Esther 3

Okay. We started last week into the book of Esther. So, open your Bibles to Esther and we'll continue on tonight. We made it two chapters through last week. So, we'll pick up in chapter 3. As a bit of a recap from last week, we started out there with some timing. We were told that this is in the days of Ahasuerus, which places the book of Esther sort of right between Ezra and Nehemiah. It's about 30 years after that first wave has gone to rebuild the temple. But before Nehemiah went and King Araserus here is also known in history as Xerxes.

So that kind of gives us the timing of this book. We're introduced to him as the king over the 127 provinces of the Meo Persian Empire. The location is in Shushan at the citadel. He made a great feast for all of the officials and the nobles that lasted six months. And we were told about all the grandeur of that. At the end of the six months, he had another feast, a 7-day feast in the garden there in Shushan. That was for all the people of Shushan. So all the people of the capital were invited to come to this final grand finale of the feast.

We were given some details about the decorations and just the grandeur. We talked about the unique goblets and all of the gold and silver and purple and white and blue and all these very expensive things. We were told that there was much alcohol at this party. But important it was not compulsory to drink because there had been some law that some king before that had made that you can't force somebody to drink. Which kind of plays into an ongoing theme throughout the book here is that the king doesn't have the power to annul any previous laws. And so King Ahasuerus had to abide by that previous law that they couldn't compel somebody to drink.

Regardless, they're all getting drunk, right? We were introduced to Queen Vashti. She held another feast for the women in the royal palace. And so we have these two feasts going on simultaneously. One for the women in the palace and one for everybody from the city that wanted to come in the garden. It says that on the last day of the feast, the king was merry with wine. Which is a kind way to say that he's drunk. And it says that he summoned the queen to show off her beauty. Something I read this week that I hadn't read before last week was that there's the Jewish tradition on that is that the different governors were all arguing about how the women from their region were the most beautiful and how the king was arguing that no no the women here in Shuan are the most beautiful.

Here, I'll bring out my wife to prove it. Whether that's true or not, I don't know. It's kind of a funny Jewish tradition, though., and so that's how the whole thing got started, according to the Jews. And so, he was bringing her out to show off the beauty of his wife, but she refused. She did not want to be paraded before all of them to show off her beauty. And so, she said no. He got mad and consulted with all of his wise men about what to do. He said, "What according to the law, what should we do to the queen for refusing to come out?"

And they all consulted about this and the one guy named Memucan had quite a bit to say. He was afraid that it would set a president for all wives in the entire kingdom that they would then disrespect their husbands. And so he suggested that they write a law that would banish the queen from the king's presence. In chapter two, it said that the king remembered Vashti and what he had decreed against her., we don't know how much time passed between that, but he's probably sober at this point and he's missing his wife and wants to call her in, but he can't because he remembers that he banished her and she can't come before him anymore.

And so to console him, one of his servants suggests a beauty pageant throughout all of the empire to select the most beautiful women woman to come and to replace the queen. So it was done. They gathered all of the women and we were then introduced to two more characters. We were introduced to Mordecai. He was a Jew of the the tribe of Benjamin of the family of Kish and he had a niece or sort of second cousin something like that first cousin once removed. Their relationship isn't exactly clear, but he had adopted her as his own daughter and so he had raised her and they lived in Shushan, the capital there and she was gathered up in this queen's replacement campaign.

We are told that she was very beautiful and that she found favor in the eyes of the unic who is in charge of the women and all of these women were given this 12month beauty makeover preparation thing. Six months in this type of oil, six months in that type of oil. During that time because she had found favor with the head unic she was given the best apartment and given several maids to attend to her and all of the best beauty treatments and everything. Then we were told that the king started to select this the most beautiful woman and each night a woman was brought before him and then she would be sent away into sort of the heron and to be his concubines.

And so each night a different woman is coming before him and he's estimating her beauty. And it says that when Esther came each each night they were able to bring each woman was able to bring one token with her as well. And we're told that Esther didn't choose anything, but she let the unic choose for her and kind of let him pick the things that the king would like. And we're told that then she came before him and the king delighted in her and thought that she was the most beautiful and chose her and made her queen and then held a great feast for her.

And so then she Esther was made queen instead of Vashti. Then for the rest of the chapter we kind of we see that Mordecai spends a lot of time outside the gate trying to talk to her. And while he's there one day waiting to get some some news from her or be able to correspond with her, he overhears an assassination plot. And so then he tells Esther about it. Esther tells the king about it. It's investigated. It's proved to be true. There indeed was this assassination plot that two of his advisers were getting ready to murder him. And so then it was discovered and they were executed because of it.

