04-18-2021 – Derek Yarber – Most Advanced Jigsaw Puzzle Part 1 (Gospel Meeting)
We’re going to be talking about in our two Sunday studies in the am about jigsaw puzzles. I don’t know if you like putting puzzles together. They’re okay. For me. I prefer like this type and for that to stop right there, about 10, 10 pieces, it keeps my ego high. I can do that really quickly. And I think I’ve accomplished something.
My younger of my two boys on the other hand, Kyler he’s four years old and he puts a hundred piece puzzles together. Like, I mean that, it’s just one after another, after another, after another. And I look at him and I Mara, why don’t, you know, I don’t understand doesn’t it. 35 years old, my grandmother,
she used to do a 500 piece puzzles, just a left and right. She and my grandpa did a thousand piece ones, even at times. Well, there’s some jigsaw puzzles that are more common Plex than what other ones are. The one that we’re going to discuss for these two lessons is the most complex jigsaw puzzle that you will ever find. And that’s,
God’s Providence as God utilizes Providence to bring about his will. We’re not talking about a measly operation. He used has to use many jagged pieces that must fit together just perfectly in order for his purpose to be achieved. And what makes me Marvel concerning at all is he uses the free human will. His perfect knowledge of what people will choose, not what he coerces anyone to do.
And when finally completed, we can perceive his masterpiece of how the Lord’s Providence forms the most advanced of all jigsaw puzzles. I don’t know if you do puzzles this way, but never. I have done them. I’d take the bottom of the box and I slide it into the top of the box. And so you prop up the front and you can see the finished image.
And so then, you know, what you need to do is you go back to the individual pieces and say, okay, this one goes right here. I’m stuck. Well, let’s look back at the picture. All right? So this one has two and that can kind of get you helps help get you started back again. Well, that’s what I want to do with his most advanced jigsaw puzzle.
I want to use the bottom of the box and I want to prop up the top so we can see the finished product in the book of Esther is where we’re going to be. We had a hybrid lesson like Hickle yesterday. This is straight gasoline. Cause every passage is going to come from the old Testament and every passage in both lessons. But one is going to come from the book of Esther.
The book that demonstrates the Lord’s Providence, I think better than any other account that’s ever been pen. So we prop up the image and so we can see the end picture and here’s, what’s going to be accomplished. And Esther made up of 10 chapters. We look in the eighth verse 16, the joy, the Jews had light and gladness. And as Well as honor,
when we’re all said and done, this is where we need to be right here. Here’s the perfect image of what’s Going to transpire. And This is a slightly fancy way Way of saying God saved his people. That’s what it means. God, God saved his people. That’s the finished product. Now we can go back though to the individual puzzle pieces and we can try to put this together piece by piece so that we get this beautiful finished product in the end.
And as we do so I hope we can better. I appreciate what exactly the Lord does to provide for his own Puzzle piece. Number one, as we go through these, you will notice not All of them are a pretty picture, okay? And it starts right here. This is an ugly matter, but God needs this ugliness To piece together, this beautiful picture puzzle Piece.
Number one, the Kings Perversion. We’re Going to begin in chapter one, verses 10 and 11. And it’s kind of like the study we had on, on a Friday evening. I apologize for this, but we’re just going to have to hit the highlights of each passage. So we don’t get too bogged down in the details. Chapter one, verses 10 and 11,
the King, this King is a hazardous. We know him better from history as Xerxes. The first that’s the same guy, Xerxes, the first or a hazardous. He commanded seven Unix to bring Queens VASH tie his bride at that time, Wearing her Royal crown to show the beauty to the people and to the officials where she was beautiful to be. No.
And now ladies, this guy, he seems like a real charmer. He seems like A hopeless romantic, Real, he’s a romantic, maybe without hope, But it’s not as good. Maybe as what it seems. Oh yeah. It’s his beautiful wife. And he wants to show her off and how pretty she is to everybody. I think there’s more to it than that.
