Esther 5
All right, the word of the living
God, this is Esther chapter five. It says, on the third day, Esther
put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the king’s
palace in front of the king’s quarters while the king was sitting
on his royal throne inside the throne room opposite the entrance
to the palace. And when the king saw Queen Esther
standing in the court, She won favor in his sight. He held out
to Esther the golden scepter that was in his hand. Then Esther
approached and touched the tip of the scepter. And the king
said to her, what is it Queen Esther? What is your request? It shall be given you even to
half of my kingdom. And Esther said, if it please
the king, let the king and Haman come today to a feast that I
have prepared for the king. Then the king said, bring Haman
quickly so that we may do as Esther has asked. So the king
and Haman came to the feast that Esther had prepared, and as they
were drinking wine after the feast, the king said to Esther,
what is your wish? It shall be granted to you. And
what is your request? Even to the half of my kingdom,
it shall be fulfilled. Then Esther answered, my wish
and my request is, if I have found favor in the sight of the
king, and if it pleased the king to grant my wish and fulfill
my request, let the king and Haman come to the feast that
I will prepare for them. and tomorrow I will do as the
king has said.” Haman went out that day joyful and glad of heart.
But when Haman saw Mordecai in the king’s gate that he neither
rose nor trembled before him, he was filled with wrath against
Mordecai. Nevertheless, Haman restrained
himself and he went home and he sent and brought his friends
and his wife Zeresh. Haman recounted to them the splendor
of his riches, the number of his sons, all the promotions
with which the king had honored him and how he had advanced him
above the officials and the servants of the king. Then Haman said,
even Queen Esther let no one but me come with the king to
the feast she prepared. And tomorrow also I am invited
by her together with the king. Yet all this is worth nothing
to me so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king’s
gate. Then his wife Zeresh and all his friends said to him,
let a gallows 50 cubits high be made and in the morning tell
the king to have Mordecai hanged upon it. Then go joyfully with
the king to the feast. This idea pleased Haman and he
had the gallows made. On that night, the king could
not sleep and he gave orders to bring the book of memorable
deeds, the chronicles, and they were read before the king. And
it was found written how Mordecai had told about Bigthana and Teresh,
two of the king’s eunuchs, who guarded the threshold and who
sought to lay hands on King Ahasuerus. The king said, what honor, what
distinction has been bestowed on Mordecai for this? The king’s
young men who attended him said, nothing has been done for him.
The king said, who is in the court? Now Haman had just entered
the outer court of the king’s palace to speak to the king about
having Mordecai hanged on the gallows that he had prepared
for him. The king’s young men told him,
Haman is there standing in the court. And the king said, let
him come in. So Haman came in and the king
said to him, what should be done to the man whom the king delights
to honor? Haman said to himself, whom would
the king delight to honor more than me? And Haman said to the
king, for the man whom the king delights to honor, let royal
robes be brought for which the king has worn. And the horse
that the king has ridden and on whose head a royal crown is
set, let the robes the horse be handed over to one of the
king’s most noble officials. Let them dress the man whom the
king delights to honor and let them lead him on the horse through
the square of the city proclaiming before him, thus shall it be
done to the man whom the king delights to honor. And the king
said to Haman, hurry. Take the robes and the horse,
as you have said, and do so to Mordecai the Jew who sits at
the king’s gate. Leave out nothing you have mentioned.’
