ESTHER'S PETITION AND REQUEST (Esther 7:1-10)
INTRODUCTION:
At the beginning of December, we departed from our study of the book of Esther to focus on the first advent of the incarnate Son of God. This morning we return to the book of Esther. I said at the beginning of this series that even though this is true history it was inserted into the canon of God’s Word for our instruction. These are true historic events that took place as they are written, but, in the wisdom of God, they happened in such a way as to form a detailed picture of God’s dealings with us on a spiritual level. We have been reading and studying this book using what Paul wrote in 1st Corinthians 10:11 as our guide, “Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.” (1 Corinthians 10:11, NASB95)[1]
We have learned as we have been going through Esther that the different historic characters represent different aspects of our own lives. King Ahasuerus is a picture of the soul of man and when he banished Vashti who represented man’s spirit it was as if his spirit died representing the fall of man. Upon finding Esther, his spirit was revived and that void in his life was filled. This for us was a picture of salvation, when we come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ the Holy Spirit revives our dead spirit and we are made alive again in Christ Jesus and with our spirit our soul can again commune with God as it was intended when man was first created. Finally, we met Haman and Mordecai and learned that Haman represents man’s flesh or old nature, and Mordecai represents the Holy Spirit and these two are in opposition to one another as Paul wrote in Galatians 5:17, “For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.” (Galatians 5:17, NASB95)[2] It must be understood that the old nature or the flesh can never be eliminated while we live in our physical bodies. Because of this there is a constant battle for control between our old nature and the Holy Spirit who indwells us.
The last time we were in Esther, Haman had built a gallows 50 cubits high, which is approximately 75 feet high to hang Mordecai on. But when he had gone to the palace to ask permission to hang him, at that moment the king had just heard the account of Mordecai saving his life by exposing an assassination plot. Instead of getting his wish, Haman was humiliated as he led Mordecai through the capital on a horse the king had ridden wearing a robe the king had worn while shouting, “This is what is done for the one whom the king desires to honor.” Haman then returned home with his head covered in humiliation. He had barely related to his wife and friends what had happened when the king’s eunuchs arrived to bring Haman to the second banquet that Queen Esther had prepared for the king and Haman. As he was hastily brought to the palace the words of his wife and his friends echoed in his ears, they said, “If Mordecai, before whom you have begun to fall, is of Jewish origin, you will not overcome him, but will surely fall before him.” (Esther 6:13b, NASB95)[3] Let’s pray and then return to the book of Esther.
--PRAY--
SCRIPTURE:
Turn in your Bibles this morning to Esther 7. We will be looking at verses 1-10 this morning which is the entire chapter. Please, if you are able, stand in honor of the reading of the Word of God and follow along while I read.
Esther 7:1-10,
“Now the king and Haman came to drink wine with Esther the queen. And the king said to Esther on the second day also as they drank their wine at the banquet, ‘What is your petition, Queen Esther? It shall be granted you. And what is your request? Even to half of the kingdom it shall be done.’ Then Queen Esther replied, ‘If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it pleases the king, let my life be given me as my petition, and my people as my request; for we have been sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be killed and to be annihilated. Now if we had only been sold as slaves, men and women, I would have remained silent, for the trouble would not be commensurate with the annoyance to the king.’ Then King Ahasuerus asked Queen Esther, ‘Who is he, and where is he, who would presume to do thus?’ Esther said, ‘A foe and an enemy is this wicked Haman!’ Then Haman became terrified before the king and queen. The king arose in his anger from drinking wine and went into the palace garden; but Haman stayed to beg for his life from Queen Esther, for he saw that harm had been determined against him by the king. Now when the king returned from the palace garden into the place where they were drinking wine, Haman was falling on the couch where Esther was. Then the king said, ‘Will he even assault the queen with me in the house?’ As the word went out of the king’s mouth, they covered Haman’s face. Then Harbonah, one of the eunuchs who were before the king said, ‘Behold indeed, the gallows standing at Haman’s house fifty cubits high, which Haman made for Mordecai who spoke good on behalf of the king’ And the king said, ‘Hang him on it.’ So they hanged Haman on the gallows which he had prepared for Mordecai, and the king’s anger subsided.” (Esther 7:1–10, NASB95)[4]
THE SECOND BANQUET (Esther 7:1-2)
Our old nature, our flesh, represented by Haman will threaten, shout, strut, domineer, sulk, plot, creep, beg, plead, or sob whatever the situation may demand in the interests of its own survival. We have already seen this in Haman’s life. But as he was hurried off to the palace there was terrible fear in his wicked heart as the words of his wife and friends continued to haunt his thoughts. They had predicted that Mordecai would be his defeat. If the king had come to know the truth about Mordecai and his loyalty to the king, then Haman feared that it would not be long before the king learned the truth about him. The flesh hates to be exposed for what it truly is and will fight desperately to avoid that awful moment of truth—the moment when the Holy Spirit exposes the flesh in all its wickedness. No doubt Haman planned to be on his best behavior before the king and queen. When the Holy Spirit begins to convict you, showing you that the Lord Jesus Christ is being denied the rightful place in your life, when this happens the old nature begins to squirm and at the same time it will try to justify it evil activities in defense of itself. Something told Haman that he could expect no mercy from Mordecai if he gained the ear and confidence of the king.
