WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.140 In recent weeks, we have been introduced to a 00:00:03.140 --> 00:00:08.679 man named Haman. In English, we call him Haman, 00:00:08.880 --> 00:00:13.699 the chief vizier and the right -hand man of the 00:00:13.699 --> 00:00:15.640 Persian king Xerxes. And yes, you did a great 00:00:15.640 --> 00:00:19.260 job last week booing him. Go ahead, get it out 00:00:19.260 --> 00:00:22.640 of your system. OK, good. It's like Pavlov's 00:00:22.640 --> 00:00:24.920 dogs, right? You see an image, you boo. That's 00:00:24.920 --> 00:00:30.870 good. We've just scratched the surface of analyzing 00:00:30.870 --> 00:00:34.710 Haman's character and his intent toward the Jewish 00:00:34.710 --> 00:00:36.630 people. But today we're going to go all the way 00:00:36.630 --> 00:00:41.250 down that very dark and evil path. Before we 00:00:41.250 --> 00:00:43.909 do, I want you to try to imagine a scenario in 00:00:43.909 --> 00:00:47.369 our day, today, where we live. Imagine that the 00:00:47.369 --> 00:00:51.289 governor of California persuaded the president 00:00:51.289 --> 00:00:54.670 of the United States that... No, there's no picture 00:00:54.670 --> 00:00:58.109 of Gavin. Sorry. Again, we're going to boo, I 00:00:58.109 --> 00:01:01.969 know, right? I mean, he's not my favorite guy, 00:01:02.030 --> 00:01:07.469 but he's no Haman, right? Okay. But imagine the 00:01:07.469 --> 00:01:10.989 governor persuaded the president that Bible -believing 00:01:10.989 --> 00:01:14.790 Christians had become a dangerous, subversive 00:01:14.790 --> 00:01:18.450 group of people who were detrimental to the future 00:01:18.450 --> 00:01:22.930 of America. And imagine if that president issued 00:01:22.930 --> 00:01:27.329 an executive order Giving all the believers around 00:01:27.329 --> 00:01:32.069 us express permission to hunt us down and round 00:01:32.069 --> 00:01:37.609 us up for execution. And then permission to confiscate 00:01:37.609 --> 00:01:41.989 all of our property and all of our assets. And 00:01:41.989 --> 00:01:44.810 as you consider that nightmare scenario, don't 00:01:44.810 --> 00:01:48.069 just think about your own life. Think about your 00:01:48.069 --> 00:01:50.189 mom and dad being targets for this. Think about 00:01:50.189 --> 00:01:53.969 your children being snatched from the streets, 00:01:54.030 --> 00:01:57.159 kidnapped. Think about your closest friends, 00:01:57.319 --> 00:01:59.340 your fellow church members, either having to 00:01:59.340 --> 00:02:04.239 go into hiding or running for their lives. How 00:02:04.239 --> 00:02:07.640 would you feel? How would you live in the midst 00:02:07.640 --> 00:02:12.060 of all that? What would you do? Now, I know that 00:02:12.060 --> 00:02:14.360 sounds a little far -fetched for us because we're 00:02:14.360 --> 00:02:16.879 Americans, right? It just seems impossible that 00:02:16.879 --> 00:02:18.699 that could ever happen in our country. So let 00:02:18.699 --> 00:02:21.259 me give you another scenario that might be more 00:02:21.259 --> 00:02:23.419 realistic. Imagine you had to go overseas for 00:02:23.419 --> 00:02:26.860 a job. And you found yourself moving to a kind 00:02:26.860 --> 00:02:30.500 of unstable, potentially dangerous land, say 00:02:30.500 --> 00:02:33.460 a Muslim country, where Westerners are looked 00:02:33.460 --> 00:02:36.139 at with suspicion and where the gospel of Christ 00:02:36.139 --> 00:02:39.419 isn't allowed, isn't allowed by law to be publicly 00:02:39.419 --> 00:02:43.120 spoken of. Imagine that you lived in that country 00:02:43.120 --> 00:02:45.919 and you decided for your own security, for the 00:02:45.919 --> 00:02:47.620 safety of your family, that you were not going 00:02:47.620 --> 00:02:50.340 to promote your identity or speak publicly about 00:02:50.340 --> 00:02:53.710 your faith. But at every turn, you find yourself 00:02:53.710 --> 00:02:57.889 being harassed by the majority population, by 00:02:57.889 --> 00:02:59.569 the governing authorities. You can never really 00:02:59.569 --> 00:03:03.969 relax in the land that you live in. You're always 00:03:03.969 --> 00:03:06.669 wondering if that harassment might turn into 00:03:06.669 --> 00:03:10.729 threats of actual physical violence. You think 00:03:10.729 --> 00:03:16.009 about a late -night knock on the door, or worse, 00:03:16.150 --> 00:03:19.969 a mob forming outside your home. The question 00:03:19.969 --> 00:03:22.310 is, how would you function in that kind of environment? 00:03:24.530 --> 00:03:26.830 If you're able to truly consider one of those 00:03:26.830 --> 00:03:29.650 scenarios, then perhaps you can slip on the ancient 00:03:29.650 --> 00:03:32.629 sandals of Esther and Mordecai or any Jew who 00:03:32.629 --> 00:03:34.750 was living in the Persian Empire in the 5th century 00:03:34.750 --> 00:03:38.789 BC. See, walking in the footsteps of an ethnic 00:03:38.789 --> 00:03:41.750 and religious minority in a country where there's 00:03:41.750 --> 00:03:44.430 no limits on the king and his government is a 00:03:44.430 --> 00:03:47.639 foreign idea to us. We can't even fathom what 00:03:47.639 --> 00:03:49.659 that feels like because we're so blessed to live 00:03:49.659 --> 00:03:54.139 in America in the 21st century. But imagine living 00:03:54.139 --> 00:03:56.460 in that type of place. So it's easy for us to 00:03:56.460 --> 00:03:58.840 read the book of Esther, read it on a flat page, 00:03:58.900 --> 00:04:02.379 and then really not be able to grasp the threat 00:04:02.379 --> 00:04:05.560 of terror that they faced under the reign of 00:04:05.560 --> 00:04:08.370 Xerxes. But if you're able to get outside of 00:04:08.370 --> 00:04:10.430 yourself as an American, if you're able to put 00:04:10.430 --> 00:04:12.909 on those sandals and walk in their shoes, you 00:04:12.909 --> 00:04:15.030 may be able to see why this story in the book 00:04:15.030 --> 00:04:17.490 of Esther is such an important story to the Jewish 00:04:17.490 --> 00:04:21.970 people, even today. And the reason I wanted us 00:04:21.970 --> 00:04:24.870 to read from Psalm 31 together is because we're 00:04:24.870 --> 00:04:26.850 headed down that road today, and I want you to 00:04:26.850 --> 00:04:28.850 listen again to the words of David from that 00:04:28.850 --> 00:04:36.379 psalm. He says, Yahweh, you are my strength. 00:04:36.439 --> 00:04:41.060 Into your hands I commit my spirit. My times 00:04:41.060 --> 00:04:42.939 are in your hand. Deliver me from the hand of 00:04:42.939 --> 00:04:45.959 my enemies and from those who persecute me. Save 00:04:45.959 --> 00:04:48.680 me in your loving kindness and let the wicked 00:04:48.680 --> 00:04:52.459 be put to shame. Let the wicked be silent and 00:04:52.459 --> 00:04:56.199 chill. So grab your Bibles if you haven't already. 00:04:56.319 --> 00:05:01.680 Let's go to Esther chapter 3. I want you to look 00:05:01.680 --> 00:05:03.180 for verse 5. That's where we're going to start 00:05:03.180 --> 00:05:05.819 this morning. Last Sunday, we took a deep dive, 00:05:05.899 --> 00:05:07.779 if you were with us, and I know some of you students 00:05:07.779 --> 00:05:09.920 are back for the first Sunday. That's great, 00:05:09.959 --> 00:05:11.360 but you might need to catch up a little bit. 00:05:12.600 --> 00:05:14.920 We took a deep dive into the reason or reasons 00:05:14.920 --> 00:05:19.639 why Mordecai would not bow before Haman. And 00:05:19.639 --> 00:05:21.480 we asked the question, was he just being prideful? 