SESSION 1

Deliverance Is NeededEnemies of God often seek to destroy His covenant people.

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THE DICTIONARY DEFINES GENOCIDE AS THE DELIBERATE AND SYSTEMATIC DESTRUCTION OF A RACIAL, ETHNIC, RELIGIOUS, OR NATIONAL GROUP. THOUGH NONE OF US LIKELY HAVE ANY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE OF SUCH EVIL,THE WORLD HAS WITNESSED AT LEAST SEVEN HORRIFIC GENOCIDES THAT KILLED MILLIONS OF PEOPLE.

During World War ii, adolf Hitler and his nazi regime planned and executed a so-called “final solution” to get rid of Jews living in Germany and other occupied territories. The solution? Extermination. By the time Germany crumbled in defeat in 1945, Hitler’s minions had slaughtered six million Jewish men, women, and children. Many were gassed to death inside brutal concentration camps.

What if christians where you live became a target for persecution, or even elimination? How would you act? How would you pray? What would you say to your family and friends?

The Book of Esther tells the story of one such threat and how God protected His people. God isn’t mentioned by name in the Book of Esther; still, He was there working behind the scenes, watching over His covenant people. God’s plan of salvation was at stake, because Jesus would eventually come to the world through the Jews (see John 4:22; romans 1:16).

GOD ISN’T

MENTIONED BY

NAME IN THE BOOK

OF ESTHER; STILL,

HE WAS THERE

WORKING BEHIND

THE SCENES,

WATCHING OVER

HIS COVENANT

PEOPLE.

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ESTHER 3:1-9

1After all this took place, King Ahasuerus honored Haman, son of Hammedatha the Agagite. He promoted him in rank and gave him a higher position than all the other officials. 2 The entire royal staff at the King’s Gate bowed down and paid homage to Haman, because the king had commanded this to be done for him. But Mordecai would not bow down or pay homage. 3 The members of the royal staff at the King’s Gate asked Mordecai, “Why are you disobeying the king’s command?” 4 When they had warned him day after day and he still would not listen to them, they told Haman to see if Mordecai’s actions would be tolerated, since he had told them he was a Jew. 5 When Haman saw that Mordecai was not bowing down or paying him homage, he was filled with rage. 6 And when he learned of Mordecai’s ethnic identity, Haman decided not to do away with Mordecai alone. He planned to destroy all of Mordecai’s people, the Jews, throughout Ahasuerus’s kingdom. 7 In the first month, the month of Nisan, in King Ahasuerus’s twelfth year, Pur (that is, the lot) was cast before Haman for each day in each month, and it fell on the twelfth month, the month Adar. 8 Then Haman informed King Ahasuerus, “There is one ethnic group, scattered throughout the peoples in every province of your kingdom, yet living in isolation. Their laws are different from everyone else’s and they do not obey the king’s laws. It is not in the king’s best interest to tolerate them. 9 If the king approves, let an order be drawn up authorizing their destruction, and I will pay 375 tons of silver to the accountants for deposit in the royal treasury.”

Think About It

Circle the names

of each individual

involved in this scene.

Write a one- or two-

word description below

of each person based

on these verses.

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UNDERSTAND THE CONTEXT

The events in the Book of Esther took place during the reign of •ahasuerus, also known as •Xerxes. Most of the events happened in and around •Susa, one of several capital cities in the empire located in modern-day, southwestern iran (see map on p. 147).

a number of Jewish communities still resided in areas where they had been exiled after the destruction of Jerusalem a century earlier (see 2 Kings 24:10-14; 25:8-12). certain individuals even attained positions in the royal court. Esther’s cousin, •Mordecai, may have been a royal advisor, since he is described at times as sitting at the King’s Gate (see Esther 2:21; 3:2).

More than 40,000 Jews had returned to the land of promise (see Ezra 2:1-2,64), yet some were subject to Persian rule. a royal edict that threatened Jews living in Susa would also threaten Jews living in Judah and anywhere else in the empire.