He orders her to be brought in wearing her Royal crown. Now the Jews, You are obviously very well familiar with the old Testament and the Hebrew language in particular, which has a lot of inference that’s found. And in it, they have always understood this to me that she was ordered to come in wearing nothing but her crown. And it seems that he expects his wife to come in and the parade herself without a stitch of clothing on before all of these noble people who have gathered from All over so he can show her off in that kind of way.
He sees her as nothing more as a piece of property and upon, and his scheme to gain greater favor politically around him. Not quite as good of a as maybe that might seem in the beginning. That’s exactly what God needs though, to bring about the salvation of his people. Man, you would never think that it doesn’t make any sense at all.
Not in the beginning. Once we get to the end of the finished product and we look back can say, wow, only God could understand that from the beginning Puzzle piece, number two in the operation, he needs a pagan queen with some dignity to her. And that’s what there is found in queen Vashti. It’s in chapter one, continuing right on in verse 12,
queen bash, Thai refuse to come. Therefore the King was furious. Hey, kudos to her. She has some morals to her. And, and for that matter, some self-respect now it’s, it’s one thing to be submissive and obedient to a husband. It’s another to allow yourself to be ruled with an iron fist by a complete tyrants. And that’s where she puts her foot down.
And she says, no, I have more respect than that. I’m not going to do that. The King was angry about that puzzle piece. Number three, some wise men come into the conversation. If you like irony, you’ll appreciate this one. The wise men’s ignorance. You wouldn’t expect wise men to be ignorant with you, but these wise men are more like wise guys.
Okay? They’re more like the Stooges. Oh, they’re really smart though. And they have some advice for the King, how he should go about handling what he’s just had to deal with. And here’s the advice that’s provided them. Following the Kings inquisitive nature verses 13 through 21 of Esther, one the King says to the wise men who understood the time,
they knew how to handle things back then. I don’t think this is saying that they were up to date with Persian pop culture, by the way that they understood the times that it’s more than that, it seems that they understand the law and how the law should be applied in the kingdom. And the King asks these wise guys, what should we do to queen Vashti?
And one of these wise men named Memucan, he answered queen Vashti has not only wrong the King, but as well, all the princess, Because she wouldn’t show herself naked in front of them. What a worthless woman, they see her as, and more than that, all the people she’s disrespected the whole kingdom because she has some dignity and some morality about her.
And they warn, if we don’t do something about this, all the women are going to despise their husbands. When they report King hazard, a hazard has commanded queen Vashti to be brought in before him. But she did not come. Women are going to be empowered by this. We’re going to have an ancient Rosa parks kind of situation. So we need to show who’s boss right here.
Right now, let her world decree go out and they say the VASH tie she’ll come no more before King Ahasuerus and let the King give her Royal position to another, who is better than she, when the King’s decree is proclaimed, all the empire for its great, all wives will honor their husbands They’ll show respect to us, man. Again, we won’t lose our power Was great and small on the reply,
please, the King and the Princess who had been disrespected by this woman And the King beard, according to the word of Memucan and he sends out this decree all throughout the land of how women had better, make sure they respect their husbands and do anything. And I mean, anything Those husbands tell them to do the Persians had a way of getting the word out very quickly.
Their communication system was actually a Marvel, the ancient world. And I’m sure you’re aware in the mid 19th century of the pony express and the old American West. And Really it’s a lot like that. What went on in the Persian empire. So if they wanted to spread word and the time when you don’t have cell phones and email and social media, they can do it.
Lickety split. And People looked up to them for that. This is Such an important thing. They send out the Persian pony express and they let everyone know right away. You ladies better be careful understand what’s just happened in the past. Dallas men are in control here. God needs the wise men ignorance to produce the salvation of his people. You wouldn’t think that,
but we’ll see it in the end puzzle piece. Number four, he needs young men who are stuck on outward beauty and they don’t consider anything else. The idea It is come up in chapter two in the first four verses the King service said to their master led beautiful young virgins be sought for the King. You know, people who are going to match the purity of the King.