So Haman took the robes and the horse, and he dressed Mordecai
and led him through the square of the city, proclaiming before
him, thus it shall be done to the man whom the king delights
to honor. Then Mordecai returned to the king’s gate. But Haman
hurried to his house mourning and with his head covered. And
Haman told his wife Zeresh and all his friends everything that
had happened to him. Then his wise men and his wife
Zeresh said to him, if Mordecai before whom you have begun to
fall is of the Jewish people, you will not overcome him, but
will surely fall before him. While they were yet talking with
him, the king’s eunuchs arrived and hurried to bring Haman to
the feast that Esther had prepared. So the king and Haman went into
the feast with Queen Esther. And on the second day, as they
were drinking wine after the feast, the king again said to
Esther, what is your wish, Queen Esther? It shall be granted you. And what is your request? Even
to the half of my kingdom, it shall be fulfilled. Then Queen
Esther answered, If I found favor in your sight, O King, and if
it pleased the King, let my life be granted for my wish and my
people for my request. For we have been sold, I and
my people, to be destroyed, to be killed, and to be annihilated. If we had been sold merely as
slaves, men and women, I would have been silent, for our affliction
is not to be compared with the loss to the King. Then King Ahasuerus
said to the Queen Esther, who is he and where is he who has
dared to do this? And Esther said, a foe, an enemy,
this wicked Haman. Then Haman was terrified before
the king and queen. And the king arose in his wrath
from the wine drinking, and he went into the palace garden.
But Haman stayed to beg for his life from Queen Esther, for he
saw that harm was determined against him by the king. And
the king returned from the palace palace garden to the place where
they were drinking wine as Haman was falling on the couch where
Esther was. And the king said, will he even
assault the queen in my presence in my own house? As the word
left the mouth of the king, they covered Haman’s face. Then Harbona,
one of the eunuchs in attendance on the king said, moreover the
gallows that Haman has prepared for Mordecai, whose word saved
the king is standing at Haman’s house, 50 cubits high. And the king said, hang on him
or hang him on that. So they hanged Haman on the gallows
that he had prepared for Mordecai and the wrath of the king had
abated. Amen. The word of the living God. Uh,
there are several mighty women in Israel’s history. Uh, maybe
you’ve read the story and judges of JL JL, uh, was, uh, during
the period of Deborah, the judge, The Canaanite army came out against
Israel, and the Canaanites are a nasty bunch, and Jael caught
one of the leaders of the Canaanite armory, a man named Sisera. She
snookered him into her tent, and while he was asleep, she
did him in. Famously drove a tent peg into
his head and took his life if you are to read the apocryphal
stories There’s Judith Judith during a time when the Assyrians
were attacking Israel Just because it’s not in the Bible and apocryphal
doesn’t mean it may or not may not be true I think it’s legend
and lore. But anyway, Judith snookered in a similar way, off
her knees, the commander of the Assyrian army, into her tent.
And he thought one thing was going to happen, and well, another
thing happened. And off with his head, and she snuck out of
the tent. She had been leaving the tent for a week to go pray,
and she took the head of this great enemy into their camp,
and they were great rejoicing. The Assyrians defeated. Now,
we have some neat and tidy heroic women. Enough blood and gore. How about Elizabeth, the mother
of John the Baptist? Mary, the mother of Jesus, and,
well, of course, Esther, or her Hebrew name, Hedaphah. And the
point of the story we’re in tonight, Esther has decided, remember
last week, I must go. I must go to the king, I will
go to the king, and if I perish, I perish. 17 very long verses
in chapter 14 of Agony, or chapter four, Agony. Tonight, a little
more fast-paced, chapters five, six, and seven. In fact, These
passages are a little Shakespearean, aren’t they? Or maybe if you’ve
got the British sense of humor, a little Monty Python-ish. Some
of the things that took place, I heard your chuckles as we read
the word, and that’s okay. It’s a twist, isn’t it? It’s
poetic justice. There’s decrees that have been
made. Destruction of the Jews is imminent. Everything is as
it seems good to Haman, this wicked, plotting official in
Ahasuerus’ kingdom. But spiritually speaking, there’s
been fasting, there’s been praying, there’s been trusting the Lord. It’s been across the kingdom.
And can’t you imagine the unspoken words of this passage are that
heaven hears. God and his providence are at
work. Now remember we’ve said Mordecai
and Esther, they’re like fourth and fifth generation Jews in
exile. Their ancestors haven’t been
in the promised land for a couple hundred years. Their faith is
about this big. Their commitment to the law and
to the ways of God’s people is about this big. They make some
mistakes. They do some really foolish things.