And we're told that it was written in the chronicles of the the court there. And that's the end of chapter 2. So then we will pick up in chapter three. Before we jump in, was there any questions from last week or thoughts? No. All right, let's pray. Father, we praise you and we thank you for the book of Esther. We thank you for your inspired word that sits before us tonight. I pray that as we read through these Scriptures that your Holy Spirit would give us ears to hear what you have to say tonight. That you would use these Scriptures to encourage us, to equip us, to send us out as your ambassadors, Lord, in Jesus name.

Amen. Verse one says, "After these things, King Ahasuerus promoted Haman, the son of Hammedatha, the Egite, and advanced him and set his seat above all of the princes who were with him." So, now we're introduced to another character., his name is Haman. We're told that Haman is an egite. And that is an interesting lineage there to be a descendant of King Ag. Now King Age was the king of the Ammonites that were no Malachites. Amalekites that God instructed Israel to destroy. And King Saul, yeah, King Saul was supposed to go out and to destroy the Amalekites. And he went out to do so.

But then he didn't complete the job. He was supposed to not only kill the Amalekites but he was also supposed to kill all of their livestock and everything just total decimation. They were supposed to be wiped off the face of the earth because God had commanded them to do so. But King Saul was disobedient and he did not kill the king. It says that he kept the king alive and brought him back to Jerusalem and he kept all the livestock alive. And so then Samuel comes to confront him and asks him,"Wh did you not do everything that God told you to do?"

And Saul's like,"I did I did everything." And I love Samuel's response. He says, "Then why do I hear sheep bleeding in the background?" You know, "Why do I hear this?" And and so then he starts making, "Oh, I kept those alive as an offering to God." That you know, they're the best of the sheep. I kept them for God. And and then that great line God desires obedience rather than sacrifice. He also kept King Ag. And so Samuel himself goes and dispatches Ag. Now, how did if they eradicated the Amalekites and eventually killed King Ag, how is it that King Ag has a descendant?

How can Mordecai or sorry not Mordecai, how can Haman even be an agodite if they were truly wiped out? I it seems that something was missed, right? Some would even speculate that somehow King Aag was able to impregnate someone there because he was left alive for that short interim. Whether that's true or not, I don't know. But obviously a descendant was left. If King Saul had done completely what God had asked him to do, there's Haman could not be an egodite. He would not exist. Right? I say that because we see that you know little disobediences have farreaching consequences. We saw last week though that I mentioned that Mordecai is a descendant of Shimei and Shimei was the guy that was cursing David and David spared his life at that time.

And so it's possible that Shimei then had a descendant that resulted in Mordecai. We have these two guys, Mordecai and Haman, who both sort of have a an obscure lineage, an obscure lineage that goes back to a momentary decision, which I find very interesting. One of grace and one of disobedience, right? Mordecai is a product of the grace of David and Haman is the product of the disobedience of Saul. So, we're introduced to him. We're told that he's promoted. We don't know why. Doesn't say what he's done to be promoted, but here the king has promoted him to be set above all of the other princes.

Verse two, and all of the king's servants who were with the king, who were within the king's gate, bowed and paid homage to Haman, for so the king had commanded concerning him. But Mordecai would not bow or pay homage. So here Mordecai won't pay Haman this homage. We don't know why. Later he's asked why and he says it's because he's a Jew. But within the Jewish law there is no prohibition of honoring a king or a dignitary or a political leader by bow. Right? That's not that is acceptable. Jews can do that. It's not looked at as some sort of sacrilege or something like that.

So, this seems to be more of a personal thing to Mordecai or he's misinterpreting the law, which is possible as well. Maybe it's because he knew that he was an egite and that he shouldn't even exist. Maybe it was because he knew Haman's anti-semitic tendencies. As we're going to see, Haman hates the Jews., and whether what came first, the chicken or the egg does Haman hat the Jews or does Haman hate Mortai and so therefore he hates Jews? I don't know. But there's something there's some turmoil between these two individuals. And Mordecai here will not bow down to him, will not pay homage to him like all the other people are.

Verse three, then the king's servants who were within the king's gate said to Mordecai, "Why do you transgress the king's command?" And it happened when they spoke to him daily and he would not listen to them that he told it to Haman so or to see whether Mordecai's words would stand for Mordecai had told them that he was a Jew. So there him being a Jew isn't necessarily connected to why he won't bow down just saying that he is a Jew right?, these people are inciting tur turmoil, right? It doesn't seem like Haman even noticed this, but these other people did. So, there's these other servants that they notice that Mordecai doesn't bow down.

So, then they go, they've got this this little bit of gossip that they want to give to Haman. And so by giving this to Haman, they're inciting anger and hatred as gossip often does. You know, why do we repeat things like this? Why did these servants feel it was their duty to go and to let Haman know that Mordecai wouldn't bow down? Verse five. When Haman saw that Mordecai did not bow or pay him homage, Haman was filled with wrath. But he disdained to lay hands on Mordecai alone, for they had told him of the people of Mordecai. Instead, Haman sought to destroy all of the Jews who were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus, the people of Mordecai.

