H vs. h

Matthew 23:12  “And whoever exalts
himself will be humbled, and he who
humbles himself will be exalted.”

Humble yourselves in the sight of the
Lord, and He will lift you up.

“to bring Queen Vashti before the
king, wearing her royal crown, in order to
show her beauty to the people and the
officials, for she was beautiful to behold.
But Queen Vashti refused to come at the
king’s command brought by his eunuchs;
therefore the king was furious, and his
anger burned within him.”

“all wives will honor their husbands, both
great and small… each man should be
master in his own house”.

“The king loved Esther more than all
the other women, and she obtained
grace and favor in his sight more than all
the virgins; so he set the royal crown
upon her head and made her queen
instead of Vashti.”

“Now Esther had not revealed her family
and her people, just as Mordecai had
charged her, for Esther obeyed the
command of Mordecai as when she was
brought up by him.”

“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.”

“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.”

“…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.”

“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?’”
Esther cannot save herself in the long
run
2. Failure to act may frustrate the purpose
for which she had be brought to
queenship.
1.
EVERYTHING TO GAIN
AND
NOTHING TO LOSE
If someone God calls is unwilling to cooperate,
two things will happen:
1. God will find willing participants elsewhere,
for God’s plan can never be stopped
2. Those who are not willing will perish with the
unfaithful (Matthew 21:41)

“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 Esther answered, ‘If it pleases the
king, let the king and Haman come
today to the banquet that I have
prepared for him.’”

“Then Esther answered and said, ‘My
petition and request is this: If I have
found favor in the sight of the king, and if
it pleases the king to grant my petition
and fulfill my request, then let the king
and Haman come to the banquet which
I will prepare for them, and tomorrow I
will do as the king has said.’”

“That night the king could not sleep. So
one was commanded to bring the book
of the records of the chronicles; and
they were read before the king. And it
was found written that Mordecai had
told of Bigthana and Teresh, two of the
king’s eunuchs, the doorkeepers who
had sought to lay hands on King
Ahasuerus.”

“Then the king said, ‘What honor or
dignity has been bestowed on Mordecai
for this?’ And the king’s servants who
attended him said, ‘Nothing has been
done for him.’”
1.
2.
3.
It was right for the king to reward Mordecai.
People in authority should reward those who serve
faithfully and not just punish disobedience.
Mordecai’s attitude toward the reward showed
no bitterness toward the king for having not
rewarded him. When he was rewarded,
Mordecai received the greatest reward he could
hope for. When that reward came, it came at a
time that made it far more valuable to Mordecai
than any reward that could have been given at
the time he did the good deed.

“So the king said, ‘Who is in the court?’ Now
Haman had just entered the outer court of
the king’s palace to suggest that the king
hang Mordecai on the gallows that he had
prepared for him. The king’s servants said to
him, ‘Haman is there, standing in the court.’
And the king said, “Let him come in.” So
Haman came in, and the king asked him,
‘What shall be done for the man whom the
king delights to honor?’ Now Haman
thought in his heart, ‘Whom would the king
delight to honor more than me?’”
Mordecai
Haman
He felt it was the right thing to do
to warn the king of the plot that
the two eunuchs had to kill him
and didn’t care about being
rewarded.
Haman didn’t ask the king who
was being discussed and should
be honoured. He felt it should be
him automatically. Haman felt that
no one other than himself should
be honoured!
Mordecai didn’t ask to be
rewarded and he didn’t complain
when he wasn’t rewarded.
He sought the greatest honour for
himself instead of asking for
something humbly.
He stood outside the palace in
sackcloth weeping for his people
and the doom they are about to
face
He spent an evening boasting to
his family and friends about his own
greatness

“And Haman answered the king, ‘For the man whom
the king delights to honor, let a royal robe be brought
which the king has worn, and a horse on which the
king has ridden, which has a royal crest placed on its
head. Then let this robe and horse be delivered to
the hand of one of the king’s most noble princes, that
he may array the man whom the king delights to
honor. Then parade him on horseback through the
city square, and proclaim before him: ‘Thus shall it be
done to the man whom the king delights to
honor!’’ Then the king said to Haman, ‘Hurry, take the
robe and the horse, as you have suggested, and do
so for Mordecai the Jew who sits within the king’s
gate! Leave nothing undone of all that you have
spoken.’”

“If Mordecai, before whom you have
begun to fall, is of Jewish descent, you
will not prevail against him but will surely
fall before him.”
 QUICKLY
MADE = QUICKLY BROKEN
 A common characteristic of friends
that follow you for your fame, wealth,
and glory: as quickly as they come to
your side is as quickly as they desert
you when you fall.
VS

“Then Queen Esther answered and said, ‘If I
have found favor in your sight, O king, and
if it pleases the king, let my life be given me
at my petition, and my people at my
request. For we have been sold, my people
and I, to be destroyed, to be killed, and to
be annihilated. Had we been sold as male
and female slaves, I would have held my
tongue, although the enemy could never
compensate for the king’s loss.’”

“So King Ahasuerus answered and said
to Queen Esther, ‘Who is he, and where
is he, who would dare presume in his
heart to do such a thing?’”

“If it pleases the king, and if I have found
favor in his sight and the thing seems right
to the king and I am pleasing in his eyes, let
it be written to revoke the letters devised by
Haman, the son of Hammedatha the
Agagite, which he wrote to annihilate the
Jews who are in all the king’s provinces. For
how can I endure to see the evil that will
come to my people? Or how can I endure
to see the destruction of my countrymen?”

“The Jews had light and gladness, joy
and honor. And in every province and
city, wherever the king’s command and
decree came, the Jews had joy and
gladness, a feast and a holiday. Then
many of the people of the land became
Jews, because fear of the Jews fell upon
them.”

“On the day that the enemies of the
Jews had hoped to overpower them, the
opposite occurred, in that the Jews
themselves overpowered those who
hated them.”

“And all the officials of the provinces, the
satraps, the governors, and all those
doing the king’s work, helped the Jews,
because the fear of Mordecai fell upon
them. For Mordecai was great in the
king’s palace, and his fame spread
throughout all the provinces; for this man
Mordecai became increasingly
prominent.”
possessor of the king’s signet ring
an attendant in the king’s court
Humiliated when Mordecai was honoured instead of him
A dead man
a man who was prominent throughout the Persian kingdom
possessor of the king’s signet ring (8:2)
an attendant in the king’s court (2:19)
the descendant of an exiled Jew (2:5,6)

“did not lay a hand on the plunder”: the
actions of the Jews were not motivated
by greed or covetousness but by the
desire for self-protection and justice.

“And King Ahasuerus imposed tribute on
the land and on the islands of the sea.”
PROVIDENCE
HUMILITY