Ester 5
David Guzik · Citado em PreceptAustin
Ester 5
Guzik notes that... The death of a substitute satisfied the wrath of the king. In the case of Mordecai and Haman, it was the guilty dying in the place of the innocent; in the case of us and Jesus, it is a matter of the innocent dying in the place of guilty. Ferguson has an excellent conclusion to the dramatic providential events in these first seven chapters... It seemed that things had gone silence in the heavens, but God is still at work in the stillness. He is the hidden helm turning the ship beneath the waves. The book of Esther is a book of perfect timing. What is impressive is not what Esther did or did not do but what God does. The Jews were not spared because of good fortune or the quick thinking of Esther or Mordecai. It was all about God s faithfulness to His covenantal promises. All the threads that providence is weaving can suddenly come together to bring about God s desired and determined end. Ahasuerus may have been the most powerful man in the known world, who could alter nation s histories at a whim. However, all his actions were all divinely arranged by God to achieve perfectly God s greater purpose. As Swindoll observed, We can see the movement of God s hand throughout the lives of Esther and Mordecai. We can see His moving in the heart of King Ahasuerus. We can see Him as He works His own will even through the wicked plots of Haman. The book of Esther is not simply an entertaining story, but also is instructive about how our God works in the world. We may be tempted to see Satan s plans as invincible and unstoppable as we read this book of Esther, but God proves that He can override even the most complex of plots. The truths of Psalm 73 are graphically illustrated in the life and demise of Haman. Victory often comes only at the point of apparent defeat. The Cross seemed hell s greatest victory but proved to be its greatest defeat. God is God and He will not share His Sovereignty with any creature. To cite Swindoll again, Don t ever try to convince me that some situation in this life is absolutely permanent. God can move in the heart of a king. He can move an entire nation. He can bring down the once-impenetrable Iron Curtain. He can change the mind of your stubborn mate. He can move in the affairs of your community. He can alter the decisions of presidents and prime ministers and present-day kings and dictators. No barrier is too high, no chasm too wide for Him, because He is not limited by space or time, by the visible or the invisible. Trapped in our limited perspective of time and finite understanding we may lose our orientation in the fogs of life, but not God. We panic and issue snap judgments on our circumstances. Discerning God s fingerprints in the silence is what spiritual maturity is all about. The wise reader of Esther is led to the obvious conclusion that these circumstances did not just happen, but were wonderfully orchestrated by an unseen power. Not everyone can behold this for as Deffinbaugh wrote, God is the ultimate manifestation of skill. He is a wonder to behold as He works. But His work can only be seen through the eyes of faith. The Christian, whose spiritual eyes have been opened, watches God work with wonder and amazement. The unbeliever sees the same results but fails to recognize what has been done as God s work. When God works providentially, His will and His purposes are perfectly accomplished, but those without faith do not see His handiwork as anything more than the result of natural forces, of great human skill at best. Many look at the deliverance of the Jews in Esther and see no more than the cleverness of Esther at manipulating the king. We must believe in advance what we can only discern truly with the benefit of eternal hindsight. Any other practice adopted will lead to envy, cynicism and bitterness with our circumstances. Habakkuk suffered from this till God reminded him to live by faith not by sight. It shows every reader to follow Paul s advice prayerfully, Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God (1 Cor. 4:5). God can still be trusted! He is still on His throne!
Ester 5
Guzik comments... Miserable Haman! Honored by both the King and Queen of Persia, the disapproval of one man makes him feel worthless. This is an accurate description of how empty the rewards of this world are. Haman’s deep seated insecurities and need to be honored by everybody means that he can never be happy; God meant this hunger for acceptance in each of us to be ultimately fulfilled in Jesus Christ - because we are accepted in the Beloved (Ephesians 1:6), accepted before God because of who we are in Jesus. Ferguson writes A bigger man would have ignored it, but a man's size is seen by the significance of the things that irritate him. As one writer put it Haman couldn't stand the thought of this one man s refusal to obey him. Like a bubble, the more an ego swells the more fragile it becomes. By this point, Haman's ego was so inflated and fragile that Mordecai's action drowned out the applause of the crowd. Those who live like Haman, in deliberate pursuit of self-importance, will live perpetually on Haman's emotional roller coaster. Soaring high when honored, bottoming out when not, Haman and all those like him will forever be enslaved to the whims of others. They can never have the security of joy and peace that Jesus promises us in His kingdom. Remember that what fills your heart and mind will control your attitudes, your actions and especially your tongue. Esther 5:10 Haman controlled himself, however, went to his house and sent for his friends and his wife Zeresh.: Haman controlled himself (cp Esther 3:6) - Did Haman refrain himself from killing Mordecai on the spot? That is possible but clearly he is still filled with anger as his subsequent actions attest (cp Esther 5:13) I think Guzik is correct when he writes that... This is a remarkable evidence of the hand of God. God would not allow the fury of Haman to take action until all the proper pieces were set in place to ultimately defeat his plan. Controlled (0662)('apaq) means to restrain oneself, to hold back, to exhibit self-control (Ge 43:31, 45:1 - both describing Joseph's self control). It is interesting that this word is used to describe the Lord's holding Himself back! (Isaiah 42:14, Isa 63:15, Isa 64:12) Davis writes that... The Scripture notes that Haman “restrained himself” (wayyit'appaq) rather than let his own anger toward Mordecai get the best of him. The use of this verb in Scripture generally suggests a sense of struggle, an overcoming of what might naturally be expected to happen in a particular situation. Cassel indicates that this term may even convey the idea of wrestling with something, in this case, oneself.20 Haman thus finds his emotions more difficult to control here than he did in 3:6. This increased difficulty may account for Haman’s readiness to act immediately (5:14) to eliminate his problem, whereas previously (3:6, 7, 12) he had been willing to delay the initiation of his revenge. (Ruth & Esther: God behind the Seen) Esther 5:11 Then Haman recounted to them the glory of his riches, and the number of his sons, and every instance where the king had magnified him and how he had promoted him above the princes and servants of the king.: Glory of his riches - Esther 1:4 Ge 31:1 Job 31:24,25 Ps 49:6,16,17 Isa 10:8 Jer 9:23,24 Da 4:30 Mk 10:24 Lk 12:19,20 1Ti 6:17 His sons - Esther 9:7-10,12,13 Job 27:14,15 Ho 9:13,14 Promoted - Esther 3:1) His - Note the repetition of masculine pronouns in Esther 5:10-11. Haman is like the rich man in the parable whose favorite word was "I" (Lk 12:16-21)! Haman recounted to them the glory of his riches - This is always a dangerous "move" to make in the eyes of the Almighty Who alone is glorious and Who is jealous for His Name. Haman's pride is bursting at the seams so to speak! He should have read the Scriptures... Pride goes before destruction (ruin, affliction), and a haughty (literally something tall, figuratively here and in Ps 10:4 = explains the root of foolish pride = no fear of God!, Jer 48:29) spirit before stumbling (a fall, trip on something ~ tripping over one's self exaltation, sense of self worth and falling, experiencing calamity). (Pr 16:18 - see William Arnot's exposition of Proverbs 16:18, Joseph Parker on Proverbs 16:18 Pride) (See also 1Cor 10:12, Gal 6:3) William