They trust in chariots and horses, and not in the name of the Lord
their God, yet God is still at work. Esther’s pretty neck. Remember, she’s the prettiest
woman in the kingdom. Her pretty neck is on the line here. And
so what does she do after her fasting and praying? Well, she
dresses up in her royal robes. She’s gonna go see the king with
dignity. Maybe cross her fingers. I hope this works. If it doesn’t,
certain death. Remember, the king lets no one
in his presence unless he calls them, unless he summons them.
So as it happens, Ahasuerus is in a good mood. And when we say
as it happens, we mean under the sovereignty, the providence,
the wisdom of God. Ahasuerus is in a good mood.
No one, no one sees the king unless he tips the scepter. And so she comes, he tips the
scepter, she touches it. What is it you want up to half
of the kingdom? We were wondering last week,
weren’t we? What kind of mood will ASRS be in? Will he be in
a bad mood? Will he be in a good mood? Will
he be in an accepting mood, an accommodating mood? Will all
of his excesses be at her disposal? And they are. 63 and a half provinces
can be hers. This man has a vast kingdom,
127 provinces from Ethiopia to India. Remember all the tons
of silver that Haman put into the treasury. There must have
been much more. Up to half of the kingdom is
hers. Your wish is my command, we used
to read in our childhood stories. So Esther receives his favor. What is it you want? We begin
to wonder here, who’s in charge? Is it Ahasuerus? Uh-uh, never
been in charge, really. Is it Haman? Well, he’s losing
his grip on the kingdom, but he doesn’t yet know it. Who’s
in charge here? Well, God is in charge through
the fasting and through the prayers, but Esther is coming in charge. What’s a way to a man’s heart?
Well, we’ve already seen one way into Haman, or to Mordecai,
or not, which guy is this? Ahasuerus’ heart. Now it’s gonna
be through food. Honey, come to a feast. What
man will turn down a feast? And as you can tell, these feasts
last for days. It’s eating and drinking, it’s
roast beef, it’s turkey, it’s all the delicacies of the kingdom.
So they’re at this feast. What is it you want? Well, she’s
feeling really good, isn’t she? Come to another feast tomorrow
and then I’ll tell you what I want. So enough feasting for now. There’s
plotting and more plotting in this passage. There’s Esther
plotting. Can’t you get the sense she’s up to something? She’s
a woman with a plan. She knows how to get Haman on
those gallows. But there’s Haman, he’s plotting
as well. Mordecai I’m sure is up to something, but the Lord
ultimately is the divine mover in this passage. Well, Haman
leaves this feast number one, there’s two feasts. He leaves
feast with Esther number one, and he goes home high as a kite.
Look at me. I mean, he is taking selfies
of himself on Twitter and putting on Twitter, look at me, I ate
with the queen. I ate with the king. I mean, this is a narcissist,
right? He goes home and he tells his
family, look at me, look at my wealth, look at my titles. You know, he’s got Man of the
Year awards up in the living room. He’s got, you know, Persian
Man of the Year. He’s got all these accolades,
pictures with every dignitary you can imagine. And look at
how many boys I’ve had. Sons were a sign of wealth. Look
at my gold and my silver. Look at my treasury. And this
all to his wives, his friends, his wise men. We begin to pick
up, he has his own little court. in his house. And there’s something
you can tell here. He’s not really worried about
Esther, but doesn’t he need to be? He needs to be worried about
Esther. After all, she can get up to
half of the kingdom. The king is going to give her
a blank check and she is going to use it, as we will soon see. But while he’s having this brag
fest, while he’s swelling with pride, we have to remember that
on his way home, when he was making his way out the gate,
