Bible Survey on Esther – Lesson 7
The Bible will have simple truths presented in simple short statements. And then often the Bible will display that same truth in a life. It will show that truth lived out in a life before us. A real life example of what that truth looks like lived out. Some of the examples show what the most extreme case would look like.
For example Lot is the extreme example of a back slider. You read his life in the O.T. and except for one thing you would not think he was a believer. And that was when Lot would not deny God in that Lot stood up for the angels. And then Lot went and tried to convince his son in laws. Lot would not deny that he was a believer.
That is it. Everything else we read in the O.T. about Lot is bad. Mostly really, really bad. However, the N.T. calls him just Lot. Lot was saved and he is in Heaven. But he was totally backslidden. Sitting in the gate of Sodom living in and for the world. Lot is the extreme example to show how far backsliding can go.
The Bible teaches that anyone can get saved. Even if they are wicked. For whosoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. That means anyone. There is no loophole that says unless you….
And then the extreme example of that is King Manasseh. We looked at him last year. He was as wicked as you can get. God had him taken to a prison in Babylon and he got saved in that horrible place and got restored back to Jerusalem and he was a changed man and served the Lord.
Last week we looked at these simple truths.
Thou shalt not covet.
And Pro_16:18 Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.
And we took the time to clarify that coveting is not making a plan and working to better your condition. Coveting is greedily desiring that which is not yours. And the pride that proverbs is talking about is the pride of a haughty spirit. And not the pride as in taking pride in doing a good job. And then we looked at the extreme example of this in the Bible and that is Haman.
Haman coveted power and riches and status and honor.
Est 5:9 Then went Haman forth that day joyful and with a glad heart: but when Haman saw Mordecai in the king’s gate, that he stood not up, nor moved for him, he was full of indignation against Mordecai.
Haman then calls his friends and his wife and recounts all his possessions and achievements and then says.
Est 5:13 Yet all this availeth me nothing, so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king’s gate.
His friends and his wife give advice for Haman to build a gallows and get the kings permission to hang Mordecai. Haman leaves to go to the king and ask.
Meanwhile God is at work. The King can’t sleep, the servant grabs just the right scroll without knowing what is going on. What Mordecai did was read. The king wants something done to honor Mordecai. The king asks Haman what should be done to the one that the king wants to honor and Haman reveals his covetous heart by assuming it is him and then telling what Haman wanted done for Haman.
The shock when Haman finds out the one to be honored is Mordecai and that He is the one who has to do it. Haman goes home mourning like you do for the dead.
This is where we pick up on this real life example of the truth. And Pro_16:18 Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.
Est 6:12 And Mordecai came again to the king’s gate. But Haman hasted to his house mourning, and having his head covered.
Est 6:13 And Haman told Zeresh his wife and all his friends every thing that had befallen him. Then said his wise men and Zeresh his wife unto him, If Mordecai be of the seed of the Jews, before whom thou hast begun to fall, thou shalt not prevail against him, but shalt surely fall before him.
Est 6:14 And while they were yet talking with him, came the king’s chamberlains, and hasted to bring Haman unto the banquet that Esther had prepared.
Est 7:1 So the king and Haman came to banquet with Esther the queen.
Est 7:2 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.
Est 7:3 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:
Est 7:4 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.
Est 7:5 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?
Est 7:6 And Esther said, The adversary and enemy is this wicked Haman. Then Haman was afraid before the king and the queen.
Do you admire her courage? She said what she needed to say and she said it to Haman’s face. Called him wicked while he was right there.
Est 7:7 And the king arising from the banquet of wine in his wrath went into the palace garden: and Haman stood up to make request for his life to Esther the queen; for he saw that there was evil determined against him by the king.
This king had already lost one queen years ago by his own doing, but this is worse. Someone is trying to kill his queen. And not just her but all of her people.
And it’s Haman. The man the king had promoted over all the princes. The king realizes that he has been manipulated. Tricked into making that law. He made it without all the information. He realizes the trust and positon that he gave Haman was a huge mistake.
This is a lot to take in. Something dropped on you like this all at once. One realization after another starts to hit you. First that Haman wants your queen dead and all her people. And then the fact that you made the law. Then the thought about how you were tricked, manipulated. The truth of how wicked Haman is. It just keeps going.
I can see why in anger the king needed to leave the room for a few minutes and process all this.
While the king is out of the room. Haman stood up to make request for his life to Esther the queen; for he saw that there was evil determined against him by the king.
Notice Haman is not apologizing for what he has done. He is not repenting of his racism. He is only worried about his life. There is no humbleness in Haman. Only a prideful and haughty spirit.
Est 7:8 Then the king returned out of the palace garden into the place of the banquet of wine; and Haman was fallen upon the bed whereon Esther was. Then said the king, Will he force the queen also before me in the house? As the word went out of the king’s mouth, they covered Haman’s face.
Est 7:9 And Harbonah, one of the chamberlains, said before the king, Behold also, the gallows fifty cubits high, which Haman had made for Mordecai, who had spoken good for the king, standeth in the house of Haman. Then the king said, Hang him thereon.
Est 7:10 So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then was the king’s wrath pacified.
Haman is hanged on the gallows that Haman prepared for Mordecai. That is what I think they call irony.
Pro_16:18 Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.
The amount of destruction and the distance of the fall depends upon how high the pride and haughty spirit is. Haman is the extreme example. And his fall is great. In fact he loses it all. His fall is complete.
And this is important to notice. Haman’s destruction and fall because of his prideful and haughty spirit did not just affect him.
Est 8:1 On that day did the king Ahasuerus give the house of Haman the Jews’ enemy unto Esther the queen. And Mordecai came before the king; for Esther had told what he was unto her.
Est 8:2 And the king took off his ring, which he had taken from Haman, and gave it unto Mordecai. And Esther set Mordecai over the house of Haman.
Everything that Haman had went to Mordecai. Haman’s entire house. This affected Haman’s wife and all his children. There would be no huge inheritance. Haman’s family lost possessions, and riches, and homes, businesses, ect…
Haman coveted riches, and status, and power. He also had a prideful and haughty spirit. And it cost him everything.
Every human alive is susceptible to coveting that which is not theirs. And everyone is susceptible to pride. Pride appeals to the old man. That fleshly sin nature.
So we are given in the Bible simply stated truths about it and then we are shown in the Bible a real life example of what coveting and pride can lead to if we go down that road and just continue to go down that road.
The Bible shows us what not to do, but another great thing about the Bible is that it also shows what to do. The Bible shows you how you counter coveting, and a prideful and haughty spirit.
See more Bible Survey on Esther