Building for Your Own Demise
A Look At Haman
The book of Esther is a strange book to be included in the Scriptures. Most visible when one reads this book is the absence of the name of God from the entire writing. With this in mind , a few things come to mind:
1. At the time of the writing there must have been an intense spiritual carnality with the people of Israel.
2. God’s inspiration does not need man.
3. Regardless of the lack of acknowledgment concerning God, Esther reveals some wonderful truths regarding God’s faithfulness.
When we thing about Haman, we need to consider how he got to be where he was ………….
Esther 3:1-6
1. Haman was given a promotion by the king
a. We do not know why he was promoted
b. We do know that his promotion was significant
i. Advanced to a “vizier”
ii. All were to bow to him
2. Haman was promoted because of disobedience
a. 1 Samuel 15:1-3 Samuel said to Saul, "I am the one the LORD sent to anoint you king over his people Israel; so listen now to the message from the LORD. 2This is what the LORD Almighty says: ’I will punish the Amalekites for what they did to Israel when they waylaid them as they came up from Egypt. 3Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy everything that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.’ "
b. 1 Samuel 15:7-9 Then Saul attacked the Amalekites all the way from Havilah to Shur, to the east of Egypt. 8He took Agag king of the Amalekites alive, and all his people he totally destroyed with the sword. 9But Saul and the army spared Agag and the best of the sheep and cattle, the fat calves and lambs--everything that was good. These they were unwilling to destroy completely, but everything that was despised and weak they totally destroyed.
i. God had declared that ALL of the Amalakites were to be destroyed
ii. Saul chose to spare Agag – probably his family also
iii. Now the heir to the Amalakites – the focus of God’s wrath is in a position to wipe out the people of Israel
Haman had a particular hatred for the Jews
3. Mordecai would not bow down
a. Haman was from an accursed race
Deut. 25:17-19 Remember what the Amalekites did to you along the way when you came out of Egypt. 18When you were weary and worn out, they met you on your journey and cut off all who were lagging behind; they had no fear of God. 19When the LORD your God gives you rest from all the enemies around you in the land he is giving you to possess as an inheritance, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven. Do not forget!
b. This kind of worship is only due God, not men
4. Haman’s rage is national
a. Mordecai is the catalyst
b. Moves Haman’s thinking to destroy the whole nation of Israel
i. He “rolls the dice” seeking the right day
ii. Common practice was to cast lots for discerning favorable conditions
Proverbs 16:33 The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD.
iii. He approaches the king to get his wish
5. Hamans plan before the King – 3:7-11
a. Haman appeals to the safety of the nation
i. Certain people are scattered throughout the kingdom – (breed rebellion)
ii. Have different customs
iii. Do not obey the king
b. Haman appeals to the King’s mercenary nature
i. Offers ten thousand talents -- 164383.56164383561643835616438356 years of work!
ii. Haman REALLY hates the Jews!
God’s Provision
6. We have skipped the earlier chapters of Esther, but now return to them
Esther 2:7 Mordecai had a cousin named Hadassah, whom he had brought up because she had neither father nor mother. This girl, who was also known as Esther, was lovely in form and features, and Mordecai had taken her as his own daughter when her father and mother died.
Esther 2:17 Now the king was attracted to Esther more than to any of the other women, and she won his favor and approval more than any of the other virgins. So he set a royal crown on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti.
a. God has positioned Mordecai’s orphan cousin as Queen
7. Mordecai is grieving over the ruling of the king
Esther 4:1-16 When Mordecai learned of all that had been done, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the city, wailing loudly and bitterly. 2But he went only as far as the king’s gate, because no one clothed in sackcloth was allowed to enter it. 3In every province to which the edict and order of the king came, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping and wailing. Many lay in sackcloth and ashes.
4When Esther’s maids and eunuchs came and told her about Mordecai, she was in great distress. She sent clothes for him to put on instead of his sackcloth, but he would not accept them. 5Then Esther summoned Hathach, one of the king’s eunuchs assigned to attend her, and ordered him to find out what was troubling Mordecai and why.
6So Hathach went out to Mordecai in the open square of the city in front of the king’s gate. 7Mordecai told him everything that had happened to him, including the exact amount of money Haman had promised to pay into the royal treasury for the destruction of the Jews. 8He also gave him a copy of the text of the edict for their annihilation, which had been published in Susa, to show to Esther and explain it to her, and he told him to urge her to go into the king’s presence to beg for mercy and plead with him for her people.
