kinsmen, especially with this law that would have led to the deaths of thousands of Jews.
And so Esther is going to use the position that she has to appeal to the king to spare the lives of her people. We read about a dinner that she had prepared for the king and for Haman. That was in chapter five.
And she said, I'm going to prepare another dinner for you the next day, and then I will tell you exactly what this is all about, what I am asking of you, O king. So that's what we get to here in chapters six and seven.
But we've got another event that we've got to get through first, much to Haman's embarrassment. Chapter six, verse one on that night. So this is the very night following this feast that Esther had prepared for the king and Haman was also in attendance.
That was the first feast. So on that night, the king could not sleep and he gave orders to bring the book of memorable deeds, the chronicles, and they were read before the king. And it was found written how Mordecai had told about Bigthina and Teresh, two of the king's eunuchs who guarded the threshold and who had sought to lay hands on King Ahasuerus.
They wanted to kill him. And the king said, what honor or distinction has been bestowed on Mordecai for this? The king's young men who attended him said nothing has been done for him. And the king said, who is in the court?
Now, Haman had just entered the outer court of the king's palace to speak to the king about having Mordecai hanged on the gallows that he had prepared for him. OK, so that's what Haman is there to talk to the king about.
We read about that at the end of chapter five. Haman is so distraught over the fact that Mordecai will not bow to him. And it is Zeresh, Haman's wife, who comes up with this idea to build a gallows 75 feet high, hang Mordecai on that.
And then you'll feel better about yourself because Mordecai was hung on such a high gallows. So she said, build it first, then go ask the king if if the king would hang Mordecai on it. So Haman is going to the king to make that very request after the king has just read that Mordecai had acted to save the king's life and had not been rewarded for it.
That was back at the end of chapter two when we we read about that. So the king's young men told this is chapter six, verse five. The king's young men told him Haman is there. He's standing in the court.
And the king said, let him come in. So Haman came in and the king said to him, what should be done to the man whom the king delights to honor? Now, notice in that question, the king hasn't mentioned who he wants to honor.
He's just asked Haman, what should the king do for the man that the that the king wants to honor? And Haman said to himself, who would the king delight to honor more than me? Of course, Haman would think that because he's so selfish and self-absorbed.
And Haman said to the king for the man whom the king delights to honor, let royal robes be brought, which the king has worn and the horse that the king has ridden and on whose head a royal crown is set and let the robes and the horse be handed over to one of the king's most noble officials.
Let them dress the man whom the king delights to honor and let them lead him on the horse through the square of the city proclaiming before him. Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to honor.
Then the king said to Haman, that's a great idea. So hurry, take the robes and the horse, as you have said, and Haman sitting there going, yeah, yeah, yeah. And then the king says, and do this to Mordecai, the Jew who sits at the king's gate, leave out nothing that you have mentioned.
And so Haman is going, Mordecai, I have to do this for Mordecai? In the back of his mind, knowing I was coming in here to ask you if I could hang him on a pole and now I have to honor him with this great idea that I just had to honor myself.
And Haman took the robes and the horse and he dressed Mordecai and led him through the square of the city proclaiming before him, thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to honor. Oh, oh, the shame.
Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Oh, pride goes before a fall. But this is not the worst that is going to happen to Haman. And look at how Haman responds to this. Then after all of this was done, Mordecai returned to the king's gate, verse 12, but Haman hurried to his house mourning and with his head covered.
How did Haman respond to this, to having to do this to Mordecai? That that so shamed him. He covered his head and he mourned over it. This was exactly what Mordecai did when he found out that the Jews were going to be annihilated by the king's decree.
All the other Jews mourned along with Mordecai. Now they had a legitimate reason to mourn. They were going to die. They were mourning over their very lives. They were appealing to God that he would spare them.
They had a very good reason to mourn. It is a legitimate reason to grieve. But Haman just had his pride wounded a little bit. And yet he's responding the exact same way that the Jews responded when they found out that they were going to die.
Haman just had to lead Mordecai around proclaiming that the king loves this guy, this very man whom Haman wants to hang on a pole. And Haman told his wife Zeresh verse 13 and all of his friends everything that had happened to him.
This is the very same thing that he had done in chapter five when he wanted to have a pity party for himself. He assembled his friends. He got his wife and everybody went, oh, Haman, it's OK. It's going to be all right.
You're such a special guy. Then his wise men and his wife Zeresh said to him, if Mordecai before whom you have begun to fall is of the Jewish people, you will not overcome him, but will surely fall before him.
While they were yet talking with him, the king's eunuchs arrived and hurried to bring Haman to the feast that Esther had prepared. So this is now the next day and the next feast that has been prepared, which the king and Haman are invited to.
It's just the king. It's Haman and it's Esther. That Esther has prepared this feast for. But this is this is rather a prophetic statement that Zeresh makes. So first of all, Zeresh has said to Mordecai, hey, if you want to get revenge on this guy, have a gallows made 75 feet high, hang him on it.
It will proclaim your victory over the Jews. But now Haman is begun is beginning to fall and Zeresh recognizes that. And so she says very prophetically, if Mordecai before whom you have begun to fall is of the Jewish people, you will not overcome him, but will surely fall before him.
It's like Zeresh is beginning to see the undoing of Haman's plan. Now, these were a very superstitious people. They didn't believe in God. They didn't worship the one true God, but they were still very superstitious and very spiritual.
So so as Zeresh is seeing this, this kind of karma, although that's not what they would have called it, but that's kind of what she's recognizing. It's it's like Haman is plotted to kill these people, but he's not succeeding at it.
Instead, he's being embarrassed by the very person whom he hates. It looks like Haman's plan's not going to work. So it's almost as if she's suggesting to him, you need to start reversing course here.
