Bible Study: Esther 7 The Mask Comes Off!

Message for Esther 7             

 Doing God’s Will Whatever the Cost

The Mask Comes Off!

When you walk into a masquerade party of friends and everyone is in full-costume hiding their identity for fun you don’t really mind because you’re among friends…But when you are among concealed friends AND enemies, what then?  The masquerade party is no longer fun, in fact, it’s downright scary!  You know something wicked is afoot, and the unknown is disturbing. 

As it turns out, all people are a mixed bag.  Sometimes a friend, and sometimes enemy. Hopefully, we are mostly a friend!  I say this because we all sin, and when we do we play the role of an enemy, so to speak. We may be operating out of a motive we don’t see, and it could be sinful.  Another word for sinful is wicked, which means evil or morally wrong, so although we may not want to see ourselves in this light, God’s Word defines sin as such.  And when we have impure motives, the enemy will try to use them for destruction.  Then we are exhorted by the Apostle Paul to put on the full armor of God that we might be able to stand against those demonic schemes. 

For he said, “… our struggle is not against ^[a]flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.”  Eph 6:12

 When we get to our Bible story in Esther, we will see a very vivid picture of this very thing, except, Haman, to us readers is the obvious enemy, although not to King Ahasuerus at that time.  Haman’s diabolical plot and his true motives to murder God’s people will get unmasked, however, as all things hidden will eventually be revealed. Jesus said, “For nothing is hidden that will not become evident, nor anything secret that will not be known and come to light.” Luke 8:17

Esther is facing the fact that a sinister enemy has plotted destruction but has hidden truth from the King.  Plans to expose the wickedness are in place, but will it work, or will she fail?

At this point in our story, at banquet #2, Esther is poised firmly to do the right thing, but likely frightened to bring truth to the banquet table. Perhaps she is waiting for not only God’s perfect time but for the courage that comes with it to put forth her request.   She knew her life could be snuffed out at one swift imperial command! What a horrid situation!  If she didn’t come forward and use her position to try and save her people, the consequence would be horrific! 

Previous to chapter 7, we learn Haman’s current circumstance is humbling and troubling to him.  Leading a procession to praise the man he despised was as low as he could go.  Even his family could see God was with Mordecai, but Haman was drunk on himself. He would not relent of his hidden vicious plot, but God would intervene! Let’s look at Esther’s God-given wisdom.

Let’s read Esther 7: 1-6

Now the king and Haman came to drink wine with Esther the queen.² And the king said to Esther on the second day also ^[a]as they drank their wine at the banquet, “What is your petition, Queen Esther? It shall be granted you. And what is your request? Even to half of the kingdom, it shall be done.” ³ Then Queen Esther replied, “If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it pleases the king, let my life be given me as my petition, and mypeople as my request; ⁴ for we have been sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be killed and to be annihilated. Now if we had only been sold as slaves, men and women, I would have remained silent, forthe ^[b]trouble would not be commensurate (proportionate) with the ^[c]annoyance to the king.” ⁵Then King Ahasuerus ^[d]asked Queen Esther, “Who is he, and where is he, ^[e]who would presume to dothis?” ⁶ Esther said, “A foe and an enemy is this wicked Haman!” Then Haman became terrified before the king and queen.

Esther is wise with great tact in making her petition personal. She does not immediately identify herself as a Jew targeted for massacre-even as Haman also hides the identity of the group he targets when he makes his request.

Ahasuerus, lost in the emotional plea from his beloved Esther, could have remembered signing a decree Haman insisted on earlier in the story, but his heart was moved by the wisdom and grace of Queen Esther.  His darling was in danger?!  WHAT?!!  Who would do such a thing to my Esther?! (He may have thought)

Esther reminds the king of the decree he had approved to wipe out the Jewish nation.  In fact, her words are almost verbatim from the decree. (3:13).  Ahasuerus now realizes he had unwittingly consented to her murder!

Esther continues by pointing out that the king has been paid to issue this decree (vv9-11). “If he sold the Jews as slaves, such a payment might have been just.  ‘I would have kept quiet’. ‘Why bother the King with that?’  she said, ‘But to sell them to death and total destruction was something for which nobody had enough money.’  The Queen bravely interceded for her people.

 Perhaps she remembered Prov. 16:3-4, “Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.  The Lord works out everything for His own ends—even the wicked for a day of disaster”. ~Be Committed by Warren Wiersbe

At her revelation, the King became furious and strode out into the garden palace to think and calm down. What shall I do??