This second chapter opens near the end of the banquet when the king and Haman were enjoying a glass of wine with Esther. For the third time the king asks his queen what her petition and request is with the promise that both will be granted even up to half of the kingdom if necessary. With these promises we see the king’s love for Esther has not diminished just as it was seen when she entered his court uninvited, and he held out his scepter to her. This was the moment of truth, for until now, she had been acting in obedience to Mordecai, even though she was totally committed to what he had asked her to do it had so far not brought her into direct conflict with Haman. But at this point there could be no compromise, Haman had to be exposed to the king just as he had been exposed to her. Judgment pronounced by Mordecai had to be spoken now in the presence of the king and in the very face of the enemy. From this point on there could be no going back, for this was the point of no return.
ESTHER’S PETITION AND REQUEST (Esther 7:3-6)
Esther does not immediately expose Haman, but first she tells the king if she has found favor with him, and it pleases him to grant her petition and request, then first her petition is that her life be spared, and her request that her people be spared also. She then tells the king that her and her people have been sold to be destroyed, to be killed, to be annihilated. When she speaks of being sold, she speaks of the money that Haman had offered to put in the king’s treasury, then she uses the very words that Haman used when he dictated to the scribes the order to have the Jewish people killed. She does not stop here, but goes on to say, and I want to read this out of the ESV because it is easier to understand then the NASB. She goes on to say in the end of verse 4, “If we had been sold merely as slaves, men and women, I would have been silent, for our affliction is not to be compared with the loss to the king.” (Esther 7:4, ESV)[5]
As Esther spoke these words, I am sure the color drained from Haman’s face. Not only had the king begun to see the loyalty of Mordecai and see him as a trusted servant, but Haman now discovers that the queen herself knows and identifies with his archenemy. Within a matter of minutes, the king would know that the murderer’s knife was pointed at the heart of the palace, and that Esther whom he loved would fall prey to this law published at Haman’s suggestion and request. Haman had persuaded the king that such a law would be in the king’s own interest, but in reality, it was designed only to satisfy Haman’s wicked pride. Because with this law he could get rid of Mordecai and silence his voice and remove any threat to his own ability to usurp and abuse the authority of the king. He could then exploit the kingdom to his own wicked end.
The king is shocked that Esther must ask for her own life to be spared. He quickly responds to her and asks who this is that threatens her life, where is this person who would dare to do this? Esther responds by revealing her enemy and the king’s. “A foe and an enemy is this wicked Haman!” (Esther 7:6b, NASB95)[6] Esther has exposed the enemy, and for the king the issues were now clear, he had to choose between Haman and Esther. This was the moment of truth, as it is for every human soul to whom has come the revelation of the Holy Spirit, through the human spirit, of the wickedness of sin and the deceitfulness of our own old nature, our flesh. This is the place God wants to bring each person who has put their faith in Jesus Christ, to the place of self-discovery. So that we may see, that it may dawn on our soul the awful truth of our old nature, our flesh. Paul put it this way in Romans 7:14, “For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin.” (Romans 7:14, NASB95)[7] This is what the later half of Romans 7 is all about. It describes the corruption of the soul of man by the subtle principle of sin within, and this is so clearly illustrated for us in the book of Esther, in the person of Haman and the part he has in the king’s life. Paul goes on in Romans 7 in verses 15, 17-18, and 20-25 and says, “For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:15, 17–18, 20–25, NASB95)[8] Paul so clearly defines the conflict which takes place in our lives. There is an inner witness of the Holy Spirit to your human spirit to all that is good and right, and every act and attitude of sin is an offense to your moral conscience, now that it can clearly see. This is the part represented by Esther. The moment of truth comes for you, when like Esther, you quit listening to the justifications of the flesh, and renounce it to its face, naming it for the treacherous, wicked, worthless thing that it is, fit only to be destroyed.