So Haman here hears that Mordecai won't bow down to him and says that he's filled with wrath, but he takes it to the inth degree, right? Instead of wanting to punish this one guy that won't bow down to him, he decides to commit genocide against millions of people, right? All of the Jews through all of the kingdom is millions and millions of Jews. And so here he wants to just commit genocide, destroy all of them. And it seems because of this one simple thing. It's funny when you study history. There you are. I was looking for the history guy. Although you're more American history, right?

I got to always remember that. Okay. So through you study history and a lot of times wars can come down to one stupid little thing like World War I it comes down to some dumb little thing a disagreement that then was an assassination and then it just blew up, right? And a lot of times wars can come down to dumb little things like that, like somebody doesn't bow down to somebody correctly at a party. And and so here we see this entire plot of genocide coming down to the fact that Mordecai won't bow down to Haman.

Usually such situations pretext to do what they wanted to do all along. Sure. Yeah. And so that's where I said what came first the chicken or the egg in this did he hate the Jews first or did he hate Mordecai first? Maybe. Yeah, maybe it goes back to that he knew that they had destroyed the Amalekites, right? And so, right, which makes sense if he's just this this remnant of what used to be a big civilization and he can trace it all the way back to that God instructed the Israelites to murder his whole civilization. Yeah, maybe.,

The children of Israel coming out of Egypt. Yes, they did. God said he set in his face to war against Yeah. Yeah. So when they were coming up through the wilderness to come and enter into the promised land, the Amalekites, the Amalekites went out and attacked them. Is that what it was? Yeah.

Was I in verse six? Yeah. Seven. In the first month, which is the month of Nisan, in the 12th year of the king Ahasuerus, they cast purr, that is the lot, before Haman to determine the day of the month until it fell on the 12th month, which is the month of Adar. So, here, interesting. They decide to cast lots. So, sort of like dice they're throwing dice. To determine when this genocide is going to take place. And so the word for dice there or lot is purr. I mentioned last week that the Jews still celebrate their deliverance here as recorded in Esther.

And they call that deliverance pum which is plural for dice or plural for lots. And so they get that from this here that it was God's providence that the lot would fall for their salvation, right? And so they celebrate Purim today because of God directing the dice, right? And Proverbs 16:33 says the lot is cast into the lap, but it's every decision is from the Lord. And so as they're casting lots here for when what's the timing going to be when they commit this genocide, God's the one that determines the timing. And he gives them a lot of time to prepare.

He gives them 12 months to prepare for this genocide. And they give credit to the Lord for that. Amen. Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, "There is a certain people scattered and dispersed among the people in all of the provinces of your kingdom. Their laws are different from all other peoples, and they do not keep the king's laws. Therefore, it is not fitting for the king to let them remain. If it pleases the king, let a decree be written that they be destroyed, and I will pay 10,000 talants of silver into the hand of those who do the work to bring it to the king's treasuries.

So, here, Haman goes before the king and sort of gives him a little bit of information. Not a lot of detail. He doesn't say how many there are. He just says, "Yeah, there's these people. They're scattered throughout the kingdom." I mean, it almost makes it sound like it's just a few, right? There's there's a few people out there who disobey., let's make a decree, write a law that they will all be destroyed, and I'll pay for it. I will pay 10,000 talents of silver into the hand of those who do the work., I think sometimes we lose sight of how much labor costs when it comes to like government projects, right?

It can cost vast sums that like even when the say the police are deployed to a certain area, you're paying the salaries of every cop that gets sent on that call and it can be very expensive very quickly. When you know people get moved, when soldiers get deployed, right? So say you're moving a thousand national guards somewhere to do something. Well, that's a thousand salaries, right? It adds up extremely quickly and they are very very expensive. And so here he's saying that I will pay all of the soldiers that are going to go and murder all of these people and I'll pay for it.

I'll put 10,000 talents of silver. That's that's a lot, right? We've talked before about how a talent is on average about 75 pounds, right? The ancient talent kind of ranges from 75 to 150 pounds. There it's thought that around this time it was about 75 pounds. And so if you take 75 pounds times 10,000, right? I think we're I did these calculations earlier. I want to say it's like I don't remember but it works out at the Huh? Something like Yeah. 750,000 pounds. Yes. And so then at the spot price of today, which is 58 per ounce, I think this works out to be like a half a billion dollars.

Wow. Right. So he's saying, "I'll pay a half a billion dollars to pay the salaries of these soldiers that are going to go out and make this come to be." Now a lot of commentators speculate that for Haymon, this is it's a it's an investment because part of what's going to happen is, yes, he'll pay that into the treasury. Then he gets the soldiers at his disposal to do this and he will be able to annex all of the property of all of the Jews throughout the entire kingdom. And so Haman like I said, most commentators look at this as that Haman is making a calculated decision that this is a money-making venture and so he will be able to steal all of the property of the Jews.