I’m sure, beautiful young virgins, and let’s bring them to the King and let the King appoint officers in all provinces that they may gather all the beautiful young virgins and let beauty preparations be given. Then let’s fix their hair really nicely. Let’s put on lots of makeups. So they’re looking their absolute best. And then let the young woman who pleases the King be queen instead of VASH,
Ty will, of course this thing pleased the King, that’s the best idea I’ve ever heard. And he did. So I mean, after all, if you’re trying to find the perfect bride, what better way is there to do it than to put on a beauty pageant? And you know, you’re going to pick the best one, the best character,
the best one for the rest of your life. If you have a beauty pageant, I would say maybe the only better way to find a bride that will suit you for the rest of your days might be to go to the bar at happy hour. And that might supersede this idea. Great concept. Isn’t it. It’s actually kind of a strange idea for these people.
Even though there are very shallow. Normally the Kings queen would only be taken from one of the Kings seven counselors. That is the families, those seven men. And So this is really thinking outside the box For these people. And they’re actually some skeptics who doubt the inspiration of There on that basis because it differs from normality, but it gives you an idea is to just how depraved and just how shallow these people,
If you like fairy tales, my kids and family and I, couple of years ago, we watched the new Cinderella movie and it was really good. Some of those remakes aren’t very good and you’ll have to forgive me. I’m not always up on current like adult movies. Like my kids are nine, seven, four, and two. Okay. So we’re always watching kid movies and we have that clear play thing where you can filter out any junk of any movie.
So we going to watch a lot of stuff. We usually watch kid movies as Cinderella movie. It was a pretty good one. If you’re like fairy tales and you know, the princess supposed to pick one of the Royals and one of the wealthy he does it. He picks the lady who has the best character. She’s beautiful on the inside, but she’s also beautiful On the outside.
This is the original Cinderella. This is the real fairy tale. There’s a young lady who has a chance to go. I don’t know if I would say from rags, but certainly not to where she’ll end up, but to go from a very low spot through riches when it’s all said and done a true Cinderella story puzzle piece, number five, if Esther is not a beautiful lady,
none of this comes to fruition. It just so happens though, that she’s fairer than all the maidens in the land. Chapter two verse seven, the young woman, Esther was lovely and beautiful verses 16 through 18. Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus and became that Romantic guy when he sees her, Wow, he loves her, loves her more than all the other women.
So he sets the Royal crown upon her head and he makes her queen instead of Ashe Thai, then the King made a great feast. I’m telling you ladies, this is the kind of guy. Yeah. You want the feast of Esther? Well, that has a ring to it. Does it. He named the feast after her. And he proclaims a holiday the day Of Esther,
what a guy, he sees her and he knows this is the one I will say in one state. And not only is she beautiful, but also she’s lovely. That probably has something to do, Deal with her grace, her manners and our respect. I’m telling you, she’s a Cinderella, not just pretty on the outside, but she’s a beautiful person on the inside.
So I will say to the King’s credit, maybe that’s something that slightly in beers him To her as well. Josephus writes that there were 400 women that’s after they’re all sorted through throughout the whole empire 400 women that are brought in front of him. And he knows any meany meiny Oh God, I have that one right there. It’s Esther, By the way,
that’s not our birth. You have a name, her real name. We’ll come across it a little bit later. That’s her her Jewish name, but Esther’s the name that’s given to her? You know what an Esther means? I think it’s a situation Kind of like Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. I hate that. We use those names all the time.
Hannah and I and Michelle, and as Ariah, that’s the real names. And they all had to do with a great respect for God And their families had. And they’re changed to pagan names. It seems that this name is one that’s ascribed to her. And for a reason, Esther means star And it makes perfect sense. She shines above all the rest.
And for some reason we know her more from this point moving forward and that’s okay. That’s why she would have been called in the empire, but she has another in a very special, beautiful Jewish, give a name and give them a counter to that in just a moment. If it’s not for Esther’s beauty, God’s salvation for his people is never produced puzzle piece.