00:05:21.579 --> 00:05:24.819 Was that the issue? Was it an issue of crossing 00:05:24.819 --> 00:05:27.079 the line into worship, a line that was asking 00:05:27.079 --> 00:05:29.959 too much of Mordecai as a Jew to bow down before 00:05:29.959 --> 00:05:32.959 this man? Or was the ancient hostility with the 00:05:32.959 --> 00:05:37.160 Amalekites behind all of it? And while all those, 00:05:37.259 --> 00:05:39.480 I think, are logical possibilities, all we can 00:05:39.480 --> 00:05:41.879 know for sure is what the text actually told 00:05:41.879 --> 00:05:44.639 us in verse 4, that Mordecai would not bow down 00:05:44.639 --> 00:05:48.279 because he was a Jew. Whatever that entails, 00:05:48.560 --> 00:05:52.300 it becomes the pivotal moment in this story in 00:05:52.300 --> 00:05:54.180 the book of Esther. So we pick up in verse 5. 00:05:57.279 --> 00:06:03.920 So from this point forward now, we're going to 00:06:03.920 --> 00:06:06.600 get this character profile of this man Haman 00:06:06.600 --> 00:06:08.939 and what drives his thoughts and what drives 00:06:08.939 --> 00:06:11.600 his actions. And we see here in verse 5, he has 00:06:11.600 --> 00:06:15.290 a massive ego, doesn't he? Who else goes into 00:06:15.290 --> 00:06:18.110 a rage when he finds out just one man out of 00:06:18.110 --> 00:06:21.029 hundreds of palace officials, just one man will 00:06:21.029 --> 00:06:24.730 not bow down to him? And what this tells us is 00:06:24.730 --> 00:06:27.410 that Haman lives to be exalted by others. He's 00:06:27.410 --> 00:06:29.790 the kind of man who's always seeking after status 00:06:29.790 --> 00:06:32.230 and position in the eyes of other people. In 00:06:32.230 --> 00:06:35.470 fact, he enjoys life the most when people are 00:06:35.470 --> 00:06:39.069 bowing and scraping before him. And that kind 00:06:39.069 --> 00:06:41.629 of power over other people who have to bow before 00:06:41.629 --> 00:06:44.420 you is like a drug. And he can't get enough of 00:06:44.420 --> 00:06:49.660 it. But he's touchy, isn't he? Right? Very touchy. 00:06:49.800 --> 00:06:53.379 The Hebrew word there for rage is chema. And 00:06:53.379 --> 00:06:55.259 it's the word that's often used to describe a 00:06:55.259 --> 00:06:58.000 person's wrath, a person's fury. Sometimes the 00:06:58.000 --> 00:06:59.959 word is brought together to describe burning 00:06:59.959 --> 00:07:04.199 anger. And get this, once in Psalm 58 and twice 00:07:04.199 --> 00:07:07.319 in Deuteronomy 32, that word is translated venom. 00:07:08.579 --> 00:07:13.199 The venom of serpents. So there's a poisonous 00:07:13.199 --> 00:07:15.860 rage that lives within Haman. There's no question 00:07:15.860 --> 00:07:18.399 there's a connection there with our ancient spiritual 00:07:18.399 --> 00:07:21.680 enemy, right? There's a poisonous rage inside 00:07:21.680 --> 00:07:24.300 of him, and he embodies the worst of two character 00:07:24.300 --> 00:07:27.819 traits. On one hand, narcissism, and on the other, 00:07:27.899 --> 00:07:30.759 insecurity. And that's a deadly combination. 00:07:32.000 --> 00:07:34.720 His narcissism demands approval and veneration 00:07:34.720 --> 00:07:37.199 from all the people below him on the pecking 00:07:37.199 --> 00:07:40.600 order, and his insecurity causes him to be deeply 00:07:40.600 --> 00:07:43.360 wounded when he doesn't receive all the applause 00:07:43.360 --> 00:07:46.879 and veneration that he thinks he deserves, that 00:07:46.879 --> 00:07:50.660 he thinks he's entitled to. But here's what really 00:07:50.660 --> 00:07:52.579 makes him dangerous. While other people might 00:07:52.579 --> 00:07:55.259 struggle with those two things a little bit, 00:07:55.360 --> 00:07:57.579 when stuff happens, they can laugh, they can 00:07:57.579 --> 00:08:00.100 brush it off, but not Haman. He plots revenge. 00:08:01.610 --> 00:08:05.069 This is what makes him truly lethal. And that's 00:08:05.069 --> 00:08:08.009 the thing about narcissistic vengeance. Over 00:08:08.009 --> 00:08:11.410 time, empathy begins to disappear, empathy for 00:08:11.410 --> 00:08:13.810 other people, and it's replaced with cruelty. 00:08:14.930 --> 00:08:17.310 And there's no end to what the human being can 00:08:17.310 --> 00:08:21.629 do to other human beings when this happens. We've 00:08:21.629 --> 00:08:25.209 seen it all throughout human history. And this 00:08:25.209 --> 00:08:29.829 is what we see in verse 6. It says, to lay hands 00:08:29.829 --> 00:08:33.230 on Mordecai alone. And that translation in the 00:08:33.230 --> 00:08:36.009 NAS reads kind of strange. The NET puts it this 00:08:36.009 --> 00:08:38.870 way. The thought of striking out against Mordecai 00:08:38.870 --> 00:08:43.129 alone was repugnant to him. Basically what it 00:08:43.129 --> 00:08:45.769 means in the Hebrew is this. He despised the 00:08:45.769 --> 00:08:50.250 idea of taking out just Mordecai. That's too 00:08:50.250 --> 00:08:53.929 small of a goal. Haman wants much more than just 00:08:53.929 --> 00:08:58.820 Mordecai's scalp. He wants everybody's. And the 00:08:58.820 --> 00:09:00.559 question is why? Well, we're told in the next 00:09:00.559 --> 00:09:03.000 phrase. For they, the other palace officials, 00:09:03.299 --> 00:09:06.820 had told Haman who the people of Mordecai were. 00:09:08.360 --> 00:09:10.940 Hey, boss, did you know that that guy who won't 00:09:10.940 --> 00:09:13.500 bow down to you, guess what he is? He's a Jew. 00:09:15.399 --> 00:09:19.440 And you can picture Haman's face when he learns 00:09:19.440 --> 00:09:22.179 that this one rebellious man who he cannot tame, 00:09:22.379 --> 00:09:25.639 one of his palace servants, belongs to that ancient 00:09:25.639 --> 00:09:30.840 tribe, the Jews. The rage that comes across his 00:09:30.840 --> 00:09:35.200 face. Therefore, the text says, Haman sought 00:09:35.200 --> 00:09:38.279 to destroy all the Jews, the people of Mordecai, 00:09:38.419 --> 00:09:41.840 who were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus. 00:09:42.039 --> 00:09:44.179 We talked about it in the last two weeks. Probably 00:09:44.179 --> 00:09:46.539 three quarters of a million Jews living in the 00:09:46.539 --> 00:09:50.480 Persian Empire at this time. It's a pretty over 00:09:50.480 --> 00:09:54.460 -the -top reaction, isn't it? Slightly. A personal 00:09:54.460 --> 00:09:58.299 insult from one lone Jewish man. That is hardly 00:09:58.299 --> 00:10:01.100 a justifiable reason to exterminate a race of 00:10:01.100 --> 00:10:03.419 people. There's something going on. This can't 00:10:03.419 --> 00:10:06.279 just be an issue of workplace insubordination. 00:10:07.200 --> 00:10:09.419 There's more than that going on here. It's true 00:10:09.419 --> 00:10:12.139 Haman is insecure, but come on, that alone cannot 00:10:12.139 --> 00:10:15.620 explain this kind of reaction. I'm still convinced 00:10:15.620 --> 00:10:18.139 that at the root of this is that ancient feud 00:10:18.139 --> 00:10:20.960 we talked about several weeks ago, the spirit 00:10:20.960 --> 00:10:24.539 of Amalek, rooted in the conflict that goes back 00:10:24.539 --> 00:10:28.120 to Jacob and Esau. In the cowardly attack on 00:10:28.120 --> 00:10:30.480 the Israelites leaving Egypt through King Agag, 00:10:30.500 --> 00:10:32.980 through the prophet Samuel. It's the renewal 00:10:32.980 --> 00:10:35.620 of this ancient spiritual battle between the 00:10:35.620 --> 00:10:37.539 kingdoms of the world and the kingdom of God. 00:10:37.679 --> 00:10:42.019 Jacob I love, but Esau I hated, the Lord says. 00:10:42.620 --> 00:10:45.259 And I will be at war with Amalek from generation 00:10:45.259 --> 00:10:49.919 to generation, God said in Exodus 17. It's the 00:10:49.919 --> 00:10:51.940 spirit of genocide against the Jewish people 00:10:51.940 --> 00:10:55.759 that seems to raise its ugly head. In age after 00:10:55.759 --> 00:10:59.299 age, generation after generation, it keeps coming 00:10:59.299 --> 00:11:02.600 back. And we're seeing more of it even today. 