The California Collection/TheCaliforniaCollection.cdr/his107/esther.arj/ESTHER.TXT

Text File | 1991-11-05 | 13KB | 287 lines

         ╒═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╕
         │ESTHER MAKIING THE BEST OF A NO WIN SITUATION IF I PERISH I│
         │PERISH Esther 4:6                                          │
         │                                                           │
         │                                                           │
         │                                                           │
         │                                                           │
         ╘═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╛


         Date: 483-473 B.C.

              Xerxes I reign (Ahesuerus  Khshayarsh)

              The "Silver Kingdom " spoken of by Daniel (ch 7) in
                   Nebuchadnezzar's dream.               Rev 13, 17

         Place: Not in Israel, or Judah, or Caanan, but in Persia
              (Iran) the palace Shushan (Susa).

         People: The Jews were not the zealots who returned with
              Nehamiah to rebuild the city and the temple.  These
              people were content in their present position.


         OUTLINE
            1 DANGER TO GOD'S PEOPLE          1:1 -- 3:15
              divorce of Vashti      1:
              discovery of Esther    2: 1-20
              devotion of Mordecai   2:20-23
              decree of Haman        3: 1-15

            2 DECISION  OF GOD"S SERVANT      4:1- 5:14
              Mordecai's appeal
              Esther's response
              Esther's audience
              Haman's arrogance

            3 DELIVERANCE OF  GOD'S PEOPLE    6:1 - 10:3
              Defeat of Haman
              Decree of Ahuerus & Mordecai
              Defeat of Israel's enemies
              Days of Purim
              Description of Mordecai's fame


         A UNIQUE FEATURE OF THIS BOOK
            - It does not once use the name of God -- although
              His providence and care is clearly shown.
            - It does not once directly mention prayer , which
              involves the LORD's hearing and answering.


         Xerxes I was the great king referred to . The name Ahasuerus
            is an imperial title like "His majesty" Pharoah, Agag
            and means "Venerable King".
         *    Heroditus  mentions that he sought consolation in his
            harem after his defeat at Salamis, which was in the year
            that esther was made Queen.
         *    Let us allow him to represent in this story the soul of
            man, misguided in sin, who later is redeemed.

         * note Historical (Me-am loed page 6,7)
            There was a Persian king by the name of Astyages whose
         daughter had an iligitimate son cast out as a dog .  The
         child grew up in the mountains and became a powerful warrior,
         and leader of a large band of men.  He was given the name
         'Dog' , or (Kurush in ancient Persian).

            His grandfather discovering that his grandson was alive
         and leading a band of robbers sent men to kill him.  (Kurush)
         Cyrus easily defeated them and proceeded to the capital where
         he overthrew the king, his grandfather, and assumed the
         throne of Persia.  At the time , Darius (Dariavesh) was the
         King of the Medes.  when he heard of the feat of Cyrus he
         desired an alliance, which was sealed with the marriage of
         his daughter to Cyrus.  From this union was born Ahsauerus,
         the son of Cyrus and grandson of Darius.

            When Belshazzar was overthrown his daughter Vashti was
         spared by Darius, brought back to Persia where she was given
         as wife to his grandson Achashverosh.

            He inherited the thrones of both Media and Persia.  His
         true name was Artaxerxes (Artakhshacha in Persian;
         Artaachshast in Hebrew) The Jews however referred to him as
         Achashverosh, which was a pun on "chash -rosh" a headache.
         When Achashverosh found out about his nickname , the Jews
         were ready with a more acceptable explanation .  They told
         him that in Aramaic "achash" meant leader and that in Hebrew
         "rosh" meant head ,or leader thus they called him achash -
         verosh.

            At one time He had ruled 252 nations, and had pushed all
         the way to Athens ,but after the battle of Salamis many of
         the nations rebelled ,so that at the time of our story his
         kingdom extended to only 127 nations.

            It was Achashverosh that halted the building of the temple
         due to the false accusation described in the Book of Ezra
         (4:7 f ) , where Sanballat, Tobiah, and Shimshai (one of
         Haman's sons) wrote the letter recorded in EZRA 4:11-16.


         THE KING'S ADVISERS
            Carshena    Meres     Admatha   Tarshish
            Shethar     Marsena   Memucan
            Who get drunk and allow their intoxicated influence to
         bear on the king toward the lust of the flesh, the lust of
         the eyes, and the pride of life (Queen vashti's sensuousness)
         may well be represented by the hordes of slewfoot.

         MORDECAI:
            His name means little man. The grandson of Shimei of the
         family of Kish of Benjamin. Saul (I Sam 9:1,2) was from such
         lineage, also Paul the apostle(Philipians 3:5).

            He seems to be your wise, mild mannered person who doesn't
         get slapped around. He is a very kind hearted person who
         brought up his cousin, his uncle's daughter, as if she was
         his own, and checked on her welfare daily, while in the
         king's house.

            He held a high position. He sat as a magistrate at the
         city gate. He has the king's best intrest at heart.
            Let him represent the office of the HOLY SPIRIT.