there was Mordecai. Mordecai did not stand, he did
not wave, he did not give obeisance, he did not smile, he did not
countenance Haman, gave him no respect, gave him no response,
and this really upsets Haman. And so what does his wife, what
do his counselors tell him? Well, just go to the king and
ask for his head, ask for his neck. And so before nightfall,
Haman is at Home Depot. He’s buying lumber and bolts,
generators, and they’re out on the hill at night building this
gallows, 50 cubits. A cubit’s 18 inches. You remember
that from Noah’s Ark, don’t you? So 50 cubits, 75 feet high. That’s a little overkill, isn’t
it? I think a 10-foot gallows would probably do. I’m no expert
on execution, but 75 feet tall. They go big in Persia, don’t
they, and Babylon. Well, tomorrow’s a big day, and
what do we do when we have a big day? We get up early. You know,
we eat two eggs. We drink extra coffee. We get
on site, the work site, before everybody else does. We want
to make sure the day is going to go well, everything’s perfect. So
Heyman is in early at the office. He plans to ask for Heyman’s
execution. But remember, pride goes before
a fall. Maybe some of you have read some of those fables. I
think of Chanticleer and the fox. Chanticleer was the hen,
the rooster. He had three wives and his wife
said, Chanticleer, you be careful, there’s a fox in the cabbage
patch. oh, don’t worry, and he gets out there in the cabbage
patch and Chanticleer’s, you know, strutting about as his
hens do, and the fox says, oh, your father was such a rooster
with a good voice, a good singing voice. If only you could sing
like he, and so he stretches out his neck, Chanticleer does,
and as he begins to let out the first tones of his voice, the
fox grabs hold of his neck and runs out of the farmyard with
him, and all the wives, all the Farmers are chasing, and in a
moment of clarity, Chanticleer says something, and the fox opens
his mouth to speak, and he flies up in a tree. They’re both duped.
They’re both foolish. But can’t you imagine? That’s
Hayman here. He doesn’t yet know it, but pride
goes before a fall. We can plot. We can scheme. We can even be those schemed
against, but it’s ultimately the Lord. It’s the Lord who does
his work. And we’ve not talked a lot about
the literary structure of Esther, but a lot of Old Testament passages
are studied under the literary structure, and there’s usually
like the dead center of a passage. Well, guess what the dead center
of the passage is? It’s the king cannot sleep. This is the turning
point in this passage. If you were to read the whole
thing in one sitting, you would see that when the king can’t
sleep, that’s when the tide turns towards favor to Esther and the
Jewish people. It’s not when the king lets her
in the throne room. A lot of people think that’s
the turning point, but the turning point is the king can’t sleep. And
what does he do? Does he turn on the Hallmark Channel or the
Weather Channel or get up and make a pot of coffee and wake
up the rest of the house? Does he count sheep? No, he says,
let the chronicles be brought. What a thrilling life. Can you
imagine the, I guess it was probably a eunuch, he had to be awakened.
The king can’t sleep. Well, I was asleep. And he wants
you to get the book of chronicles, the book of deeds, and he wants
you to read them. And so in God’s providence, the
king can’t sleep, the book gets read, and what do they figure
out? Mordecai was never honored. Remember, it was about three
years back, it was about three chapters back, Mordecai, here’s
a plot from the two threshold eunuchs, and they’re gonna lay
hands on the king, and remember, laying hands isn’t praying, it’s
killing. And so Mordecai gets word to
the king, there’s a plot against your life, and he’s never been
rewarded, so here they are. And this is where the story gets
really good, isn’t it? Mordecai is going to be honored.
