Esther Tale of Two Men Esther 2 and 3 Oct 25th 2020
Hello, I'm Pastor Greg of Calvary Reformed Church and we are our continuing our series on the book of Esther.
This is the third teaching on the book of Esther. If you've watched the first two teachings, wonderful! You know where we are. If you haven't, I encourage you to go back and watch them. They're not very long.
Before we begin, I'd like to have a word of prayer. Lord God as we come to You, we give You thanks and praise for Your word. Lord I seek wisdom from You, to glorify You, and to engage and educate the people that are watching this video. Lord I ask this in Your name, Amen.
The Book of Esther is an Old Testament story written
about 24-2500 years ago. It's about the land of Persia, ruled by King Xerxes during 480-460’s. In chapter one we read that King Xerxes is planning to invade Greece. It takes 180 days to plan this invasion with his nobles, princesses, and military leaders. Then he has another seven-day festival, requiring his queen to parade around in front of everyone. She refuses.
King Xerxes’ wise men suggest that he depose the queen and he listens to them. He deposes the queen and then goes off to fight the wars. We know that he was defeated soundly by the Greeks and then he came home. The time span between chapter one and chapter two is about four years. After King Xerxes comes home, he is hurt and devastated from his loss and needs the comfort of his queen. He has all the comfort of the women in the harem, but he needs his queen. She is not there.
So, it is decided that there will be beauty pageant of sorts. We talked about this last week…the Persian Beauty Contest – or we can call it, ‘The Bachelor: Persia Edition’. If you remember, Esther, a young Jew was chosen by the king to become the new queen. This is where the story picks up in chapter two.
Today will be a short teaching on the ‘Tale of Two Men’. There are two men here with two very different characteristics. The question will be which one of these two men resembles your life?
If you have your Bibles, I invite you to open them up to Esther 2, Verse 19: ‘When the virgins were assembled a second time, Mordecai was sitting at the king's gate.’ It’s thought this is about three to four years after Queen Esther had become queen. She's been queen for some time and things have settled down in the country.
Her cousin, Mordecai, who raised her (because Esther's parents were dead). Esther did not have a very easy life.
She was raised by her cousin and is concerned about
her. When the virgins were assembled a second time about four years after Esther became queen, Mordecai was sitting in the king's gate.
Verse 20, chapter 2: ‘But Esther had kept secret her family background just as Mordecai had told her to do.’ If you read earlier in chapter 2, Mordecai suggests to his young cousin not to say she's a Jew because of the
Racism she would endure.
Verse 21, ‘During the time Mordecai was sitting at the king's gate, Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s officers who guarded the doorway became angry and conspired to assassinate King Xerxes. But in verse 22 we see Mordecai found out about this plot. He told Queen Esther, who in turn reported it to the king, giving credit to Mordecai.
At this point in time I don't know if you would say the king and queen were still in the honeymoon stage of marriage? They have been married for about four
years. Esther is not afraid to go in to talk to the king. She tells him what her cousin Mordecai told her about the two men and when the report is investigated and found to be true the two bodyguards are hanged at the gallows. All of this was recorded in the book of the annals in the presence of the king.
The tale of two men. Mordecai, as we learned earlier, is of the descendants of the line of Kish. Kish was the father
of King Saul. Mordecai, is in the line of the tribe of Benjamin (the tribe of Benjamin is typically seen in the Old Testament as the tribe that is the most ‘spiritually astute’. The tribe that tended to stay closer to Yahweh God). Mordecai can trace his lineage back to the father
of King Saul.
Mordecai has some characteristics which are valid
for you and me today. I will do these in alphabetical order, there's a lot of them so just go with me…
• He was accountable. He had accountability for his young cousin. He raised her. Even after she became queen, he was still concerned for her.
• He was attentive in his heart. He listened at the court and he listened at the gates of the city. He heard about the plot on the life of the king.
• He was available to protect Esther, but also available to protect King Xerxes.
You’ve got to remember that he didn't want to say that Esther was a Jew. In some respects, he was hiding some
of his own race and heritage. Yet here he was willing
to protect a heathen king. Mordecai was willing to still say, as the Apostle Paul says, we must have respect for authority. He was bold. He went to talk to the queen twice. He had compassion for Esther and confidence that he knew that God's providence would win out.
