Transcription Purim

Welcome Friends

Hadassah being an orphan grew up in her uncle Mordecai’s house and she was accustomed to depending upon him for advice and support.

Becoming the bride of the king and the queen of the nation must have been far beyond anything she could ever have dreamed of.

This Hadassah now renamed Esther by the king kept contact with her uncle Mordecai on a daily basis constantly seeking advice and support from him, and his guidance as to how to conduct herself as queen and in her relationship with the king.

Mordecai would have been a great help to Esther in her relationship with the King and after the passage of some years Mordecai was also able to help the king in a very important matter.

We find in Esther 2:21 in those days while Mordecai sat in the Kings gate two of the Kings Chamberlain’s Bigthan and Teresh, of those that kept the door [that is the security people the royal guard]  were wroth and sought to lay hands on the King Ahaseurus and the thing was known to Mordecai who told it unto Esther the Queen who certified the king thereof in Mordecai’s name [that is Esther went to the king and she informed the king of what was taking place and did so in Mordecai’s name] and when inquisition was made of the matter it was found out, therefore they were both hanged on three and it was written in the book of The Chronicles before the King.

Then some years after this event King Ahaseurus promoted Haman to be his prime minister over all the other leaders in the empire and everyone began to bow and Kow Tow to him and as a man who was second in the kingdom under the king and they flattered Haman hoping no doubt for some personal advantage; but this Mordecai a leading Jew who sat in the Kings gate refused to flatter Haman.

It is important to understand the meaning of the term to sit in the kings gate.  The Kings gate was the courthouse where people went to seek judgment from the king’s officials and this Mordecai must have been a very high official and judge over the affairs of the Jews in Babylon.

Mordecai’s refusal to play politics and flatter Haman infuriated Haman.

Haman furious and very big in his own mind thought it a little thing to take his vengeance upon Mordecai and determined to take revenge upon the whole Jewish people. 

A normal person if moved to wrath might consider having Mordechai beaten or imprisoned or even killed, but no Haman thought to destroy all the Jews in the land.

This of course was completely irrational unless we realize that Haman was being inspired and motivated by Satan.

Remember that many years before in about 536 B.C. Daniel fasted over the rebuilding of the temple and the conditions in Jerusalem and God sent his angel to Daniel with a prophecy and a promise that in future a commandment would go forth to rebuild the city of Jerusalem.

In fact after the king married Hadassah in approximately 461 B.C. he gave a decree to rebuild the city Jerusalem in 457 B.C. and now Satan was using Haman to try to destroy all the Jews in Babylon.

Now Haman enraged, began to cast lots and to consult with his seers and wizards as to how best to destroy the Jews.

We pick this up in Esther three and verse seven; in the first month that is the month Nisan in the twelfth year of King Ahaseurus they cast pur that is the lot before Haman from day to day and from month to month unto the twelfth month that is the month Adar

And the year here was 452 B.C.

Now in verse 13 of Esther 3 and the letters were sent by posts unto all the king’s provinces to destroy to kill and to cause to perish all Jews both young and old little children and women in one day even upon the 13th day of the 12th month which is the month Adar and to take a spoil of them for a prey.

This would have been in February or March of 451 B.C. and on the appropriate day according to the lots, Haman went unto the king.

Esther 3 verse 8 and Haman said unto King Ahaseurus there is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the people in all the provinces of thy kingdom and their laws are diverse from all other people, neither keep they the King’s law.

Therefore it is not for the king’s profit to suffer them if it please the King let it be written that they may be destroyed and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver to the hands of those that have the charge of the business to bring it into the king’s treasuries and the king said unto him in verse 11;

And the king said unto Haman, The silver is given to thee, the people also, to do with them as it seemeth good to thee.

As news of this decree spread throughout the Jews and throughout all the kingdom there was a great morning of the Jews and the news of this morning reached Esther, and Esther inquired of one of the kings officials Hatach and she sent him to Mordecai to find out what was happening and why the people were in mourning.

Now when Hatach approached Mordecai and asked him why the morning; Mordecai responded in Esther 4 verse 8

Also he gave him a copy of the writing of the degree that was given at Sushant to destroy them, to show it unto Esther and to declare it unto her and to charge her that she should go in unto the king to make supplication unto the king and to make requests before him for her people and Hatach returned and told Esther the words of Mordecai.

