SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/13/2011 8:10:19 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
“The
King’s Rage”
Bible Reading
& Meditation Reference: Ester 7:5-8
Message of the verses: “5
King Xerxes asked Queen Esther, "Who is he? Where is the man who has dared
to do such a thing?" 6 Esther said, "The adversary and enemy is this vile Haman." Then
Haman was terrified before the king and queen. 7 The king got up in a rage,
left his wine and went out into the palace garden. But Haman, realizing that
the king had already decided his fate, stayed behind to beg Queen Esther for
his life. 8 Just as the king returned from the palace garden to the banquet
hall, Haman was falling on the couch where Esther was reclining. The king
exclaimed, "Will he even molest the queen while she is with me in the
house?" As soon as the word left the king’s mouth, they covered Haman’s
face.”
In
the verses above we have perhaps the most important thing that will happen in
the entire book of Ester. It is like
listening to a musical masterpiece where the composer of the music brings the
music to a climax that has been hinted to all through the piece and finally
arrives and then the music begins to become lower in volume after this great
crescendo takes place. Yes there will
still be some highs and lows in the music, but none like what has just been
heard.
It
is good to look at this from the prospective of the king and what he may have
been going through his mind at this time.
The king was the man who promoted Haman to the position that he was in
and also the king was part of this conspiracy to kill all of the Jews. Now the king had just spent a very restless
night and to help him sleep had read about the brave thing that Mordecai had
done in saving the life of the king. He
just finds out that his queen is Jewish, and that the man he trusted wanted to
kill her because she was a Jew. Now we
have learned that the king was hot tempered and did not always think before he
acted and so he decides to take a walk in the palace garden to think about what
had just transpired. He surely had a lot
to think about and it was good that he decided to take a walk. While he was gone this “vile Haman” began to beg for his life for he knew that his fate
had already been sealed in the mind of the king, but while this was happening
the king comes back from his walk to see all of this and does not realize what
Haman was doing thinking that he was trying to molest the queen. This alone was worthy of death and so the
king orders Haman to be taken away.
The
last part of verse eight “they covered
Haman’s face” seemed kind of difficult to understand to me and so I looked
at it in different translations and most of them said the same thing. I suppose that this statement means that some
of the king’s guards covered Haman’s face before taking him away. This is what John Gill has to say about this
portion of the eighth verse: “the servants present, as a man unworthy to
see the light; and they took what the king said to amount to a sentence of
condemnation, and that it was his will he should die; and they covered his
face, as condemned malefactors used to be; which was a custom among the Greeks
and Romans, of which many instances may be given {l}; though Aben Ezra says it
was the custom of the kings of Persia, that their servants covered the face of
him the king was angry with, that he might not see his face any more, which was
well known in the Persian writings.” I think this makes this statement clearer and
more easily understood.
I
liked the courage that is seen here by Ester and not mincing her words but
calling Haman “vile Haman.” The hatred that was in the heart of Haman is
now revealed to the king, and it was this hatred that the king did not realize
that caused him to be a part of the law that would have all of the Jews
killed. This same hatred has been part
of many people throughout the history of the world and it comes from the devil
who has hated the Jews ever since they begin back in Genesis twelve, for it was
the Jews who would eventually seal the fate of Satan. God will keep His promise that He made to
Abraham and a part of that promise was that God would curse those who cursed
the Jews. Satan is the one who has been
behind this cursing in every case.
Hitler is one of the recent men who was filled with this hatred that
came from Satan and today the Jews are surrounded by many people with this same
hatred, but there is coming a day when all of these wrongs will be made right
and all of the people with hatred towards the Jews because they are Jews will
face the punishment of Almighty God and will end up where Satan will end up.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: Think before you act is one thing that I can
take away from this section along with not losing my temper. There are times that in the course of human
events that all people get angry and we can see this even when Jesus walked
this earth, however His anger was all justified, and I must admit that mine is
not always and therefore I need to confess it when it happens and then begin
again trusting that God has forgiven me and that I need to again move forward
trusting the Lord.
My Steps of
Faith for Today:
1.
“Be angry and
sin not. Don’t let the sun set on your
anger.”
2.
Continue to learn contentment.
10/13/2011 9:00:39 AM
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