Lesson 430 - Senior

Memory Verse

"Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall" (Proverbs 16:18).

Cross References

I Haman's Promotion, His Malice, and His Plot to Kill the Jews

1. Haman is promoted and reverenced by the king's subjects, [EST:3:1-2].

2. Mordecai refused to bow down because he was a Jew and had been commanded to worship God only, [EST:3:3-4]; [EXO:20:3].

3. Haman's wrath and purpose to destroy all the Jews, [EST:3:5-6].

4. He accused the Jews and secured permission to destroy them, [EST:3:8-12].

5. The death sentence for the Jews, [EST:3:13-15].

II Queen Esther's Purpose to Appeal to the King

1. The Jews wept and wailed because of the king's decree, [EST:4:1-3].

2. Mordecai charged Esther to intercede with the king, [EST:4:4-9].

3. Esther's reply and her natural fear, [EST:4:10-12].

4. Mordecai persuaded her to try, at the peril of her life, [EST:4:13-17].

III Esther's Success and Haman's Revenge

1. Esther approached the king and found favour with him, [EST:5:1-5].

2. She deferred her request at the first banquet and invited the king and Haman to another, [EST:5:6-9].

3. Haman boasts of his being the only person with the king at Esther's banquet, [EST:5:10-12].

4. Haman's joy was marred by Mordecai's actions, and Haman prepared a gallows for Mordecai, [EST:5:13-14].

IV The King's Plan to Honour Mordecai

1. Mordecai's good deed to the king, [EST:6:1-3].

2. Haman assumed he was the man to be honoured, but was ordered to honour Mordecai, [EST:6:4-14].

V Haman's Guilt

1. Esther made known the fate of her people and revealed that Haman was responsible for it, [EST:7:1-6].

2. Haman was hanged on the gallows he had built for Mordecai, [EST:7:9-10].

Notes

Haman's Malice

The events of this lesson happened during the reign of Ahasuerus, the Persian king known in secular history as Xerxes. The Babylonian captivity had ended, but only fifty thousand Jews had returned. Many thousands were still living in the Persian provinces, among whom were Mordecai and Esther, his cousin, whom he had adopted and reared because her parents were dead.

Esther was a very beautiful woman and had been chosen by Ahasuerus as his wife, and had been crowned queen. Mordecai had been appointed to sit with the servants in the king's gate.

Haman, a descendant of Agag, had been elevated to a high position, which would be comparable to the office of prime minister in many countries today. He was over all the princes and was next to the king in authority. Because of his position the people bowed to him as he came and went through the gate, but there was one man who bowed not. This one man's refusal to pay Haman this reverence was a sore point to him. The pride of his heart demanded that all the king's subjects bow to him.

Mordecai's Fidelity

Mordecai, being a Jew, knew that the law of God commanded him to worship no man, but that he should worship God only. "Thou shalt have no other gods before me" [EXO:20:3]). Whatever the reason for Mordecai's and Esther's staying behind when many of the Israelites returned to Jerusalem, it is evident that they had the principles of the Law laid in their hearts. Mordecai would not bow even though he might have guessed that the consequences would be dire indeed, for the man Haman was a great power in the land. Mordecai did as every child of God must do today. He put principle above expediency, his God before the whims of mortal man. How easy it is to give in "a little" or to "bow a little" because of the pressure of the worldly-minded, but God wants us to have the same spirit within us that Mordecai had that we will "bow not."

Satanic Obsession

When pride takes hold of a man the devil pushes him onward and gives him every opportunity to push himself to his own destruction. Many a person with God-bestowed gifts and talents has become exalted and proud, and as a consequence his life has been ruined. God can use only the humble in His service; and often in secular affairs of men the arrogant, self-exalted one is soon found out and despised. It is always right to do right, and good to be good.

Haman's hatred of Mordecai became his only interest and his desires were all wrapped up in that one desire to kill Mordecai and all his people. Somewhere in the heart of this man there must have been condemnation, and in hoping to kill all the Jews he would do away with the witness for God and His law in this country. Even though it was said that the law of the Medes and Persians changed not, there was the overriding fact that these Jews put the law of God above that of the Medes and Persians. So long as that teaching was in the land there was always the possibility of its showing its head. That was what Haman saw in Mordecai -- a reminder of the fact that he ought to honour and serve the same God.

Queen Esther's Opportunity

The providence of God can be seen in all the details of this lesson. After all, it was no accident that Esther was queen at this time. Within her heart were the same principles that her cousin Mordecai had. When she realised that all her people were in jeopardy she readily decided to hazard her own life that the truth might be revealed. There is a principle that truth will prevail; God will have the glory. Even the wrath of man is made to praise the Lord.

