In the sermon 'The Demonic Plot Against the Seed,' Jason Dohm explores the events of Esther chapter 3, emphasizing the historical and theological context. The chapter describes how Haman, promoted by King Ahasuerus, seeks to annihilate the Jews after Mordecai refuses to bow to him due to his Jewish heritage. Dohm connects this with the curse from Genesis 3, illustrating the ongoing spiritual battle between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent, symbolized by the line of Jesus Christ. The sermon delves into the history of the Amalekites, tracing back to their attacks on the Israelites in Exodus and God's command to Saul in 1 Samuel to destroy them. Dohm argues that both God and the devil are present in Esther, orchestrating events behind the scenes. Despite God's name not being mentioned in the book, His sovereignty ensures the preservation of His people. The sermon underscores the importance of not assimilating into ungodly cultures, even when faced with persecution, and reflects on the divine justice and mercy exemplified in God's redemptive plan.

Esther chapter 3. After these things, King Ahasuerus promoted Haman, the son of Hamadatha the Acogite, and advanced him and set his seat above all the princes who were with him. And all the king's servants who were within the king's gate bowed and paid homage to Haman. For so the king had commanded concerning him, but Mordecai would not bow or pay homage. Then the king's servants who were within the king's gate said to Mordecai, why do you transgress the king's command?

Now it happened when they spoke to him daily and he would not listen to them that they told it to Haman to see whether Mordecai's words would stand. For Mordecai had told them that he was a Jew. When Haman saw that Mordecai did not bow or pay him homage, Haman was filled with wrath. But he disdained to lay hands on Mordecai alone, for they had told him of the people of Mordecai. Instead, Haman sought to destroy all the Jews who were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus, the people of Mordecai.

In the first month, which is the month of Nisan, in the twelfth year of King Ahasuerus, they cast Pur that is the Lot before Haman to determine the day and the month until it fell in the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar. Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, there is a certain people scattered and dispersed among the people in all the provinces of your kingdom. Their laws are different from all other peoples, and they do not keep the king's laws. And therefore, it is not fitting for the king to let them remain. If it pleases the king, let a decree be written that they be destroyed, and I will pay 10, 000 talents of silver into the hands of those who do the work to bring it into the King's treasuries.

So the King took his signet ring from his hand and gave it to Haman, the son of Hamadatha, the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews. And the king said to Haman, the money and the people are given to you to do with them, it seems good to you. Then the king's scribes were called on the 13th day of the first month and a decree was written according to all that Haman commanded to the King satraps to the governors who were over each province to the officials of all people to every province according to its script and to every people in their language. In the name of King Ahasuerus, it is written and sealed with a king's signet ring. And the letters were sent by couriers into all the king's provinces to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate all the Jews, both young and old, little children and women in one day.

On the 13th day of the of the 12th month, which is the month of Adar, and to plunder their possessions. A copy of the document was to be issued as law in every province being published for all people. That they should be ready for that day. The couriers went out, hastened by the king's command, and the decree was proclaimed in Shushan, the citadel. So the king and Haman sat down to drink, but the city of Shushan was perplexed." The title of the sermon this morning is The Demonic Plot Against the Seed.

You don't have demons anywhere in the chapter. It doesn't talk about seed anywhere in the chapter. But I'm seizing on language from the curse in Genesis chapter 3 when sin came into the world and our race was plunged into sin and death. And As God pronounces a curse on the serpent and the woman and the man, here's what he says to the serpent. God says, and I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed.

And he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel." The translators, I think rightly, capitalize seed, meaning this is Jesus that is spoken of. So there's going to be throughout the millennia, throughout the thousands of years, an attempt by Satan, the enemy of souls, to stamp out the line of Jesus Christ. As you look across redemptive history, you see this happening again and again. In the introduction sermon to the book of Esther, I mention Herod's slaughter of all the infant boys in and around Bethlehem. And it's just one manifestation of many of this battle against the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent.

Even though God is not spoken of across the whole book of Esther, I keep saying that you will not find God referenced at all in any of the ten chapters of Esther. And yet, he is in every chapter of Esther. He is behind the stringing together of all these little events in order to work together perfectly for the salvation of his people. That is God. He is behind every one of those.

If you can't see that, you are blind as a bat. So God's name isn't referenced, but He is on every page. He is in every chapter. But it is the same with the devil here as well. He is never named, but He is here.

