LESSONS FROM HAMAN AND MORDECAI - …

1 100 Chapter VIII LESSONS FROM HAMAN AND MORDECAIE very book of the Bible is related in some way to the theme of the redemption of some books this is more obvious than in others, but the relationship is there nevertheless. Inancient times there were those who felt the book of Esther should not be considered a part of thecanon of Scripture because the name of God is not mentioned in it. Despite this seeminglyapparent shortcoming, Esther still fulfills its role in the unfolding drama of the redemption of man,and the evidence of its inspiration by the Holy Spirit of God is book of Esther is primarily concerned with five people -- three Persians and two are Ahasuerus, Vashti, HAMAN , Esther and MORDECAI . The spiritual value of the book ofEsther derives from the historical relationships among these five, which form an allegoryportraying the salvation of king Ahasuerus.

2 Ahasuerus and his realm portrays his whole person,body and soul; Vashti portrays his sense of human goodness; HAMAN portrays the flesh; Estherportrays his regenerated spirit; and MORDECAI portrays the Holy Spirit. All of these were, orLessons From HAMAN and Mordecai101would become, a part of his realm and so portray events and conditions in the life of one whocomes to faith in Jesus say that Ahasuerus was king is like saying, The king was king, because Ahasuerus wasa title, not his name. He was the Persian king Darius Hystaspes, who, in Scripture, is calledDarius, or by his titles: Ahasuerus and Artaxerxes, which mean the same thing. For example: ..And they builded, and finished it [the temple], according to the commandment of the God of Israel,and according to the commandment of Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia (Ezra6:14).This quotation from Ezra is not a description of three men, as has been supposed from itstranslation, but of two.

3 Martin Anstey provides us with a literal translation of the above verse inhis Chronology of the Old Testament: And they builded and finished it, according to thecommandment of the God of Israel and according to the commandment of Cyrus and Darius, eventhe great shah, king of Persia. Rev. Anstey points out that much confusion has arisen because theHebrew word vav was translated and, when it should have been translated even, and Artaxerxesmeans the great shah. (Old Testament Chronology, Martin Anstey, Kregel Publications, 1973, pg. 244) Thus Cyrus and Darius were the two monarchs who were responsible for the rebuildingof the city of Jerusalem and of the temple in the fifth century before Christ. Cyrus gave the decreefor the Jews to return to Jerusalem after seventy years of captivity in Babylon. Nearly fiftythousand Jews returned to the land under this decree and began rebuilding the city and the Samaritans resisted this work and had it stopped by an appeal to Artaxerxes (Pseudo Smerdis),who was co-ruler of Persia after the death of Cyrus.

4 Then about seventeen years after the decreeLessons From HAMAN and Mordecai102of Cyrus, the Jews made an appeal to Darius Hystaspes to allow them to resume the work ofrebuilding the city and the temple. Darius searched the archives and found the decree of Cyrusand honored it, so that the work was completed under Esther's great we open the book of Esther the great shah of Persia was married to Vashti. SinceVashti represents his sense of human goodness, our first view of Ahasuerus is as an unsaved it was quite natural for him to be concerned only with the affairs and pleasures ofthis world, for he had power, wealth, great possessions, and a beautiful wife. From the world'spoint of view, he had everything. Now it came to pass in the days of Ahasuerus, (this is Ahasuerus which reigned,from India even unto Ethiopia, over an hundred and seven and twenty provinces:) that inthose days, when the king Ahasuerus sat on the throne of his kingdom, which was inShushan the palace, in the third year of his reign, he made a feast unto all his princes andhis servants; the power of Persia and Media, the nobles and princes of the provinces, beingbefore him: when he shewed the riches of his glorious kingdom and the honour of hisexcellent majesty many days, even an hundred and four score days.

5 (Esther 1:1-4).Men who have the kind of wealth and power possessed by Ahasuerus often love to displaytheir greatness for the adulation of their subjects. More than once this has been done, as was thecase with Ahasuerus, under the pretense of calling the lesser rulers of a political party, or kingdomtogether to receive honor from the leader of the realm:And they gave them drink in vessels of gold, (the vessels being diverse one fromanother,) and royal wine in abundance, according to the state of the king. And thedrinking was according to the law; none did compel: for so the king had appointed to allthe officers of his house, that they should do according to every man's pleasure. AlsoVashti the queen made a feast for the women in the royal house which belonged to kingAhasuerus. On the seventh day, when the heart of the king was merry with wine, hecommanded Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, and Abagtha, Zethar, and Carcas, theseven chamberlains that served in the presence of Ahasuerus the king, to bring Vashti thequeen before the king with the crown royal, to shew the people and the princes her beauty: LESSONS From HAMAN and Mordecai103for she was fair to look on.