“Now we can better understand why God directed Esther to delay her pleas: He wanted to give Ahasuerus opportunity to learn what Mordecai had done, that Mordecai was a Jew, and that he deserved to be honored. If a Jew has saved the king’s life, why should the king exterminate the Jews?

We’ve already learned that Ahasuerus was a man with a short temper (1:12), but on this occasion, his anger must have been volcanic.  His masculine pride was hurt because he had misjudged the character of Haman.  He had made a fool of himself by promoting Haman and by giving him so much influence.  The king also erred in approving the decree without first weighing all the facts. (Prov. 18:13).  As a result, he had endangered the lives of two very special Jews—Mordecai, who had saved his life, and Esther, his beloved wife.”  Be committed by Warren Wiersbe

No doubt he was pacing out in the garden to cool off.  The anger of a king has severe consequence as we’ve seen in the book of Esther thus far, and in Prov. 16:14, “The wrath of a king is as messengers of death” and also “The king's wrath is as the roaring of a lion” (19:12)  No wonder Haman became terrified.  He must have been white as a ghost with blood drained from his face

!

Perhaps Haman had one last chance?!  Could he plead for mercy from the Queen? Perhaps he could tug on her heartstrings and gain pity.   But Esther knew Haman was a tool of the devil determined to destroy her Jewish people.  And had Haman known Esther was a Jew, he may have cleverly worded the decree to exclude her!  But God was in control of that!   It was Haman’s hatred for the Queen’s cousin Mordecai that started the whole conspiracy (Est. 3:5-6), but Esther wasn’t about to abandon the one man who had meant so much to her”

And we see what a bully’s character really is at the core; a coward! When the authority of the king was behind him, he could strut around, demand respect and give orders, but now that the anger of the king was against him, Haman’s true character was exposed.  He was not a giant; he was only a  midget full of pride and hot air! And all the king's horses and all the king's men, couldn’t put Haman’s life back together again.  Haman was so controlled by pride and malice that he was blind to the dangers that lay ahead~ Be Committed

Now, we’ll see how God sets Haman up because of his inflated sense of self-worth. Pride goes before a fall, we recall.

Let’s continue reading Esther 7:7-10

The king arose in his anger from drinking wine and went into the palace garden; but Haman stayed to beg for his life from Queen Esther, for he saw that harm had been determined against him by the king. 8Now when the king returned from the palace garden into the place where they were drinking wine, Haman was falling on the couch where Esther was. Then the king said,

“Will he even assault the queen with me in the house?”

As the word went out of the king’s mouth, they covered Haman’s face. 9Then Harbonah, one of the eunuchs who were before the king said,

“Behold indeed, the gallows standing at Haman’s house fifty cubits high, which Haman made for Mordecai who spoke good on behalf of the king!”

 And the king said, “Hang him on it.” 

So they hanged Haman on the gallows which he had prepared for Mordecai, and the king’s anger subsided.

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Prov. 11:8, “The righteous is delivered from trouble, and it comes to the wicked instead.”  We see this was definitely true and played out in this chapter.

Now, Haman may or may not have been aware of his motives.  I wonder if he was even aware of his hatred for Mordecai?  The Bible tells us that sin blinds. 1 John 2:11 But anyone who hates another brother or sister is still living and walking in darkness. Such a person does not know the way to go, having been blinded by the darkness.  So, likely Haman was oblivious to his sinful state of mind and heart as are some people to this day.

This includes motives or hidden intents of the heart.

So we now know motive is an underlying reason for any action. Proverbs 16:2 says, “All a person’s ways seem pure to them, but motives are weighed by the LORD.” Because the human heart is very deceitful (Jeremiah 17:9), we can easily fool ourselves about our own motives. We can pretend that we are choosing certain actions for God or the benefit of others when in reality we may have selfish reasons. God is not fooled by our selfishness and is “a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12).

Motivations vary and are sometimes negative. Pride, anger, revenge, a sense of entitlement, or the desire for approval can all be catalysts for our actions. Any motivation that originates in our sinful flesh is not pleasing to God (Romans 8:8). God even evaluates the condition of our hearts when we give offerings to Him (2 Corinthians 9:7). Selfish motives can hinder our prayers. James 4:3 says, “When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.” Because our hearts are so deceitful, we should constantly evaluate our own motives and be willing to be honest with ourselves about why we are choosing a certain action.