Next week we will discuss when he goes to Esther about a major problem. He says for such a time as this, after you have been placed in this position by Yahweh God. If you do not act, God will raise someone else up. Mordecai had confidence that God was in control. There was a consistency in his life. Consistency with his path and his walk. He had a decisiveness to protect the Jewish people and to protect Esther. He was dependable. Esther could depend on him.
As we move on, we will see that even King Xerxes begins to depend on him. He had a fear and love of God. He knew that God was in control. He was honest and truthful. He was a man of integrity. With his morals and
reliability, he was a leader in praying and fasting. He had a love for Esther, his cousin…a love for the Jews. He was loyal to a heathen king. He had obedience and he followed Esther's orders. He was a servant.
Now we're going to go to Chapter 3 and look at Haman. After these events King Xerxes honored Haman. Mordecai is not honored by the king for saving his life.
At this point, after these events, King Xerxes honored Haman, son of Hammedatha the Agagite, elevating him and giving him the seed of honor - higher than any of the other nobles.
We learn in Chapter 1 there were roughly seven major princesses/prince in the land of Persia and Haman gets elevated above all of them. We don't know what he did. We have no idea what took place, but for some reason King Xerxes elevates him.
Now this is so cool to know the history. I already said
Mordecai was in the line of King Saul and in the line of
Kish. This man Haman is in the line of the Agagites. Who are the Agagites? Friends, the Agagites are DNA related to the Jews.
We're going to do a little history lesson here. Abraham had Isaac, Isaac had Jacob and Esau – twins. Jacob was the one chosen, but Esau also had children. Through the line of Esau, a child was born who became the leader of this new nation. So, they're relatives and this takes place all the way back with Jacob and Esau.
The Jewish people go into the land of Israel for 400 years.
God calls them out with Moses. They go through their 40-year journey through the wilderness to get to the land of Israel…the promised land. We're told in the Old Testament in the book of Samuel, that the Amalekites
started to attack the Jewish people on their way to the promised land. They would attack the ones that were in the rear…the small children. That was an abomination to Yahweh God. It's interesting that years later even the Babylonians called the Amalekites plunderers. They did not have a high regard for the Amalekites. Haman is a descendant of the Amalekites.
King Saul was in the line of Mordecai. King Saul was
told by Yahweh God to go and to kill King Agag of the
Amalekites – genocide. Now that sounds difficult in our day and we're not going to get into all the reasons why. But when King Saul goes and has the battle against the Amalekites, he doesn't do what the only God said to do. He saved the animals; he saved the young women.
Yahweh God was not pleased. It's one of the reasons why Saul lost his kingship for the Jewish people. There has been animosity between the Amalekites and the Jews
since the time of Jacob and Esau. 1,500 years! The Amalekites hated the Jews, and they were friends of the
same DNA as Abraham and Isaac.
So this man Haman, who hated the Jewish people with passion…verse two of Chapter 3 - all the royal officials at the king's gate knelt down and paid honor to Haman for the king had commanded this concerning him. But Mordecai would not kneel to bow to him. The royal
officials at the king's gate asked Mordecai, ‘why do you disobey the king? You saved the king, you reported about the plot on the king's life. Why will you not bow down to this man? The king said we must bow down to the man.
It never really says why, but I believe it's because Mordecai said he would only bow down to one
Yahweh God…like Daniel. In Verse 4… day after day they spoke to him, but he refused to comply. Mordecai
refused to bow down; therefore, they told Haman about it to see whether Mordecai's behavior would be tolerated.
They also told them that he was a Jew. So now, Haman knows that Mordecai is a Jew. 1,500 years of
animosity boils up within Haman.
If you've got your Bibles, turn to Proverbs chapter 6
16-19. We looked at the tale of Mordecai and his characteristics but listen to some of the things God hates and see if any of them fit you and me. There are seven
things that the Lord hates…
• haughty eyes
• a lying tongue
• hands that shed innocent blood
• a heart that deceives
• wicked schemes
• feet that are quick to rush to evil
• a false witness who pours out lies
• and a man who stirs up dissension amongst his brothers and sisters
Whoa! When I look at those seven… haughty eyes, lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood…Remember when Jesus says that we don’t necessarily kill somebody
physically, but we can kill their spirit with the words
that we say? A heart that deceives wicked schemes,
feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness or lies that might be told (or we call them white lies), a man or woman who stirs up dissension among the church. Those are things that God hates. Those are things that Haman
is doing right now in the story.