6 But the queen Vashti refused to come at the king'scommandment by his chamberlains: therefore was the king very wroth, and his angerburned in him. (Esther 1:7-12)This feast was for the adulation of the great shah. It was to show his greatness before hissubjects, and an important part of that display was the incomparable beauty of Vashti, his queen;but rather than being able to glory in her beauty, he was embarrassed by her refusal to comebefore his subjects. In that one fateful moment, all she had been was as though it had never been:nothing but the wrath of the king remained. Ahasuerus thought of her as the unsaved before God:There is not a just man upon the earth, that doeth good and sinneth not. The heart is deceitfulabove all things, and desperately wicked, who can know it?In her allegorical portrayal of Ahasuerus' human goodness, Vashti had acted as many anunsaved person acts in boasting their purity.

7 She had drawn upon the best of her moralrefinements and had refused to be put upon display before a drunken crowd. It had been morallyrepugnant to her to be displayed in such a fashion. Her pride had not let her be subjected to suchindignities. We could mistakenly think her refusal to be put on display as the acts of a godlywoman, a portrayal of goodness; but Vashti's actions are not to be confused with godliness. Theyare a revelation of the works of the flesh: feigning its goodness and trying to establish itsrighteousness before God in His Holiness, in His Righteousness and in His Justice, where theworks of the flesh cannot possibly stand the flesh operates in the realm of its knowledge of good, it is much more difficultto recognize it as being intrinsically evil, than when the flesh operates in its knowledge of is this sense of right action which causes the unsaved man to trust in his own human goodnessLessons From HAMAN and Mordecai104as adequate grounds for acceptance with God.

8 It is the unsaved man's knowledge of good whichdeludes him into believing that he does not need a Savior. Vashti might have felt justified by heractions, but by her actions she violated the law of the land and she embarrassed her husband:Then the king said to the wise men, which knew the times, (for so was the king'smanner toward all that knew law and judgment: and the next unto him was Carshena,Shethar, Admantha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena, and Memucan, the seven princes of Persiaand Media, which saw the king's face, and which sat the first in the kingdom;) what shallwe do unto the queen Vashti according to law, because she hath not performed thecommandment of the king Ahasuerus by the chamberlains? And Memucan answered before the king and the princes, Vashti the queen hath notdone wrong to the king only, but also to all the princes, and to all the people that are in allthe provinces of the king Ahasuerus.

9 For this deed of the queen shall come abroad untoall women, so that they shall despise their husbands in their eyes, when it shall bereported, The king Ahasuerus commanded Vashti the queen to be brought in before him,but she came not. Likewise shall the ladies of Persia and Media say this day unto all theking's princes, which have heard of the deed of the queen. Thus shall there arise too muchcontempt and wrath. If it please the king, let there go a royal commandment from him,and let it be written among the laws of the Persians and the Medes, that it be not altered,That Vashti come no more before king Ahasuerus; and let the king give her royal estateunto another that is better than she. And when the king's decree which he shall make shallbe published throughout all his empire, (for it is great,) all the wives shall give to theirhusbands honour, both to great and small. And the saying pleased the king and the princes; and the king did according to theword of Memucan: for he sent letters into all the king's provinces, into every provinceaccording to the writing thereof, and every people after their language, that every manshould bear rule in his own house, and that it should be published according to thelanguage of every people.

10 (Esther 1:13-22)Thus Vashti was condemned for her actions. She could not reign as queen: she hadviolated the law of her husband, and she had violated the law of the land. There are many unsavedpeople who think as Vashti thought: they mock the authority of the Word of God as Vashti mockedthe authority of Ahasuerus. They have the misconceived idea that their moral ideals make themfit for the presence of God, regardless of the many times they have failed to live up to their ownstandards, let alone the law of God. Vashti and all like her are described by James, [W]hosoeverLessons From HAMAN and Mordecai105shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. For he that said, Do notcommit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou artbecome a transgressor of the law (James 2:10-11). With the deposing of Vashti, it becameincumbent upon those who served the king to find him a new wife:Then said the kings servants that ministered unto him, Let there be fair youngvirgins sought for the king: and let the king appoint officers in all the provinces of hiskingdom, that they may gather together all the fair young virgins unto Shushan the palace,to the house of the women, unto the custody of Hege the king's chamberlain, keeper of thewomen; and let their things for purification be given them: and let the maiden whichpleaseth the king be queen instead of Vashti.