And Nazis did very similar. Yes. Gather it all up into a cave, you know. Amen. It is the same spirit. And in fact, again, some historic commentators say that the Jews within the Meo Persian Empire were very prosperous and that they owned businesses. They were merchants and so there was a lot of wealth to be had here. And part of the anti-semitism throughout history has always been jealousy of God's blessing upon his people. And God specifically told them, "Go into Babylon, go into captivity. I will bless you there." He says, "Buy homes there, have businesses there, marry your daughters off there take sons there, and I will bless you there."

And God has been blessing them within the Babylonian and now Meo Persian Empire. And so Mordecai or sorry I keep saying Mordecai. Haman is going to be able to steal all of that wealth. So that's praise the Lord. Yeah, that's what's going on here. Any thoughts? Probably doesn't have the money. He just planned to use that maybe. Yeah, maybe he's speculating here. That silver was the standard silver was more valuable than gold at that time. Wow. Amen. If that be the case, then we're looking at billions and Amen., praise the Lord. Now, I mentioned last week that King Hasseras seems to be a guy who's easily manipulated, right?

He doesn't seem to have much of an opinion for himself. There at the party, he got mad because his queen wouldn't come out. And so then he asked all the people, "What should we do?" And they're like, "Banish her." He's like, "Okay, banish her." You know, and he just agrees. And he puts his signet on it and done and then they're like, "Let's have a beauty pageant. Sounds like a great idea. Here here's my signet." Bam. Done. And so here the same thing. Haman comes to him, says, "Hey, I want to kill all these people. I'll pay for it."

Sure, why not? And here he even gives him his signet ring. Giving him his ability to sign off on the contracts to do this. Verse 10 says, "So the king took his signet ring from his hand and gave it to Haman, the son of Hammedatha, the Agite, the enemy of the Jews." And so here he's giving him the signet ring so that Haman can write up the contract and sign it with the king's signet as he sees fit. Verse 11. And the king said to Haman, "The money and the people are given to you to do with as seems good to you.", and so he gives him grants him everything here.

Then the king's scribes were called in the 13th day of the first month. And a decree was written according to all that Haman commanded to the king's satr who were over each province to the officials and all of the people to every province according to its script and to every people in their language in the name of King Ahasuerus. It is written and sealed with the king's signet ring. So we mentioned before that these 127 provinces all have different languages. And so whenever a law is written, it then has to be translated and written in all the different languages and then sent out to those different governors of each of the provinces.

And so that's what's going on here. It says, "And the letters were sent by Courier into the king's provinces to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate all of the Jews." You know, any one of those words would have worked, but we get it redundant. It that must have been how Haman wrote it, right? He's He's so mad. He doesn't just want to kill them. He doesn't just want to destroy them. Wants to destroy, kill, and annihilate all of the Jews, both young and old, little children and women, in one day on the 13th day of the 12th month, which is the month of Adar, and to plunder their possessions.

And so there it says that he's plundering all of their possessions. So he's taking everything. And a copy of the document was to be issued as law in every province, being published for all people, that they should be ready for that day. The couriers went out hastened by the king's command, and the decree was proclaimed in Shushan the citadel. So the king and Haman sat down to drink, but the city of Shushan was very per or was perplexed. Right? So this law goes out and everybody's now reading it and they're like, "Why are we killing these people?" You know, nobody understands. They're like, "We're very perplexed.

Why is this decree come out?" You know, and Haman's happy. He sits down with the king and they have a drink and all the people are like, "What is going on?" verse or chapter 4. When Mordecai learned all that happened, he tore his clothes and he put on sackcloth and ashes and he went out into the midst of the city and he cried out with a loud and bitter cry. And he went as far as the front of the king's gate, for no one might enter the king's gate closed with sackcloth. And in every province where the king's command and decree arrived, there was great mourning among the Jews with fasting and weeping and wailing, and many lay in sackcloth and ashes.

So, as this goes out, there's great mourning. I love there that they're also fasting. So, that infers prayer that they're lifting this up to God. They're fasting about it. But what are we going to do? They're weeping. They're wailing. Mordecai hears does the same. He's wailing and weeping there in Shushan. He comes to the palace there, but they won't let him in. You know, nobody in sackcloth is allowed through the gate. You know, the idea there that nobody's sad is allowed in the presence of the king. You know, you can't go to the king mourning and wailing. Because the king is so great, he's supposed to make everybody happy, right?