This is the battle of the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. And it's everywhere in redemptive history. As we go to this chapter, Let's ask the Lord to help us. God, we pray that You would please, please, give us deep insight into Your Word. That You would allow us to go beneath the surface of the good things that are even on the surface, but to go into the depth of the things that you've given us in this chapter.

Thank you that you are behind every little thing that happens in this book. We know that you are the sovereign, king, ruling over all things. This is our great comfort and the source of our joy. Thank you. In Jesus' name, Amen.

So first, before we go to the chapter, I think it's essential that we must understand the national histories. So if you're taking notes on the handout and you're filling in blanks, there's two blanks and they're national histories. I'm actually going to take us, to give us the historical background for these 15 verses, I'm going to take us through 47 verses. So I hope you're in for paying attention to some extended readings of Scripture. But I don't think that you can understand Esther chapter 3 to any depth unless you have the history that is behind the circumstances that we have in our chapter.

So I'm going to take you first to Exodus chapter 17. Please turn to Exodus chapter 17. Exodus chapter 14, just a few chapters earlier, is the Red Sea crossing. So the people of God, the Israelites, have just been delivered from slavery to Pharaoh, and just been miraculously delivered through the Red Sea. They walked right through on dry ground.

And this happens roughly in the year 1450 BC. So the Red Sea crossing, that's not exact. I'm rounding here because I don't think there's value in being more precise than that. So just say roughly 1450 BC is the Red Sea Crossing. And this is not a people who are ready for war.

These are people who have just come out with all of their young, their old, their warriors, but their warriors are with the women and the children and the elderly. And This is really the people of God at their weakest and most vulnerable. So this is where we are in Exodus 17. And I'll be reading verses 8-16. Now Amalek are descendants from Esau.

Now Amalek came and fought with Israel in Rephidim. And Moses said to Joshua, choose some men and go out and fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in my hand." So Joshua did as Moses said to him and fought with Amalek. And Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. So it was when Moses held up his hand that Israel prevailed, and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed.

But Moses' hands became heavy, so they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it and Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side and the other on the other side, and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. So Joshua defeated Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword. Then the Lord said to Moses, write this for a memorial in the book and recount it in the hearing of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. And Moses built an altar and called its name, the Lord is my banner, for he said, because the Lord has sworn the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation. So here the people of God, they've been delivered, but they are at their weakest and they don't engage with Amalek.

Amalek comes and attacks them at their weakest and their most vulnerable. In fact, earlier in the chapter, they don't even have a water source. They don't even have a water source, so God miraculously gives them water. And Amalek seizing on their vulnerability attacks them, And we'll find as we go to Deuteronomy that they were actually trying to pick off the weak from the end of the procession of the people of God. So God promises to utterly blot out the remembrance of the Amalekites from the face of the earth and God swears that He will conduct a war against them from generation to generation.

Now turn to Deuteronomy chapter 25. Fast forward to Deuteronomy chapter 25. This is at the end of the 40 years of wilderness wandering. In the interim the people had refused to go in and possess the promised land because of their unbelief, their lack of faith. And God has said, anyone 20 years and older is going to die in the wilderness, and so it is.

But now those people have died off, and it's time to go in. And Deuteronomy is the second giving of the law, where God gives them the law again, right before they are brought into the promised land by Joshua. This would be roughly 1410 BC. I'll be reading Deuteronomy 25, 17-19. This is just right in the middle of the giving of the law.

This is part of the giving of the law about a host of different categories. Deuteronomy 25 verse 17. Remember what Amalek did to you on the way as you were coming out of Egypt. How he met you on the way and attacked your rear ranks, all the stragglers at your rear when you were tired and weary and he did not fear God. Therefore, it shall be when the LORD your God has given you rest from your enemies all around in the land which the Lord your God is giving you to possess as an inheritance, that you will blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.

You shall not forget." this is right along with all the other laws. Don't forget about Amalek and that I have promised to conduct a war against the Amalekites from generation to generation. When I bring you into the promised land and I give you rest from all your enemies, then it's going to be time to reckon with Amalek and the Amalekites. You will blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven." And then it ends with these four words, you shall not forget. This is part of the commandments of God given in the second giving of the law in Deuteronomy, You shall not forget what Amalek did to you.

What can be said other than wow. Wow. Now turn to 1 Samuel chapter 15. 1 Samuel chapter 15. Israel has been brought into the promised land and then you have this terrible period under the judges where everyone is doing what is right in his own eyes.

