Esther Chapter 3

Study notes from Esther Chapter 3 (theme verse Malachi 3:16)

Quote--“Everything that is not God serves a purpose higher than itself. Nothing is to be justified as “an end in itself” or “for its own sake.” John Piper

Esther parallels many Proverbs and this one fits Xerxes and Haman, “If a ruler pays attention to lies, all his servants become wicked” Proverbs 29:12.

3:1-2, Xerxes promotes Haman, an Agagite,(1 Samuel 15:1-9), to Prime Minister. Chapter 2 concluded with Mordechai the Jew unrecognized for saving the king’s life, yet chapter 3 opens with the promotion of an enemy of the Jews. *Bible commentators agree Haman’s plan to annihilate the Jews was maybe a plot of Satan’s to stop the birth of Jesus.

(2:21-23) Mordecai never demanded recognition. Sometimes a good work will go unnoticed.

3:2, Xerxes again shows his lackadaisical governing by giving special treatment to Haman, whom he has not properly vetted. Everyone must to bow when Haman walks by, not because he is royalty, but by law. It sounds like a lobbyist’s addition to a government bill. A last minute tacked on codicil, “I promote Haman, the Agagite to Prime Minister, um, oh yeah, and everyone must bow to him.

3:2, Mordechai is a part of Xerxes court (2:21), a good social position. Compliance to the order was the easy way to go. The small compromise was the simple route, but he chose to expose his Jewishness by not bowing to Haman. Christians may find they easily compromise the simpler things but that should never be.

(2:10) Esther hid her heritage, yet changed the atmosphere around her. Mordecai was open of his faith, and changed the atmosphere around him. Each made a beautiful statement for God. Witnessing has no pattern. God designed many members in the church body preforming differently and each empowered by the Holy Spirit. (Ephesians 4:1-15)

When rules are enacted against Christian values, people watch to see if Christians will stand on their faith or compromise under their threats. (1 Peter 3:15-17) The simple act of Christian public prayer is often attacked. 3:3-7,

The palace social order watched Mordecai’s rebellion with interest. When Haman failed to notice, they told him to see his reaction. (Proverbs 27:4) By his uncompromised stand, Mordecai exposed Haman’s darkness. (Ephesians 5:26)

Jesus said(to us) “You are the  light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Matthew 5:14.

“Let your light so shine before men, that they see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven” Matthew 5:16.

#Haman’s problem was his own character and Mordecai was exposing it by not saying a word.

Mordecai and Haman bookend this Proverb, “Better is the poor who walks in his integrity than one perverse in his ways, though he be rich.” Proverbs 28:6. Haman held a precarious social position in a weak kingdom destined to fall in a few years. Mordecai had power from Almighty God’s eternal kingdom.

Jesus tells us, “He who does not take up his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it” Matthew 10:38,39. This was Mordecai’s witness. Mordecai’s love for God was stronger than life on earth. Mordecai’s faith in eternal life through God was greater than the threat of death by an Agagite at the order of a Persian king. (1 Peter 5:8)

3:6-11. Haman has no respect for his king. By planning to commit genocide before addressing the king, he has elevated himself to the level of the king. Haman doesn’t sit on the throne of Persia. The Jews are not in his power to exalt or destroy, yet he has everything in place before he approaches the king with a half-truth. A half-truth is still a lie. And he used flattery of promised wealth and power to persuade Xerxes, thus proving Proverbs 26:23)

Satan also attempted to exalt himself above his King? Isaiah 14:12-15

3:9,10, Haman’s proposal is similar to what many societies are doing to Christians around the world by enacting laws to annihilate us. Like King Xerxes, many Governing officials do not understand the horrible wrong those laws do to their own positions. If groups or cultures could erase Christianity, nations would lapse into complete chaos. (2 Thessalonians 2)

3:12, In the approved document, it seems Hebrew is the only excluded language. For the Jews scattered throughout the Persian Empire, this must have been a frightening thing to read. They have no clue why Xerxes has ordered them killed. They have months of oppression, waiting to be attacked in their own homes. Maybe some lost their jobs, others might have fled their cities, hoping to escape.