The story of how the Jews in Esther’s time came to be under the threat of genocide opens with a week-long banquet hosted by the drunken ahasuerus. When his queen refused to be present, the king banished her and began a search for a new queen.

This was when Esther entered the picture as candidate for the king’s wife. She was a beautiful young Jewish woman—her Hebrew name was •Hadassah—whose parents had died and who had been raised by her cousin, Mordecai (see 2:7). The king loved Esther and crowned her as his new queen (see 2:17).

Meanwhile, Mordecai foiled a plot to kill King ahasuerus. This act of loyalty was recorded in the king’s official records (see 3:21-23). This record proved to be yet another example of God’s active yet behind-the-scenes care for His people.

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EXPLORE THE TEXT

MORDECAI HONORS GOD ONLY (Esther 3:1-5)

ahasuerus inherited one of the largest empires in world history. But he turned out to be a weak leader who was easily manipulated and influenced by others. However, the real villain in the Book of Esther was Haman, a descendant of •agag, a pagan king in the time of Samuel and King Saul of israel. God had decreed that agag and his tribe were to be destroyed for their wickedness, but King Saul failed to carry out God’s will and spared agag (see 1 Samuel 15:1-3,8).

The Jews of Esther’s day no doubt knew that Haman was a descendant of a sworn enemy of God. King ahasuerus had now elevated this evil man to a position of great authority. He became the king’s second-in-command. conflict between Haman and God’s people was bound to happen at some point. The only questions were when and what would ignite Haman’s fury.

The King’s Gate was a large main entrance to the palace. Members of the royal staff often huddled there waiting for orders from the king. Mordecai was there, no doubt, as an advisor to Queen Esther, but he may have been an official on the king’s staff as well. The king had ordered all of his servants at the gate to show reverence to Haman by bowing whenever the new leader walked by. To pay homage to the king’s second-in-command was to show allegiance to the king. To refuse to do so was a dangerous act of disobedience.

In what ways do you draw the line between obedience to authority and refusal to compromise your faith in God?

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Mordecai refused to bow and pay homage to Haman. in Persian thought, bowing was an act of reverence that bordered on recognizing a thing or person as divine. Mordecai refused to compromise his faith in God by bowing before an •agagite, an avowed enemy of God.

The prostrate officials could not fail to notice Mordecai standing tall and silent while they all bowed low and chanted words of praise to Haman. The men demanded to know the reason that Mordecai dared to defy the royal command. Day after day, Mordecai continued to defy the order to pay homage to Haman until the officials informed Haman.

Previous Persian rulers such as cyrus had shown respect for the religious beliefs of captive peoples (see Ezra 1:2-4). However, King ahasuerus proved to be less tolerant, having destroyed many groups’ temples and shrines in his effort to suppress rebellions. Haman, his new second-in-command, had little, if any, tolerance, especially for the Jews. Mordecai’s refusal to bow down (plus his open confession of being a Jew) would spark a flame that threatened to engulf all of God’s people. By extension, God’s future plan of salvation in Jesus christ also would come under attack.

it isn’t clear whether Haman noticed Mordecai’s defiance prior to being informed. in any case, he took note the next time. and what he saw filled him with rage. The Hebrew term rendered filled with rage comes from a root word that means “to be hot, to burn with anger.” it pictures an angry heart fueled by selfish pride and an evil determination to get revenge for a perceived slight (see Esther 1:12). Haman’s pride fed his rage, which led him to plan unspeakable evil against not only Mordecai but also against God’s people, the Jews.

What things make people enraged against God or His people? In what ways can you stand your ground when challenged?

KEY DOCTRINE: God’s Providence

God as Father reigns with providential care over His universe, His creatures, and the flow of the stream of human history according to the purposes of His grace.