When Esther thus named Haman, we read that Haman went from humiliated to terrified before the king and queen. The king rose from the banquet table in wrath and went out into the palace garden. We are not told why but I am sure to sort this out in his mind, how could he not have seen Haman for who he was? Just like us his eyes were blinded to who he was until the Holy Spirit opened them to see the truth. Haman now sees how deeply the influence of Mordecai had penetrated the palace, and this arrogance of this would-be murderer was turned into a sulky, sentimental pleadings of a frightened coward. He did not follow the king but remained in the banquet room to plead for his life before the queen. How quickly the boastful, prideful arrogance of the flesh can be reduced to the sobbing cry of self-pity when the moment of truth has come. Be on your guard for this subtilty, and never be sorry for yourself—just be sorry for your sin. If your pride is hurt and you feel that you have been misjudged, and you become all sensitive and begin to sulk, you can be quite certain that it is only your Hamn groveling in the dirt, sobbing for the mercy he does not deserve.
Haman was falling on the couch where Esther reclined begging for his life at the moment when the king returned from the garden. The king saw this and thought Haman was assaulting the queen. “Then the king said, ‘Will he even assault the queen with me in the house?’ As the word went out of the king’s mouth, they covered Haman’s face.” (Esther 7:8b, NASB95)[9] The covering of Haman’s face was his death sentence, it was covered signifying he would never see the king or queen again. Then one of the king’s eunuchs informs the king of the gallows that are at the house of Haman, gallows intended for Mordecai who saved the king from assassination. The king responded to this news by saying, “Hang him on it.” “So they hanged Haman on the gallows which he had prepared for Mordecai, and the king’s anger subsided.” (Esther 7:10, NASB95)[10]
What an amazing picture this is. Haman hanging on his own gallows—the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. More than 2000 years ago it was a Roman instrument of death, and those who put the Lord Jesus there Jesus said of them, “You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” (John 8:44, NASB95)[11] How Satan must have loved the idea of God’s Son hanging on the cross! How carefully the plot was laid, as Satan entered into the heart of Judas Iscariot and persuaded him on that awful night to go out into the darkness and betray his Lord for thirty pieces of silver. This was to be Satan’s hour of triumph—but one thing he did not know. There was much more to be accomplished on the cross than Satan ever guessed. This was not just the sentence of death upon a man by fellow men, a spectacular public execution, or the untimely end of a noble martyr, who ended in disaster because He lived before His day and generation. Die indeed He did, as men must die, whose blood is spilt; it was not the Son, however, but Satan himself who bore the mortal blow of God’s wrath, as the Savior tasted death for every man. The author of Hebrews wrote, “Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil,” (Hebrews 2:14, NASB95)[12] Paul wrote in Romans 8:3, “For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh,” (Romans 8:3, NASB95)[13]
When the Lord Jesus Christ died for you, He not only paid the price of your redemption, but identified with Him and nailed to His cross was that old sinful nature, the flesh that so long has dominated your soul and frustrated all your hopes. This is something which God wants you to know and He inspired the apostle Paul to write these words in Romans 6:6, “…knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin;” (Romans 6:6, NASB95)[14]
CONCLUSION:
This is the truth that is been expressed in the language of the book of Esther, when Haman was nailed or impaled upon the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. No longer could Haman exercise the executive powers of government and abuse the king’s authority. No longer would he bring disgrace upon the kingdom, through his hateful evil influence over the behavior of this people that were dispersed throughout this kingdom. The kingdom, representing the human body, was no longer to be the instrument of Haman’s evil acts, but by his death it would become ineffective and inactive for evil. As Haman died on his gallows, the stage was set for that radical change of government which would produce so great a change in behavior, that from one end of the country to the other everyone would know that something very wonderful had happened in the palace of the king. The wrong man was out—and the right man was in.
What about you? Who has dominance in your life? If it is the old nature still ruling, you need to send him to the cross. Then and only then will you be able to echo Paul’s words in Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.” (Galatians 2:20, NASB95)[15]
[1]New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[2]New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[3]New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[4]New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[5]The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.
[6]New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[7]New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[8]New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[9]New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[10]New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[11]New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[12]New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[13]New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[14]New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[15]New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.