Because these things are not working out. This is going to result in your destruction. Something much worse is going to happen than just having to lead Mordecai around and proclaiming his greatness in the name of the king.
Something worse is about to happen to you. Better rethink this. But Haman doesn't have time. And that's what we have at the very end of chapter six. Events are being rushed to bring about a judgment that's going to befall Haman and the deliverance that's going to come for the Jews.
So verse 14, while they were yet talking with him, the king's eunuchs arrived and hurried to bring Haman to the feast that Esther had prepared. Haman did not even yet have time to receive advice on what he should do next.
Haman, who was so influenced by his wife, second most powerful man in the world under the king, and yet he's doing everything his wife tells him to do. This was the same thing that happened with the king when he couldn't get Vashti to do what he told Vashti to do.
Vashti had more command over the king than he had over her. So he listened to his wise men and had her banished. Haman, same thing here. He can't seem to make a decision on his own. He does whatever his wife says, but he cannot get advice from his friends and from his wife before he's hurried along to this feast.
So the king and Haman went into the feast with Queen Esther. And on the second day, as they were drinking wine after the feast, the king again said to Esther, what is your wish, Queen Esther? It shall be granted you.
And what is your request? Even to the half of my kingdom, it shall be fulfilled. Then Queen Esther answered, if I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it please the king and no more waiting, Esther is laying it all right here.
Exactly why she has put these two feasts together two days in a row. What she is requesting of the king. If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it please the king, let my life be granted me for my wish and my people for my request.
For we have been sold, I and my people to be destroyed, to be killed and to be annihilated. If we had been sold merely as slaves, men and women, I would have been silent for our affliction is not to be compared with the loss to the king.
Then King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther, who is he and where is he who has dared to do this? And Esther said, a foe and an enemy, this wicked Haman. And then Haman was terrified before the king and the queen.
And the king arose in his wrath from the wine drinking and went into the palace garden. But Haman stayed to beg for his life from Queen Esther, for he saw that harm was determined against him by the king.
So the king is filled with wrath. He's gotten up to leave because he needs to collect himself. He needs to think about what he's going to do here. This is not just the life of his wife. He it has now been revealed to him that his wife is a Jew and he has signed a decree for the annihilation of all of the Jewish people, a decree that cannot be reversed, by the way.
And that's that's even going to come back into the story here. So they cannot reverse what has been decreed the annihilation of the Jewish people. The king now knows his wife is a Jew and she would have to be killed along with them.
He is filled with rage over Haman's wicked plot to destroy these people. And so he has gone out to collect himself to think about what he can do. So while he has gone out, Haman recognizes he's going to be killed for this because this thing that he has conned the king into doing means that the queen would have to be put to death.
And so the king is going to kill Haman for it. So Haman begs for his life from Queen Esther, for he saw that harm was determined against him by the king. And the king returned from the palace garden to the place where they were drinking wine as Haman was falling on the couch where Esther was.
So the king is left. Esther is alone with Haman, this man who wants to kill her people. And he's coming over to her begging for his life. And in the process of doing so, it's like he falls down before her begging.
But what it looks like to the king is that Haman is attacking Esther and Esther is not comfortable with this. She probably has horror in her face. This man wants to kill her people. She's not comfortable with him being so near to her, especially when the king has just walked out.
And so the king sees that Haman is falling upon Esther, begging for his life, and Esther is fighting against him. And so this is what the king sees and says, will he even assault the queen in my presence in my own house?
And as the word left the mouth of the king, they covered Haman's face. So though there may have not been a palace guard in the room with them, it was kind of a private ordeal. So it's the king, the queen and Haman.
There may not have been a palace guard in the room with them, but they would have been outside the room. So as the king is saying this, the palace guard rushes in and they cover Haman's face. This is what was done to a criminal whose sentence was going to be death.
So Haman's sentence has already been determined right then and there. He was going to die for this offense. Then Harbona, verse nine, Harbona, one of the eunuchs in attendance on the king said, moreover, the gallows that Haman has prepared for Mordecai, whose word saved the king, is standing at Haman's house, 50 cubits high.
And the king said, hang him on that. So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the wrath of the king abated. And again, this gallows that we're talking about here is not like an old west gallows.
It's not like hangman, you know, hung by a rope. That's typically what we think of with a gallows. It was a big impaling pole that was 75 feet in the air. And so Haman was impaled upon that very pole, which he had constructed to destroy Mordecai on.
Instead, it was the thing that Haman was killed upon. And it says, then the wrath of the king abated. If I might use this as a very crude metaphor, when Christ was hanged on the cross for us, the wrath of God was abated.
The wrath of God is burning against all ungodliness and all unrighteousness of men. The scripture says, even upon you and upon me, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. But when Jesus Christ was hanged on a cross and his blood was shed for our sins, he was a propitiation.
And that means that the wrath of God was satisfied by the blood of Jesus Christ. And so Christ was hanged and God's wrath was abated. If there's anything from this that would point us to the salvation story, that's where we would see a particular connection.
And so faith in Jesus Christ is how we have forgiveness of sins and right standing with God, because Jesus died on our behalf, paying the price that we could not pay because of the sins that we had committed against God.
And God's wrath, which was burning against our unrighteousness, has been satisfied by the blood of Jesus Christ. Let us conclude there with prayer. Our wonderful God, we thank you for this salvation that has been given to us.
We have been given through Christ the promise of eternal life. So what does anything that is going on in this world, what can that do to us? How can that take from us? This love that we have been granted through this precious gift of your son.
If we have been promised an eternal kingdom, then we have nothing to gain from this world. So let us not be so concerned and consumed by the things that we do not have, but rather let us rejoice in what we do have, forgiveness and eternal life.
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.