Number six, there’s a guy who’s a, I don’t want to say totally behind the scenes. I don’t know that he’s really the, The star of the show though, for the first half of the book, he is one of them, Those behind the scenes worker, by the end, that’s going to completely change. And there is a divine Rhine and Reason for that.
But this Man is named Mordecai and he just has this deep concern for people. Well, he just loves human beings. I don’t know. It’s almost like he has a, Or someone will see later who loves God above all else and just loves people. That’s Mordecai. That’s the character that he possesses. It stated in chapter two in the seventh verse that Mordecai had brought up Hidatsa.
Aha, that’s a real name. That’s her Jewish birth given name that is paranthetically stated Esther. We know her better by the name that was later ascribed to her because He’s a shining star, but all the other ladies, His uncle’s daughter. So this would make Esther cousins to Mordecai. And it appears probably Probably a younger cousin, but first cousins. He hadn’t either father nor mother.
Well, originally she did, but her father and mother died. And so Mordecai in his compassion thought, I can’t leave my own flesh and blood out here to fend for herself. She might not even make it. He brings her and takes her under his wing. He provides for her throughout her life. Just a good guy who loves people, takes care of his young Jewish girl as he himself is now,
Esther had not revealed her people. And that’s because Mordecai had charged her not to do so. They’re still semi slaves in a foreign land. And it’s probably not a good idea just to openly advertise what your nationality is. And you know, don’t tell people that unless maybe they ask you about it. Now, Mordecai set within the King’s gate in two of the Kings Unix became furious and they sought to lay hands on King hazardous.
That means there’s an assassination plot on the King’s life. He’s a Gentile man to whom personally, Mordecai should really have no allegiance. He works for him, but I mean, he’s a foreign pagan King. What does he really care about this guy? He must because when he found out about this assassination attempt, he told queen Esther And Esther and form the King and both of them were hanging on gallows.
And it was written in the book of the Chronicles. This is going to become vital in the end that this is recorded, even though nothing’s going to be done about it right now that it’s recorded in these books Without this being recorded. I’m not sure that the salvation of God’s people takes place. This man cares about, and he looks out for others.
He saves a Jew who is in need of help, but what’s special about Mordecai in a unique time is he looks out even for Gentiles, who could use his aid, keep that in mind for later on, he looks out for all his people. When they come under attack, there’s a terrible plan that is contrived by a man named Haman evil person who rises to power in the third chapter.
He’s the right-hand man of the King. And he can Cox this idea That mass extermination, actual genocide needs to take place with God’s people. He’s going to eradicate all the Jews and the kingdom. And it’s so happens to be Mordecai That finds out about this. And he gives one of the Kings Unix, a copy of the decree for the Jews It’s destruction.
He says, you need to take this to the queen immediately. She instructs Esther, go into the King and make supplication to him for the people. You’re the only one in the position to be able to do that. You have to do it for God’s people. You really need to do this. Now he says, understand God’s going to save his people no matter what,
that’s the beautiful thing about God. He works for his people. The people who work for him, he’s never going to turn his back on us. He’s never going to forsake us when we need him most. And the great thing about God is not that he needs playing BS. He doesn’t, but if plan a didn’t work and plan B didn’t work and C D and you go all the way to Z.
You just start back over at eight and his AA, he’s going to find something that works for his people. He doesn’t need that. He’s too smart, but that’s just who he is and what he does for his people. The only issue is this. You can’t just go into the Persian King and talk to him whenever you please, even if you’re a high ranking person like his wife has the queen.
I mean, these guys were treated like gods, And you only come to the King. If you’re invited by the King. And Esther reminds Mordecai of this fact, and he says, Esther, look, I’m like a father figure to you. And there’s something I want you to understand. He says, if you remain completely silent at this time, don’t worry about God’s people.
