Esther 7

A Banquet Turned Sour

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I. INTRODUCTION

A. Last week in our study of Esther, we saw the pride of Haman becoming his own destruction!

1. Haman told Xerxes what he thought the king should do to honor a certain man the king had in mind.

a) The only problem was that his pride and ego wouldn't even let him consider that there could be another man in the kingdom worthy of this honor other than him.

2. So, when the king said, " Esther 6:10... "Hurry, take the robe and the horse, as you have suggested, and do so for Mordecai the Jew who sits within the king's gate! Leave nothing undone of all that you have spoken."

a) Haman became responsible for carrying out his dream in the life of the man he hated the most - Mordecai!

b) Haman's whole life is beginning to unravel right before his own eyes and it is for one reason!

(1) His hatred of Mordecai had blinded him!

(2) He couldn't see that whom he was fighting against was the Lord!

B. As we closed our study last week, the king's attendants had just arrived at Haman's house to take him to the second banquet with the king and queen!

II. TEXT

A. Esther 7:1 (NKJV) So the king and Haman went to dine with Queen Esther.

Esther 7:2 And on the second day, at the banquet of wine, the king again said to Esther, "What [is] your petition, Queen Esther? It shall be granted you. And what [is] your request, up to half the kingdom? It shall be done!"

1. Have you ever been in a situation where, what was really going on was quite different that what you though?

a) This happens often with parents!

(1) We think everything is fine because that is what we are being told. Only to find out later that our child is not the person we were led to believe!!

b) Businesses fail because they don't have a true picture of profit and loss.

2. Most always in life, the opinion we have of ourselves is quite different what other people think of us.

a) Haman is our prime example in the book of Esther.

(1) Until a few hours ago, he thought he was the king's favorite!

(2) Now he is the only one invited to this banquet with the king and queen.

(a) He has to be trying to figure out what is going on in his life.

(b) Haman is going through what is commonly referred to as a "reality check."

(i) His fantasy is about to line up with his reality!

3. The king asks for the third time "What [is] your petition, Queen Esther? It shall be granted you. And what [is] your request, up to half the kingdom? It shall be done!"

B. Esther 7:3 (NKJV) Then Queen Esther answered and said, "If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it pleases the king, let my life be given me at my petition, and my people at my request.

Esther 7:4 "For we have been sold, my people and I, to be destroyed, to be killed, and to be annihilated. Had we been sold as male and female slaves, I would have held my tongue, although the enemy could never compensate for the king's loss."

1. Esther finally mustered up enough courage to tell the king what weighed so heavily on her heart.

a) Remember, a long time ago, at the beauty contest, cousin Mordecai told Esther not to reveal to anyone that she was a Jew!

(1) She proceeds to tell the king that an evil person has sold her and her people, not just into slavery, but unto death!

(a) Haman is probably thinking, "What are the odds that this would happen to Esther's people as well as those rotten Jews that I'm having killed?!?!?

(2) Gracious Esther tells her husband if they had been sold as slaves only, she would not have even bothered the king, but this meant their destruction.

2. The king is furious!

C. Esther 7:5 (NKJV) So King Ahasuerus answered and said to Queen Esther, "Who is he, and where is he, who would dare presume in his heart to do such a thing?"

1. In his mind, he has to be thinking, "Who in their right mind would be stupid enough to have the queen killed?"

a) This reminds me of a story in 2SamChapter 12 when King David had committed adultery with Bathsheba and had her husband Uriah killed in battle.

(1) 2 Samuel 12:1 Then the Lord sent Nathan to David. And he came to him, and said to him: "There were two men in one city, one rich and the other poor.

2 Samuel 12:2 "The rich [man] had exceedingly many flocks and herds.

2 Samuel 12:3 "But the poor [man] had nothing, except one little ewe lamb which he had bought and nourished; and it grew up together with him and with his children. It ate of his own food and drank from his own cup and lay in his bosom; and it was like a daughter to him.

2 Samuel 12:4 "And a traveler came to the rich man, who refused to take from his own flock and from his own herd to prepare one for the wayfaring man who had come to him; but he took the poor man's lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him."

2 Samuel 12:5 So David's anger was greatly aroused against the man, and he said to Nathan, "[As] the Lord lives, the man who has done this shall surely die!

2 Samuel 12:6 "And he shall restore fourfold for the lamb, because he did this thing and because he had no pity."

2 Samuel 12:7 Then Nathan said to David, "You [are] the man!....

(2) Had King Xerxes so quickly forgotten that he had a part in all of this!!

(3) As we have pointed out before, it is much easier to see the sins in others, than to see our own!

(a) But in reality, the king nor Haman completely puts it all together until the next verse.

D. Esther 7:6 (NKJV) And Esther said, "The adversary and enemy [is] this wicked Haman!" So Haman was terrified before the king and queen.

1. What can Haman say? He is caught in the trap of his own hatred and pride.

2. God told His people in Isaiah 54:17 No weapon formed against you shall prosper, And every tongue [which] rises against you in judgment You shall condemn. This [is] the heritage of the servants of the Lord, And their righteousness [is] from Me," Says the Lord.

3. People, America and the world take notice: As J. Vernon McGee said, "God is going to bless those who bless the Jews and curse those who curse the Jews."

a) So it is with those who have placed their faith in Jesus as Savior.

(1) All the injustices will be "righted" when our savior returns!

b) This was a battle Haman couldn't win because he was fighting against the Lord.

(1) We too must pick our battles carefully.

(a) They must be for the sake of righteousness, not because of pride and arrogance!

4. The king is so upset, that he goes out to the garden to put it all together.

E. Esther 7:7 (NKJV) Then the king arose in his wrath from the banquet of wine [and] [went] into the palace garden; but Haman stood before Queen Esther, pleading for his life, for he saw that evil was determined against him by the king.

1. When we are fighting against God, every move we make is a wrong one!

F. Esther 7:8 (NKJV) When the king returned from the palace garden to the place of the banquet of wine, Haman had fallen across the couch where Esther [was]. Then the king said, "Will he also assault the queen while I [am] in the house?" As the word left the king's mouth, they covered Haman's face.

1. It is easy to understand Haman's terror.

a) He was a desperate man, and desperate men do stupid things.

b) He was practically mauling the queen begging for mercy when the king returned from the garden and saw him in physically in contact with Esther.

c) He would have been better off to have followed the king to beg for mercy and explain the situation, but as I said, desperate men do stupid things!

(1) And most importantly, he is fighting against God!

G. Esther 7:9 (NKJV) Now Harbonah, one of the eunuchs, said to the king, "Look! The gallows, fifty cubits high, which Haman made for Mordecai, who spoke good on the king's behalf, is standing at the house of Haman." Then the king said, "Hang him on it!"

Esther 7:10 So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai.Then the king's wrath subsided.

1. Galatians 6:7 tell us:Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.

a) The king become judge and jury and executioner.

b) Matthew 7:1 (NKJV) "Judge not, that you be not judged.

Matthew 7:2 "For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.

Matthew 7:3 "And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?

Matthew 7:4 "Or how can you say to your brother, `Let me remove the speck from your eye'; and look, a plank [is] in your own eye?

III. CONCLUSION

A. Haman had become the judge, jury, and executioner of Mordecai.

1. The Lord just used the same "measuring cup" for him!

2. We must be careful about our judgment of other people because we will be judged with the same "cup."

3. Also, there is another King who is judge, jury, and executioner if He needs to be!

a) So, Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.

b) We must all remember this, we are not getting by with anything!