00:11:04.019 --> 00:11:06.679 And so getting permission from the king just 00:11:06.679 --> 00:11:09.500 to execute Mordecai is just not going to satisfy 00:11:09.500 --> 00:11:13.639 Haman. It's not going to satisfy his wrath. And 00:11:13.639 --> 00:11:16.240 in his mind, look, an opportunity has now come 00:11:16.240 --> 00:11:18.639 my way, and I'm not going to waste it. This is 00:11:18.639 --> 00:11:21.740 an opportunity for vengeance against an old enemy. 00:11:23.220 --> 00:11:27.519 Haman is Amalek, and Amalek is defined as irrational 00:11:27.519 --> 00:11:31.620 hatred and existential evil. And the fact that 00:11:31.620 --> 00:11:33.799 such a man can come to power within the Persian 00:11:33.799 --> 00:11:37.059 Empire is exactly what makes living in the diaspora 00:11:37.059 --> 00:11:39.980 so dangerous for the Jewish people. You have 00:11:39.980 --> 00:11:41.879 to see this. This is why I gave you the example 00:11:41.879 --> 00:11:44.340 of you having to live in a Muslim country and 00:11:44.340 --> 00:11:46.559 always feeling the sense of that threat. I'm 00:11:46.559 --> 00:11:48.840 fine today, but I have no idea what's coming 00:11:48.840 --> 00:11:52.909 tomorrow. It could all turn on me. And that's 00:11:52.909 --> 00:11:54.809 what it feels like to be a part of the diaspora. 00:11:54.809 --> 00:11:57.450 You have these unstable, unpredictable rulers 00:11:57.450 --> 00:12:00.129 who surround themselves with sycophants like 00:12:00.129 --> 00:12:02.929 Haman, and they will do anything, go to any extreme, 00:12:02.970 --> 00:12:07.889 in order to grab power. There's a good reason 00:12:07.889 --> 00:12:10.870 why editorials and newspaper articles from the 00:12:10.870 --> 00:12:13.070 period of the Nuremberg trials after World War 00:12:13.070 --> 00:12:19.090 II, they called the Nazis the son of Haman. Okay. 00:12:20.279 --> 00:12:23.759 Was that ominous enough to start? I want to bypass 00:12:23.759 --> 00:12:26.179 verse 7 for now. We'll come back to it. But for 00:12:26.179 --> 00:12:28.000 now, I want you to drop down to verse 8 because 00:12:28.000 --> 00:12:30.639 we need to look at this accusation that Haman 00:12:30.639 --> 00:12:32.899 has against the Jewish people. And friends, this 00:12:32.899 --> 00:12:35.539 is the verse that should send shivers down your 00:12:35.539 --> 00:12:38.840 spine, especially in the atmosphere we live in 00:12:38.840 --> 00:12:40.860 today. The world is right now turning against 00:12:40.860 --> 00:12:43.419 Israel, turning against Jewish people all around 00:12:43.419 --> 00:12:47.570 the planet. So this ought to be disconcerting. 00:12:47.590 --> 00:12:50.529 Look at verse 8. Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, 00:12:50.750 --> 00:12:55.570 there is a certain people. There is a certain 00:12:55.570 --> 00:12:58.809 people scattered and dispersed among the peoples 00:12:58.809 --> 00:13:01.110 and all the provinces of your kingdom. Their 00:13:01.110 --> 00:13:05.110 laws are different, different from those of all 00:13:05.110 --> 00:13:08.470 the other people, and they do not observe the 00:13:08.470 --> 00:13:11.929 king's laws. And then underline this last phrase. 00:13:11.990 --> 00:13:15.919 So it is not. in the king's interest to let them 00:13:15.919 --> 00:13:21.980 remain. Now, catch the serpent -like cleverness 00:13:21.980 --> 00:13:26.120 of Haman here. He carefully cloaks his words 00:13:26.120 --> 00:13:29.139 so as to not set off any alarm bells in the king's 00:13:29.139 --> 00:13:32.039 mind. Notice he completely avoids mentioning 00:13:32.039 --> 00:13:35.500 which people he's talking about. He doesn't mention 00:13:35.500 --> 00:13:39.100 them by name. No mention of the Jews. And by 00:13:39.100 --> 00:13:41.509 the way, we know from history, that the Jews 00:13:41.509 --> 00:13:44.850 had a productive and positive relationship with 00:13:44.850 --> 00:13:47.149 the Persian kings, right? Going back to Cyrus 00:13:47.149 --> 00:13:51.409 the Great and Xerxes' own father, Darius. So 00:13:51.409 --> 00:13:53.190 Haman knows, I'm not going to mention them by 00:13:53.190 --> 00:13:56.289 name, lest the king be sympathetic towards them. 00:13:57.049 --> 00:14:00.250 And then he uses a mixture of truth and exaggeration 00:14:00.250 --> 00:14:03.610 and lies to describe this people group. And I'll 00:14:03.610 --> 00:14:05.350 give you a list of these things. First of all, 00:14:05.389 --> 00:14:07.529 he says they're scattered and dispersed among 00:14:07.529 --> 00:14:09.490 the peoples in all your provinces, and that is 00:14:09.490 --> 00:14:11.950 true. They were scattered all over the Persian 00:14:11.950 --> 00:14:17.049 Empire. Second, their laws are different from 00:14:17.049 --> 00:14:19.590 those of all other people, and that's an exaggeration. 00:14:20.049 --> 00:14:23.090 It's true, the Jews had the Torah, and they had 00:14:23.090 --> 00:14:24.730 to live by that, and there are certain religious 00:14:24.730 --> 00:14:27.309 ceremonies that go with that, but still, as an 00:14:27.309 --> 00:14:29.289 ancient Semitic people, they shared a number 00:14:29.289 --> 00:14:32.250 of cultural ways and values with all the people 00:14:32.250 --> 00:14:34.690 groups that lived in Persia, so they didn't stick 00:14:34.690 --> 00:14:39.090 out that much. But then comes the lie. And this 00:14:39.090 --> 00:14:41.710 is the one that hurts. They do not observe the 00:14:41.710 --> 00:14:44.370 king's law. That is a lie. But Haman is clever, 00:14:44.529 --> 00:14:47.289 right? He knows that that is the accusation that 00:14:47.289 --> 00:14:50.070 is going to grab the king's attention. Because 00:14:50.070 --> 00:14:51.769 listen, you can say, look, oh, king, there's 00:14:51.769 --> 00:14:54.649 a certain kind of people. Everybody thinks they're 00:14:54.649 --> 00:14:57.250 a little bit odd because they do things a little 00:14:57.250 --> 00:15:00.169 differently or they stick out a little bit or 00:15:00.169 --> 00:15:02.690 they keep to themselves. They have their unique 00:15:02.690 --> 00:15:05.049 customs. You can say that about a people group 00:15:05.049 --> 00:15:09.110 and the king will go, eh. Okay, so they're a 00:15:09.110 --> 00:15:11.769 little bit different. But this one, now we're 00:15:11.769 --> 00:15:14.490 in a whole different situation. There are rebellious 00:15:14.490 --> 00:15:17.870 people who will not obey your laws. That gets 00:15:17.870 --> 00:15:20.269 the king's attention because now we find, oh, 00:15:20.330 --> 00:15:22.850 they're a dangerous people. They're a rebellious 00:15:22.850 --> 00:15:25.429 people, a threat to the security of your empire. 00:15:26.570 --> 00:15:30.009 And do you remember how the logic went with Vashti's 00:15:30.009 --> 00:15:33.279 rebellion? Back in chapter one, oh, not only 00:15:33.279 --> 00:15:35.460 is she rebelling, but she could cause every wife 00:15:35.460 --> 00:15:37.419 in the kingdom to rebel against their husbands. 00:15:37.679 --> 00:15:40.059 So the idea here is, well, there's this people 00:15:40.059 --> 00:15:42.220 group. They won't obey your laws. What if they 00:15:42.220 --> 00:15:45.299 lead other people groups in your empire to stop 00:15:45.299 --> 00:15:50.059 obeying your laws? King Xerxes, these people, 00:15:50.179 --> 00:15:52.659 they're not good for you and they're not good 00:15:52.659 --> 00:15:55.059 for the kingdom. They've got to be dealt with. 00:15:56.539 --> 00:15:59.019 The best English translations put it one of these 00:15:59.019 --> 00:16:02.460 three ways. It is not to the king's profit to 00:16:02.460 --> 00:16:06.820 tolerate them. It is not in the king's best interest 00:16:06.820 --> 00:16:10.080 to tolerate them. It is not appropriate for the 00:16:10.080 --> 00:16:13.679 king to allow them to remain. And you've got 00:16:13.679 --> 00:16:16.039 to dig a little bit deeper, but these are ominous 00:16:16.039 --> 00:16:19.179 statements. You can't tolerate these people. 