And so, you can't go before him. We saw that also in Nehemiah, how Nehemiah was afraid to be sad in the king's presence because he'd never been sad in the king's presence before., and that fear was based upon that because if you're sad in the king's presence, he could kill you, right? Because you're not supposed to be sad. King's supposed to be a great God, right? Amen. Just like you guys are all happy in my presence all the time. Yes. No. Praise the Lord. All right. Verse two. Amen. If you want to make people happy, be a jester. Right.

Oh, yes. Because Passover would be on the 14th. Right. Yeah. So he went as far as the front. Oh, I read that already. He wasn't allowed in. Four. So Esther's maids and eunuchs came and told her. And the queen was deeply distressed. And she sent garments to clothe Mordecai to take his sackcloth away from him. But he would not accept them. So, here she's told that he's in mourning. She doesn't know why. She hasn't gotten this decree yet. She doesn't know what's going on. And so, she sends out some clothes so that he can come in, but he won't take them. So, then Esther called Ha Hathach, one of the king's units whom he had appointed to attend to her, and she gave him a command concerning Mordecai to learn what it was.

And so they're it seems like she can't go out, he can't come in. And so they're going to communicate through this messenger. And so Heathk goes out to Mordecai into the city square was in front of the king's gate. And Mordecai told him all that had happened to him and the sum of money that Haman had promised to pay into the king's treasuries to destroy the Jews. That kind of aligns with Josh what you were saying that he doesn't even have this money. He's doing it on credit because he's saying he promised to pay it. Right. Yes. Amen. For those of you that didn't hear, he said under his breath, "This guy's a crook."

He also gave him a copy of the written decree for their destruction which was given at Shusham that he might show it to Esther and explain it to her. And that he might command her to go to the king to make supplication to him and to plead before him for her people. And so Hathach returned to and told Esther the words of Mordecai and then Esther spoke to Hathach and gave him a command for Mordecai., all of the king's servants and the people of the king's provinces know that any man or woman who goes into the inner court of the king who has not been called, he has but one law, put all to death, except the one to whom the king holds out the golden scepter that he may live.

Yet I myself have not been called to go into the king these 30 days. So here she he asks her you know you have an audience with the king go to the king ask him to overturn this law you know help us make supplication plead before him for your people and she sends back and says I can't go in there only people who are summoned can go in there it's kind of an interesting relationship that he has with his queen here that she's not allowed to enter his throne room unless she is invited. And she says here, "I haven't been invited for over 30 days.

It's been a month since I've seen the king. I can't just go in. If I go in, the law is death." You know, I don't know when that law got put into place. Probably some annoying person burst through the door and started yaking the king's ear off and he's like, "New law. Anybody comes through the door, you kill them." Unless I hold up and I wonder if one of his wise men was like anybody, I mean, we got to have some sort of exception here. And he says, okay, okay, if I hold up my scepter, then they can live, right?

And so that's a just a s standing law. Anybody comes into the room having not been invited is murdered on the spot or executed on the spot unless the king holds up his scepter. And so she's like, I can't I might die. I can't go in there. He might not hold up a scepter to me. And so when Mordecai or so they told Mordecai Esther's words, verse 13, and Mordecai told them to answer Esther, "Do not think in your heart that you will escape the king's in the king's palace anymore than all of the other Jews. For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father's house will perish.

Yet, who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this? And that's one of the most quoted verses out of Esther here., an incredible verse that we ought to apply to our lives today. That every situation that we've been put into, every circumstance that we have been given, every gift that God has given us, how do we not know that God hasn't given us for his plans and purpose, for the timing that he wants us to have it in? How do you not know that each, you know seemingly coincidental collision with somebody else's life isn't for that perfect timing that God has ordained it?

You know, he says also to her that don't think that you're going to escape. That if you don't rise up in this moment that there will be consequences for you and within our lives. There are times that we have responsibilities and if we don't act on those responsibilities, if we sherk our duty, there are consequences for that. Right? That how does Spider-Man's uncle put it? Right. With great respons with great power comes great responsibility, right? And here she had been given great power. She had been given great responsibility. And she needed to use that for God's glory. If she didn't, there would be consequences.

And so he lays that out for her here and I love his faith there. He says, "If you don't," he says he's not worried about it. Relief's going to come. Deliverance will happen. God promised that the Messiah would come from the Jews and so therefore the Jews cannot be eradicated. That's sort of Mordecai's rationale there. And I love that. And it's the same faith that Abraham had on top of Mount Moriah when he was willing to raise a knife to sacrifice his own son. God had promised that he was going to have a mighty nation grow out of that son. So therefore, even if he were to kill him, God would raise him up somehow.

That was all Abraham needed to know, right? He had two things in his mind. One, God said this son is going to have a whole nation grow out of him. Two, God told me to kill him, right? So therefore, those two things are going to work together for God's purpose and God's will. And so even if I go through with sacrificing my own son, God will still keep his promise to build a mighty nation out of him. And so he figured even if it goes through to death, God would resurrect him. And we're told that in Hebrews that that was Abraham's faith. He didn't have to go through with it.