We can even preach and minister from impure motives (Philippians 1:17), but God is not impressed (Proverbs 21:27). Jesus spoke to this issue in Matthew 6:1 when He said, “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.” Those involved in ministry must stay alert to this tendency because ministry begun for pure reasons can quickly devolve into selfish ambition if we do not guard our hearts (Proverbs 4:23).

So what is the right motivation? First Thessalonians 2:4 says, “Our purpose is to please God, not people. He alone examines the motives of our hearts” (NLT). God is interested in our motives even more than our actions. First Corinthians 4:5 says that, when Jesus comes again, “he will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart. At that time each will receive their praise from God.” God wants us to know that He sees what no one else sees. He knows why we do what we do and desires to reward those whose hearts are right toward Him. We can keep our motives pure by continually surrendering every part of our hearts to the control of the Holy Spirit.

Here are some specific questions to help us evaluate our own motives:

1. If no one ever knows what I am doing (giving, serving, sacrificing), would I still do it?
2. If there was no visible payoff for doing this, would I still do it?
3. Would I joyfully take a lesser position if God asked me to?
4. Am I doing this for the praise of others or how it makes me feel?
5. If I had to suffer for continuing what God has called me to do, would I continue?
6. If others misunderstand or criticize my actions, will I stop?
7. If those whom I am serving never show gratitude or repay me in any way, will I still do it?
8. Do I judge my success or failure based upon my faithfulness to what God has asked me to do, or how I compare with others?

Jesus reminds us in Matthew 23, that the Pharisees were a mixed bag of motives too.  The religious leaders demanded others to obey God’s laws, but their objective was to LOOK righteous. But Jesus saw their hearts and motives; they did their deeds to be seen.  But Jesus didn't call them out to condemn them, but to bring them to repentance and restoration.

Personal satisfaction, such as taking a vacation or winning a competition, are not wrong in themselves. Motivation becomes an issue when we are not honest with ourselves about why we are doing things. When we give the outward appearance of obeying God but our hearts are hard, God knows. We are deceiving ourselves and others, too.

Study in God’s Word is a key element in exposing our motives. Hebrews 4:12 says, ”For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.”

The only way we can operate from pure motives is when we “walk in the Spirit” (Galatians 5:16, 25). When we allow Him to control every part of us, then our desire is to please Him and not ourselves. Our flesh constantly clamors to exalt itself, and only when we walk in the Spirit will we not gratify those desires of our flesh. ~https://www.gotquestions.org/Bible-motives.html

 God is long-suffering and will give time to repent once we see a muddied motive.  Some will interpret this season of “time” as that God will not deal with that issue.  But it is critical we repent and give God a freshly surrendered self, otherwise, He will allow a circumstance to be used as a disciplinary tool to move us toward repentance.  

 And although we are all a mixed bag of motives and all stumble in some manner even as followers of Christ, he doesn’t condemn us, but offers forgiveness. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Romans 8:1

We’ve also seen that when evil is on the loose, the right thing to do is seek God and pray and sometimes necessary to fast.  Sometimes for wisdom in dealing with it, sometimes in deliverance for someone from it, sometimes for protection from it, sometimes for endurance.  And although God can change circumstances without our involvement, He loves to work with us and teach us to overcome!  “For we are laborers together with God…~ I Cor. 3:9

Our Take away is;

1.     Motives wear masks.

2.     Everyone has hidden motives.

3.     Unexposed motives can leave us vulnerable.

4.     The devil looks to use our vulnerabilities.

5.     The devil seeks to use unrepentant places of the heart.

6.     Sinfull motives will lead to some kind of destruction.

7.     We are all a work in progress.

8.      God is patient.

9.      God is love.

10.  There is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the   Spirit. 

11. The Word of God is alive and able to expose our innermost desires and intents

12. The blood of Christ is sufficient to wash away ALL sin when confessed to Him.

13. Walking in the Spirit is the answer.

14.  If we walk in the Spirit, we won’t gratify the desires of the flesh.

Let’s pray:  Dear heavenly Father,  We are thankful for your Word that shines a light into the dark motives of our heart.  We are thankful you are love and therefore patient with us.  We don’t have to experience condemnation, but if we do, it’s not from you.  We are thankful we can confess any hidden motives you reveal to us and be washed clean by your blood, Jesus! We ask for help to walk in the Spirit so we don’t gratify the desires of the flesh.  In Jesus Name! Amen.