He’s going to save his people one way or another. But what you better recognize is that you and your father’s house may very well die. If you don’t stand up for your people right now. And he asks her this rhetorical question, he says yet, who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for exactly this type of moment and alternate translation of this,
but framed as a declarative statement and encapturing, the idea is as follows, perhaps this is the very moment for which you were created. What he’s telling Esther is it’s not an accident. I don’t believe that you went from rags to riches. It’s not a coincidence that you were born the most beautiful a woman and all of the land. Okay? It’s not an accident that you’re the queen of this entire pagan kingdom right now.
Do you understand Esther, what God has worked in your life and why he has done it? He hasn’t done it so you can sit back. And, And I don’t mean this, this respectfully, but so you can sit back and have your nails buffered. And so that tea and cakes can be brought to you whenever That’s not why you’ve been put here simply to pamper yourself.
You have been put in this position as every human being has been put in his or her spot for two reasons. Number one, to serve God and number two, to help people who are helpless and really that’s it. Do you understand that you were created Esther for this? Do you recognize this as your purpose in life? Do you see, you are brought to the kingdom for such a time as this,
But do we grasp the real lesson behind this? This is the story of Esther old truth, but let’s make application to the new world. Want you to consider the job that you have right now, or perhaps the job that you had from which you may be retired, the job that you worked in this life. Do you understand why you have it?
I mean, yeah, there’s the side. You can do things with it. You can provide for your own. That’s important, which fits into number two, by the way. But number one, you were given your job in your position. So that’s number one And you can serve God. And number two, you can help others mainly that’s, that’s it.
It’s not an accident that you have the job. She had the career that you have, the success that you enjoy that has anyone here read the book, the muscle and a shovel. Raise your hand. If you have muscle and a shovel, Right? Yeah. I thought it might be, man. It is a fantastic, Isn’t it? Okay.
So most of you are aware for those who aren’t. I apologize, but I will not ruin it for you. Okay? That’s the Val that I make to you. It’s panned by a guy named Michael shank. I think he’s a pretty special dude. Not of himself. Christ has made in that way, But Michael shank, long story short, he writes this account of his search for God,
really, and his life. And as he’s doing so he’s an encounters. This man named Randall, And for those who have read, understand the bunny ears, But he encounters this man named Randall who at work, who really helps him on this quest. That’s all I’m going to say. I’m going to stop there. If you haven’t read it, please Do yourself a favor and read it.
And once you’re done, make sure to share copies with other people. That’s, that’s really the main purpose of it. And secondly, I would highly recommend the book. Raise your hand if you read the sequel, when shovels break. Wow. As good as the first one is, second one are better. I’m not a reader. I blame that on being male.
I don’t know if that’s fair. I don’t enjoy. Obviously I do a lot of reading Or, you know, for, for Bible stuff, the Bible itself and word studies and Commentary. You know, I do a lot of that kind of stuff for teaching school. I do a lot of reading a lot more than I would like to do. I’m not a reader by nature.
Okay. I don’t enjoy reading. I’m going to tell you these two books. If you ever read anything, that’s, It’s simply a work by a human thing. I’d highly recommend these doers. They’re not scripture. Okay. And I think everyone understands that Michael shank is nowhere near God. Okay. Well, what makes it powerful is a muscle and a shovel.
I think it has over a thousand scripture quotations or references in it. And that’s really the power of the book. It’s a way to teach and literary form of the word of God. And it’s really neat because of that. But by the end of the book, you certainly see that that Michael recognizes that his and Randall’s meeting at work. It was no accident.
It had been arranged for many, many years long before the two of them had ever even been born. There’s no doubt God put Randall in that spot, in that job for a reason. And it wasn’t simply to make money. It was number one to serve him and number two, to help others. And boy did this. Mr. Shane character really need some help.
It’s the same thing though. Every one of us with every one of us, Esther is verse one of the song, Michael shank, and Randall’s verse two of the songs. And then you and I are verses three, four. And on of the song, God has put us where we are, where we live, what we do. These given us the success we have not simply to pamper ourselves.
