Esther Part 3: Chp 5-6 - Esther goes before the king, the first
banquet is held, and Haman has a gallows built.
The intervention of the LORD God is seen throughout.
The book of Esther is distinctive because it is the only book in the
bible where the Lord is not mentioned by name, yet He is seen throughout the
book. Here are the links for Esther Part1 and Esther Part 2..
As review, In Esther Part 1, the queen Vashti is dethroned, young
maidens including Hadassah, also known as Esther, are brought to the palace,
and the king chooses Esther to be his new queen. Up until this time, Esther has
been living with her uncle Mordecai who asks Esther not to tell anyone that she
is Jewish. We will see later why this is very important. In Esther Part 2, Esther who is now queen, is
told by her uncle Mordecai that a decree has been written at Haman’s request,
for the destruction of all the Jewish people in the kingdom of Ahasuerus, just
because Mordecai will not bow down before Haman. Mordecai asks Esther to go
before the king and plead for the Jews, but Esther knows that to go before the
king without being summoned could lead to death, and she tells Mordecai this,
because she has not been summoned in the last 30 days. But he says to her Chp
4:14 “..who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as
this”. With this, Esther asks that
Mordecai gather all the Jews present in Shushan, and she asks that they fast
for three days and three nights. Esther and her maidens would do likewise Chp
4:16 “I also and my maidens will fast likewise; and so will I go in unto the
king, which is not according to the law: and if I perish, I perish.” Esther is willing to risk her life to plead
for her people..as yet, the king does not know that Esther is Jewish.
In Chapter 5:1 “Esther put on
her royal apparel, and stood in the inner court of the king’s house..and the
king sat upon his royal throne in the royal house.” And here we see the
intervention of God. V2 “when the king saw Esther the queen standing in the
court, that she obtained favour in his sight: and the king held out to Esther
the golden sceptre that was in his hand.
So Esther drew near, and touched the top of the scepter.” The king
desires to know why Esther has come V3 “what wilt thou queen Esther? And what
is thy request? It shall be even given thee to the half of the kingdom.” It is
apparent that the king loves Esther very much. In V4-5 Esther desires a banquet which she will
prepare, with the king and Haman as the only guests. The banquet is held with
Haman and the king in attendance. Again V6 the king asks “what is thy request?
Even to the half of the kingdom it shall be performed”. V8 Esther desires
another banquet where she will give the king her request.
In V9-12 Haman is very happy when he leaves the banquet, but he sees
Mordecai and Mordecai does not stand up or move for Haman, which makes him full
of “indignation” against Mordecai.. When Haman gets home he gathers his friends
and tells them of all his riches, and the multitude of his children, and
everything the king had done for him. And he glories in the fact that Esther
the queen had asked for only himself and the king to be guests at her banquet,
and boasts that on the next day he is invited back. But then he adds V13 “all
this availeth me nothing, so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the
king’s gate.” So it seems that it is not
only the fact that Mordecai won’t pay him respect that has Haman hating him,
but also the fact that he is Jewish.
Haman has a very black heart. His
wife and his friends are no better because V14 “then said Zeresh his wife and
all his friends unto him, Let a gallows be made of fifty cubits high, and
tomorrow speak thou unto the king that Mordecai may be hanged thereon: then go
thou in merrily with the king unto the banquet.
And th thing pleased Haman; and he caused the gallows to be made.” It’s interesting that until now, it doesn’t
seem that killing Mordecai had occurred to Haman, and it is a terrible thing
that the idea to kill Mordecai comes from Haman’s wife and his friends. What does that say about them? Jeremiah 17:9 “The heart is deceitful above
all things and desperately wicked: who can know it.”
To be continued in Esther Part 4:
the king has sleeping problems, a second banquet is held, and Haman
meets his end.
Vcg/August 2015
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