Haman is going to have to do the honoring. So Haman, how should
he be honored? What does Haman think? Classic
narcissist. Oh, he’s going to honor me. So
let’s do it big. Let’s build our own coronation
party. Spare no extravagance. Robes,
a horse, a crown to be led through the streets by a nobleman with
a proclamation being made, leave out nothing. Can you imagine
the humiliation? So do to Mordecai, who saved
my life. The man you hate the most, you’ve
got to lead on a horse through the robe saying what the king,
this is the way, this is how the king delights to honor those
and whom he likes to honor. So, Goes home, sick and sad, covers
his head. He’s in mourning. Who’s in mourning
now? Not the Jews. The Jews might be saved. And
as he’s at home mourning, his wife says, you know, you got
this feast to go to. Feast number two with Esther. The eunuchs
come, and can you imagine a two-day party, having to sit there, just
egg on your face, miserable. What a drag, preoccupied. Okay,
now it’s time, Esther. What is it you want? Well, I
want my life. I want my people’s life. I want
my nation to be spared, for there is an edict for us to be killed,
to be annihilated, not to be sold into slavery, but to be
wiped out. And what does the king say? Who
done it? Who is it? And she says, the
man, the foe, Haman himself. The king steps out to get a little
fresh air. He’s so angry. And what does
Haman do? He goes to plead to the king and he, Seems like he
falls on her. And it just so happens, right,
providentially, that the king’s walking back in as it happened.
I mean, talk about adding insult to injury, adding fuel to the
fire of the king’s anger. And so the rest of the story,
Haman put to death on his own gallows. What a, what a, Interesting
turn of events and it says at the very end of chapter 8 the
wrath of the king was abated I want us to think about this
just very quickly a couple lessons for us First lesson Esther had
to make a really hard choice Remember last week we talked
about she could have just quietly lived as a as a queen and hopefully
her ethnicity would have never been found out and she could
have lived a a little cushy life, but she had to make a hard choice,
my neck or the life of our people, and she chose the high road,
a hard choice. There’s also Providence. I mentioned
the center of the whole book of Esther is the king not sleeping.
I mean, did it just so happen he had a cup of coffee before
bed? Did it just so happen that he, you know, he had the Jimmy
legs and, you know, he couldn’t sleep or maybe he was having
You know, men get a little older and they can’t make it through
the night. Was it that? No, it was God. And it was God
at work in the life of every player on the stage working out
redemption. And maybe he used those means,
maybe he used those little providences, but the center of the story is
God’s providence and a sleepless king. There’s another lesson
in this. It’s the wicked do not prosper. They may prosper in this life,
they may win some in this life, but in the end, what did it say
in our Apostles Creed song? At the last day, justice meted
out for the wicked and the righteous. The wicked may prevail in this
world, and they do prevail in this world. We see it on the
evening news every night. We see it in the pages of our
history books, but the wicked will not prosper forever. And
God does save his righteous ones. He may put us through cross and
trial in this life. He may put us through great hardship
and we may lose our lives in this world, but in the next,
our reward is great and justice will be served. But I want us
to think about one big, big lesson. There’s a victory in this continuing
story that, well, it’s not listed here, but we know it because
we know the whole Bible. There’s a greater Haman, isn’t
there? And that’s the devil. And don’t
you think when the Jews, the scribes and the Pharisees, the
teachers of the law and all, they got Jesus into Pilate’s
court, they got him on the cross, and they got him in the grave,
they thought, we’ve taken care of this. But just like there’s
a twist in our story tonight where Haman thinks he’s winning
but he goes to his death, the ground outside of Jerusalem shook
and it rumbled. The stone was rolled away and
Satan, who thought for a day or so he had a great victory
won, heard a little band of Christians singing up from the grave, he
arose, singing Easter hymns. And for 2000 plus years, every
Easter, every Lord’s Day, he has to hear the clamor of the
voices of God’s people singing of a resurrected Savior who lives
forever and has rescued and redeemed us. So remember these things
in these dark times, in these dark stories, God is always up
to something and it’s bigger than Haman’s. and it’s bigger
than Satan’s, and we only need to trust him and to see his hand
at work. Let’s go before God in prayer.
Lord, bless us as we think on your hand of providence, your
judgment, and your way with the wicked, your way with the righteous.
We thank you for Christ who has overturned evil, and the victory
has been secured, and our day of celebration has come and is
yet to come in fullness. And we look forward to that eternity
singing your victory songs. And we pray your blessings on
us now as we sing and go to serve in Christ’s name, amen.