Bible Memory Verse:
“The Lord works out everything for his own ends–even the wicked for a day of disaster.” Proverbs 16:4
Last time we were talking about Mordecai and his cousin Queen Esther–Jews in the kingdom of King Xerxes. Haman had gotten King Xerxes to sign a law having all the Jews in his kingdom killed on a certain day. Queen Esther was a Jewess, but her cousin Mordecai had told her not to tell anyone. Now Mordecai asked Queen Esther to appear before the king and beg for her life and the life of her people. This was dangerous because to appear before the king without being asked could mean her death. Only if he held out his gold scepter to her would her life be spared. Mordecai sent word to Esther, through Hathach, Esther’s servant, “Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?”
Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai: “Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my maids will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish.”
So Mordecai went away and carried out all Esther’s instructions.
On the third day Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the palace, in front of the king’s hall. The king was sitting on his royal throne in the hall, facing the entrance. When he saw Queen Esther standing in the court, he was pleased with her and held out to her the gold scepter that was in his hand. So Esther approached and touched the tip of the scepter.
Then the king asked, “What is it, Queen Esther? What is your request? Even up to half the kingdom, it will be given you.”
"If it pleases the king,” replied Esther, “let the king, together with Haman, come today to a banquet I have prepared for him.”
“Bring Haman at once,” the king said, “so we may do what Esther asks.”
So the king and Haman went to the banquet Esther had prepared. As they were drinking wine, the king again asked Esther, “Now what is your petition? It will be given you. And what is your request? Even up to half the kingdom, it will be granted.”
Esther replied, “My petition and my request is this: If the kings regards me with favor and if it pleases the king to grant my petition and fulfill my request, let the king and Haman come tomorrow to the banquet I have prepared for them. Then I will answer the king’s question.”
Haman went out the day happy. But when he saw Mordecai and noticed Mordecai did not bow down to him, he was filled with rage. Nevertheless he kept himself under control.
Calling together his friends and his wife, Haman boasted about his vast wealth, his many sons and the way the king had honored him above all the other nobles and officials. “And that’s not all,” Haman added. “I am the only person Queen Esther invited to accompany the king to the banquet she gave. And she has invited me along with the king tomorrow. But all this gives me no satisfaction as long as I see that Jew Mordecai sitting at the king’s gate.”
His wife and all his friends said to him, “Have a gallows built (where people are hanged), seventy-five feet high and ask the king in the morning to have Mordecai hanged on it. Then go with the king to the dinner and be happy.” This suggestion delighted Haman and he had the gallows built.
That night the king could not sleep, so he ordered the book of the chronicles, the record of his reign, to be brought in and read to him. It was written that Mordecai had exposed the two men who had planned to kill the king (made known their plot to kill the king).
“What honor and recognition has Mordecai received for this?” the king asked.
“Nothing has been done for him,” the attendants answered.
The king said, “Who is in the court?” Now Haman had just entered the king’s court to speak to the king about hanging Mordecai on the gallows he had made for him.
His attendants answered, “Haman is standing in the court.”
“Bring him in,” the king ordered.
When Haman entered, the king asked him, “What shall be done for the man delights to honor?”
Now Haman said to himself, “Who is here that the king delights to honor more than me?” So he answered the king, “For the man the king delights to honor, have them bring a royal robe the king has worn and a horse the king has ridden, one with a royal crest placed on its head. Then let the robe and the horse be entrusted (given) to one of the king’s most noble princes. Let them robe the man the king delights to honor, and lead him on the horse through the city streets, proclaiming before him, ‘This is what is done for the man the king delights to honor!”
“Go at once,” the king commanded Haman. “Get the robe and the horse and do just as you have suggested for Mordecai the Jew, who sits at the king’s gate. Do not neglect anything you have recommended.”
So Haman got the robe and the horse. He robed Mordecai and led him through the city streets proclaiming before him, “This is what is done for the man the king delights to honor!”
Afterwards Mordecai returned to the king’s gate. But Haman rushed home, with his head covered in grief and told his wife and all his friends, everything that had happened to him.
His friends and wife said to him, “Since Mordecai, before whom your downfall has started, is of Jewish origin, you cannot stand against him–you will surely come to ruin!” While they were still talking to him, the king’s servants arrived and hurried away to the banquet Esther had prepared.