God saw that his faith was there. And so God provided another sacrifice which is also symbolic symbolic that God would provide himself Jesus Christ as a sacrifice that all of us might be saved. Right? And so here Mordecai is believing in the same promises. He's he knows that this plot's not going to go through. He knows that God is going to save at least a remnant so that the Messiah can be born, right? And I love his faith there. But he also turns it back on Esther saying deliverance is going to come from somewhere. If not from you, then somewhere. But you will be held responsible if it's not from you because you have this opportunity.

You know, and all of us have opportunities every day to share the word of God, right? To represent the kingdom of heaven as an ambassador. And we've been given that responsibility. And we are responsible for that responsibility. And when we sherk that responsibility, there will be consequences. You know, when when the Holy Spirit tells me to share the gospel with somebody and I ignore it and I just say, "Nope, I'm in a hurry today. I got to go." God will share with that person some other way. Right? That person's salvation is not dependent on you. But you will later have to give an account for not listening that day.

All of those things are written down. Now, yes, we have an intercessor in Jesus Christ and we will be forgiven. For not obeying that. But we also will not receive reward for that as well. And I think we greatly undervalue rewards in this life. The Bible talks about them as the things that we ought to be living for. We ought to be doing as much as possible in this life to heap up rewards in heaven. They are of far greater worth than anything we could be working for here on earth. Right? There is no material thing on this planet that even comes in comparison to one of those eternal rewards.

And so we should be spending all of our time and resources trying to build up eternal rewards because these resources here, these rewards, these houses and cars and bank accounts and careers and kingdoms and whatever we build here on earth will burn. And if we squander our time and resources on things that are going to burn, we will have to give an account and we will not have those rewards. And that's essentially what Mordecai is saying to Esther here. What do you guys think of that? I think it's very u it's fitting for his situation because a decree just went out to take all of their earthly possessions and kill them.

So for us to realize the same thing could happen to us today, we could have an evil ruler or government that makes a decree to kill all the Christians and then everything you live for is gone except your soul and whatever you sent ahead. Right. Right. I think that must have really hit home for them at that time looking at the reality. Yeah. Amen. In that day, we can all write letters to the president, right? If any of you know the president for such a time as this. Amen. The evil guy had the autopen, right? Even back then, it was like We saw that happen in our country.

Yeah. Just whatever evil thing that someone came up with, he would just Oh, yeah. Sign it. Sure. Let's do it. Yeah. Here's this the pen. Here's the sign that ring. Yeah. Amen. Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai, "Go and gather all of the Jews who are present in Shushan and fast for me. Neither eat nor drink for three days or yeah, three days, night or day, my maids, I will fast likewise also and go to the king which is against the law. And if I perish, I perish." I love that there I will go before the king. Pray for me. You know, she's like, "Gather everybody.

Pray for me. Have a fast, a three-day fast." I love here that it's it she specifies, "Don't drink, eat or drink night or day, right?" there's some cultures that when they fast, they only fast during the day, like the Muslims, they fast during the day and then they gorge themselves at night. It's it's not that's not fasting in my mind, right? And so they as soon as the sun goes down, they go and they have these big parties and they just eat and eat and eat until the sun comes up and then they fast again. And so here she's saying she's specifying night or day, right?

So this is a 72-hour fast. And it's a full fast from everything, food and water. So neither eat nor drink for three days and three nights. That's right at the end of what's possible, right? Because after three days is what when you will thirst or Yeah. You'll die of thirst. Yeah. So she's asking them to pray for her. I love that. If any of you are in a situation where you have to make an important decision, pray about it. Ask others to pray for you. Ask others to fast for you and they might remember. They might fast for you. Praise the Lord.

I bring that up because I told somebody that I would fast one time and then afterwards they asked me about it. I was like, I totally forgot. We had committed to fast together and at the end I think it was like three days and at the end of it we had decided to go out to lunch or something like that to break our fast together. And leading up to that lunch, he starts texting me and he's like, "I sure am hungry." And I totally just didn't like, "Yeah, me too." I still I didn't get it. And or I said something like, "Oh, well, how come you're hungry?

Did you skip breakfast?" And then he's like, "You know, because we're fasting." I was just I had to be honest. I was like, I totally forgot. Didn't fast a single day. Praise the Lord. He did. And that was what was important. And he thought I was doing it with him. So that was the encouragement. Amen. I felt so bad. So if I commit to fast with any of you, please send me like hourly reminders that we're fasting because I forget. Amen. Anyway, I love this and I love her then submitting to the outcome. If I perish, I perish. Right. That's kind of like when Paul says to live as Christ, to die is gain, right?