MORDECAI

REFUSED TO

COMPROMISE HIS

FAITH IN GOD BY

BOWING BEFORE

AN AVOWED

ENEMY OF GOD.

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GENOCIDE PLANNED (Esther 3:6-9)

Within these verses lies the principle theme of the Book of Esther: the attempt to destroy God’s covenant people, and with their destruction to eliminate the hope of the future Messiah. Haman’s plot endangered not only the Jews living in and around Susa but also those who had returned to Judah—indeed those who lived anywhere in ahasuerus’s kingdom. Haman set in motion an evil plan of empire-wide genocide.

How would you answer someone who questions why a loving God would allow evil to happen in the world? List Scriptures that support your answer.

Haman knew how to get things done. His plot required careful planning and execution. He would need the king’s approval to proceed, so he was determined to have all the details worked out before approaching ahasuerus for the official death order.

one detail was to get his plan on the calendar. verse 7 mentions two months: the month of nisan (when the lot was cast to decide the “proper time” for an event) and the month of adar (when the genocide would be carried out). The Persians believed that assigning an event to the calendar by means of casting the •pur, or lot (similar to throwing dice) ensured its success. However, Haman’s trust in a false god’s chance help would soon run head-on into Mordecai’s faith in the true and living God.

Haman’s use of the pur in planning the mass murder of Jews lies behind the name of the Jewish festival of •Purim (the plural form of pur). Esther 9:20-32 gives more details about the establishment of this celebration of God’s deliverance. What Haman meant for evil, God overruled and used providentially for the good of His people (see Genesis 45:4-8; romans 8:28; Philippians 1:12,18-19).

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Haman’s next step was to obtain the Persian king’s seal of approval. once the king signed the order, it became “the law of the Medes and the Persians” (see Daniel 6:8); it couldn’t be revoked or changed. First, Haman had to convince the king that a threat to the empire (and to the king) existed—a threat that needed to be dealt with quickly and forcefully. He made the threat sound dire; it concerned not just one individual or a small team of conspirators but rather an entire people scattered throughout the empire.

Haman intentionally didn’t name the people group. instead, he described them as being a people who were unwilling to conform to Persian culture. These “dangerous” people lived throughout the empire, yet they kept to themselves, lived by their own law (God’s law), and refused to obey the king’s laws.

as a final step, Haman planted an idea in the king’s mind that he didn’t need to worry about the details; Haman already had a plan of execution ready to go. all the king needed to do was sign an order that authorized the elimination of a rebellious group. ahasuerus gave his signet ring to Haman—in effect, giving Haman full authority to destroy the Jews (see Esther 3:10-15). However, Haman failed to realize that he was coming against the sovereign power of the living God. Haman’s wicked plan would not succeed.

Considering the situation the Jews faced in Esther’s day, how

does that compare with what people face today in regards to

sin’s curse?

Bible Skill: Dig deeper into the background using a Bible dictionary (either in print or on the Internet).

Use a Bible dictionary to learn more about Agag and the Agagites (also known as Amalekites). Look for ways their history intersected the history of God’s covenant people, Israel. Seek to determine how those intersections could have impacted Haman and his view of the Jews.

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OBEY THE TEXT

God’s people can bring honor to God when facing persecution and misunderstanding. Pride left unchecked opens the door for greater sin—including the evils of ethnic and religious hatred.

Discuss ways you can and should respond to modern-day forms of persecution toward people groups.

As a group, how can you encourage each other in moments of personal attack or misunderstanding?

In what ways can young adults can be a generation that promotes peace without compromising faith in God?

MEMORIZE

But Mordecai would not bow down or pay homage. —Esther 3:2b

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Use the space provided to make observations and record prayer requests during the group experience for this session.

MY THOUGHTSRecord insights gained and questions to discuss during the group experience.

MY PRAYERSList specific prayer needs and answers to remember this week.

MY MISSIONAcknowledge ways you will obey God’s Word this week.

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