And the people ask for a king. And God knows this is actually the asking of the king is actually a rejection of God as king. But he gives them what they ask for. He gives them Saul. And Saul is very successful militarily, and God really does through this king give Israel victory over many of their enemies.

This would be around 1030 BC. So it's been maybe 400 years since the people have been brought into the promised land. I'll be reading all of 1 Samuel chapter 15. 1 Samuel 15 verse 1. Reading all of 1 Samuel 15.

Samuel also said to Saul, The Lord sent me to anoint you king over his people over Israel. Now therefore heed the voice of the words of the LORD. Thus says the LORD of hosts, I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, how he ambushed them on the way when he came up from Egypt. Now go and attack Amalek and utterly destroy all that they have and do not spare them. Kill both man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey." Now hopefully at this point, I'm giving you a parenthesis here, hopefully at this point you're already thinking forward to Esther chapter 3 and this command to annihilate men, women, children, young, old.

Women, children, young, old. Verse 4. So Saul gathered the people together and numbered them in Teleum, two hundred thousand foot soldiers and ten thousand men of Judah. And Saul came to a city of Amalek and lay in wait in the valley. Then Saul said to the Kenites, Go, depart, get down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them.

For you showed kindness to all the children of Israel when they came up out of Egypt." So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites. And Saul attacked the Amalekites from Havila all the way to Shur, which is east of Egypt. He also took Agag, king of the Amalekites, alive and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good, and were unwilling to utterly destroy them but everything despised and worthless that they utterly destroyed. Now the word of the Lord came to Samuel saying I greatly regret that I have set up Saul as king, for he has turned back from following me, and has not performed my commandments." And he grieved Samuel, and he cried out to the Lord all night.

So when Samuel rose early in the morning to meet Saul, it was told Samuel, saying, Saul went to Carmel, and indeed he set up a monument for himself, and he has gone on around, passed by, and gone down to Gilgal. Then Samuel went to Saul, and Saul said to him, Blessed are you of the Lord, I have performed the commandment of the Lord." But Samuel said, What then is this bleeding of sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear? And Saul said, they have brought them up from the Amalekites, for the people spared the best of the sheep and the oxen to sacrifice to the Lord your God, and the rest we have utterly destroyed. And Samuel said to Saul, be quiet, and I will tell you what the Lord said to me last night. Can you imagine saying that to the king?

Be quiet. He said to him, speak on. Verse 17, So Samuel said, When you were little in your own eyes, were you not head of the tribes of Israel? And did not the Lord anoint you king over Israel? Now the Lord sent you on a mission and said, go and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.

Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? Why did you swoop down on the spoil and do evil in the sight of the Lord?' And Saul said to Samuel, but I have obeyed the voice of the Lord and gone on the mission which the Lord sent me and brought back Agag king of Amalek. I have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. But the people took the plunder, sheep and oxen, the best of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal. So Samuel said, Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord?

Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice and to heed than the fat of rams. For Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He has also rejected you from being king." Then Saul said to Samuel, I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice. Now therefore, please pardon my sin, and return with me that I may worship the Lord." But Samuel said to Saul, I will not return with you, for you have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel." Samuel turned around to go away. And as Samuel turned around to go away, Saul seized the edge of his robe and tore it.

So Samuel said to him, The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to a neighbor of yours who is better than you. And also, the strength of Israel will not lie nor relent, for he is not a man that he should relent. Then he said, I have sinned, yet honor me now please before the elders of my people and before Israel return with me that I may worship the Lord your God. So Samuel turned back after Saul and Saul worshiped the Lord. Then Samuel said, bring Agag, king of the Amalekites, here to me.

So Agag came to him cautiously and Agag said, surely the bitterness of death is past. But Samuel said, as your sword has made women childless, so shall your mother be childless among women." And Samuel hacked Agag and pieces before the Lord in Gilgal. Then Samuel went to Rama, and Saul went up to his house at Gibeah of Saul, and Samuel went no more to see Saul until the day of his death. Nevertheless, Samuel mourned for Saul, and the Lord regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel. This chapter ends with Samuel as an act of worship hacking Agag to death.

Do you know of another phrase in the Bible that rivals this one for strangeness? Samuel hacked Agag in pieces before the Lord as an act of obedience and worship. He hacks this king to death. To remedy Saul's disobedience for not having done it. When God clearly said, don't forget, completely annihilate the Amalekites.