So the king and Haman went to dine with Queen Esther, and as they were drinking wine, the king again asked, “Queen Esther, what is your petition? It will be given you. What is your request? Even up to half the kingdom it will be granted.”
Then Queen Esther answered, “If I have found favor with you, O king, and if it pleases your majesty, grant me my life–this is my petition. And spare my people–this is my request. For I and my people have been sold for destruction and slaughter…If we had merely been sold as male and female slaves, I would have kept quiet, because no such distress would justify disturbing the king.” Esther 7:3-4
King Xerxes asked Queen Esther, “Who is he? Where is the man who has dared to do such a thing?”
Esther said, “The…enemy is this vile Haman.”
Then Haman was terrified before the king and queen. The king got up in a rage, left his wine and went out into the palace garden. But Haman, realizing that the king had already decided what would happen to him, stayed behind to beg Queen Esther for his life.
Just as the king returned from the palace garden to the banquet hall, Haman was falling on the couch where Queen Esther was.
The king exclaimed, “Will he even molest (attack) the queen while she is with me in the house?”
As soon as the word left the king’s mouth, they covered Haman’s face. Then one of the servants attending the king said, “A gallows seventy-five feet high stands by Haman’s house. He made it for Mordecai, who spoke up to help the king.”
The king said, “Hang him on it.” So they hanged Haman on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai."
King Xerxes gave Queen Esther all that Haman had. He could not undo the law that he had made to kill the Jews and take their property on a certain day, but he made another law that the Jews could get together and fight anyone that tried to attack them and he left the people know that he was now in favor of the Jews. Many enemies of the Jews were destroyed on the day the Jewish people were to be destroyed.
The Jewish people became powerful in the kingdom of King Xerxes and Mordecai, was made second in command to King Xerxes. His fellow Jews looked up to him because he had worked for the good of his people and spoke up for the welfare of the Jews.
Our Bible memory verse for today is, “The Lord works out everything for his own ends–even the wicked for a day of disaster.” 16:4 Esther is remarkable story showing God working. Esther was brought to royal position (being the queen) for such a time as that time. Mordecai knew God well enough to understand that.
Today most Jews do not know God. However, the Bible tells us that before Jesus comes back a second time many Jewish people, like Mordecai and Esther will come to know Him.
QUESTIONS:
1. What did King Xerxes do to show Queen Esther that she was accepted when she went into his presence without being invited?
2. What did Haman have built by his house? Why did he have it done?
3. Why did the king want to honor Mordecai?
4. What did Haman have to do to honor Mordecai? Why did he choose that way to honor someone the king delights in?
5. Why do you think Esther waiting until the second banquet she had for the king and Haman to ask her request? What happened between the first and the second banquet?
6. What happened on the day the Jews were supposed to be killed?
ESTHER—PART 2
Bible memory verse:
“The Lord works out everything for his own ends–even the wicked for a day of disaster.” 16:4
Words to choose from: PURIM, HONOR. ENEMIES, GOD, SAVED, SCEPTER, HANGED, GALLOWS, BIBLE, HORSE
1. The king held out a gold __ __ __ __ __ __ to anyone he was pleased with when they entered his presence unannounced.
2. Haman had a __ __ __ __ __ __ __ built by his house because he wanted to have Mordecai hanged.
3. The king discovered Mordecai had __ __ __ __ __ his life between the first and second time Esther the king and Haman to dinner.
4. The king wanted to __ __ __ __ __ Mordecai for saving his life.
5. Haman had to lead a __ __ __ __ __ with Mordecai on it wearing a royal robe and a royal crest on his head and shouting before him, ‘This is what is done for the man the king delights to honor!”
6. Haman was __ __ __ __ __ __ on the gallows he had built.
7. The Jews killed their __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ on the day they were supposed to be killed.
8. Although __ __ __ is not mentioned in the book of Esther we know that He was directing everything that happened.
9. The Jews still celebrate the feast of __ __ __ __ __, the time Esther saved her people from the plot of the wicked Haman.
10. The __ __ __ __ __ tells us that before Jesus comes back a second time many Jewish people will come to know Him.