3:14,15. When the document was posted in the capital, the ordinary person was astonished. Because Mordecai’s action took place in the palace, (3:2), Haman’s hatred maybe hadn’t been generally publicized. So seeing the decree without cause would be very unsettling not only for the Jews but for everyone.

*"The edict bewildered the people in the city of Susa (Shushan) Apparently such a decree had never before come from the royal court. Haman’s bloodthirstiness, along with Xerxes seeming indifference to such atrocities was incredible even to a sophisticated society which was used to cruel behavior. Perhaps other minority populations wondered if they would be next to be annihilated". (Bible Knowledge Commentary, pg 706)

3:8, & 15, Haman lied to the king about why the Jews should be killed. (again Prov. 26:23). For Haman the less the king knew the better. For if such a paltry matter were revealed, the death penalty might be more an embarrassment to Xerxes. As it was, the city couldn’t figure out the king’s unreasonable order.

3:15 Ch 1 the king made a law while drunk. Now with the decree in place, Haman and Xerxes sat down to drink. What a shame to the kingdom. (Prov. 31:4,5) “Like a roaring lion and a charging bear is a wicked ruler over poor people” Proverbs 28:15. Xerxes and Haman, Weak and wicked.

Lesson points:

1. Your good works may never be rewarded in your life on earth

2. Sometimes we need to be a silent witness for God like Esther, sometimes we need to be an open witness for God like Mordecai. (Matthew 10:38,39)

3. Know the enemy; take special interest in how he works. (1 Peter5:8)

4. It takes knowledge and faith to hold on when everything seems lost.

Extra reading: Mordechai’s faith and witness examples for us found throughout the Scriptures. Holiness to God amidst unholy unbelief needs faith that God will keep His promises. Mordecai showed what a man ‘standing in the gap’ can do for his family and his nation. Ezekiel 22:30., Hebrews 11:25,26., Daniel1:8, 6:10., Psalm 18:39., Joshua 1:9., Jeremiah 1:18,19., John 17:16., Matthew 28:18-20., Acts 1:8., Romans 12:21., 2 Corinthians 5:7., Ephesians 6:10-18., Philippians 1:6, 3:20., 4:4-9,. 1 Thessalonians 5:12-24.

*Historical information from Bible Knowledge Commentary & Commentary, study notes of J. Vernon McGee

#Edited

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The Sovereignty of God Maintains the Holy Bible

While there may be some discrepancies between copies and versions of the Holy Bible today, we have no business claiming it has errors, or that any parts are not inspired by God. We do have very old copies in original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts, but God is the only One who has true knowledge of the contents of the originals. That does not make our copies erroneous, or not part of inspired Scripture, for God's sovereignty maintains the accuracy of the Holy Bible.

Almighty GOD is not living within our time. Time was created for us.

He sees the end from the beginning (Isaiah 46:9-10). God is talking to Adam in the Garden of Eden, even as He is accepting our worship on the new earth. He is Eternal. Time does not exist in God's realm of eternal being. GOD is the I AM.

God is instructing Moses to write the 1st five books of the Bible. He is overseeing Jeremiah write his books. Matthew, Mark, Luke & John are writing the gospels per God's guiding inspiration even as you sit and read the Holy Bible at your table in this instant. Pick a writer of one of the 66 books of the Bible and God by His infinite wisdom is having it penned even as you think on it.

Hold your fingers together as tight as possible, until they hurt. The space between your fingers is still longer than your lifespan.

God indwells His people yesterday, today and forever. (John 14, Ephesians 1:13,14, Galatians 3). He indwells believers before us and He will indwell believers after us. (even if we are raptured today)
In every Bible study, or Biblical teaching/preaching, the eternal existing God is actually watching over the person writing the book we are reading at the same instance.

I am not talking multiple dimensions, I am talking about God's BEING. God IS the I AM.

WOW! WE SERVE AN AWSOME GOD!!!

The Bible that the world has today, no matter what version, or language is being preserved by God Himself, outside of time. This is the Holy Bible of the Christian, not the religious books of other world beliefs.

If any parts of the Bible could be in error, in any language or translation, then don't you think Almighty God is able to correct His word, which He is overseeing the writings of even now?

We don't have the originals, but God does.

If today's Bible study guides are exalted over the Holy Bible, that's saying to God the writers of the study guides know more about the Bible than He does.