God promised a war from generation to generation. Now, something we don't learn from this chapter is that some of the Amelikites escaped. They weren't completely annihilated. Because here in Esther chapter 3, 500 years later, we have an Agagite, a descendant of Agag. The author of Esther is careful to establish these two genealogies.

We know the genealogical roots of two people in the book of Esther. Who are they? Mordecai, a Benjamite, we learned that in chapter 2, he's a Benjamite, whose great grandfather's name was Kish. Now Kish is the father of Saul, so this is probably a frequent, a popular name among the Benjamites, probably. Now There are some commentators who say it's actually Kish, and it's skipping generations to let you know that he is of the line of Saul.

I think there are problems with that view. So I take the view that it's just a family name. If you're a Benjamite, you might be named Kish, because It's a popular name within the Benjamites. And it was Saul's father's name. In any case, that name, Kish, should hyperlink you to Saul.

And being a Benjamite. And what happened here in 1 Samuel 15? And you're given the genealogical roots, the family tree of Haman. He's an Agagite. He's an Amelikite.

Our year in Esther chapter 3 is probably 474 BC. It's almost a thousand years since the Amalekites attacked the people coming out of Egypt. It's more than 500 years since 1 Samuel 15 where Samuel commands Saul to go take the people and wipe out the Amalekites. So It's been either a thousand years or 500 years, depending on the event. But our Israelite hasn't forgotten.

Our Amelite hasn't forgotten either. This is the historical background of Esther chapter 3. Now let's recap Esther chapter 3. Esther became Queen in chapter 2 in the seventh year of Ahasuerus' reign. We have that time marker in chapter 2 verse 16.

Now it's the twelfth year. We have this time marker in chapter 3 verse 9. It's the twelfth year, So five years have passed. Esther has been queen for something like five years. In the interim, Haman, a descendant of Agag and Amalekite, has been promoted to second in the kingdom.

He's been advanced before, preferred before, all the other princes of the Persian Empire. Chapter 2 ended with Mordecai saving the king. He has heard of a plot against the king at the hands of two disgruntled eunuchs who intended to lay hands on him. It means they intended to kill him. They intended to assassinate him.

Mordecai sends word through Esther And Esther tells the king and attributes the information to Mordecai. She is careful to do that. And the king investigates and it is true and they hang these two eunuchs on the gallows. It probably means they impaled them. And There is no recognition for Mordecai in chapter 2.

We talked last week about how unusual that is, about how the kings of Persia particularly did not want to be in debt to any man and they wanted to make sure every act of loyal service was generously rewarded to keep the loyal service coming. It makes sense. We don't know why Haman was promoted, but we do know this. He's vastly different from Mordecai. Mordecai is a servant of the empire.

That's what it means when it says that he sits within the gates. These would have been the official servants of the empire. And We know that Haman is very rich. We know that from this chapter when he offers the king 10, 000 talents of silver. We know that from chapter 5 when he's mad at Mordecai, but he restrains himself and he goes home and he calls his friends and his wife together to talk about how rich he is and how the king loves him.

So he's got ways to make him feel better. The king gives a command. The command is that the servants within the gate were to bow and to pay homage to Haman. Haman's been elevated to such a point that he is to receive physical signs of homage when he passes by the servants of the king. And the servants of the king faithfully do both.

They bow and they pay homage, but Mordecai doesn't either. He doesn't bow and he doesn't pay homage, and he's not going to, and he won't. And he doesn't. Was Mordecai justified? Or not justified?

Was he right in doing this, or wrong in doing this. We don't really know enough from the text. Kings often demanded to be worshiped as deity, as God. We see this even in this kingdom in Daniel chapter 6. In Daniel chapter 6 there is a decree, no one is to petition any god or man for 30 days except the king.

We have a king, King Darius in Daniel chapter 6, claiming the right to be worshiped as God. And this is in the somewhat recent past. There's precedent in historical accounts of kings demanding this same thing for very few of their favorites. This could be what's happening here. Linguistically, this is very possible.

When we see the word that's been rendered bow, and when we see the word that's been rendered pay homage, joined together in the Old Testament, very often it is in the context of worship. Not respect for a ruler, but actual worship. But it's not always used that way. So that may be, but does not have to be, what's happening here. It could simply be because Mordecai is a Jew, and it's been drilled into him.

Do not forget what Amalek did. God has promised a wage of war against the Amalekites from generation to generation. So he's utterly incapable of bowing down to a descendant of Agag. It could have been that. For what it's worth, that's my view.