Number one, to serve him To, to help others. I know we have some, some young people and others, I think maybe in, in classes right now, I speak to the young people. I speak to parents and as well to grandparents, let’s do all that we can to instill in our young people that if God has given you the gift of intellect,
it’s not simply so that you’ll soar above all the others and leave them all behind. And everyone talks about how smart you are. It’s so that you can go back and help those who might not have the same gift that you do. Young people. If you speed through your, and you get done, don’t sit there and go out or just do the next thing that,
that pleasures you go ask the teacher. If you can help some other students who maybe are having some struggles, you know, it’s one thing for a teacher to help a student it’s a whole nother matter for a student to help a student. That means a lot to a student and to appear if you’ve been given the gift of athleticism, say like a Brent Libera.
And he was trying to play it off last night, but I never needed to. He was a great athlete. If you’ve been given the gift of, by the way, his wife was a pretty good athlete as well. So if you’ve been given the gift of athleticism, it’s not just about all the accolades that you can draw for yourself. If you’ve been given the gift of popularity,
young people in school, parents, grandparents, if your kids have it, don’t let them just enjoy that for themselves. Let them reach out to others who don’t have it and who don’t get invited to things and have to sit by themselves at lunch. It’s not about what you can do for yourself. God’s given you all of these things. Number one,
to serve him and number two, to help others kudos to this young lady that she recognized that God has made me more beautiful than everyone else. And she doesn’t flaunt that over all the other ladies. She uses that to help and to try to save her people. About seven years after graduating high school, I had a, a co a student of mine,
a classmate to message me on Facebook. We hadn’t talked since high school. You know how that works with almost everyone you think you’re always going to know each other? No, you’re not. You’re never going to talk to him there again. Well, randomly she messaged me on Facebook and she said, Hey, I noticed that you got into ministry here a while back.
And I said, yeah, that’s the case. And we were kind of friends somewhat in school. And she said, well, here’s the deal. I’ve had some real life problems. And I was wondering if maybe we could get together and talk about things sometime since sure. That’d be great and catch up. She was living in Springfield at the time.
So I met her in Springfield and we did that. And she mentioned about some things that sure enough, that she had encountered. We caught up from our high school days to the present for about an hour. And from that point on for several, we just talk religion in life and it was awesome. There’s some really neat stuff. This young lady in school,
and please don’t take this the wrong way. I’m just being upfront with observation. All right? But this young lady in school, she wasn’t the most popular. She walked kind of funny. I never knew why until she explained to me then in that meeting, it was a condition with which she was born. She looked kind of funny. She dressed kind of funny memory serves me correctly.
She was an atheist. She was a lesbian. She dressed funny. She wore funny eye contacts. It made her eyes look like animals. That really like animal eyes. And she had several, it’s just kinda different. You know, we were friends. I never gave her a hard time or anything in school. And, but it is what it is.
That’s what I observed in high school. And we had our circle of friends. We weren’t nearly as spiritual as what we should have been. I’ll admit that we had a spiritual slice to though and The pie. And we had this circle of friends. We talk Bible at school quite a bit. And that was neat. And we would even have some of our friends we’d invite them and they’d come.
You might remember Stetson. And me. Sometimes we have friends from school to come to Bible classes with us. And I’m visiting with this, this girl. And she says, you know, I always wanted what you guys have. I said, what do you mean what we had? She said, will you, You guys grew up almost all of you and with families that went to church and you had your circle of friends and you guys all went to church together,
said I never had that said, I always wanted to go, but nobody ever invited You talk about feeling this small. I mentioned, I wasn’t nearly as spiritual in high school and what I should have been, I was about me incorporated. I wasn’t an athlete. I played sports one sport. I did. Okay. At that. I wasn’t the most popular kid.
I had some popularity. I wasn’t the number one student in school. I didn’t really try very hard, but I was okay, you know, an academics, but all that always thought it was just me. And I just revolved it all around me. And now looking back, I realize the opportunities that I missed, what other athleticism I had, whatever popularity I possessed,
whatever smarts that God had given me, it really wasn’t for me. It was number one to serve him. And number two, it was helped to help others. And I find found out seven years later that I failed on the job to be quite Frank with you. This woman has her opportunity, but I can’t change that, but I can change the present and the future.
