6 And the king said unto Esther at the banquet of wine, What
is thy petition? and it shall be granted thee: and what is thy
request? even to the half of the kingdom it shall be performed. 7 Then
answered Esther, and said, My petition and my request is; 8 If I
have found favour in the sight of the king, and if it please the king to grant
my petition, and to perform my request, let the king and Haman come to the
banquet that I shall prepare for them, and I will do to morrow as the king hath
said. 9 Then went Haman forth that day joyful and with a glad heart:
but when Haman saw Mordecai in the king's gate, that he stood not up, nor moved
for him, he was full of indignation against Mordecai. Esther 5:6-9
The banquet is ready and the food and wine are served.
Still very curious about why the queen would request his presence the king asks
again, “what is your request?”
Esther does not have complete peace. Fasting for wisdom
and guidance from the Lord she knows this is not the time to speak about the
situation regarding her people. Esther quickly asks for another banquet. Again she
requests the presence of both the king and Haman. The king, as we see from
previous chapters, loves a good banquet. He confirms for both of them and I’m
sure Esther starts the preparations right away. This next banquet needs to be
perfect and the time needs to be right for her to brooch the delicate subject.
Imagine the pride that is welling up in Haman. Not just
one banquet but two, he is “beside” himself. Being invited to a private banquet
with just the king and queen, could he be any more special.
Haman’s joy is soon turned to indignation when he sees
Mordecai. Indigation from the Hebrew means heat; figuratively anger,
poison (from its fever): - … In other words, he is so hot with
anger that it makes his blood curdle.
There are a few lessons to be learned from this short
portion of scripture:
1. There are times to speak and there are times to be
quiet.
…
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; Ecclesiastes 3:7
Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear,
slow to speak, slow to wrath: James 1:19
2. Don’t let pride “creep” in
The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after
God: God is not in all his thoughts. Psalm 10:4
When pride
cometh, then cometh shame: but with the lowly is wisdom. Proverbs 11:2
In the mouth of the foolish is a rod of pride: but the lips
of the wise shall preserve them. Proverbs 14:3
Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit
before a fall. Proverbs 16:18
A man's pride shall bring him low: but honour shall uphold the
humble in spirit. Proverbs 29:23
3. Beware of anger
Cease from anger, and forsake wrath: fret not thyself in any wise
to do evil. Psalm 37:8
A wrathful man stirreth up strife: but he that is slow to
anger appeaseth strife. Proverbs 15:18
Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil
speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: Ephesians 4:31
Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry: for anger resteth in the
bosom of fools. Ecclesiastes 7:9
As we travel in our daily life
let’s put on the courage of Esther (#1) not the character of Haman (#2&3).
Have a blessed day,
Donna
No comments:
Post a Comment