That's what I think is happening here. But it doesn't matter. If you have a different view, you might be right. Whatever the circumstances and whatever the reason, it's attributed. Mordecai attributes it to the fact that he's a Jew.

Mordecai says, I'm a Jew, I just can't do it because I am a Jew. Look at verse 4, we are back in Esther chapter 3. Look at verse 4, now it happened when they, his co-workers for the empire, the fellow servants of the empire spoke to him daily and he would not listen to them, that they told it to Haman to see whether Mordecai's words would stand. For Mordecai had told them that he was a Jew. So day after day they've been confronting Mordecai.

We're supposed to bow and pay homage. Why won't you bow and pay homage? And he says, I'm a Jew! And this is what they tell to Haman. Also look at the beginning of verse 6.

But he, Haman, disdained to lay hands on Mordecai alone, for they had told him of the people of Mordecai. So it's very clear from the text that at the roots of Mordecai, not bowing down and paying homage to Haman, is his Jewishness. This is about his standing among the people of God. Three comments I would like to make here. First, Vashti found out how quickly a simple individual refusal could become a matter of state.

This is exactly where we are seeing a replay of this. You just have a simple individual, like just me, I'm not leading a bunch of people, just me, but the king says you bow and pay homage and I'm just not going to do it. I'm not doing it. It can become a matter of state. In other words, the state, the authorities view it that if I let this go with you there will be no end to it.

If we let Mordecai not bow and pay homage even though the king has been commanded to it, what's to stop the next person from saying, I don't want to pay my taxes. I don't have to do what the king says to do. So that's first. Vashti found out how quickly a simple individual refusal could become a matter of state. That's exactly what's happening here.

Two. What did Pharaoh do when Moses and Aaron first came to him and said, God told us to tell you to let His people go so that they can worship. Did he say, off with their heads, just put Moses and Aaron to death? No, That's not what he did. What did he do?

He said, tell the task masters not to give our Israelite slaves any more hay and there's no reduction in the quota for bricks. So he puts the pressure on Moses and Aaron indirectly by bringing pressure to bear on the people. Knowing How highly successful that is as a way to spitefully increase the sorrow on your adversaries. Like if you want to get at parents, you put pressure on their kids. This is a form of what's happening here.

Third, Haman's people had been all but annihilated by the Jews. And now, here is a golden opportunity to return the favor. Here's what's really happening here. Mordecai, as a Jew, is a representative of the people that hacked his forebears to death as an act of worship and put to death his ancestors And now he's the second most powerful man in an empire that spans 3, 000 miles. And the tables have turned.

But Haman isn't 100% sure if he can pull it off without the gods and the fates. And so he consults the Lot. It would be like rolling the dice. He rolls the dice. Here's what a study note in the Nelson Study Bible says.

It really sheds light on this. The fact that the Lot was cast at the beginning of the year, first month, to determine the best time to destroy the Jewish people fits with the culture of the day. The Babylonian religion maintained that the gods gathered at the beginning of each year to establish the destiny of human beings. Here it is, first month. Roll the dice.

The gods are meeting right now to decide what to do with us for the rest of the year. This is Babylonian religion. Of course the Persian Empire has swallowed up Babylon along with their customs and practices. They cast lots in the first month. The lot tells them the month to annihilate the Jews is the 12th month of the 13th day.

This is going to be very important. 11 months to the day from the decree. So that's our timeline. So with that in hand, knowing from the gods and the fates, the ideal day to accomplish this, Haman goes to the king. There's no mention at all of access problems.

That's really easy to miss. It just says, Haman says to the king. Well, what about in the next chapter when Esther wants to say something to the king? She's risking her life. It's against the law and if he doesn't extend his scepter it will cost her his life.

There's not even a hint of that here. He just goes to talk to the king. This tells you the standing that Haman has with King Ahasuerus. There's no biting of the fingernails over will the king receive me or not. He just goes to talk to the king.

He doesn't mention Mordecai at all. In speaking to the king, he completely depersonalizes it. There's this nameless people. There's a certain people, it's really neither here nor there, who they are, but they're sprinkled throughout all 127 provinces of your kingdom. Verse 8, he says, they are scattered and dispersed.

Now, the word that is rendered dispersed, if you go to the Greek lexicon, here is what you see. To separate, to divide. So our translators in the New King James have rendered that dispersed and there's nothing wrong with it. They're taking the sense that They're scattered and dispersed. They're divided up.

