SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/25/2011 7:48:48 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
“His
Ancestry”
Bible Reading
& Meditation Reference: Ester 3:1a
Message of the verse: “1 After
these events King Ahasuerus promoted Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite,”
Today’s
SD begins the third chapter in the book of Ester and also in the commentary of
Warren Wiersbe’s book on Ester “Be Committed.”
He entitles this chapter “An Old enemy With A New Name,” and we are
introduced to another of the characters in this drama, Haman.” Dr Wiersbe writes at the beginning of this
chapter “In which an evil man challenges the throne of Almighty God.” It is good to be reminded of what John
MacArthur describes on in the introduction to his notes from his study Bible on
Ester, and that is that the book of Ester is like a chess game between God and
Satan, and one of the key players on the side of Satan is Haman. Dr. Wiersbe writes “Haman personifies
everybody who has tried to exterminate the people of Israel. This chapter explains to us why Haman was
such a dangerous man.” The first reason
that will show how dangerous he is will be his ancestry, and that will be the
subject of this SD.
Ester
is read out loud in the Synagogues each year during the feasible of Purim, and
when the name of Haman is mentioned the people will stomp their feet and say
“May his name be blotted out.” The
people of God were in great danger because of this man Haman, and yet the
promises of the Lord concerning His keeping of Israel are scattered through all
of Scripture including in the book of Romans in the NT.
I
have mentioned in passing the ancestry of Haman in an earlier SD, but now we
are at the point in the book of Ester where he is mentioned. This chapter takes place four years after
Ester was named queen and all of this time Mordecia was doing the business of
the king at the gate, and now we see that Haman is promoted by the king. In the chess game mentioned above this would
be a move by Satan.
I
wish to start this portion of my SD with a quote from Proverbs that when
watched throughout this book of Ester will describe Haman, and the important
thing to remember is that the things mentioned in this section of Proverbs is
what God HATES. “16 There are six things which
the LORD hates, Yes, seven which are an abomination to Him: 17 Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, And hands that
shed innocent blood, 18 A heart that
devises wicked plans, Feet that run rapidly to evil, 19 A false witness who utters lies, And one who
spreads strife among brothers (Proverbs 6:16-19).
I
have always been a person who loves history and so that makes it easier for me
to study the book of history that is in the OT, of which Ester is the last. When we begin to look at the battle that went
on between Haman and the Jews we must go all the way back to the book of
Genesis for Haman descends from Jacob’s brother Esau. Esau and Jacob never did get a long and when
their mother was pregnant with these two boys God told her that there were two
nations within her womb. The reason that
Rebecca enquired of the Lord about this was because the two boys being formed
in her womb were struggling within her womb and this is the answer that the
Lord gave to her “The LORD said to her,
"Two nations are in your womb; And two peoples will be separated from your
body; And one people shall be stronger than the other; And the older shall
serve the younger.’” (Gen. 25:23) I
would suppose one could say that it was inside the womb of Rebecca that this
battle began for the grandson of Esau was the father of the Amalekites and
there was hatred between these two nations and it began in the womb.
We
move to the book of Exodus and find that while the children of Israel were in
the wilderness that the Amalekites attacked them from the rear, and it was because
of this deed that God promised to destroy them and Moses reminded the children
of Israel of this in Deuteronomy 25:17-19, “17 "Remember what Amalek did to you along
the way when you came out from Egypt, 18
how he met you along the way and attacked among you all the stragglers
at your rear when you were faint and weary; and he did not fear God. 19 "Therefore it shall come about when the
LORD your God has given you rest from all your surrounding enemies, in the land
which the LORD your God gives you as an inheritance to possess, you shall blot out the memory of
Amalek from under heaven; you must not forget.”
We
now move to the book of 1Samuel where the Lord gives orders to King Saul to
destroy the Amalekites, but Saul did not do as the Lord told him to do and
because of this Saul would lose his crown and any chance of a dynasty. There is irony found here for when Saul would
lose his life it was told to David by an Amalekite that he had killed
Saul. Saul was from Benjamin and so was
Mordecia and so this battle would again be fought between an Amalekite and a
descendant of Benjamin. The results
will be different this time.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: As I look at the story of Ester and some of
the stories within the stories I seen the hand of God, and I also see God being
faithful in keeping His promises that He made to Israel and this gives
confidence to me that He will keep His promises to me that were made to those
in His Church.
My Steps of
Faith for Today:
1.
Believe the promises of God, for He is faithful.
2.
Continue the hard road of learning contentment.
9/25/2011 8:46:10 AM
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