         ESTHER
            "A STAR" (Amestris) Hadassah (heb. Myrtle- the tree from
         which myrrh is derived)

            A Jewess who marries a gentile king . She is related to
         Mordecai. Hence she is of the same royal seed as Mordecai ,
         a descendant of Saul Israel's first king. (Josephus Ant vi.1)
         The King loved her above all women (2:17). He would give her
         half of his kingdom(5:3)  We shall see how she presents
         herself as a sacrifice to undo the evil resulting from her
         ancestor Saul's disobedience to God's commandment regarding
         the destruction of Amalek (an evil Caananite nation).

            This redeemer of the nation and saving the King from a
         horrible crime suggests that she is a picture of Christ in
         our story.


         HAMAN
            He was the son of Hamadatha the Agagite, the Jew's enemy
            Agag was the name given to the Kings of Amalek, "the
         people against whom God hath indignation forever". Haman
         is therefore a Royal Amalekite. Although the Lord has sworn
         to blot out his name forever, (and he and his ten sons
         perished here).

            We see the same spirit in the world today that would
         destroy God's people everywhere, so we shall let him
         represent Satan.


         CHAPTER 1
         1,2  Ahasuerus and his Empire
            The Persian King Xerxes I  484-464 B.C.
            Fickle, capricious extravegant.
            His empire extended From Egypt to Ethiopia
         3-9  His great feast
            * nobles and princes  180 days
            * the people of Susa    7 days
         10-22 The intoxicated King's demands on Vashti
               Romans 1;22-32
              the counsel of the "wise men"

         CHAPTER 2
         1-20 the discovery of Esther
              Rom 2;28,29
         21-23the devotion of mordecai
            21,22 the plot against achashverosh's life
            Bigthan and Teresh
            Mordecai overhears ,,called the "linguist" "Balshan Ezra
         2:2 ,Nehemiah 7:7
            The bible commands  us to be patriotic and to pray for the
         government ,as they have been placed there by God to govern
         us.
            Esther had the record inscribed in the presence of the
         king into the Chronicles (minutes- records) of the king.


         CHAPTER 3
         1-15  the  decree of death
              (Saul & David , Atheliah, Herod
            v1.Haman the Agagite -ie.  a direct descendant of Agag,
         King of Amalek (I Sam 15:8)who ,in turn was a son of Esau,
         tried to prevent Israel from going back to Caananthus God had
         promised "i will obliterate the memory of Amalek from under
         the heavens"(Ex 17:14 ; Deut 25:19)

            God raised him up in order that his fall would be all the
         worse .

            Haman is thought (according to Jewish oral tradition) to
         have travelled to Jerusalem to stop the building of the
         temple (Rashi notes on Ezra 4:17). Shimshai the scribe in
         Ezra 4 was one of the petitioners to Artaxerxes to stop
         building the temple that Cyrus, Queen Vashti's Father, had
         allowed Ezra and Nehemiah to rebuild. Again Darius II , son
         of Esther was again to cause it to be completed . According
         to jewish law Esther  was a Jewwss , he was also a Jew.

            v6 At first he began to plot against Mordecai alone, but
         as his anger mounted, it extended to all his people the Jews.
         He must have known that Mordecai was from the tribe of
         benjamin, and a descendant of King Saul, who had killed
         Haman's ancestor Agag along with all the other Amalek males
         (I Sam 15:9)

            v7 In the first month Abib (Nissan, the same month as
         passover,and the Exodus), in the 12th year of the king's
         reign, Haman began his wicked plot.
            The lottery fell on the 12th month (Adar) and the 13th
         day, --- anniversary of the day God had broiught the plague
         of darkness upon Egypt.

            v8 Notice how Haman carefully does not name the "group
         spread and scattered" ."they even have a commandment not to
         folow our decrees (lev18:3) their religion teaches them to be
         unpatriotic!" In saying this ,of course, he spoke against the
         law of the King of all Kings - God and His law.

            v9 He had promised to give about 750 tons of silver into
         the king's treasury --- Or 100 x as much as the amount to
         build the Tabernacle in the wilderness.  ie.
                   600,000 males x 1/2 shekel = 300,000 shekels
                         or 100 talents vs. 10,000 talents.

            v10 The King had given all his own authority to Haman ,
         just as the human soul does to the evil one when he conspires
         to sin.

         ROM 3:9-20
              What then, are we better than they? No, in no wise; for
         we have before proved both Jew and Gentiles that they are all
         under sin . As it is written, There is none righteous ,no not
         one. There is none that understandeth, there is none that
         seek after God, they are all gone out of the way. They are
         together become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good
         ,no not one. Their throat is an open sepulchure, and with
         their tongues they have used deceit. The poison of asps is in
         their lips , whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.
         their feet are swift to shed blood.

            V11 The king did not require a bribe to sin.

            v12 The decree was written the day before passover (13
         Nissan)

         CHAPTER 4

            v1 The loud and bitter cry of of a condemned man--
                        'WOE IS ME'

            Be not afraid of sudden terror
            The destruction of the wicked will come.  Prov 3:25

            Make your plans, they will noot succeed
            Speak all you want, nothing will come of it,
            For GOD is with us.                     Isa 8:10
                                                    Isa 46:4

            v3 Jews every where fasting and weeping

            v 15-17   Fast for me
                      neither eat or drink for three days
                      Then I will go into the King,
                      And if I perish - I perish   !!

              Mordecai left  and did all thet was instructed

              During the Joyful season of Pesah, the Jews were
         instructed to fast



         CHAPTER 5

         At the end of the fast, Esther prepared herself to present to
         the King