But I think a better, more accurate sense of that word is that they're separate. The sense being, they're unassimilated. That's the problem with these people. They're unassimilated. And that is a great crime against the empire.

I mean, you have to understand this historically. 200 years before Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian, took Judah into captivity in three waves. The Assyrians came and took the northern kingdom, Israel, into captivity. And then of course the Babylonians overwhelmed the Assyrians and so the Assyrian Empire was absorbed into the Babylonian Empire, and then the Babylonian Empire was absorbed into the Persian Empire. But all these empires had this in common in their conquering.

The point of taking into captivity was assimilation. That's why you couldn't leave them in their homeland. Because if you leave them in their homes, in their land, They won't learn to be subjects of the empire. They'll live the same old way with the same old customs. And they won't have the right regard for the customs of the empire.

The whole purpose of exile is assimilation. And it really is a crime in the eyes of the empire if you don't assimilate. And Haman's saying, you've got a people sprinkled across 127 provinces and they won't assimilate. They don't like your laws, they like their laws. And over this period of time, they've kept their laws and won't obey your law.

They're like leaven. They're sprinkled here and there throughout your empire. And if you leave them be, they'll spread like leaven. That's essentially what is being argued here by Haman to the king. Of course, Jesus would say the people of God should be like Levin.

He's right for all the wrong reasons. The People of God should be the best citizens of any country where they are, assuming you don't want to be worshipped like God. They can't do that. Otherwise they should be great citizens. In reading about the death and resurrection of Jesus in Luke chapter 23 last night.

This is exactly what they said about Jesus. They bring Jesus before Pontius Pilate and say, He teaches against your laws and He doesn't want us paying taxes. In Acts chapter 16, this is exactly what they said about the Apostle Paul. This is exactly what always gets said about Christians. They won't play along well with the culture that we're trying to build here.

Matthew Henry says this, the enemies of God's people could not give them such bad treatment as they do if they did not first give them a bad name." Exactly right. That's exactly what's happening here. Haman gives them the bad name, he slanders them, so that he can mistreat them. The king will believe that the mistreatment is justified. Verse 8, Therefore it is not fitting for the king to let them remain.

Haman draws the conclusion for him. It's not fitting, it's not right that you let these people who are sprinkled throughout your kingdom to remain. And before the king can judge that statement on its own for himself, he offers him 10, 000 talents of silver for the king's treasury to pay for this and much much more. This is a tremendous amount of wealth. Now there is a Hebrew talent and there is a Babylonian talent and there is a talent of Greece and so there is lots of speculation about how much this is.

It's a whole lot. It's a fortune beyond your wildest imagination. It's Bill Gates money. All we need to know for our understanding of Esther chapter 3 is it's Bill Gates money. Bill Gates founded Microsoft.

He's top two in richest man in the world. And This is music to the king's ears. This tips the scales for the king. Historically what we know is that his failed campaign to invade Greece was very expensive. Then he came back and he never stopped spending.

He started building project after building project after building project after building project. And he was having to deal with revolts from all the taxation that was required for that. And he didn't care. He just kept building. This is what is happening historically in the background.

And so the thought of 10, 000 talents coming into the treasury is music to the king's ears. Verse 11 sounds like the king turns down the money. He says the money and the people are given to you. But I don't think that's actually a correct understanding. Look at chapter 4 verse 7.

In chapter 4 verse 7, Esther has sent one of the eunuchs to communicate with Mordecai, her cousin. And here's chapter 4 verse 7, and Mordecai told him all that had happened to him, and the sum of money that Haman had promised to pay into the king's treasuries to destroy the Jews. So it sounds like the plan is on for the money to flow into the treasury. And in chapter 7 Verse 4, when Esther is pleading with the king, she says, "'For we have been sold by people and I to be destroyed.'" It sounds like the plan is on for the 10, 000 talents of silver to flow into the treasury. The king is convinced.

That's good enough for me. You said it. Sounds bad. Let's annihilate a people. This is just unthinkable isn't it?

No due process, no due diligence is done, he just hands over his signet ring, which is essentially the power of attorney. The ability to do on behalf of the king as you see fit. It's like receiving a blank check from the king. Look at verse 12, the first part of verse 12. Then the king's scribes were called on the thirteenth day of the first month.

