Esther: #3 “What a Difference a Day Makes” – Esther 5 & 6 Dr. Matthew Cassidy – 4/29/2012 We are at the peak of a fabulous story in the Old Testament, about how life works. If you follow the story well, and you can identify with the characters, especially the good guys, it could change the way you perceive the world around you. This story about Esther is about how God works in our world. It is more like the way God works in our world than maybe any of the other stories in the Old Testament. By the way, to fully appreciate this, and we have not discussed this yet, but this is a story in the ancient Near East. It is an Eastern story and I hope you have seen some Kung Fu movies because that would help you to appreciate what is happening in this story. Losing face is the worst fate you can imagine; to be embarrassed in front of your friends or honorable people would be a tragic thing to happen to you. That is why they would rather fall on their own sword than to suffer the humiliation from their peers. That is a major emphasis of understanding what is motivating the characters here. Just the opposite of that is honor. To be honored is greater than gold. It is what people live and die for. Honor is something we talk about sometimes in our country. It is the currency that people keep in the ancient Near East. So when we look at these characters and see what they are doing and what motivates them and possesses them, it is the fear of losing face and it was the ambition of being honored in front of others. So, keep all of that in mind as I review the past two sermons for those who are new today. We will review some of the characters and we will fast forward to get to what I would call the absolute funniest chapter in maybe the Bible but certainly the Old Testament. Review Characters: We have a king in this story, King Xerxes, and he is a mad man. He is crazy and he does whatever he wants because he can. Whatever he says is right; he is always right. Whatever he writes is true; it is the law of the Medes and Persians. That is where we get the figure of speech from a king like this who is ruling the Medes and the Persians. King Xerxes is married to Queen Esther. She is this innocent, naïve, little Jewish orphan girl. She is very compliant. Her whole life story is being able to follow instructions of wise men and wise women around her. She is a sweet little kitten. Esther.3.web.2012.doc Page 1 of 13 Queen Esther was raised by her cousin who is considerably older. His name is Mordecai. There is a phrase – Mordecai the Jew – because he is proud of his heritage. He tells his cousin Esther not to tell of her heritage but he is proud of his heritage and it gets him into some trouble. There is one thing that is kind of funny in the earlier chapters. Mordecai overhears some people planning to kill King Xerxes and Mordecai gets word to Queen Esther and she tells her husband. It ends up being true. The point is that Mordecai the Jew saves the king’s life but nothing happens. They kill the bad guys but nothing happens to Mordecai. He is never honored. There is no reward for helping the king out. Hmm, it kind of dangles there. Our fourth character is Haman, the Agagite. If you were good Jewish people and I were telling this story, whenever I said “Haman”, you would boo or hiss. He is an Agagite because it is a fun word to say; it sounds like a machine or a stuttering thing. But it is important to know that he is from the lineage of King Agag; Haman is born and bred to kill Jews. He hates Jews and he loves to kill as many Jews as possible. Mordecai is the Jew. The other thing you need to know about Haman besides his being an Agagite is that he is the most honored person in Persia because the king made him that way in Chapter 3:1. Esther 3:1, 2 After these events, King Xerxes honored Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, elevating him and giving him a seat of honor higher than that of all the other nobles. 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 down or pay him honor. If you are sitting down, then you stand up when Haman shows up. If you are standing up, then you kneel down and you hide your face. You pay him honor and respect. Every time that would happen, everyone in the palace in the city of Susa would do that – save one, Mordecai the Jew. The passage [3:5] said that this enraged Haman. Esther 3 The whole point of today’s talk in this part of the story is what happens to the man who will not honor Haman. What is the fate of the man who will not honor Haman, the Agagite? That is what I want to know. That is what everyone wants to know because Mordecai does not pay honor to Haman (verse 3:4) day after day. Since Mordecai will not listen to the royal officials, they go to Haman and say: How long are you going to let this go on? What happens to the man who will not pay homage to Haman? Esther.3.web.2012.doc Page 2 of 13 Haman, realizing that Mordecai is from a Jewish background, would not settle for just killing him. So, Haman wants to kill all of Mordecai’s people. He conspires a plan and goes to astrologers who come up with a date that is eleven months away. Haman puts together this decree that would give permission to everyone in the 127 provinces of Persia to kill every Jew, man, woman, and child. Then he gets permission from King Xerxes to borrow his signet ring, which would make it official. He signs this decree and this is what it says and this is the 13th day of the first month when they post the decree in the city hall of every one of the provinces. This posting day is the day before Passover. That is the day before Jewish Independence Day. This is the news these Jewish people get. The decree was sent by couriers to all the king’s provinces with the order to destroy, kill, and annihilate all the Jews, young and old, women and little children [3:12]. Is that clear? “Destroy, kill, and annihilate” – we couldn’t just destroy and kill. We had to destroy, kill, and annihilate all the Jews. What about the women? Oh, the women and the children. – Haman puts the seal on the decree with the wax and the signet ring embossing. The copies of the decree were sent out to every province in Persia and now it is part of the laws of the Medes and the Persians. While in all of Persia the Jews are tearing their clothes and covering themselves with dirt and ashes, it says that Haman, the Agagite, and the king are sipping wine on the palace deck. That is how it ends. [Esther 3:15] Esther 4 The next part of the story picks up with Mordecai realizing that he is chiefly responsible for this. He incited a riot inside the soul of Haman. Mordecai is outside the palace of Xerxes. This is the only plan he could come up with. He gets word to Queen Esther and says: You need to tell everyone that you are Jewish. You need to go to the king and appeal for mercy for your people. Esther’s response to her cousin was reciting the way the law works around this palace. Esther 4:10, 11 Then she instructed him (the eunuch) to say to Mordecai, “Everyone in 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.” This is not hyperbole. She is not exaggerating. We have carvings of Xerxes on his throne and behind his throne are these two huge guards who each carry a battleaxe, a double-headed ax, to protect the king. If Esther.3.web.2012.doc Page 3 of 13 anybody were ever to present themselves, to just drop by and say: Hey, how are you doing? We went to high school together. The guards would kill them; they would be dead. Mordecai’s Three-Part Rebuttal to Esther Mordecai’s plan to send his cousin in to the king is not being well received by the queen. So he sends one more message back to her. He says: (1) Listen, if you think living in the palace is going to save you, you are wrong. You will die. (2) There will be another source from another place that will save the Jews – but you and your father’s house will all be killed off.