Grace Bible Church
Pastor-Teacher
Robert R. McLaughlin
Friday
January 19, 2018
A time such as this.
This is what Mordecai will say to Esther basically, don’t be afraid,
We too need to realize that we are also here for just such a time as this.
500 years before the story of Esther takes place, Saul the first King of Israel did not follow God’s command and kill their enemy the Amalekites.
But, the Amalekites made a major miscalculation though, as they didn’t include God in their calculations.
You may not think your important, the world may not think your important, but the living GOD thinks your important and that is what counts.
Cyrus the Great: Had the Jews released by Royal decree from captivity to return to Jerusalem in 539 BC;
Darius I: Allowed Zerubbabel to start the rebuilding of the Temple completed by in 515 BC,. Ezra goes to Jerusalem in 458 BC;
Xerxes: this is the King during the events of Esther.
Artaxerxes: He is the King who allows Nehemiah to go to Jerusalem in 445 BC and rebuild the wall.
Queen Vashti divorced.
Esther made Queen.
Haman plots against the Jews.
Esther’s decision to get involved and help her people.
Esther’s first banquet.
Haman humiliated before Mordecai. Esther’s second banquet
Mordecai’s counter decree.
The Jews victorious and Purim instituted.
EST 4:13-14, Mordecai said to Esther, “For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the
Jews from another place and you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not attained royalty for such a time as this?”
The suffering of the just is as for a moment in this world, but the damnation of the wicked by The Lord…that is forever.
The Lord Jesus Christ who controls the history contained in that tapestry.
ROM 8:38-39, “For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord!”
The Queen was so popular, if she were allowed to rebel against the King without consequence, then other women might follow her example and would show contempt for the authority of their husbands. Of course the princes and other men didn’t want that.
When such Royal decrees were made, they were recorded in the laws of the Empire, the chronicles, and then could not be altered.
Mordecai was a Jew of the tribe of Benjamin.
Mordecai went everyday to pace in front of the court of the women’s quarters. There he sought to learn about Esther’s well being.
Esther’s turn to visit the King came four years after Vashti was deposed.
The King exalted Haman until he was above all the princes of all the provinces. In such a great Empire, this was a very exalted position.
Mordecai’s reason for refusing to bow was based on his religion and nationality as a Jew.
Haman’s downfall will be not getting over one little Jew who would not bow.
Mordecai had proved his loyalty to the King. Yet the king will be willing to slay all the Jews because Mordecai did not satisfy Haman’s vanity.
To achieve his goals Haman went to the King to obtain permission to slaughter the Jews. He stated some partial truths, but of course not the whole truth.
10,000 talents of silver would be about 350 tons!
We must be very careful of the influence people have on us and whose advice we take.
Had he alone been threatened for his conduct, that would have been one source of grief. But his conduct had led to a decree of destruction, not just against him or even against his whole family, but it was decreed against all Jews, everywhere.
When we face difficult circumstances, we may grieve that is normal, but ultimately we must trust God for deliverance from the problem.
God may show you the action to take, we must be willing to do it, not to sit on sidelines and watch.
All she could do was to look at the difficulties and see them as obstacles and then make excuses. And she actually had some good arguments and excuses.
Had any of us been in Esther’s place, we would no doubt have also been concerned about these problems. Yet it was also clear that such objections would not relieve her of her duty.
We may fear the problems we may face if we serve God, but we need to have a much greater fear of the consequences we will face if we do not serve God.
It is interesting that many of the bad things we fear never really happen.
If God can use such small things for great good, don’t you think He can use you and me!
PRO 12:15, The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, But a wise man is he who listens to counsel.
“My Father, My GOD is the source of all Joy.”
Among them is Racheal, Rahab, yes Rahab, Ester, and Sarai who became Sarah. Probably more, but you get the picture.
Wisdom and being able to discern the situation and seeing the direction God wants you to go, and then having the determination to do it, That’s the key to a successful outcome.
PRO 17:28, Even a fool, when he holds his peace, is counted as wise: and he that shuts up his lips is esteemed a man of understanding.
PRO 15:1, “A soft answer turns away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger”.
Standing between them is a woman who has the Divine ability to fully understand the situation.
“Think twice before speaking once”.
Is wise advice.
2 ears 1 mouth, listen twice as much as you talk.
Watch how your man treats his mother…not just when your around and watching, but overall, because believe it or not, that has a lot to do with how he will treat you.
The Calebites were attached to the tribe of Judah; and since Judah would be the tribe most loyal to David.
If David had indeed done such a thing, it could have alienated the whole tribe of Judah. Another reason why Abigail and her involvement helped save David from that terrible mistake.
It might seem like David was operating like the mob, but David asking for supplies from Nabal were very much a part of the customs and standards of that time.
Without David’s wall of protection around Nabal’s flocks, there can be little doubt that Nabal’s flocks would have been taken away from him.
Nabal’s response infuriates David. He immediately orders two-thirds of his army (400 men) to strap on their swords and prepare for battle.
And Saul was David's bitter enemy; from Saul, David expected nothing except hatred, or even death; and now, because of a few hard, ugly words,
David felt that nothing but the blood of a whole family could pay for the insult.
Remember David was a warrior, and those 600 men with him were the special forces of the day.
Power only succumbs to power and even then reluctantly.
David’s thought process becomes very evident. He realizes how worthless all his good deeds to Nabal really were.
The thing is that David and his men could have easily done so. They were a powerful force.
The situation with Nabal did not warrant David killing him. He was Jew as well and taking vengeance upon him; as Abigail pointed out, was contrary to God’s law for David so to do.
Nabal was also a descendent of Caleb, so David killing him over this matter would have caused huge issues between the tribes.
In an attempt to ward off the bloodshed and save innocent lives, she asks for the blame to be hers.
What a contrast between Abigail’s wise humility and discernment and Nabal’s foolish pride.
Abigail’s skillful plea for mercy worked.
It was a sling that brought David to the attention of all Israel in his triumph over Goliath.
And she knew the story of David and the giant named Goliath.
Abigail’s wisdom here was surely inspired of God, because, David’s shedding the blood of Nabal would have started a blood feud among the clans.
David humbly received the rebuke of this woman, thanked her and thanked God that she had come to meet him with such a plea.
Nabal was dead wrong, dead drunk, and now dead physically!
Regardless, David remained a man after God’s heart despite all of his failures, and of course that is a lesson we can all learn.