You can’t change your past, but you can change your present and your future in your job. Young people school in your neighborhood serve God. Number one, what he’s given you, number two, use his blessings to help others. That’s why you’ve been put in the position that you have in, it’s not by an accident that you find yourself where you are.
What you’re doing is not a coincidence. That Esther is where she is and what she’s doing, God is going to use her. If she will let him do so puzzle piece, number seven, you have to have a selfless God focused person though for that to transpire. And he has that with puzzle piece. Number seven, Esther’s selflessness, chapter Verses 15 and 16.
Esther told them to reply to Mordecai. I will go to the King, which I understand is against the law. And if I perish well, so be it. I perish if I never get to enjoy all of these blessings again, if, if my life ends at this moment, that’s okay. She says, because I understand I’ve served my life’s purpose.
It’s not about me. It’s about God. It’s not about what all my plans were. It’s about what God’s plan is for my life. And if that ends right here today, I did what I was supposed to do, purpose serve. And I know he’s going to be happy with me. And that’s the mentality we need to carry throughout life. Now that is puzzle piece number seven,
here’s number eight, to produce the salvation of God’s people. He needs the most wicked person on planet earth. He needs someone who’s completely the opposite of Esther. Who’s powerful and is so full of himself. And man, does he have the guy that fits the bill and Haven the perfect imperfect character chapter three, the first six verses King Ahasuerus promotes Haman above All the princes who are with it And all the King’s servants bow.
And they pay homage to Haman for so the King had commanded, but Mordecai would not bow the knee Or pay homage to this man. Then the King servant said to Mordecai, why do you transgress the King’s command? And he would not listen to them. And here’s why for Mordecai had told them that he was a Jew translation. It’s my religion. I don’t think this is something where you simply bow a knee or take a bow before a sovereign.
I believe this, Pete, this person expects people to worship him as he comes into his presence. There would have been no issue with paying respect to a dignitary, but there is a problem with a Jew worshiping anyone who has not God and Haman thinks he has God on earth and that everybody should worship him. Actually, it’s the law that it should take place.
Mordecai tells them guys I can’t and I will not do it. And here’s the reason I’m a Jew. And I have a religion that prohibits that I know what your law says, but I have a higher law. It says I’m not supposed to do that. So I will not. Haman was still when rap, when he hears this And he didn’t try just to lay hands on Mordecai alone,
because they had told them it’s not Mordecai. It’s the people of Mordecai. That’s the issue. And so Haman sought to destroy all the Jews, mass genocide, the people of Mordecai. And that’s the story behind why He wants to do so. And Haman is even willing to fund this project himself so important to him. He goes to the King of the verses that follow and,
and he says, okay, this is a serious matter. There are these people. There’s this group. He doesn’t tell them who he says, there’s this group who disrespect you and disobeyed the law. We have to get this under wraps right now, before we have a massive problem on our hands. I believe in this cost so much, I will donate 10,000,
10,000 Balance of silver to the costs. Anybody know what a pound of silver is? Yeah. I mean either. Okay, Well translated that 750,000 pounds in English standard, 750,000 pounds Of silver, almost a million pounds of silver. This guy has, he’s a wealthy dude. And he’s going to donate this just to try to eradicate this, these people.
If you had three quarters of a million, okay. Of silver today, you know how much money you have on your hands? A third of a billion dollars. However, this is a time when silver was probably worth more than gold. And so it may have been Valued more back then, where did Hayman get all this money? And wow, you can see,
he really does believe in it because he wants these people got, Hey, here’s a third of a billion dollars King. You don’t have to pay for it. I will fund it myself. Let’s get rid of these people. And the King thinks, well, you know, they’re disobeying us. That makes sense. We can’t have that in our kingdom,
even though he doesn’t know who these people are and that it includes his wife, chapter five verses one through eight, Esther puts on her Royal robes stands in the inner court, across from the King’s house while the King sat on his Royal throne. So the King held out to Esther, the golden Septer that was in Hand, whew. Stage one pass.