00:16:19.299 --> 00:16:22.279 What are we going to do with them then? They 00:16:22.279 --> 00:16:27.250 can't remain. Well, where do we send them? Think 00:16:27.250 --> 00:16:29.350 about this. It's not unlike what we see happening 00:16:29.350 --> 00:16:33.789 around college campuses and at pro -Palestinian 00:16:33.789 --> 00:16:35.950 protests these days where you hear these chants, 00:16:36.049 --> 00:16:38.730 Intifada, Intifada. From the river to the sea, 00:16:38.809 --> 00:16:41.509 Palestine will be free. Friends, those are violent 00:16:41.509 --> 00:16:45.370 physical threats against Israelis. What they 00:16:45.370 --> 00:16:48.990 mean is every inch of the land belongs only to 00:16:48.990 --> 00:16:52.029 the Palestinian people. No Jews should be tolerated. 00:16:52.149 --> 00:16:56.960 They are not to be allowed to remain. And then 00:16:56.960 --> 00:16:59.320 you ask the question, well, okay, but how do 00:16:59.320 --> 00:17:02.860 we get rid of seven and a half million Jews who 00:17:02.860 --> 00:17:05.900 live in Israel? And that's when the smirk comes 00:17:05.900 --> 00:17:08.440 across their face. And they say, well, if they 00:17:08.440 --> 00:17:13.359 won't leave, we'll slaughter them. That's the 00:17:13.359 --> 00:17:18.900 reality. If they won't leave, we will slaughter 00:17:18.900 --> 00:17:22.000 them. And the implication here in Esther has 00:17:22.000 --> 00:17:24.900 that same spirit. The Jews cannot be tolerated. 00:17:25.309 --> 00:17:27.710 They cannot be allowed to remain, and Haman is 00:17:27.710 --> 00:17:30.750 about to now present his plan to fix that problem. 00:17:32.690 --> 00:17:36.569 So that's the accusation. Let's go back up to 00:17:36.569 --> 00:17:38.430 verse 7 now, and we'll talk about the casting 00:17:38.430 --> 00:17:43.289 of the lots. Look at verse 7. In the first month, 00:17:43.470 --> 00:17:46.109 which is the month of Nisan, in the twelfth year 00:17:46.109 --> 00:17:50.430 of King Ahasuerus, Pur, that is the lot, was 00:17:50.430 --> 00:17:53.279 cast before Haman from day to day. And for month 00:17:53.279 --> 00:17:55.420 to month until the 12th month, that is the month 00:17:55.420 --> 00:17:58.880 Adar. Okay, notice that according to this verse, 00:17:59.039 --> 00:18:01.279 first of all, there's been an advance in the 00:18:01.279 --> 00:18:03.559 historical timeline of what's going on. You see 00:18:03.559 --> 00:18:06.579 there it says in the 12th year of Xerxes reign. 00:18:07.000 --> 00:18:11.259 What does that mean for us? Timeline, of course, 00:18:11.299 --> 00:18:14.180 yes. Of course it means a time. We're required 00:18:14.180 --> 00:18:17.740 by some kind of Oak Hill law to look at a timeline 00:18:17.740 --> 00:18:20.500 when we see this in scripture. So let me remind 00:18:20.500 --> 00:18:23.960 you of the dates here. 486. is the year of Darius 00:18:23.960 --> 00:18:28.700 the Great's death. Xerxes becomes king. Three 00:18:28.700 --> 00:18:31.500 years later, in 483 BC, that's when the Book 00:18:31.500 --> 00:18:34.339 of Esther opens, and we read about that series 00:18:34.339 --> 00:18:37.420 of banquets being held in the city of Susa, including 00:18:37.420 --> 00:18:39.920 the banquet where Queen Vashti rebels against 00:18:39.920 --> 00:18:42.539 the king, and she is basically deposed from her 00:18:42.539 --> 00:18:46.420 throne. In 480, remember, Xerxes leads his army 00:18:46.420 --> 00:18:50.140 to invade Greece. but fails in his attempt to 00:18:50.140 --> 00:18:52.359 subdue the city -states of Athens and Sparta. 00:18:52.519 --> 00:18:55.740 And then in 479, a year later, he returns home 00:18:55.740 --> 00:18:59.180 to Susa, and he begins to search for Vashti's 00:18:59.180 --> 00:19:01.299 replacement, which of course leads to Esther 00:19:01.299 --> 00:19:05.500 being chosen. That's in 479. So we're told in 00:19:05.500 --> 00:19:07.400 chapter 2 that that took place in the seventh 00:19:07.400 --> 00:19:10.980 year of Xerxes' reign. And then sometime after 00:19:10.980 --> 00:19:13.299 that, we're not told how much. That's when Haman 00:19:13.299 --> 00:19:16.230 is promoted to this... position of chief vizier, 00:19:16.269 --> 00:19:19.390 and Mordecai refuses to bow down. And now we've 00:19:19.390 --> 00:19:21.650 moved forward a few more years. Now we're in 00:19:21.650 --> 00:19:24.970 Xerxes' 12th year, which would be the year 474 00:19:24.970 --> 00:19:29.589 BC. Everybody caught up to speed? Good. So this 00:19:29.589 --> 00:19:34.089 is the moment now in 474 when Haman decides to 00:19:34.089 --> 00:19:37.029 finally deal with the problem of Mordecai and 00:19:37.029 --> 00:19:38.930 the Jews. In the month of Nisan, which is month 00:19:38.930 --> 00:19:41.089 number one on the Hebrew calendar, we'll look 00:19:41.089 --> 00:19:44.299 at that in just a second. Haman had his magicians 00:19:44.299 --> 00:19:48.680 cast the lots before him to see if fate or his 00:19:48.680 --> 00:19:51.920 pagan gods would determine the best time possible 00:19:51.920 --> 00:19:55.319 to exterminate the Jewish people. So he gathered 00:19:55.319 --> 00:19:57.619 all of his sorcerers, his magi, all of them, 00:19:57.640 --> 00:20:01.279 cast lots, and they interpreted the lots and 00:20:01.279 --> 00:20:07.380 said what? We had the perfect date. Now, in the 00:20:07.380 --> 00:20:09.460 ancient world, these lots, about the only picture 00:20:09.460 --> 00:20:11.970 I could find, These lots would have been small 00:20:11.970 --> 00:20:14.289 objects made of wood or stone, similar to like 00:20:14.289 --> 00:20:17.690 dice that we would throw today. By the way, interesting, 00:20:17.789 --> 00:20:20.230 just because you know I'm a history nerd, interesting 00:20:20.230 --> 00:20:24.250 historical connection here. Two Greek historians, 00:20:24.710 --> 00:20:27.650 very famous, Herodotus and Xenophon, both talk 00:20:27.650 --> 00:20:32.069 about Persian customs of casting lots at the 00:20:32.069 --> 00:20:34.650 highest level of government in order to determine 00:20:34.650 --> 00:20:37.809 what a lucky day might be for something to take 00:20:37.809 --> 00:20:40.829 place. So this is historically accurate. And 00:20:40.829 --> 00:20:42.710 in the case of Haman, the lots are cast before 00:20:42.710 --> 00:20:46.269 him, and it falls on the last month of the Hebrew 00:20:46.269 --> 00:20:48.710 calendar, the month of Adar, specifically the 00:20:48.710 --> 00:20:52.569 13th day of Adar. And that day became the day 00:20:52.569 --> 00:20:55.230 that Haman planned his vengeance. Now, catch 00:20:55.230 --> 00:20:58.549 this. This is the key to understanding how God's 00:20:58.549 --> 00:21:01.589 sovereign hand is behind all of this. The 13th 00:21:01.589 --> 00:21:04.410 of Adar is way down the Hebrew calendar. In fact, 00:21:04.529 --> 00:21:06.990 let's look at this. It's almost a full year away. 00:21:08.400 --> 00:21:11.839 A full year. So here are the 12 months of the 00:21:11.839 --> 00:21:14.359 Hebrew calendar. The first month being Nisan, 00:21:14.519 --> 00:21:17.980 the last being Adar. What does that mean? That's 00:21:17.980 --> 00:21:20.779 going to provide the Jews with more than 11 months 00:21:20.779 --> 00:21:25.240 of time, ample time to prepare for what's coming. 