9Hathach went back and reported to Esther what Mordecai had said. 10Then she instructed him to say to Mordecai, 11"All the king’s officials and the people of the royal provinces know that for any man or woman who approaches the king in the inner court without being summoned the king has but one law: that he be put to death. The only exception to this is for the king to extend the gold scepter to him and spare his life. But thirty days have passed since I was called to go to the king."
12When Esther’s words were reported to Mordecai, 13he sent back this answer: "Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape. 14For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?"
15Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai: 16"Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my maids will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish."
a. Esther responds to his grief
b. Esther prepares to approach the king
c. Esther does not ask God – but God responds to their dilemma
8. Esther appears before the king
Esther 5:1-8
On the third day Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the palace, in front of the king’s hall. The king was sitting on his royal throne in the hall, facing the entrance. 2When he saw Queen Esther standing in the court, he was pleased with her and held out to her the gold scepter that was in his hand. So Esther approached and touched the tip of the scepter.
3Then the king asked, "What is it, Queen Esther? What is your request? Even up to half the kingdom, it will be given you."
4"If it pleases the king," replied Esther, "let the king, together with Haman, come today to a banquet I have prepared for him."
5"Bring Haman at once," the king said, "so that we may do what Esther asks."
So the king and Haman went to the banquet Esther had prepared. 6As they were drinking wine, the king again asked Esther, "Now what is your petition? It will be given you. And what is your request? Even up to half the kingdom, it will be granted."
7Esther replied, "My petition and my request is this: 8If the king regards me with favor and if it pleases the king to grant my petition and fulfill my request, let the king and Haman come tomorrow to the banquet I will prepare for them. Then I will answer the king’s question."
a. She asks for a meal with the king and Haman
b. She asks for another meal with the king and Haman
9. Haman’s Manic Attitude
Esther 5:9-12 Haman went out that day happy and in high spirits. But when he saw Mordecai at the king’s gate and observed that he neither rose nor showed fear in his presence, he was filled with rage against Mordecai. 10Nevertheless, Haman restrained himself and went home.
Calling together his friends and Zeresh, his wife, 11Haman boasted to them about his vast wealth, his many sons, and all the ways the king had honored him and how he had elevated him above the other nobles and officials. 12"And that’s not all," Haman added. "I’m the only person Queen Esther invited to accompany the king to the banquet she gave. And she has invited me along with the king tomorrow.
a. Rage with Mordecai
b. Boasting with friends
c. Ya gotta watch “those” wives
i. Build the gallows
ii. 75 feet high
iii. Hang Mordecai tomorrow!
10. The Kings trouble
Esther 6:1-6 That night the king could not sleep; so he ordered the book of the chronicles, the record of his reign, to be brought in and read to him. 2It was found recorded there that Mordecai had exposed Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s officers who guarded the doorway, who had conspired to assassinate King Xerxes.
3"What honor and recognition has Mordecai received for this?" the king asked.
"Nothing has been done for him," his attendants answered.
4The king said, "Who is in the court?" Now Haman had just entered the outer court of the palace to speak to the king about hanging Mordecai on the gallows he had erected for him.
5His attendants answered, "Haman is standing in the court."
"Bring him in," the king ordered.
6When Haman entered, the king asked him, "What should be done for the man the king delights to honor?"
Now Haman thought to himself, "Who is there that the king would rather honor than me?"
a. Gotta give it to Haman – he was up early to get the kings permission to hang Mordecai
b. Believes the king is honoring him!
i. What an ego!
11. Haman’s Stew – Its getting’ good now!
Esther 6:7-14 So he answered the king, "For the man the king delights to honor, 8have them bring a royal robe the king has worn and a horse the king has ridden, one with a royal crest placed on its head. 9Then let the robe and horse be entrusted to one of the king’s most noble princes. Let them robe the man the king delights to honor, and lead him on the horse through the city streets, proclaiming before him, ’This is what is done for the man the king delights to honor!’ "
10"Go at once," the king commanded Haman. "Get the robe and the horse and do just as you have suggested for Mordecai the Jew, who sits at the king’s gate. Do not neglect anything you have recommended."
11So Haman got the robe and the horse. He robed Mordecai, and led him on horseback through the city streets, proclaiming before him, "This is what is done for the man the king delights to honor!"
12Afterward Mordecai returned to the king’s gate. But Haman rushed home, with his head covered in grief, 13and told Zeresh his wife and all his friends everything that had happened to him.