When did they cast lots? In the first month. So sometime in the first month they've cast lots and then he's gone to speak to the king, and then the king has agreed, and now they're calling for the scribe, and it's the thirteenth day of the month. Here's what Matthew Henry says, see how restless the malice of the church's enemies is. It will spare no pains.

It will lose no time. No sooner has the king decided that this can be done than Haman is calling for the scribes. Isn't that true what Matthew Henry says? See how restless the malice of the church's enemies is. Brothers and sisters, we cannot lose sight of this.

That's not just true in Esther chapter 3. It's promised in Genesis chapter 3 that The seed of the serpent is going to be a mortal enemy of the seed of the woman. And so it is in Esther chapter 3 and so it is in Youngsville in 2017. There is a restless malice that will spare no expense and will waste no time. And will waste no time.

By the way, the 13th day of Nisan, the first month, is the day before Passover. This is the day that the decree is written and given. It is the day before Passover when the Lord's people should be thinking about their deliverance from Egypt. It's totally passed over in the text. No comment is made.

But that's the day. Haman crafts a decree that will go out to all the government officials across the whole empire into all 127 provinces. And it's perfectly clear, verse 13, to destroy, if you didn't understand, to kill, if you didn't understand, to annihilate, even women and even children and even the young and even the old. And here's The kicker. Whoever you kill, you can plunder.

Whoever you kill, you can plunder. If you kill them, you can have their stuff. Here's what Frederick Bush in the world biblical commentary says. With this the invidious and horrific extent of Haman's evil plan finally becomes clear. He will use the general background of human tribal and racial enmity, dislike and suspicion prompted by the specific motivation of greed and the prospect of plunder and booty to set the whole general populace to the task of exterminating the whole Jewish race.

It's evil genius. If you're willing to kill them, You can have all their stuff. You think you can't find people to carry out these orders? Let's do a thought experiment. There was a governmental decree that Syrian refugees have been broadly infiltrated by terrorists.

And they're sprinkled throughout our communities. No community is safe. And they must be eliminated. And on a day, 11 months from now, If you kill them, you can have their stuff. Do you think that day would come and go without bloodshed?

Don't we have our own tribal animosities that could be played on alongside fear and greed to enlist the populace against a minority. Verse 14 we see that it's published for all people that they should be ready." Isn't that chilling? Make ready for the bloodshed. Make ready for the wiping off the face of the earth of the people. Finally we get a view of what happens in Shushan in the day that the decree goes out.

The king and Haman go and drink. They go celebrate. Glad that's done. Let's go drink. While the populace is thrown into confusion and tumult.

That's the sense of perplexed. The population is thrown into tumult and confusion. Listen to Proverbs 29, verse 2. When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice. But when a wicked man rules, the people groan.

That's what's happening here at the end of this chapter. When it says that the people are perplexed, they're thrown into confusion and tumult, The people are groaning here under the wickedness of what is happening here. Because it will take you long to get the picture that if this time it's someone else, next time it might be you. If the king can just do this on a whim, you can be next. Marie Antoinette is reputed to have said, Let them eat cake.

Historically, she probably didn't say that. It's almost sure she didn't say that. Marie Antoinette was the queen of the French at the time of the French Revolution. And It was told her, the people don't have any bread, the people are starving. She said they don't have bread, let them eat cake.

This is what was reported. She probably didn't really say that. But this is in Persia, the Marie Antoinette moment. When Haman and the king go off to drink, after giving a decree that the Jews would be annihilated. It's not just that they are out of touch, it's that they could care less.

If Marie Antoinette had said that, let them eat cake. Of course, if you don't have bread, you don't have cake. A richer form of bread. It's not that she didn't realize it. It's that she could care less about people starving.

She was the queen and she had plenty. This is the sense of how this chapter ends. Not necessarily that they wouldn't know that this would be alarming to the population, but that they have the luxury of not having to care. Applications. I have four.

Number one, own the wisdom of Proverbs 16. I have two verses in Proverbs 16 that have a direct relationship to Esther chapter 3. Proverbs 16 verse 9. A man's heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps. Does this mean we shouldn't plan?

Of course it doesn't mean that. We should plan. We should have good plans. We should have Godward plans. But God determines outcomes.

It doesn't matter how much we plan, even though we're called to diligence and forethought, God is going to determine what happens. God rules from heaven. Proverbs 16-33. The lot is cast into the lap, but it's every decision is from the Lord. Here we have maybe one of the first examples in Esther of God laughing at his enemies.