00:21:25.880 --> 00:21:28.720 Thank you, Lord, right? What if it showed up 00:21:28.720 --> 00:21:33.299 30 days later? But God is overseeing the lots. 00:21:34.039 --> 00:21:36.539 They can defend themselves. They can begin to 00:21:36.539 --> 00:21:39.180 pray and hope that Yahweh might reverse the king's 00:21:39.180 --> 00:21:43.359 decree. But in Haman's pagan mind, the lots have 00:21:43.359 --> 00:21:46.359 been cast. That's the lucky day. And he must 00:21:46.359 --> 00:21:48.420 have felt confident because fate is with him. 00:21:48.460 --> 00:21:50.920 His gods are with him. So he's willing to wait. 00:21:52.079 --> 00:21:54.299 But as we know, this is not fate. This is not 00:21:54.299 --> 00:21:56.779 the work of false gods. Yahweh is in control 00:21:56.779 --> 00:21:58.900 of all of this. Listen, God declares this in 00:21:58.900 --> 00:22:02.019 his word. Look. Psalm, or Proverbs 16, 9, the 00:22:02.019 --> 00:22:05.380 mind of man plans his way, but the Lord directs 00:22:05.380 --> 00:22:09.200 his steps. Proverbs 19, 21, many plans are in 00:22:09.200 --> 00:22:11.519 a man's heart, but the counsel of the Lord will 00:22:11.519 --> 00:22:15.319 stand. And my favorite, Psalm 37, verses 12 and 00:22:15.319 --> 00:22:18.599 13, the wicked plots against the righteous and 00:22:18.599 --> 00:22:22.160 gnashes at him with his teeth. The Lord laughs 00:22:22.160 --> 00:22:26.420 at him, for he sees his day is coming. How perfect 00:22:26.420 --> 00:22:30.720 is that for Haman? I love the way Spurgeon describes 00:22:30.720 --> 00:22:33.079 this. Spurgeon just has a way with words. He 00:22:33.079 --> 00:22:35.720 preached a sermon back in 1874. This is what 00:22:35.720 --> 00:22:38.940 he said. But oh, in that secret council chamber 00:22:38.940 --> 00:22:42.279 where sit the sorcerers and the man who asks 00:22:42.279 --> 00:22:44.839 counsel at the hands of the infernal powers, 00:22:44.980 --> 00:22:48.720 the Lord himself is present, frustrating the 00:22:48.720 --> 00:22:51.599 tokens of the liars and making diviners mad. 00:22:52.019 --> 00:22:55.839 I could never write that. But that is fantastic. 00:22:56.839 --> 00:22:59.359 So that's what's going on. That's what's happening 00:22:59.359 --> 00:23:01.640 as these lots are cast. Now, I thought I would 00:23:01.640 --> 00:23:03.640 take a moment now, and this is the perfect time 00:23:03.640 --> 00:23:07.500 to talk about the Jewish holiday of Purim, right? 00:23:07.680 --> 00:23:10.099 Because what we just read is its starting point. 00:23:10.400 --> 00:23:14.299 Now, I'm going to say it's Purim. I know we always 00:23:14.299 --> 00:23:16.019 say Purim, right? How many of you guys just say 00:23:16.019 --> 00:23:19.640 Purim? I know, and it frustrates Hebrew speakers. 00:23:19.920 --> 00:23:23.000 But it comes from the word Pur, like in verse 00:23:23.000 --> 00:23:26.450 7. By the way, that word is probably, linguists 00:23:26.450 --> 00:23:28.210 have looked at it, it's probably a carryover 00:23:28.210 --> 00:23:31.529 from ancient Akkadian, a really ancient word 00:23:31.529 --> 00:23:33.130 that would have been spoken by the Assyrians 00:23:33.130 --> 00:23:35.410 and the Babylonians and then brought into the 00:23:35.410 --> 00:23:38.269 Jewish vernacular. In Hebrew, it's translated 00:23:38.269 --> 00:23:41.730 as lot. And whenever you see a masculine plural 00:23:41.730 --> 00:23:44.569 in the Hebrew language, you see the suffix on 00:23:44.569 --> 00:23:48.190 the end, I am. The letters I am on the end of 00:23:48.190 --> 00:23:50.650 the word. So if you have kohen, which is the 00:23:50.650 --> 00:23:54.000 word for priest, it becomes kohenim. Or melech, 00:23:54.140 --> 00:23:56.640 which is the word for king, it becomes melechim. 00:23:57.079 --> 00:24:02.880 And with per, it becomes not perim. It becomes 00:24:02.880 --> 00:24:05.839 perim, right. Okay, anyway, just so that you 00:24:05.839 --> 00:24:09.200 understand that. Now, earlier this week, I reached 00:24:09.200 --> 00:24:13.480 out to our resident expert in Orthodox Judaism, 00:24:13.859 --> 00:24:16.180 Yael. And thank you, Yael, for being willing 00:24:16.180 --> 00:24:18.700 to be embarrassed on so many Sundays in this 00:24:18.700 --> 00:24:20.920 series. But again, Yael grew up in an Orthodox 00:24:20.920 --> 00:24:24.569 Jewish home. So this is very, very powerful and 00:24:24.569 --> 00:24:27.710 very real in her childhood. And I asked her, 00:24:27.750 --> 00:24:30.690 I said, can you share with me some of your recollections 00:24:30.690 --> 00:24:33.569 of Purim and what that meant to your family? 00:24:33.609 --> 00:24:37.150 And you could tell by her response how much she 00:24:37.150 --> 00:24:40.269 enjoys this holiday, even today. And why not? 00:24:40.329 --> 00:24:43.690 It's filled with costumes and food and sweets 00:24:43.690 --> 00:24:47.049 and songs. And of course, the traditional reading 00:24:47.049 --> 00:24:50.259 of the book of Esther. Yael told me that because 00:24:50.259 --> 00:24:52.839 of the unique history of the Jewish people, they 00:24:52.839 --> 00:24:55.700 absolutely love to celebrate holidays where it's 00:24:55.700 --> 00:24:57.880 clear Yahweh came to the rescue of the Jewish 00:24:57.880 --> 00:25:01.019 people and saved them. So primarily Passover 00:25:01.019 --> 00:25:05.559 and Hanukkah and Purim. And while Purim falls 00:25:05.559 --> 00:25:07.980 on the 14th day of Adar, the celebration, she 00:25:07.980 --> 00:25:10.160 said, begins on the first day of the month. So 00:25:10.160 --> 00:25:12.519 they have two weeks to get ready. And there's 00:25:12.519 --> 00:25:15.140 a saying that gets sung in Hebrew that in English 00:25:15.140 --> 00:25:17.799 translates to, when the month of Adar arrives, 00:25:18.119 --> 00:25:21.519 we increase in joy. And I love that. Sort of 00:25:21.519 --> 00:25:24.299 like our Advent. We count down to the birth of 00:25:24.299 --> 00:25:26.720 Christ and we increase in joy as we go along. 00:25:26.960 --> 00:25:29.180 Well, that's true about Purim. We get excited 00:25:29.180 --> 00:25:33.349 to study this story. And it's a common tune that 00:25:33.349 --> 00:25:35.549 everybody in the community knows in Jewish schools. 00:25:35.789 --> 00:25:38.210 They will dress up in costumes and go from classroom 00:25:38.210 --> 00:25:40.509 to classroom, and they will sing this song with 00:25:40.509 --> 00:25:43.250 great joy. Yael told me that the book of Esther 00:25:43.250 --> 00:25:46.349 is studied in school, in Jewish schools leading 00:25:46.349 --> 00:25:49.690 up to Purim, and it's taught that God is hidden 00:25:49.690 --> 00:25:52.529 in the story but always working sovereignly behind 00:25:52.529 --> 00:25:56.269 the scenes. Now, the Sabbath day that lands before 00:25:56.269 --> 00:25:59.180 Purim is called the Sabbath of Remembrance. And 00:25:59.180 --> 00:26:01.839 on that day, the passage from Deuteronomy 25 00:26:01.839 --> 00:26:05.119 that we read together several weeks ago is read 00:26:05.119 --> 00:26:07.359 and declared. Do you remember? It says, remember 00:26:07.359 --> 00:26:09.839 what Amalek did to you when you came out from 00:26:09.839 --> 00:26:13.259 Egypt. And the reminder to blot out the memory 00:26:13.259 --> 00:26:17.000 of Amalek from under heaven on the Shabbat of 00:26:17.000 --> 00:26:19.099 remembrance. And so both of those days, that 00:26:19.099 --> 00:26:22.119 Shabbat and Purim, are to emphasize the principle 00:26:22.119 --> 00:26:27.059 of Zachar, the Hebrew word for remember. Remember. 00:26:27.880 --> 00:26:30.079 focusing on the resilience of the Jewish people. 00:26:30.200 --> 00:26:32.740 So on Purim, you have this combination of this 00:26:32.740 --> 00:26:35.460 collective joy of God's deliverance, but also 00:26:35.460 --> 00:26:39.440 with a reminder to remember the historic and 00:26:39.440 --> 00:26:41.359 ongoing threats that the Jewish people face. 00:26:42.599 --> 00:26:45.119 The day of Purim is a fast day. It starts at 00:26:45.119 --> 00:26:47.799 dawn and continues until the scroll of Esther 00:26:47.799 --> 00:26:50.579 is read in the evening, the Megillah, it's called. 