BACKGROUND: CHAPTER 1
● King Ahasuerus is ruling the Persian empire spanning from India to Ethiopia.
● He throws a huge party for 180 days ending in a weeklong banquet.
● The king’s wife, Queen Vashti threw a separate feast for the women.
● The king calls for Vashti to come to the banquet so he can show off her beauty, but she refuses. He responds by exiling Vashti and setting her as an example for all the women in the kingdom to obey their husbands.
BACKGROUND: CHAPTER 2
● Mordecai: A Jewish Benjamite, Esther’s Cousin.
● Esther: The New Queen, Mordecai’s cousin.
- Also named Hadassah in Hebrew.
● Through Esther, Mordecai is able to warn King Ahasuerus in time to stop an assassination attempt on the king.
Esther 3
1 After these things King Ahasuerus promoted Haman the Agagite, the son of Hammedatha, and advanced him and set his throne above all the officials who were with him. 2 And all the king’s servants who were at the king’s gate bowed down and paid homage to Haman, for the king had so commanded concerning him. But Mordecai did not bow down or pay homage. 3 Then the king’s servants who were at the king’s gate said to Mordecai, “Why do you transgress the king’s command?” 4 And when they spoke to him day after day and he would not listen to them, they told Haman, in order to see whether Mordecai’s words would stand, for he had told them that he was a Jew. 5 And when Haman saw that Mordecai did not bow down or pay homage to him, Haman was filled with fury. 6 But he disdained to lay hands on Mordecai alone. So, as they had made known to him the people of Mordecai, Haman sought to destroy all the Jews, the people of Mordecai, throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus.
7 In the first month, which is the month of Nisan, in the twelfth year of King Ahasuerus, they cast Pur (that is, they cast lots) before Haman day after day; and they cast it month after month till the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar. 8 Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom. Their laws are different from those of every other people, and they do not keep the king’s laws, so that it is not to the king’s profit to tolerate them. 9 If it please the king, let it be decreed that they be destroyed, and I will pay 10,000 talents of silver into the hands of those who have charge of the king’s business, that they may put it into the king’s treasuries.” 10 So the king took his signet ring from his hand and gave it to Haman the Agagite, the son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews. 11 And the king said to Haman, “The money is given to you, the people also, to do with them as it seems good to you.”
12 Then the king’s scribes were summoned on the thirteenth day of the first month, and an edict, according to all that Haman commanded, was written to the king’s satraps and to the governors over all the provinces and to the officials of all the peoples, to every province in its own script and every people in its own language. It was written in the name of King Ahasuerus and sealed with the king’s signet ring. 13 Letters were sent by couriers to all the king’s provinces with instruction to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate all Jews, young and old, women and children, in one day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar, and to plunder their goods. 14 A copy of the document was to be issued as a decree in every province by proclamation to all the peoples to be ready for that day. 15 The couriers went out hurriedly by order of the king, and the decree was issued in Susa the citadel. And the king and Haman sat down to drink, but the city of Susa was thrown into confusion.—ESTHER 3:1-15
THE THREE SCENES:
1. A STAND AGAINST THE ENEMY (ESTHER 3:1-6)
2. THE EVIL PLOT (ESTHER 3:7-11)
3. A DECREE OF DOOM (ESTHER 3:12-15)
A STAND AGAINST THE ENEMY (ESTHER 3:1-6)
TWO MAIN CHARACTERS:
1. HAMAN THE AGAGITE
2. MORDECAI THE JEW, FROM THE TRIBE OF BENJAMIN
1 And Samuel said to Saul, “The Lord sent me to anoint you king over his people Israel; now therefore listen to the words of the Lord. 2 Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘I have noted what Amalek did to Israel in opposing them on the way when they came up out of Egypt. 3 Now go and strike Amalek and devote to destruction all that they have. Do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’”