Patty, do they get to drink water while they're fasting in this fast? I think no. It says neither eat nor drink. Now, in some fasts, yes, you would you would drink water, right? I think when we decide to fast, we often pray about what are the rules of that fast going to be, you know? And so sometimes I'll decide to do a water only fast where I just drink water. Sometimes people do a juice fast. Some people do they fast from something particular like you know fast from red meat or something like that. And then all the different ways around that.

No. Amen. And it doesn't just have to be food. You can decide to fast from other things. You can fast from electronics or fast from social media or fast from entertainment or yeah things like that as well. In 1 Corinthians chapter 7, Paul there uses an example of fasting from sexual intimacy with your partner for a little while. But he specifies that cannot be very long and only by agreement ahead of time and then you have to pick a time and then you have to come back together. So he sets out some rules there, but that's another type of fast that he points out as well.

Amen. So Mordecai went his way and did according to all that Esther commanded him. So he organized this great fast. Amen. Let's see. Chapter five is pretty short. I think we can make it through that. Let's plow. Now it happened on the third day that Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the king's palace across from the king's house while the king sat in his on his royal throne in the royal house facing the entrance of the house. So it's been three days they've been fasting and praying. And so she gets ready, she gets dressed, she stands opposite the door.

And so I wonder if this is by design, right? She's hoping that the doors will open and the king will see her out there and invite her in is my guess, right? And so she's kind of waiting and waiting, but he doesn't. He doesn't see her. He doesn't invite her in, you know. I can see myself doing something like that strategically positioning myself right in the crack of the door, hoping that as somebody comes in or out that the king just might catch a glimpse and then invite me in. Then I don't have to go through with this whole thing of going in and putting my life on the line.

But it doesn't happen. And so it was when the king saw Queen Esther standing in the court that she found favor in his sight and the king held out to Esther the golden scepter that was in his hand. Then Queen Esther went near and touched the top of the scepter. And so she goes there and he sees her and he holds up the scepter and she goes and she touches the scepter. And so that's the whole ceremony that she's then been accepted by him and she's allowed to be there. So servants don't have to kill her. And the king said to her, "What do you wish, Queen Esther?

What is your request? It shall be given to you up to half the kingdom." I think he understands how incredibly brave this is, right? I think he sees I didn't invite her in here. That means that she was willing to risk death, that whatever is on her mind was so important that she was willing to die for it and to come into my presence. And so then he's like, "What do you want? I'll give you anything up to half the kingdom." You know, so he's essentially here kind of writing a blank check to her., it's the same wording that King Herod used with his with Herodias's daughter when Herodias's daughter danced before him.

You know, I'll give you up to half the kingdom. What did she ask for? The head of John the Baptist on a platter because her mom hated him. Why? Because her mom told her that that she wasn't supposed to marry him because she was already married, right? So, she Anyway, that's a whole another story. We'll get to that later. Amen. Yes, she could, right? She could have, I want Haman's head on a platter. Amen. So, what do you wish up to half the kingdom? And so, Esther answered. Now, here I find it interesting. She says, "If it pleased the king, let the king and Haman come today to the banquet that I have prepared for him."

Right., so she doesn't ask for his head on a platter. She doesn't bring up the law of the genocide of her people. She doesn't say anything about that. She says you know come to my house. Let's have a party. Let's have a little banquet at my house. Just you and Haman and me., so I don't know. Did she chickenen out? Is this part of her plan?, I kind of feel like she chickenened out a little bit, but that she's opening up the door for this to work out and we're going to see that this works out incredibly, right?

God uses this in an awesome way. But I'm getting ahead of the story. Then the king said, "Bring Haman quickly." And so here the king is elated, elated that she risked her life to come in before him. That she's now inviting him into her house for a banquet. And you know, as she's initiating this banquet, he's just happy, right? And and he's like, "Oh yeah, absolutely. I want to come. Where's Haman go? Go get him. Go get that guy. I want to go right now. So go get Haman quickly that he may do as Esther had said." And so the king and Haman went to the banquet that Esther had prepared.

Since she had prepared that, wasn't she prepared for him? You're right. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. But still, why did she Why didn't she just ask him there? I don't know. But yeah, she's prepared. She's got this whole prep preparation thing. So, you're right. It's already prepared., so she was planning to do this in the first place. And then also, she would just have the king's ear and not his advisors and Yes. So, that is wise. As well. Why does she invite Haman? I wonder maybe to accuse him in front of his face and so then he has to answer for it right there.

So maybe I don't know. That's the power that and the wisdom that comes through fasting. Amen. Act strategically and think through ahead. But also like what she said, preparing the banquet was really like a evidence of faith. Yeah, her faith in the crown dur., so you know the king's like, "Bring Haman quickly." They go and at the banquet of wine, the queen or the king said to Esther, "What is your petition?" So he understands it's probably not just to come to a banquet. There's something else, right? What do you want?, and it shall be granted to you. What is your request? Up to half the kingdom it shall be done.