Moving on to Chapter 3, Verse 5. When Haman saw that Mordecai would not kneel or pay him honor, he was enraged. He blew his top. He was like a pressure cooker that had enough, and it just exploded. Having learned of Mordecai's people, who they were, he scorned the idea of just killing Mordecai. Instead he looked for a way to kill
all the Jewish people throughout the whole kingdom. Those would have even been the Jews that had been left by Cyrus to go back to Jerusalem 40 years earlier (after the 70-year captivity).
It's estimated there might have been around 12 million Jews or so. Some have said at that point in time Haman wanted to kill them all. Verse 7 talks about a lot that was then cast, and it was decided that within a year from then. Haman would ask King Xerxes to allow them to kill the Jews.
The idea that I want to look at here is Haman’s rage…the tale of two men. Mordecai, his character has six Godly characteristics. Then the characteristic of Haman…rage, racism, anger, malice. It's interesting to me that what fills us controls us. Alcohol is called wine and spirits for a certain reason. It takes over our spirit, what fills us and controls us. Haman here is filled with rage. There's only
four times in scripture that this phrase is used, ‘to be filled with rage’. Haman is against the Jewish people,
against Mordecai.
In Luke, Chapter 4 Verse 28…when Jesus is back in Nazareth, his hometown. He’s teaching the people there
And they are filled with rage at the words that he has to say. When he says, ‘Today all of this is fulfilled in your
sight…’ they take him, and they lead him up to the cliff. They want to throw him off the cliff but he's able to pass
through them. The Jewish people in the synagogue where he was raised were filled with rage. Luke Chapter 6, just two chapters later after Christ heals somebody, an individual with a withered hand, and he does the healing on the Sabbath. First, it's His own hometown people who are filled with rage. Then it's the religious leaders who are filled with rage because He dares to do a miracle on the Sabbath.
Luke 6-11 they talk about how the leaders say they are going to get rid of this man. How are we going to kill this man? What are we going to do with him? Then in Acts Chapter 19, in the town of Ephesus, Paul is bringing the Gospel and people are turning to Jesus Christ and they're getting rid of their idols. Some of the craftsmen who were selling those idols, losing their business, were filled with rage. We're told they were losing their money because
people were turning to Jesus Christ.
You know friends, we need to look at that and realize that we've got to be careful with what we say. We've got to be careful with how we say things. Jesus says it's not what we put in, but what comes out from our hearts. The Apostle Paul talks about the fact that we're called to have a speech with grace. Let your speech be filled with grace.
May your speech also be seasoned with salt, flavorful to other people.
I need to continue to learn to say, ‘Lord, may I submit to the fulfilling of your Holy Spirit. For what I am filled with, controls me.’ If we are filled with rage, anger, malice, and bitterness…that will control us. If we
are filled with the Holy Spirit and with the gifts of the spirit: love, joy, peace, and patience. Allow Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, to control you. Ephesians 5 says this, ‘Be imitators of God. Therefore, as dearly loved children. Live a life of love as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant offering.’ Christ gave himself for you and I as a fragrant offering to give us eternal life.
Paul says in Ephesians 5:21 ‘Submit yourself out of reverence to each other, to God’. We're called to be thinking about the needs of one another, just not the needs
or our wants for ourselves. Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.
Friends, if we want to be filled with the Holy Spirit and filled with Jesus Christ…if we want to come after Jesus Christ, we must deny ourself and take up the cross and follow Him. How do we do that? We deny ourselves. How do we do that? We submit to the needs of each other’s. How do we do that? We give our lives as a fragrant offering to draw other people into relationship
with Jesus Christ. The final verse from John 13, ‘A new commandment I give to you, love one another.’
Here in Esther we have a tale of two men. Esther’s cousin Mordecai, who raised her…and Haman, who was the second in command of all of Persia. Two men with different characteristics. Jesus shows up later and gives a new command: Love one another as I have loved you.
How are we loving each other friends? You must love one another so all will know that you are my disciples.
This series has been all about the providence of God. God is working. God is in control within our lives. You and I need to realize that I play a part in that, you play a part in that. How do we love each other versus how we have rage with each other?
To see how we Christians love one another allows all
To see that you are disciples. If you have love for one another, may your life, may my life, model that of
Mordecai, not Haman. May we be filled with the Holy Spirit, having love for each other, not anger and rage
against one another like Haman.
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord be gracious unto you. May you open your heart to receive His blessings of life and love and offer that to others. All who you encounter. Amen