She declared a fast and asked Mordecai and his people to fast, and said that she and her maidens would do likewise. That must have been a time of praying and calling on God for His help. This had been preceded by her abandon to God and His mercy by saying that she would go in before the king to ask his intervention, and that "if I perish, I perish." Mordecai's resounding challenge to her, "Who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?" stirred her very heart and she saw her opportunity to be used of God for their deliverance. The awareness of this opportunity did not take away the natural fear, and many times this is true in the heart of God's people today. But the thing for us to do is to bury our fears in the confidence that we have in God. The Bible says that "perfect love casteth out fear." That does not mean that there is no fear; but that our confidence, our trust in God, our love for Him and our prayer to Him overcome the fear, and we rest in faith.

We can see the mercy of God in prompting the king to extend his sceptre to Esther. She had not been invited, and it was within the power of the king to have her put to death for coming without the invitation; but God was moving to put down the evil devices of Haman. This king and many other people have been used of God to bring about His designs even without their knowledge of what was happening.

God-Given Wisdom

God gave Esther wisdom in making her appeal. By her asking that the king and Haman attend another banquet the next day, time was gained to allow Haman to further elevate himself in his own opinion. This was permitted by God, for in the intervening night the king failed to sleep, and when the records of the chronicles were read to him, he heard the account of how Mordecai had saved his life when two of his servants had plotted to kill him. When he found that nothing had been done to honour Mordecai, the king desired to do so. At this very instant Haman appeared, showing again that God was ordering the affairs of these people's lives at this moment.

When Haman had returned from the first banquet, he had erected a gallows on which to hang Mordecai because he still refused to bow. This one gnawing issue just ruined all Haman's successes. Mordecai bowed not nor paid him reverence.

When Haman appeared as the king finished the reading of the chronicles, he was asked what should be done to a man that the king delighted to honour. Haman supposed that he would be the man, for after all, had not he attended a private banquet with the king only yesterday with the beautiful Queen Esther as hostess? So Haman said he should let him ride one of the king's horses, be attired in the royal apparel of the king, with the crown royal on his head. Let one of the chief princes lead the horse through the city and proclaim before him, "Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delighteth to honour." The king said that it should be done even as Haman had said. Mordecai was to be thus honoured and Haman, the chief prince, was to lead the horse. This experience was the worst of humiliations for this Jew-hating Haman. God was intervening to spare the Jews who had not returned to Israel after the captivity.

Reckoning Time

At the second banquet the king asked again what it was that Esther would like to request and promised her that he would give it, even to the half of the kingdom. She asked for her own life and that of her people, pointing out that they were all doomed to perish. He asked who it was who dared to do such a thing, and she said, "The adversary and enemy is this wicked Haman." The king was angry with Haman for planning such a thing.

A servant pointed out the gallows that Haman had built for Mordecai, and the king said, "Hang him thereon." So Haman was hanged on his own gallows, a victim of his own hatred and wrath that he had carried in his heart because one man failed to bow when he walked by.

Open Doors for All

We realise that Esther was a person raised up of God to be used in the deliverance of her people, but to every one of us comes the opportunity to do something that no one else can do. It will take consecration and dedication to the task at hand if we are going to step into the doors that open before us. One need not be in a foreign land to have these opportunities, for they are around us every day. Personal comfort and the pursuit of our own ways must be forgotten in the quest for the route that God would have us to follow.

Even in the giving of our testimony, who is to tell but that on any particular occasion God may use the account of our conversion to encourage some soul to seek the Lord and be saved. If we had not been in the meeting or at the place where there was opportunity to give a testimony, ours would not have been given. Someone else might have filled the gap but there is no surety that that testimony would have had the same effect that ours would have had on that particular day. Even if we think that our testimony is not spectacular or outstanding, there is a time and place for it.

Perhaps most of the people who need to be saved are just about like you were before you were saved, and to such people your witness will have an effect. Neither can personal fear be allowed to stop us. We must take the attitude that Esther did that we will do whatever God asks of us, and if we perish we perish. One minister has said that: "we must consecrate to be a failure if our failure will glorify God." The failure would be only in our own estimation, for anything that glorifies God is most certainly a success.

Questions

>1. Why was it that Mordecai refused to bow to Haman?

2. Why would Haman desire to kill all the Jews when only Mordecai offended him?

3. What was Esther's answer when she was charged to appeal to the king?

4. How do you account for the fact that the king extended the sceptre?

5. Why was Haman so much elated over his invitation to the banquet?

6. What one point ruined his feeling of exaltation as he came home?

7. What honour did Haman expect that fell to another?

8. What did Esther request at the first banquet? At the second?

9. What good deed had Mordecai done that had gone unrewarded?

10. What was Haman's end?