His enemies have all these plans. He needs to consult the gods and the fates to see what the best day is. God gives the decision a lot. God causes it to be 11 months to pass, which will have lavish time for all that God has in mind to take place. The lot is cast into the lap.

It is every decision is from the Lord. Even simple, inconsequential things, we think they're inconsequential. We think that God would have no interest in them like the rolling of a dice. God is sovereign over everything. You know that?

God is sovereign over every single thing. He's weaving everything together to bring history to exactly the conclusion that he had in his mind before he ever made the world. Even whether the lot falls this way or that way. In Esther chapter 3 verse 11, here let me just read to you, Esther chapter 3 verse 11, And the king said to Haman, the money and the people are given to you to do with them as seems good to you. Not so, not so, a thousand times not so.

They are not given to Haman to do with them as he sees fit. They are the Lord's people and God disposes of the Lord's people and only God disposes of the Lord's people. We are in His hand. Not one of us will be plucked from His hand. Own the wisdom of Proverbs 16.

Number 2. Count the costs of not assimilating and then pay them all. We don't know if Mordecai counted the costs. My guess is his heart sank when he heard this decree. My guess is, he knew it might cost him his life, but he never guessed it might result in a decree that all of his fellow Israelites would be annihilated in a single day.

That would be the plan. But whatever the case, he would have been justified in paying them all if he was required to give worship to a man, he would have been justified. Jesus says this in John 15 verses 18 and 19. All the same things are true over and over again throughout history. Have you noticed that?

Wherever you study in history, it's easy to get to modern application. Jesus in John 15 verses 18 and 19, If the world hates you, you know that it hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own, yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. That explains the hatred in Genesis 3. That explains the hatred in Esther 3.

That explains the hatred that we see around us. It's Jesus. He was hated before us and he guarantees and it's fulfilled that we'll be hated. And if no one ever hates us, we should wonder how faithful we're being. We should question how faithful we're being.

Brothers and sisters, look at our national trajectory. The pressures to assimilate are only growing. What would they be like today if Hillary Clinton were our president? They would be accelerating. So, I didn't vote for Donald Trump and I'm not making a political statement, but I am grateful that at least the pressures to assimilate to a wicked and ungodly culture, the acceleration of that has held back at least a little.

You'd be thankful for that. But I don't think it's changed our trajectory, do you? And we're not going to be asked to assimilate. We're going to be told to assimilate. What do you think hate crime legislation is about?

It's about the words of scripture. We will not be asked. We will be told. There will be a high cost to pay and we have to be ready to pay it. The Lord's people pay it.

The Lord's people are not at liberty to assimilate with wickedness. Number three. It's a question. What is your price? How much does it cost to buy you?

The king of Azoaeris, it's 10, 000 talents of silver. At least it was Bill Gates money. Before you condemn the king, think of how cheaply you sometimes sell yourself to Santa. For a little pleasure you'll compromise. Ten minutes of pleasure you'll compromise.

And you'll act completely contrary to your profession. And you'll risk everything sometimes. The world is full of examples of people who risk everything for 10 minutes of pleasure. Of this variety or that variety. This variety or that variety.

Number four. Consider that there is a king who has every right to annihilate the criminals in his kingdom. Ahasuerus continues to sort of be the anti-king of kings. God being the King of Kings. So in chapter 1, we see how Ahasuerus treats his wife.

God gives his life for his wife. Here in chapter 3, The king suspects that there are criminals, people who won't obey his commands in his law. And so he's going to kill them. And there is a king who has real criminals in his realm. Real rebels in his realm.

And he has every right to bring them to justice. So unlike what's happening in Esther chapter 3. Real justice. But instead this king sends his son to die in the place of the criminals in the realm. How can this be?

How can this be? Think of how desperate it would be to be a Jew in this kingdom. To have that kind of a king. When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice, but when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Now think of our king.

He sends his son. What kind of a king does that? Our king does that. God, we thank you for Esther chapter 3. God, I pray as this story builds to a conclusion where you come to rescue, to deliver your people, that this would settle into our souls, that this is really a picture of the Gospel.

A picture of your heart for your people, your deep love for your people, not because of their inherent worth, but because of your goodness. You are a God full of mercy for those who are unworthy of it, who don't deserve it, but you are who you are, And so you are a blessing and a help and a deliverer to your people. Thank you. Thank you for a contemplation of this on the day when we think especially about the resurrection of your son and that it means that you accept His sacrifice and are pleased with it. Thank you in Jesus' name, Amen.