Consider the danger of your own error attempting to correct God.

Considering that the Author of the Bible is Omnipotent, Omniscient, Omnipresent God, if you decide that you can identify parts of the Holy Bible that are in error, consider these two scenarios:

#1

For some spectacular reason, you can move through the dimensions of Time and Space.

Today, a Christian brother has just watched a group of ISIS militants rape and murder his wife. In the next hour he will be beheaded for his faith in Christ. But he is steadfastly remembering the verses he has memorized from his Bible as he faces this horrible death. (it doesn't matter what language or translation the Bible is written in, it's a Holy Bible, maintained by Sovereign God)

Suddenly, you pop into his presence and announce, "My Bible study guide says that certain parts of certain translations and versions of the Bible are wrong and are not inspired by God because we have discovered they are not in the 'Best Manuscripts". We have decided that they are in error and we no longer teach them as being the inspired words of God."

And you disappear as suddenly as you arrive, leaving this brother alone wondering if the verses he has memorized are the parts that are not Inspired by God.

#2

Still jumping through Time and Space, you travel back to a cold, dark cell in the German Concentration Camp Ravensbruek, where two young women are huddled together with a Bible open between them. One is reading scripture to her dying sister. (it doesn't matter what language or translation the Bible is written in, it's a Holy Bible, maintained by Sovereign God)

Suddenly, you pop into their cell, point to their Bible and say, "In the future, we learn that certain parts of certain translations and versions of the Bible are wrong and are not inspired by God because we have discovered they are not in the 'Best Manuscripts". So we have decided that they are in error and we no longer teach them as being the inspired words of God."

And just as suddenly, you disappear from their sight, leaving Corrie Ten Boom and her sister, Betsie, holding worthless scraps of paper.

What has your knowledge just done to these people who have no access to whatever Bible study guide you may have read. Where is your proof that your Bible study guide is true and their Bible's are wrong? Your so-called knowledge gained form your study guides is of no advantage.

Only God has the knowledge to maintain His word as without error and all Scripture is inspired by God. (2 Timothy 3:16)

"Knowing this first, that no prophecy of
Scripture is of any private interpretation,

for prophecy never came by the will of man,
but holy men of God spoke as they

were moved by the Holy Spirit"
2 Peter 1:20,21.

But of Bible Studies and study guides, the bookshelves are breaking from the strain. Be very careful of what you read outside of the Bible itself, for God has not breathed the words of Bible Study Guides, only the words of the Holy Bible. (John 17:17, 2 Timothy 3:16. 2 Peter 1:20, 21, Rev. 22:18,19, Is. 55:10,11, Eccl. 12:11.12,13,14.)

If something you read has an argument pointing to an error, stop and hold up any version of the Bible and say to the One who sits on the throne in Heaven, "Holy Omnipotent, Omnipresent, Omniscient GOD, because of this or that I've read about Your word, I know for certain that this text of this Bible is in error and is not inspired by You. You, Almighty God must have made a mistake putting this into this version of Your Bible, because this man, or this woman said so. So, now You, God are corrected by my knowledge."

Aren't you putting a lot of confidence in the idea the authors of study guides know more than God knows about His word?

Then you are telling God He is not Omnipotent, Omniscient, Omnipresent God.

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The Continuity of The Bible

The theme in Psalm 136, 137 & 138 is God's enduring Mercy and it repeats through these three songs.

I am so amazed at how God designed the Bible, (For I believe the Bible is all God's doing from cover to cover in any language) and I am constantly amazed how certain books and passages line up.

Psalm 136 seems boring with its repetition but when reading it as listening to a leader speaking and then a crowd giving the echo, I imagine God smiling. It is a great song of praise and worship.

Then psalm 137 follows and leaves the wonderment of why so sad a follow-up? It recounts the horror of Israel's captivity in Babylon. The atrocious treatment at the hands of their captors.

But because the sadness of 137 follows immediately after 136, I return to the refrain "For His mercy endures forever" (or as it actually reads "For His mercy forever!) You can't help but recall the mercy of God. People are seldom merciful, but God never changes. His mercy endures forever.

The life of a person on earth is so short as to never even cause a blip on the eternal. Yes, the captivity was horrible, but God's people have the remembrance of God's everlasting mercy. The Rock of Salvation, A Mighty Fortress.

