Esther 3 v 8 - 4 v 3

Another week has passed with no time to do hardly anything, I'm behind on NaNoWriMo, have so much to do, but don't fear! Another week of Esther is here! Again, it's just literally my notes for CU pretty much copied and pasted but remember, "In all things, God works for the good of those who love Him and have been called according to His purpose" so although everything seems manic, God is in control.

Esther 3 v 8 – 4 v 3

(Chapter 3 v 8 – 15)

⁸ Then Haman said to King Xerxes, “There is a certain people dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom who keep themselves separate. Their customs are different from those of all other people, and they do not obey the king’s laws; it is not in the king’s best interest to tolerate them. ⁹ If it pleases the king, let a decree be issued to destroy them, and I will give ten thousand talents of silver to the king’s administrators for the royal treasury.”

 ¹⁰ So the king took his signet ring from his finger and gave it to Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews. ¹¹ “Keep the money,” the king said to Haman, “and do with the people as you please.”

 ¹² Then on the thirteenth day of the first month the royal secretaries were summoned. They wrote out in the script of each province and in the language of each people all Haman’s orders to the king’s satraps, the governors of the various provinces and the nobles of the various peoples. These were written in the name of King Xerxes himself and sealed with his own ring. ¹³Dispatches were 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 children—on a single day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar, and to plunder their goods. ¹⁴ A copy of the text of the edict was to be issued as law in every province and made known to the people of every nationality so they would be ready for that day.

 ¹⁵ The couriers went out, spurred on by the king’s command, and the edict was issued in the citadel of Susa. The king and Haman sat down to drink, but the city of Susa was bewildered.

(Chapter 4 v 1 – 3)

¹ 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. ² But he went only as far as the king’s gate, because no one clothed in sackcloth was allowed to enter it. ³ In 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.

Esther 3 v 8 – 4 v 3

Do you remember last week where we met Haman who didn’t like the fact that Mordecai wouldn’t bow down to him. He then got really angry and came up with a plan to kill the whole of the Jewish race. Now we see how he goes about making this plan happen.

(Chapter 3 v 8 – 10)

Haman may have been terrible but he was very clever. If you look again, you will see how vague he was when telling King Xerxes his request.

-          He never mentioned which group of people he had a problem with

-          He didn’t say why their different customs would be a problem to King Xerxes

-          He didn’t mention which laws the people had disobeyed

-          He did not say why it was not in the king’s best interests to ‘tolerate’ these people

-          He also offered the king a large amount of money

Although, if you remember, neither Xerxes nor Haman knew that Esther was a Jew, Haman would have been worried that Xerxes may have close advisers that were Jews and he didn’t want the king to turn against him. Haman also realised that he didn’t really have any evidence that the Jews were actually causing Xerxes any trouble. He was taking a big risk.

Think about it, this isn’t a small request. Haman was asking for a whole race of people, women, men, children, all to be killed. He wasn’t just asking for the Jews to be given higher taxes but wanted them all to be destroyed. However, King Xerxes treated the situation as if it was only a small request. He readily agreed without asking many questions suggesting that he didn’t care about life and that life is cheap. He gave the impression that it didn’t matter, one way or the other. This is a very dangerous person to have as king.

Unlike Haman, we should be tolerant of others, even if they are different. God sent his son to die for us so how can we expect to be an example of our faith if we don’t love others? We may not be as extreme as Haman but we all have a tendency to hold prejudices. Don’t judge people on their culture or assume that, because one person in their culture is bad, they will be too. They may be different but that shouldn’t mean we hold grudges against them.

(Chapter 3 v 10 – 15)

So, not only was King Xerxes happy to agree for a whole race to be killed but also to seal the order with his own ring. This means that no one, not even the king himself could reverse the order. The king also refused the offer of money however this was the custom when money was first offered for a favour.

So the order went out and everyone would have known what was being ordered for that terrible day. While the king and Haman were happily drinking away, the city of Susa was shocked by the news. This chapter ends with two people who had just ordered the destruction of a whole race just sitting down to have a party without a care in the world. Thankfully, the story doesn’t end here!

(Chapter 4 v 1 – 3)

So this seems like an impossible situation. God had previously promised the Jews that he would provide a messiah who would save his people yet, if Haman’s plan succeeds, God’s people would be totally wiped out. God probably seemed far away to the Jews and not in control however remember this:

“It is doubtful whether God can bless a person greatly until he has hurt them deeply.”

Basically, God uses the hard times we face for our good. He uses them to further us as people more than it would be possible if he didn’t let us face hard times.

So, Mordecai would have heard about this command early on and he immediately dressed in sackcloth and ashes, wailing loudly.

So, why did he do this? Well, obviously the Jews would have been pretty depressed about the situation and dressing like this was a sign of mourning in bible times. The sackcloth was a very rough and itchy material and the ashes were literally from a burnt fire that the mourners would put on their head. It would have been clear that Mordecai was in distress and it’s likely that Mordecai was so obvious in his distress so that the guards would notice and relay this to Esther. And as we will see next time, this is what happened.

So, why did Haman pick on the Jews? Because they stood out and were different. If you’re a Christian, you too should want to be different and stand up for God. It may be easier to blend in but we shouldn’t lower our standards just to avoid being picked out as different.

At this point, things don’t seem like they can get any worse. The whole Jewish race is on the verge of death and it seems that God is just letting it happen. However, we will see in the following weeks that God is in control of everything, despite how bad the situation seems. 

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Current book I'm reading:  I still haven't had time to pick up another book after finishing 'Counterfeit gods'!

Listening to music? If so, what?: Nope, not atm.

Last thing I watched: World's strictest parents

Current NaNoWriMo count: 20,444

Words left to reach the daily goal of 2000: Urm, I'm even more than just a bit behind so it's a bit more complicated than that! I'm 7890 behind the cumulative count for today...