4:10 Again Esther spake unto Hatach, and gave him commandment unto Mordecai; 

All the king’s servants, and the people of the king’s provinces, do know, that whosoever, whether man or women, shall come unto the king into the inner court, who is not called, there is one law of his to put him to death, except such to whom the king shall hold out the golden sceptre, that he may live: but I have not been called to come in unto the king these thirty days.

And they told to Mordecai Esther’s words.

Then Mordecai commanded to answer Esther, Think not with thyself that thou shalt escape in the king’s house, more than all the Jews.

For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; but thou and thy father’s house shall be destroyed: and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?

Then Esther requested of Mordachai  and all the Jews that they should fast and pray for her for three days and on the third day she went before the king and he had mercy upon her and reached out his scepter to her and she invited him to come and visit

her.

Esther 6:1 on that night could not the king sleep and he commanded to bring the book of records of the Chronicles and they were read before the king and it was found written that Mordecai had told of Bigthana and Teresh two of the Kings Chamberlain’s the keepers of the door [that is the guards] who sought to lay hand on the king Ahasuerus, and the king said what honor and dignity hath been done to Mordecai for this.

Then said the king’s servants that ministered unto him there is nothing done for him

Esther 6:4 and the king said, who is in the court, now Haman was come into the outward Court of the king’s house to speak unto the king to hang Mordecai on the gallows that he had prepared for him

And the king’s servants said to the king behold Haman stands in the court and the King said let him come in.  

6:6 So Haman came in. And the king said unto him, What shall be done unto the man whom the king delighteth to honour? Now Haman thought in his heart [because of the great honor he felt at being invited to Esther’s banquet], To whom would the king delight to do honour more than to myself?

6:7 And Haman answered the king, For the man whom the king delighteth to honour, Let the royal apparel be brought which the king useth to wear, and the horse that the king rideth upon, and the crown royal which is set upon his head: And let this apparel and horse be delivered to the hand of one of the king’s most noble princes, that they may array the man withal whom the king delighteth to honour, and bring him on horseback through the street of the city, and proclaim before him, Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delighteth to honour.

And then Haman got the shock of his life.

6:10 Then the king said to Haman, Make haste, and take the apparel and the horse, as thou hast said, and do even so to Mordecai the Jew, that sitteth at the king’s gate: let nothing fail of all that thou hast spoken.

Then Haman knew that his future was in doubt

Esther 7:1 So the king and Haman came to banquet with Esther the queen. And the king said again unto Esther on the second day at the banquet of wine, What is thy petition, queen Esther? and it shall be granted thee: and what is thy request? and it shall be performed, even to the half of the kingdom.

Then Esther the queen answered and said, If I have found favour in thy sight, O king, and if it please the king, let my life be given me at my petition, and my people at my request: For we are sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be slain, and to perish. But if we had been sold for bondmen and bondwomen, I had held my tongue, although the enemy could not countervail the king’s damage.

Then the king Ahasuerus answered and said unto Esther the queen, Who is he, and where is he, that durst presume in his heart to do so?  And Esther said, The adversary and enemy is this wicked Haman. Then Haman was afraid before the king and the queen.

Then the king Ahaseurus ordered that Haman be hanged on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai and the king asked afterwards,  what more can I do for you and she appealed to him to rescind his order to destroy all the Jews revealing to him that she was herself a Jew.

The King therefore decreed that on the day appointed for their destruction which was the 13th of Adar, all the Jews should rise up and defend themselves and avenge themselves of their enemies; and so it came about that on the 13th and 14th of the month Adar which answers to February or March in the common calendar of today the Jews rose up and they destroyed their enemies.

Mordecai then commanded that every year forever the Jews should observe the fourteenth and fifteenth of Adar with rejoicing over their deliverance from their enemies.

For more please go to theshininglight.info and look for our article on Purim and Esther.

The timeline of these events begins when King Ahaseurus also called Artaxerxes Longimanus assumed the throne and in his third year put away Queen Vashti approximately 461 B.C. for her example of rebellion and disobedience and at the end of that year he became the husband of Esther.

Later in his seventh year 457 B.C. King Ahaseurus was disposed to hold the Jews in favor due to the influence of queen Esther and he decreed that the city of Jerusalem should be rebuilt, sending Ezra to accomplish the task.

Shortly after this Satan used Haman in an attempt to destroy all of the Jews and  God delivers the Jews from the hands of Satan and Haman through the agency of Esther and Mordecai.

Our next program will feature the rebuilding of Jerusalem under Ezra and Nehemiah and the tremendous spiritual revival which took place in Judea at that time.