00:26:51.279 --> 00:26:53.579 And as you probably know by now, whenever Haman's 00:26:53.579 --> 00:26:55.920 name comes up in the story, the audience does 00:26:55.920 --> 00:27:00.089 what? Very good. And they spin their groggers. 00:27:00.890 --> 00:27:03.369 See that little thing in the front? It spins 00:27:03.369 --> 00:27:06.329 around, and it's the Yiddish word for noisemaker. 00:27:06.509 --> 00:27:09.150 And they spin that, and they boo every time Haman's 00:27:09.150 --> 00:27:14.150 name comes up, which sounds really fun. After 00:27:14.150 --> 00:27:16.410 the Megillah is read, it's customary to celebrate. 00:27:16.630 --> 00:27:18.910 Families get together for a meal. They share 00:27:18.910 --> 00:27:20.829 treats together. And then the next morning is 00:27:20.829 --> 00:27:24.109 still Purim because it goes from sundown in the 00:27:24.109 --> 00:27:26.910 evening until sundown the next day. So the Megillah 00:27:26.910 --> 00:27:29.250 is read again in the morning at synagogues. That's 00:27:29.250 --> 00:27:31.869 important. Twice the book of Esther is read. 00:27:32.619 --> 00:27:34.380 And then it's customary in the morning to give 00:27:34.380 --> 00:27:36.940 friends and family food and treats. Families 00:27:36.940 --> 00:27:40.200 will oftentimes hop in the car and drive around 00:27:40.200 --> 00:27:43.000 the community and drop off baskets of food on 00:27:43.000 --> 00:27:45.779 the doorsteps of others. And one of the great 00:27:45.779 --> 00:27:47.539 treats, and you see the picture of it right there 00:27:47.539 --> 00:27:51.339 on the plate, and Yael will correct my pronunciation, 00:27:51.980 --> 00:27:58.799 hamantashan? Hamantashan. Oh, hamantashan. There 00:27:58.799 --> 00:28:03.319 you go. Or aznehaman? There it is. Very good. 00:28:06.500 --> 00:28:13.480 And that translates to the ears of Haman. Did 00:28:13.480 --> 00:28:16.500 he have triangular ears? I don't know. But it's 00:28:16.500 --> 00:28:19.940 the ears of Haman, right? Okay, good. And Yael 00:28:19.940 --> 00:28:21.940 says that she still bakes these with her boys 00:28:21.940 --> 00:28:24.339 every year, which is really sweet. So if you 00:28:24.339 --> 00:28:27.599 want something to do, it's in March, right? Yeah, 00:28:27.740 --> 00:28:33.700 mid -March. Ears of Haman. So Purim is a beloved 00:28:33.700 --> 00:28:36.240 holiday. It's also a day of remembrance. It brings 00:28:36.240 --> 00:28:38.259 about reflection for the Jewish people, because 00:28:38.259 --> 00:28:41.000 here's the thing. The accusation that Haman makes 00:28:41.000 --> 00:28:43.700 in verse 8, again, is repeated so many times 00:28:43.700 --> 00:28:47.019 in human history. So it's a celebration of resilience 00:28:47.019 --> 00:28:49.819 and strength, and most of all, a celebration 00:28:49.819 --> 00:28:52.880 of the hope that in the end, Yahweh will have 00:28:52.880 --> 00:28:57.400 the victory over his enemies. Amen? Amen. Okay, 00:28:57.500 --> 00:29:03.910 let's go back to our text. Verse 9. I thought 00:29:03.910 --> 00:29:06.150 that would be a lighthearted break in the midst 00:29:06.150 --> 00:29:12.269 of a difficult passage. Thank you, Yael. Haman 00:29:12.269 --> 00:29:14.349 has just made the accusation. It's not in the 00:29:14.349 --> 00:29:17.269 king's interest to let them remain. Therefore, 00:29:17.410 --> 00:29:19.569 verse nine, if it's pleasing to the king, let 00:29:19.569 --> 00:29:22.849 it be decreed that they what? Be destroyed. So 00:29:22.849 --> 00:29:28.190 catch that now. This is subtle, but when people 00:29:28.190 --> 00:29:30.970 tell you who they are, believe them, goes the 00:29:30.970 --> 00:29:33.779 saying. When you see things on your TV screen 00:29:33.779 --> 00:29:38.859 and people are chanting code, believe them. Because 00:29:38.859 --> 00:29:41.859 it's easy to go from they can't be tolerated 00:29:41.859 --> 00:29:45.519 to what? They must be destroyed. That happens 00:29:45.519 --> 00:29:49.700 in a split second. This is human nature and human 00:29:49.700 --> 00:29:53.779 history, is it not? The wickedness of man. When 00:29:53.779 --> 00:29:57.259 hatred grows in the heart and the enemy gets 00:29:57.259 --> 00:30:03.200 in there and there's this poisonous. The Hebrew 00:30:03.200 --> 00:30:06.960 verb there for destroyed, avad, is the same word 00:30:06.960 --> 00:30:09.119 used to describe what happened to the Egyptian 00:30:09.119 --> 00:30:12.480 army at the Red Sea. Let them perish. Let them 00:30:12.480 --> 00:30:15.720 be utterly destroyed. And again, remember, Haman 00:30:15.720 --> 00:30:18.259 still hasn't mentioned which people he's talking 00:30:18.259 --> 00:30:21.359 about. And before the king can think too much 00:30:21.359 --> 00:30:23.579 about it, look what he does. He sweetens the 00:30:23.579 --> 00:30:27.180 deal with a financial incentive. How clever and 00:30:27.180 --> 00:30:31.680 wicked is this? Let it be decreed that they be 00:30:31.680 --> 00:30:34.400 destroyed, and I will pay 10 ,000 talents of 00:30:34.400 --> 00:30:37.160 silver into the hands of those who carry on the 00:30:37.160 --> 00:30:40.480 king's business to put into the king's treasuries. 00:30:40.880 --> 00:30:44.160 So, King Xerxes, trust my judgment on this. Not 00:30:44.160 --> 00:30:46.519 only will you be rid of this rebellious people, 00:30:46.700 --> 00:30:52.079 but we will prosper the empire financially. And 00:30:52.079 --> 00:30:54.960 here's where history matters. Remember, Xerxes 00:30:54.960 --> 00:30:57.880 had just gone to Greece with an army of some 00:30:57.880 --> 00:31:00.180 300 ,000 people. Do you think that might have 00:31:00.180 --> 00:31:02.880 drained the coffers of the empire? Absolutely. 00:31:03.119 --> 00:31:05.579 And with no glory or victory to show for it, 00:31:05.599 --> 00:31:10.079 he's wasted that money. And so now here's Haman 00:31:10.079 --> 00:31:12.640 going, hey, I got a way to replenish your treasury. 00:31:13.319 --> 00:31:17.299 It's a win -win for the king. And who cares? 00:31:17.359 --> 00:31:19.740 Okay, some people have to die for it, but at 00:31:19.740 --> 00:31:26.380 least we'll replenish. The treasury. Can you 00:31:26.380 --> 00:31:29.019 imagine that kind of wickedness to say, don't 00:31:29.019 --> 00:31:31.579 even tell me who it is. If it's going to fill 00:31:31.579 --> 00:31:35.640 the coffers back up, let's go. How's Haman going 00:31:35.640 --> 00:31:37.720 to pull this off? Well, scholars speculate he'd 00:31:37.720 --> 00:31:40.400 already gone out, calculated the number of Jews 00:31:40.400 --> 00:31:44.099 in the empire, and calculated the amount of plunder 00:31:44.099 --> 00:31:47.359 he could confiscate from them after they're dead. 00:31:48.140 --> 00:31:50.259 That's his plan. It's going to fund the operation. 00:31:50.339 --> 00:31:54.369 It's a self -funding operation. Verse 10 says, 00:31:54.509 --> 00:32:13.769 What a cruel and wicked man. Not just Haman, 00:32:13.849 --> 00:32:17.650 but Xerxes. What a cruel and wicked man. Now, 00:32:17.670 --> 00:32:19.450 we shouldn't be surprised based on what we know 00:32:19.450 --> 00:32:21.970 about the ancient Near East kings of this period, 00:32:22.009 --> 00:32:24.759 but wow. He's not even going to ask any more 00:32:24.759 --> 00:32:28.279 questions about who. There's no inquiry into 00:32:28.279 --> 00:32:30.880 the matter. There's no hearing that is offered 00:32:30.880 --> 00:32:33.799 to people to come to defend themselves. He just 00:32:33.799 --> 00:32:39.400 says, here's my ring. Even with Vashti's rebellion, 00:32:39.519 --> 00:32:41.660 he turned to his princes and nobles and said, 00:32:41.799 --> 00:32:44.319 hey, can I get some wise counsel here? He doesn't 00:32:44.319 --> 00:32:48.960 do this here. Guys, this is spiritual wickedness. 