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W O W - T H E B I G P I C T U R E
by Thomas Nelson Publishers
Haman, the Wicked Enemy of the Jews
-- Esther 3-4; Psalm 92:12-14; Proverbs 17:3
After these things King Ahasuerus promoted Haman, the son of Hammedatha
the Agagite, and advanced him and set his seat above all the princes
who were with him. And all the king's servants who were within the
king's gate bowed and paid homage to Haman, for so the king had
commanded concerning him. But Mordecai would not bow or pay homage.
Then the king's servants who were within the king's gate said to
Mordecai, "Why do you transgress the king's command?" Now it happened,
when they spoke to him daily and he would not listen to them, that they
told it to Haman, to see whether Mordecai's words would stand; for
Mordecai had told them that he was a Jew. When Haman saw that Mordecai
did not bow or pay him homage, Haman was filled with wrath. But he
disdained to lay hands on Mordecai alone, for they had told him of the
people of Mordecai. Instead, Haman sought to destroy all the Jews who
were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus-the people of Mordecai.
In the first month, which is the month of Nisan, in the twelfth year of
King Ahasuerus, they cast Pur (that is, the lot), before Haman to
determine the day and the month, until it fell on the twelfth month,
which is the month of Adar.
Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, "There is a certain people scattered
and dispersed among the people in all the provinces of your kingdom;
their laws are different from all other people's, and they do not keep
the king's laws. Therefore it is not fitting for the king to let them
remain. If it pleases the king, let a decree be written that they be
destroyed, and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver into the hands
of those who do the work, to bring it into the king's treasuries."
So the king took his signet ring from his hand and gave it to Haman,
the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews. And the king
said to Haman, "The money and the people are given to you, to do with
them as seems good to you."
Then the king's scribes were called on the thirteenth day of the first
month, and a decree was written according to all that Haman
commanded-to the king's satraps, to the governors who were over each
province, to the officials of all people, to every province according
to its script, and to every people in their language. In the name of
King Ahasuerus it was written, and sealed with the king's signet ring.
And the letters were sent by couriers into all the king's provinces, to
destroy, to kill, and to annihilate all the Jews, both young and old,
little children and women, in one day, on the thirteenth day of the
twelfth month, which is the month of Adar, and to plunder their
possessions. A copy of the document was to be issued as law in every
province, being published for all people, that they should be ready for
that day. The couriers went out, hastened by the king's command; and
the decree was proclaimed in Shushan the citadel. So the king and Haman
sat down to drink, but the city of Shushan was perplexed.
When Mordecai learned all that had happened, he tore his clothes and
put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the midst of the city. He
cried out with a loud and bitter cry. He went as far as the front of
the king's gate, for no one might enter the king's gate clothed with
sackcloth. And in every province where the king's command and decree
arrived, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting,
weeping, and wailing; and many lay in sackcloth and ashes.
So Esther's maids and eunuchs came and told her, and the queen was
deeply distressed. Then she sent garments to clothe Mordecai and take
his sackcloth away from him, but he would not accept them. Then Esther
called Hathach, one of the king's eunuchs whom he had appointed to
attend her, and she gave him a command concerning Mordecai, to learn
what and why this was. So Hathach went out to Mordecai in the city
square that was in front of the king's gate. And Mordecai told him all
that had happened to him, and the sum of money that Haman had promised
to pay into the king's treasuries to destroy the Jews. He also gave him
a copy of the written decree for their destruction, which was given at
Shushan, that he might show it to Esther and explain it to her, and
that he might command her to go in to the king to make supplication to
him and plead before him for her people. So Hathach returned and told
Esther the words of Mordecai.
Then Esther spoke to Hathach, and gave him a command for Mordecai: "All
the king's servants and the people of the king's provinces know that
any man or woman who goes into the inner court to the king, who has not
been called, he has but one law: put all to death, except the one to
whom the king holds out the golden scepter, that he may live. Yet I
myself have not been called to go in to the king these thirty days." So
they told Mordecai Esther's words.
And Mordecai told them to answer Esther: "Do not think in your heart
that you will escape in the king's palace any more than all the other
Jews. For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and
deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and
your father's house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to
the kingdom for such a time as this?"
Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai: "Go, gather all the Jews
who are present in Shushan, and fast for me; neither eat nor drink for
three days, night or day. My maids and I will fast likewise. And so I
will go to the king, which is against the law; and if I perish, I
perish!"
So Mordecai went his way and did according to all that Esther commanded
him.
Esther 3-4
WORSHIP:
The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree,
He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
Those who are planted in the house of the LORD
Shall flourish in the courts of our God.
They shall still bear fruit in old age;
They shall be fresh and flourishing.
Psalm 92:12-14
WISDOM:
The refining pot is for silver and the furnace for gold,
But the LORD tests the hearts.
Proverbs 17:3
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