His advisers and his wife Zeresh said to him, "Since Mordecai, before whom your downfall has started, is of Jewish origin, you cannot stand against him--you will surely come to ruin!" 14While they were still talking with him, the king’s eunuchs arrived and hurried Haman away to the banquet Esther had prepared.
i. Haman is forced to honor the VERY same man he wants to kill
ii. Mordecai returns to the gate and honored man
iii. Hamn returns home to face the beginning of his demise (his wife was prophetic!)
12. Esther pleads and the king responds
Esther 7:1-10 So the king and Haman went to dine with Queen Esther, 2and as they were drinking wine on that second day, the king again asked, "Queen Esther, what is your petition? It will be given you. What is your request? Even up to half the kingdom, it will be granted."
3Then Queen Esther answered, "If I have found favor with you, O king, and if it pleases your majesty, grant me my life--this is my petition. And spare my people--this is my request. 4For I and my people have been sold for destruction and slaughter and annihilation. If we had merely been sold as male and female slaves, I would have kept quiet, because no such distress would justify disturbing the king."
5King Xerxes asked Queen Esther, "Who is he? Where is the man who has dared to do such a thing?"
6Esther said, "The adversary and enemy is this vile Haman."
Then Haman was terrified before the king and queen. 7The king got up in a rage, left his wine and went out into the palace garden. But Haman, realizing that the king had already decided his fate, stayed behind to beg Queen Esther for his life.
8Just as the king returned from the palace garden to the banquet hall, Haman was falling on the couch where Esther was reclining.
The king exclaimed, "Will he even molest the queen while she is with me in the house?"
As soon as the word left the king’s mouth, they covered Haman’s face. 9Then Harbona, one of the eunuchs attending the king, said, "A gallows seventy-five feet high stands by Haman’s house. He had it made for Mordecai, who spoke up to help the king."
The king said, "Hang him on it!" 10So they hanged Haman on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the king’s fury subsided.
a. Esther pleads for her people
b. Esther accuses Haman
c. The king deals with Haman
i. Hung on his own gallows
Psalm 73:18 Surely you place them on slippery ground;
you cast them down to ruin.
d. The king deals with his decree
Esther 8:1-11 That same day King Xerxes gave Queen Esther the estate of Haman, the enemy of the Jews. And Mordecai came into the presence of the king, for Esther had told how he was related to her. 2The king took off his signet ring, which he had reclaimed from Haman, and presented it to Mordecai. And Esther appointed him over Haman’s estate.
3Esther again pleaded with the king, falling at his feet and weeping. She begged him to put an end to the evil plan of Haman the Agagite, which he had devised against the Jews. 4Then the king extended the gold scepter to Esther and she arose and stood before him.
5"If it pleases the king," she said, "and if he regards me with favor and thinks it the right thing to do, and if he is pleased with me, let an order be written overruling the dispatches that Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, devised and wrote to destroy the Jews in all the king’s provinces. 6For how can I bear to see disaster fall on my people? How can I bear to see the destruction of my family?"
7King Xerxes replied to Queen Esther and to Mordecai the Jew, "Because Haman attacked the Jews, I have given his estate to Esther, and they have hanged him on the gallows. 8Now write another decree in the king’s name in behalf of the Jews as seems best to you, and seal it with the king’s signet ring--for no document written in the king’s name and sealed with his ring can be revoked."
9At once the royal secretaries were summoned--on the twenty-third day of the third month, the month of Sivan. They wrote out all Mordecai’s orders to the Jews, and to the satraps, governors and nobles of the 127 provinces stretching from India to Cush. These orders were written in the script of each province and the language of each people and also to the Jews in their own script and language. 10Mordecai wrote in the name of King Xerxes, sealed the dispatches with the king’s signet ring, and sent them by mounted couriers, who rode fast horses especially bred for the king.
11The king’s edict granted the Jews in every city the right to assemble and protect themselves; to destroy, kill and annihilate any armed force of any nationality or province that might attack them and their women and children; and to plunder the property of their enemies.
i. Haman’s property is given to Esther
ii. The kings gives a new edict
1. Allows the Jews to defend themselves against any attack
If we can learn ANYTHING from this incident in Scripture it is this – the people of Israel were not delivered because they were perfect. They were delivered because they were God’s covenant people. The same faith God exhibited in his protection of the Jews, we have in Jesus!