00:32:48.980 --> 00:32:52.200 This is the enemy at work. Through these men. 00:32:52.359 --> 00:32:56.400 There's no other way to explain this. Here's 00:32:56.400 --> 00:33:00.420 my ring. Do as you wish. And oh, how Haman must 00:33:00.420 --> 00:33:02.680 have been celebrating, right? Can you picture 00:33:02.680 --> 00:33:06.720 the smirk on his face? I've done it. I've done 00:33:06.720 --> 00:33:12.559 it for my people. And he knew what to do. How 00:33:12.559 --> 00:33:14.859 to wield the king's authority. Verse 12. Then 00:33:14.859 --> 00:33:18.559 the king's scribes were summoned. On the 13th 00:33:18.559 --> 00:33:20.319 day of the first month, and it was written just 00:33:20.319 --> 00:33:23.400 as Haman commanded to the king's satraps, to 00:33:23.400 --> 00:33:26.099 the governors who were over each province, and 00:33:26.099 --> 00:33:28.180 to the princes of each people, each province 00:33:28.180 --> 00:33:30.940 according to its script, each people according 00:33:30.940 --> 00:33:34.299 to its language, being written in the name of 00:33:34.299 --> 00:33:38.500 King Ahasuerus and sealed with the king's signet 00:33:38.500 --> 00:33:42.440 ring. Letters were sent by couriers to all the 00:33:42.440 --> 00:33:47.049 king's provinces to destroy. To kill and to annihilate 00:33:47.049 --> 00:33:50.849 all the Jews, both young and old, women and children, 00:33:50.910 --> 00:33:58.170 in one day. In one day. Can you imagine the mass 00:33:58.170 --> 00:34:03.509 slaughter that's being planned here? The 13th 00:34:03.509 --> 00:34:05.349 day of the 12th month, which is the month of 00:34:05.349 --> 00:34:08.389 Adar, and to seize their possessions as plunder. 00:34:09.159 --> 00:34:12.099 A copy of the edict to be issued as law in every 00:34:12.099 --> 00:34:15.219 province was published to all the peoples so 00:34:15.219 --> 00:34:18.719 that they should be ready for this day. Now it's 00:34:18.719 --> 00:34:22.280 official, approved by the king, translated and 00:34:22.280 --> 00:34:25.380 spread far and wide so that every person out 00:34:25.380 --> 00:34:28.300 there, every non -Jew in the empire knows exactly 00:34:28.300 --> 00:34:32.599 what to do when this day arrives. Take a deep 00:34:32.599 --> 00:34:35.969 breath and imagine. What this edict is saying, 00:34:36.010 --> 00:34:39.250 11 months from today, folks, millions of citizens 00:34:39.250 --> 00:34:42.250 of the Persian kingdom are hereby given a license 00:34:42.250 --> 00:34:46.190 from the king, like bounty hunters, to go out 00:34:46.190 --> 00:34:48.949 and to kill every Jewish man, woman, and child, 00:34:49.110 --> 00:34:55.469 and to take their stuff. And imagine how this 00:34:55.469 --> 00:34:57.329 would have appealed. Say you've got people in 00:34:57.329 --> 00:34:59.269 your kingdom that already are prone to violence. 00:35:02.280 --> 00:35:06.599 Right? Or prone to greed. Appealing to the basest 00:35:06.599 --> 00:35:10.159 instincts of people. Imagine people are out there 00:35:10.159 --> 00:35:11.780 going, I have a beef with my Jewish neighbor. 00:35:11.980 --> 00:35:16.460 Oh, nice. I can take his stuff. I have permission 00:35:16.460 --> 00:35:22.400 to kill him. You can imagine how many men started 00:35:22.400 --> 00:35:24.719 sharpening their knives and making plans to grab 00:35:24.719 --> 00:35:27.980 hold of everything they possibly could. And understand, 00:35:28.079 --> 00:35:30.000 friends, how the wickedness of the heart of man 00:35:30.000 --> 00:35:33.280 never changes. and how wickedness becomes cyclical. 00:35:33.440 --> 00:35:36.739 Guys, the Nazis used this exact tactic in 1938. 00:35:38.780 --> 00:35:41.820 Hitler issued the decree, this is the title of 00:35:41.820 --> 00:35:44.679 it, the Decree for the Reporting of Jewish -Owned 00:35:44.679 --> 00:35:48.980 Property, which required Jews to register all 00:35:48.980 --> 00:35:51.659 of their assets and all of their property so 00:35:51.659 --> 00:35:54.400 that, as the Nazis knew in the near future, all 00:35:54.400 --> 00:35:57.199 those assets, once they were exterminated, could 00:35:57.199 --> 00:35:59.260 be transferred to non -Jews and to the state. 00:36:00.519 --> 00:36:02.800 And in order to enforce that decree, you know 00:36:02.800 --> 00:36:06.059 what Hitler did? He incentivized the populace 00:36:06.059 --> 00:36:08.239 to spy on the Jews and to report on the Jews, 00:36:08.400 --> 00:36:11.539 to talk about all their movements and all what 00:36:11.539 --> 00:36:14.860 they owned so the state would have a good handle 00:36:14.860 --> 00:36:20.059 on what they could take. You guys, this is only 00:36:20.059 --> 00:36:24.219 80 years ago. We look at the story of Esther, 00:36:24.280 --> 00:36:25.679 we say, oh, that's so ancient. That could never 00:36:25.679 --> 00:36:31.869 happen. It's only 80 years ago, right? And we're 00:36:31.869 --> 00:36:35.690 already forgetting. And remember, we said never 00:36:35.690 --> 00:36:38.250 again will this happen. And yet, the world is 00:36:38.250 --> 00:36:44.150 already forgotten. Verse 15. The couriers went 00:36:44.150 --> 00:36:47.090 out, impelled by the king's command, while the 00:36:47.090 --> 00:36:50.230 decree was issued at the citadel in Susa. Now 00:36:50.230 --> 00:36:53.030 listen to this. And while the king and Haman 00:36:53.030 --> 00:36:57.750 sat down to drink, the city of Susa was in confusion. 00:36:59.019 --> 00:37:02.059 What a portrait of evil this is, right? The king 00:37:02.059 --> 00:37:05.920 is confident that he's taken a wise step, no 00:37:05.920 --> 00:37:08.260 matter the cost, that this is in his best interest. 00:37:08.440 --> 00:37:11.780 In fact, he's grateful to Haman that Haman brought 00:37:11.780 --> 00:37:14.980 this to his attention. So much so that he says, 00:37:15.059 --> 00:37:18.840 hey, dude, let's grab some drinks and let's celebrate 00:37:18.840 --> 00:37:22.880 what we've done. The level of wickedness is beyond 00:37:22.880 --> 00:37:26.989 what you can imagine. Xerxes is the archetype 00:37:26.989 --> 00:37:29.769 of all the tyrants in history who have completely 00:37:29.769 --> 00:37:33.469 disregarded all of the human misery and suffering 00:37:33.469 --> 00:37:36.710 that they have inflicted on their own people 00:37:36.710 --> 00:37:41.329 sometimes. Able to sleep at night, able to go 00:37:41.329 --> 00:37:44.650 about their daily activities, even sitting down 00:37:44.650 --> 00:37:47.590 to drink as if nothing was happening. This is 00:37:47.590 --> 00:37:53.849 Stalin -esque. This is Hitler -esque. As if their 00:37:53.849 --> 00:37:56.010 own subjects were living in confusion and fear 00:37:56.010 --> 00:37:59.309 that they themselves have created. It's stunning, 00:37:59.369 --> 00:38:05.269 isn't it? So, what do we say here? We're going 00:38:05.269 --> 00:38:08.570 to stop there for today, but how do we wrap this 00:38:08.570 --> 00:38:12.349 up? There's a lot of talk about genocide these 00:38:12.349 --> 00:38:16.769 days in the news and in the streets about the 00:38:16.769 --> 00:38:19.980 war in Gaza. And that word is thrown around so 00:38:19.980 --> 00:38:23.059 casually now by people who either, A, don't know 00:38:23.059 --> 00:38:25.960 what it actually means and don't know what it 00:38:25.960 --> 00:38:28.639 actually would look like, or B, they're just 00:38:28.639 --> 00:38:33.519 using political talking points in order to sway 00:38:33.519 --> 00:38:35.639 public opinion and try to win foolish arguments. 