And Psalm 138, a song of David placed seemingly out of context, for David wrote it long before the Babylonian captivity. Yet reading 136, 137. & 138 altogether, the song continues and completes.

For David is the author of the chorus of 136 as he writes 138:8b: "Your mercy, O LORD, endures forever"

How awesome to have thee three Psalms lined up to be read as one song, with a common chorus.

"Your mercy, O LORD, forever"

Amen

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Three Things Everyone Should Know About Biblical Hell--Guest Blog by Joel Littlefield

Joel's Blog is posted here by permission:




“when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might,” (2 Thessalonians 1:7-9)

Hell is the presence of God’s wrath and holy justice.

Some say that Hell is what it is because God’s presence is not there. Even Paul, in the above passage, speaks of hell as eternal destruction that takes place “away from the presence of the Lord”

But tell this to a person who doesn’t want to be with God in the first place.

The conversation may go like this:

“Don’t you believe?”

“No, I don’t”

“Unless you believe, you will die in your sin and be cast into hell apart from his presence forever”

“Well, good! I’m not sure I want to spend eternity with God anyway.”

See what I mean? The unbelievers logic is solid here. Why would someone who wants nothing to do with God mind being in hell if all it means is that God is not there? So, is God’s presence there? Or is it not?

Consider this text:

“Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee? If I go into heaven you are there, and if I descend into Hell, you are there.” Psalm 139:7

If God is truly omnipresent, and He is, then He is also in Hell. But it’s a different kind of presence altogether than what the redeemed will experience. In that outer darkness His presence will not be enjoyed. The comfort that his presence gives to those who worship Him will not be there. That is why Paul said that part of the punishment is to be away “from the glory of His might”

Hell is the very real presence of God’s anger, wrath and judgement. One may wish for annihilation there, but the end will never come. The torment will be forever.

Hell is Eternal Dying

Charles Spurgeon once said that “It is the hell of hell that everything there lasts forever. Here, time wears away our griefs, and blunts the keen edge of sorrow; but there, time never mitigates the woe. Here, the sympathy of loving kindred, in the midst of sickness or suffering, can alleviate our pain; but there, the mutual upbraidings and reproaches of fellow- sinners give fresh stings to torment too dreadful to be endured.”

The Scripture concurs with this thought that the fires and torments of hell are unceasing.

Mark 9:47-48 “And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell, ‘where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.’’

A God who loves perfectly also must hate that which opposes His perfect love. A God of perfect kindness and grace must also be a God of perfect justice and judgement against all who do not obey His truth. Jesus shed his blood at the cross, and in so doing, killed death for all who believe in Him. But Hell is where death never dies, for those who go there did not believe in the Resurrection and the Life.

“and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” John 11:26

In Light of Hell we Preach Christ

Hell is mercy removed and grace withheld. It is unrelenting slavery to sin and the filth of the flesh. The drunkard will desire to be drunk, but with nothing even to temporarily satisfy. The thief will be constantly haunted with his evil desires to take what is not his. The covetous man will covet forever but gain nothing he desires. Hell is constant emptiness with no reprieve in sight. With this, let us look upon this world, not with apathy, but with compassion. We have the only news that sets souls free.

Do not be ignorant about what happens after death. All who believe upon the gospel with genuine faith will be saved. All who do not will perish forever in everlasting torment and unrelenting regret. Their punishment will be just. But we do all we can to join in Christ’s mission of reconciliation and redemption.

“All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation;” (2 Corinthians 5:18)

The devil’s first heresy was this, “You will not surely die.” But we did die, all of us. Man is so deeply depraved that no one can pull himself from the despair. Only by God’s grace can man have life. Through the One who is eternal life can life be restored.

“And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” (John 17:3)

Joel Littlefield

Joel is a husband, father of three, pastor and worship leader. His desire for blogging and writing is from a heart for the Body of Christ to glorify God in everything, and through every season.

To read more of Joel's writings, visit Made to Make Disciples 

Joel is the author of

Grace In Crossville (Amazon)
and
Beeline to the Cross (Barnes & Noble)
(Tate Publishing & Enterprises LLC.)
& Amazon

Beeline to the Cross

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