And then Esther answered and said,"My petition and my request is this. If I have found favor in the sight of the king, and if it pleases the king to grant my petition, to fill my request, let the king and Haman come to the banquet, which I will prepare for them tomorrow, and I will do as the king has said." And so here she again doesn't ask for Haman's head. She doesn't ask for any favor. She just says come to another banquet tomorrow and all that I've prepared as well. And again this is all whether this is just her trying to you know delay or whether this is part of an elaborate plan.

I kind of doubt an elaborate plan at this point. I just kind of feel like she's still pushing things off. But again, God's going to use this. And I love the way that God even uses her procrastination, if you will, right? I kind of feel like this, especially pushing it off to a second banquet maybe the first one where she prepared it, but now she's like, "Ah, come to another banquet tomorrow." You know, and so, I will do as the king has said. So come again tomorrow and then I will tell you what my request is is what she's saying.

So Haman went out that day joyful. It does. So the king or Haman went out that day really joyful and with a glad heart. But when Haman saw Mordecai in the king's gate and that he did not stand or tremble before him, he was filled with indignation against Mordecai. You know, have you ever just been like so happy and on cloud nine and then some little thing robs your joy, right? Some look from somebody, some word that somebody says. I mean, how quickly our emotions change, how fickle our happiness is. And so, here he's so happy. He's just been invited to a private audience with the queen and the king and he's going out joyful probably thinking that he's one of the greatest guys in the kingdom.

And then he sees Mordecai. I hate that guy. And this indignation fills him. Says, "Nevertheless, Haman restrained himself and went home." So it seems like he just even wanted to destroy him right there. And he sent and he called for his friends and his wife Zeresh. Then Haman told them of his great riches, the multitude of his children, everything in which the king had promoted him, and how he had advanced him above the officials and the servants of the king. Moreover, Haman said, "Besides, Queen Esther invited no one but me to come with the king to the banquet that she prepared, and tomorrow I am again invited by her along with the king."

So, it seems like he's trying to get his joy back. He invites some friends and his wife, and he starts bragging about all that he had. Look at all the wealth. Look at all the kids I have. Look at what the king's done for me. And I have had this private audience with the king and queen. And I'm going to another one tomorrow, you know. So, he's trying to I don't know, get his joy back. I guess that was all robbed from Mordecai, but then it's still there. He's still unhappy. Verse 13, it says, "Yet all this avails me nothing, right? He's got all these things oh, if we would just be content with the things that that God has given us to bring us joy."

Here he has all these things that he's able to brag about and yet he's not content. And here the thing that robs him of contentment is just that this guy's still alive. You know, this avails me nothing so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting in the king's gate. Then his wife Zeresh and all of his friends said to him, "Let gallows be made 50 cubits high, and in the morning suggest to the king that Mordecai be hanged on it." Then go merrily with the king to the banquet, and the thing pleased Haman. So he had the gallows made. Now, this is interesting. It they're 50 cubits high, and he has it.

He has them constructed there in just that night, you know. So, he's he goes out and he gets a midnight construction crew to start building these gallows right away. And 50 cubits, that's 75 feet tall. Now, gallows in this time are not what we would think of as gallows. So, this is not a noose where somebody would be hung. But gallows in that culture was that they would build a large tall platform 75 feet high. I think that's abnormal. It's not normally that high., but they would build this tall platform and then at the base they would sharpen a pike and they would drive that pike into the ground and they would take the person up and they would drop the person from that height so that they would land right on the spike and they would be impaled by this great spike.

And so that's what he's having built here and that was common custom., we had that mentioned in the LA last week as well where there was sort of the I forget what it was. There was no it was in Nehemiah where it was saying that anybody who didn't listen to the king's command that have a beam plucked from their own house and be sharpened to be that pike and that they be dropped from the top of their own house on that beam., and so that's it was the common method of execution at that time. Sounds horrendous, right? Especially and then the taller you get that so 75 feet there is time involved there as you're falling and so you get to think about this thing coming towards you.

And so the height of the tower made the punishment even more excruciating. And so he comforts himself with making this gallow and this plan. He's going to go in the morning right before the king and he's going to ask for Mordecai to be impaled on this pike., and that brings us to the end of chapter 5. And we'll end there. And so we will see what God does. All right. And I love how God is working in the background and miraculously brings all of these things about for his glory. But we'll save that for next week. Amen. Father, we praise you and we thank you tonight.

We thank you for these Scriptures here that are so obvious that you are working in the background and how you are bringing all things together for your glory. We praise you and we worship you in Jesus name. Amen.