00:38:35.880 --> 00:38:38.239 If you really think what's happening in Gaza 00:38:38.239 --> 00:38:42.320 is a genocide, come talk to me after the service. 00:38:42.989 --> 00:38:44.889 And we can talk about what genocide really is 00:38:44.889 --> 00:38:47.650 because Esther 3, this is what an actual genocide 00:38:47.650 --> 00:38:50.469 would look like. And that's not happening in 00:38:50.469 --> 00:38:52.809 Israel. What's happening in Israel is a war, 00:38:52.909 --> 00:38:57.289 but I'll save that for another day. And yet as 00:38:57.289 --> 00:39:00.110 terrifying as it must have been for every Jew 00:39:00.110 --> 00:39:03.449 living in Persia at that time, remember Psalm 00:39:03.449 --> 00:39:07.570 37 remains true in that moment, the wicked plots, 00:39:07.869 --> 00:39:13.500 and yet the Lord laughs. Haman's magi cast the 00:39:13.500 --> 00:39:15.699 lots, but God determined the outcome, didn't 00:39:15.699 --> 00:39:20.400 he? Haman thought he was so clever, but Yahweh's 00:39:20.400 --> 00:39:22.900 counter moves had been decreed in eternity past. 00:39:23.199 --> 00:39:27.000 Haman stood no chance whatsoever. You have to 00:39:27.000 --> 00:39:29.900 know that. This wasn't even God reacting to human 00:39:29.900 --> 00:39:34.360 movements. God had decreed this. Haman had no 00:39:34.360 --> 00:39:36.159 chance. And once again, the book of Esther shows 00:39:36.159 --> 00:39:38.679 us that even when we think God is absent, where 00:39:38.679 --> 00:39:41.659 are you, Lord? He's always right there. working 00:39:41.659 --> 00:39:44.099 all things together for his glory, even if he's 00:39:44.099 --> 00:39:47.059 not obviously named or given credit in the text. 00:39:47.460 --> 00:39:53.960 He's always at work in his providence. Now, perhaps 00:39:53.960 --> 00:39:56.460 you're wondering at this point, based on what 00:39:56.460 --> 00:39:59.079 we've already shared in this sermon series, considering 00:39:59.079 --> 00:40:01.519 the fact that Esther and Mordecai really seem 00:40:01.519 --> 00:40:04.000 not to be much more than cultural Jews and not 00:40:04.000 --> 00:40:07.019 particularly godly, why would God rescue them 00:40:07.019 --> 00:40:11.280 from Haman? And here's the good news of the gospel 00:40:11.280 --> 00:40:16.000 of grace, right? This grace is, by the way, God's 00:40:16.000 --> 00:40:17.980 grace is found in the Old Testament just as it's 00:40:17.980 --> 00:40:20.179 found in the New. And this is the good news. 00:40:20.840 --> 00:40:23.139 God doesn't save people because they're good 00:40:23.139 --> 00:40:29.159 or godly or worthy of his love. God draws people 00:40:29.159 --> 00:40:32.880 and saves people like you and me because he's 00:40:32.880 --> 00:40:37.059 a sovereign and merciful God. That's it. He's 00:40:37.059 --> 00:40:38.980 a God who demonstrates extraordinary love for 00:40:38.980 --> 00:40:41.739 people who by nature have no interest in seeking 00:40:41.739 --> 00:40:46.739 after him. Again, like you and me. And the God 00:40:46.739 --> 00:40:48.980 of the scriptures is faithful to fulfill every 00:40:48.980 --> 00:40:51.000 one of his promises. And friends, that means 00:40:51.000 --> 00:40:53.820 working through the Jewish people. Through Abraham 00:40:53.820 --> 00:40:56.860 and Isaac and Jacob. Working to preserve the 00:40:56.860 --> 00:41:00.059 line of Judah. Working to preserve the line of 00:41:00.059 --> 00:41:02.320 David. All leading up to the ultimate blessing 00:41:02.320 --> 00:41:06.030 and gift to the Jewish people. Their own Messiah. 00:41:07.989 --> 00:41:10.329 And to do that, it meant sparing the Jewish people 00:41:10.329 --> 00:41:13.329 from being destroyed by Haman and Xerxes. See, 00:41:13.389 --> 00:41:16.869 God's word will not fail. And he's willing to 00:41:16.869 --> 00:41:19.269 work behind the scenes, even in silence, to carry 00:41:19.269 --> 00:41:23.510 out the things that he has promised to do. And 00:41:23.510 --> 00:41:25.989 so he saves even people like Esther and Mordecai 00:41:25.989 --> 00:41:30.170 for his purposes. And you may be thinking, why 00:41:30.170 --> 00:41:32.070 should I care about Purim? It's a Jewish thing. 00:41:32.130 --> 00:41:35.389 Friends, that's our heritage too. You Gentiles, 00:41:35.449 --> 00:41:38.750 this is part of our heritage. How, you ask? Well, 00:41:38.809 --> 00:41:41.329 it's part of the story of redemption that's woven 00:41:41.329 --> 00:41:43.130 through the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, 00:41:43.389 --> 00:41:47.110 from old to new. This is the story of God's providence 00:41:47.110 --> 00:41:49.989 and love for his elect, both Jew and Gentile. 00:41:50.630 --> 00:41:52.869 It's part of what Paul refers to in Romans 11 00:41:52.869 --> 00:41:59.409 as the olive tree that is Israel. We are Gentiles 00:41:59.409 --> 00:42:03.579 who are wild olives. who've been grafted in among 00:42:03.579 --> 00:42:06.099 the natural branches of that olive tree, being 00:42:06.099 --> 00:42:09.400 partakers of the rich root of that olive tree, 00:42:09.519 --> 00:42:12.619 which is Israel. Go home and read Romans 11. 00:42:12.760 --> 00:42:16.239 Read it again and see what God says about this. 00:42:16.380 --> 00:42:19.019 And that's good news. Thank you, Lord, for sparing 00:42:19.019 --> 00:42:21.619 the Jewish people in the days of Xerxes. Thank 00:42:21.619 --> 00:42:24.219 you, Lord, for protecting the line of Judah so 00:42:24.219 --> 00:42:27.780 that Gentiles like you and I can turn to our 00:42:27.780 --> 00:42:30.119 Jewish Messiah who came to suffer and die and 00:42:30.119 --> 00:42:32.670 be raised to life. for wild olive branches like 00:42:32.670 --> 00:42:38.909 us. Amen? We'll continue with the story two weeks 00:42:38.909 --> 00:42:55.170 from now. Let's pray. Father, the level of wickedness 00:42:55.170 --> 00:42:58.710 in this story is so hard. for us to fathom. I 00:42:58.710 --> 00:43:00.690 pray, God, that we won't just read this on a 00:43:00.690 --> 00:43:03.349 flat page and then just go about our life and 00:43:03.349 --> 00:43:06.429 think that, oh, this is normal. Because it's 00:43:06.429 --> 00:43:10.329 not. Because that ancient serpent was at work 00:43:10.329 --> 00:43:13.530 in these men, Haman and Xerxes, to try to destroy 00:43:13.530 --> 00:43:17.829 your people, to destroy the line of Judah, to 00:43:17.829 --> 00:43:21.969 disrupt the coming of the Messiah. And you laugh. 00:43:22.690 --> 00:43:25.940 And you laugh at them. because of their foolishness, 00:43:25.960 --> 00:43:29.340 because of their blind ignorance, Lord. And so 00:43:29.340 --> 00:43:33.059 we thank you today that as we gather as Gentiles 00:43:33.059 --> 00:43:36.820 grafted into the olive tree of Israel, that we 00:43:36.820 --> 00:43:39.139 enjoy all the privileges and all the blessings 00:43:39.139 --> 00:43:43.519 of being found in Abraham. We praise your name, 00:43:43.599 --> 00:43:46.619 God, that you had a plan from eternity past to 00:43:46.619 --> 00:43:49.099 bring us to this point. Let us not be arrogant, 00:43:49.300 --> 00:43:53.949 Lord. Let us not be prideful. That we're here 00:43:53.949 --> 00:43:56.050 today and found in you. It's because of you. 00:43:56.130 --> 00:43:58.610 It's because of your mercy and grace. It's because 00:43:58.610 --> 00:44:00.769 when we didn't want to seek after you, you sought 00:44:00.769 --> 00:44:03.550 after us. And you drew us to yourself and you 00:44:03.550 --> 00:44:06.289 saved us. Let us remember that as we continue 00:44:06.289 --> 00:44:08.789 in the story of Esther. Lord, thank you, thank 00:44:08.789 --> 00:44:10.989 you, thank you for time and your word. May we 00:44:10.989 --> 00:44:13.510 now praise your name in song as you deserve. 00:44:14.309 --> 00:44:16.250 In Jesus' name we pray, amen.