She doesn’t die. He says, it’s okay. She can come into my presence. Esther goes now. And the King says to her, what do you wish queen Esther, I will give you whatever you want up to half the So ants. So Esther answered. Let the King and Haman come today to the banquet that I had prepared for him. The King says,
bring Haman quickly. Then at the banquet, The King says to Esther, what is your petition? I’ll give you what you want. Half the kingdom Desire. Then Esther answered. Let the King and Haman come to another banquet, which I will prepare for them. And tomorrow I will do, as the King has said, I will tell you what it is it’s on my mind and what it is that I wish from the King agrees to this.
And the pride of Haman shines through chapter five, verses nine through 13. Haman goes out that day, joyful with a glad heart. But when he sees Mordecai in the King’s gate, and then he doesn’t bow, he doesn’t tremble before him. He still with indignation Against that guy all over again. Nevertheless, he restrained himself and he went home. Not today.
I have bigger fish to fry. He calls for all of his friends and his wife Arish and he puts on a big brag Fest about himself. He tells his friends and his wife, do you understand how great I am and all that I’ve accomplished. I’m rich. I have a multitude of Children. The King has promoted me above all others. And Haman said,
besides queen Esther invited no one but me, me to come into the King to the banquet tomorrow and all of this though, still available. I mean, nothing. As long as I see Mordecai drying breasts that we got to get rid of it. You can’t quit thinking about it. By the way, there may be a detail in here as to how Haman had become so wealthy.
It’s mentioned the multitude of his children. The greatness of a man was determined in that time, by his ability to wield weapons. Number one, I would say that Haman considering he’s number two to the King is probably excellent with a bow and arrow, with a sword, a spear with a javelin, with a club, You name it. He can do anything with any weapon that you want,
but also he has The multitude of children. And here’s why that matters. And chapter nine, it stated several times that he had 10 sons in particular. And second, only to the ability to wheel Pepins the greatest proof of manhood among the Persians was how many sons? Yes. Have you had it’s widely believed that Haman probably had the most sons of anyone in the kingdom.
And because of this, the King would give him great riches every year. Undoubtedly from the tax money that had come in, that’s probably a big part as to why it was that he had become so wealthy. He’s so full of himself. I’m rich. I remember too. And the kids, The queen wants to meet with me. I have all these kids.
Who’s living life better than, Hey man, coming right out of here Own mouth. That’s what God needs to save his people. And he needs Haman’s wife and friends to give him some terrible advice, which is puzzle piece. Number nine, verse 14 of chapter five. Then his wives bearish and all his friends said, what you need to do is have a gallows,
be made 50 cubits high. And in the morning, suggest to the King, that Mordecai be hanged on it. And obviously the thing please Haman. So he had the gallows made. Now, if you’re really hate someone, you want to kill him. And if you want to make them suffer a little bit, you might hang them. And if you want to rub their noses in the dirt,
you build gallows as tall as you possibly can so that everyone around can see it. 50 cubits high you’re probably aware a cubit is roughly one and a half foot. And so to find out the Foot measurement converting from cubits, take a hundred percent, which is 50 in this case, cut it in half 25 and tack that on 75 feet high So that nobody can miss what will take place with his man and the disrespect that he had shown to the great Haman and the kingdom Persia.
And everybody goes to sleep that night. Aim is ready to finally get rid of the man to destroy him on this piece together wood. And he doesn’t have to worry about him. He doesn’t have to worry about Mordecai any longer. So he thinks Esther goes to bed that night, the King goes to bed that night, everyone closes their eyes that evening hoping to get a good night’s rest,
not knowing what will be brought the next day. Everyone wakes up the next day. What will this Dawn of a new day break? We’ll discuss here in a few minutes. Like you.