4 So Saul summoned the people and numbered them in Telaim, two hundred thousand men on foot, and ten thousand men of Judah. 5 And Saul came to the city of Amalek and lay in wait in the valley. 6 Then Saul said to the Kenites, “Go, depart; go down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them. For you showed kindness to all the people of Israel when they came up out of Egypt.” So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites. 7 And Saul defeated the Amalekites from Havilah as far as Shur, which is east of Egypt. 8 And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive and devoted to destruction all the people with the edge of the sword. 9 But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep and of the oxen and of the fattened calves and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them. All that was despised and worthless they devoted to destruction. —1 SAMUEL 15:1-9
TWO MAIN CHARACTERS:
1. HAMAN THE AGAGITE
● A descendant of Agag of the Amalekites, enemies of God
2. MORDECAI THE JEW, FROM THE TRIBE OF BENJAMIN
● From the same tribe as King Saul, who failed to kill Agag
5 And when Haman saw that Mordecai did not bow down or pay homage to him, Haman was filled with fury. 6 But he disdained to lay hands on Mordecai alone. So, as they had made known to him the people of Mordecai, Haman sought to destroy all the Jews, the people of Mordecai, throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus. —ESTHER 3:5-6
THE EVIL PLOT (ESTHER 3:7-11)
7 In the first month, which is the month of Nisan, in the twelfth year of King Ahasuerus, they cast Pur (that is, they cast lots) before Haman day after day; and they cast it month after month till the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar. —ESTHER 3:7
33 The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord. —PROVERBS 16:33
8 Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom. Their laws are different from those of every other people, and they do not keep the king’s laws, so that it is not to the king’s profit to tolerate them. 9 If it please the king, let it be decreed that they be destroyed, and I will pay 10,000 talents of silver into the hands of those who have charge of the king’s business, that they may put it into the king’s treasuries.” —ESTHER 3:8-9
TWO MAIN CHARACTERS:
● Persia allowed their conquered people to maintain their own cultures so long as they didn’t break Persian law.
- “There are people not keeping your laws.”
● Ahasuerus had lost a war with Greece recently.
- “It is not to your profit to tolerate them.”
- “I will pay 10,000 talents of silver.”
8 And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive and devoted to destruction all the people with the edge of the sword. —ESTHER 3:8
9 “If it please the king, let it be decreed that they be destroyed, and I will pay 10,000 talents of silver into the hands of those who have charge of the king’s business, that they may put it into the king’s treasuries.” —ESTHER 3:9
10 So the king took his signet ring from his hand and gave it to Haman the Agagite, the son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews. —ESTHER 3:10
A DECREE OF DOOM (ESTHER 3:12-15)
13 Letters were sent by couriers to all the king’s provinces with instruction to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate all Jews, young and old, women and children, in one day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar, and to plunder their goods. —ESTHER 3:13
12 Then the king’s scribes were summoned on the thirteenth day of the first month, and an edict, according to all that Haman commanded, was written to the king’s satraps and to the governors over all the provinces and to the officials of all the peoples, to every province in its own script and every people in its own language. It was written in the name of King Ahasuerus and sealed with the king’s signet ring. —ESTHER 3:12
15 The couriers went out hurriedly by order
of the king, and the decree was issued in Susa the citadel. And the king and Haman sat down to drink, but the city of Susa was thrown into confusion. —ESTHER 3:15
APPLICATION FOR TODAY:
● We are called to stand against God’s enemies.
- James 4:7 – Submit to God and to resist the Devil.
- 2 Corinthians 5:20 – We are Ambassadors of God.
- Ephesians 6:10-18 – We need to be armed with the Armor of God.
- Romans 12:21 – Overcome evil with good.
● Expect persecution.
- John 15:20 – If they persecuted Jesus, they will persecute you.
- Matthew 5:10-12 – Blessed are those persecuted for righteousness.
● God is in control even when evil seems to be winning.
- Proverbs 16:33 – Even lots are under God’s control
- James 4:13-15 – If the Lord wills it, we will live and do this or that.
● God has delivered us and will deliver us.
- Hebrews 2:14-15 – Jesus delivers all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.
- Romans 8:37 – We are more than conquerors.