Cornerstone Class Outline for 5/5/19
·
Announcements,
praises and prayer requests—Joe or Vicki Kerns, or Dawn Eden
·
Introduction:
o
My attempt at
burning the big pile
 |
| https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07HNQKB1L |
·
A quick recap of
Esther 2:1-18
o
King Xerxes
authorized a kingdom-wide search for a new queen.
o
A huge beauty
pageant took place where the participants were forced to participate. Esther
was one of them.
o
After 12 months
of beauty treatments and special diets for the contestants, Xerxes selects
Esther to be the new queen. She replaces the deposed Queen Vashti.
o
Xerxes throws a
huge banquet in celebration of his new queen and proclaims a holiday throughout
the empire.
·
Let’s continue by
reading Esther 2:19-23 NIV:
19 When the virgins were assembled a second time,
Mordecai was sitting at the king’s gate. 20 But Esther had kept secret her
family background and nationality just as Mordecai had told her to do, for she
continued to follow Mordecai’s instructions as she had done when he was
bringing her up.
21 During the time Mordecai was sitting at the king’s
gate, Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s officers who guarded the doorway,
became angry and conspired to assassinate King Xerxes. 22 But Mordecai found
out about the plot and told Queen Esther, who in turn reported it to the king,
giving credit to Mordecai. 23 And when the report was investigated and found to
be true, the two officials were impaled on poles. All this was recorded in the
book of the annals in the presence of the king.
·
Historical
context:
o
When it says that
“Mordacai was sitting at the king’s gate,” it likely meant that he was there in
an official capacity.
§ Scholar Karen Jobes writes, quote: “Mordecai happened
to overhear a plot to assassinate Xerxes while he was ‘sitting at the gate.’
This phrase refers to holding an official position in the court. The gate
entering into the walled palace complex was a large building in which legal,
civil, and commercial business was transacted.” Unquote.
o
So, Mordecai
could do his job, hear the latest news, uncover plots and keep an eye on his
daughter’s well-being.
·
QUESTIONS on
verses 19-23:
o
Esther and
probably Mordecai were keeping secret their “family background and
nationality….” Although the text doesn’t explicitly say so, they had likely
blended into or assimilated some of the Persian culture. As modern-day Christians living in a secular culture, how do we partake
in aspects of the culture without compromising our faith?
§ Don’t participate in those aspects of the culture that
violate scripture.
§ Be led by the Spirit
§ Listen to your conscience
o
Normally the king
would have quickly rewarded someone who uncovered an assassination plot. However,
Mordecai was passed over. We know that he would be rewarded later, thus turning
the tables on Haman’s plot. This delay was certainly due to God’s providential
timing. Have you received blessing or
answered prayer from God, but in a delayed fashion? How so?
o
Why did God delay your answered prayer or blessing?
o
The two plotters
were impaled on poles. Does anyone have
a Bible that describes the execution differently?
§ Some translations describe it as being hung from the
gallows.
·
Let’s read Esther
3:1-4 NIV
1 After these events, King Xerxes honored Haman son of
Hammedatha, the Agagite, elevating him and giving him a seat of honor higher
than that of all the other nobles. 2 All the royal officials at the king's gate
knelt down and paid honor to Haman, for the king had commanded this concerning
him. But Mordecai would not kneel down or pay him honor. 3 Then the royal
officials at the king's gate asked Mordecai, "Why do you disobey the
king's command?" 4 Day after day they spoke to him but he refused to
comply. Therefore, they told Haman about it to see whether Mordecai's behavior
would be tolerated, for he had
told them he was a Jew.
·
QUESTIONS on
verses 1-4
o
The text doesn’t
tell us why Mordecai refused to kneel before Haman. Why do you think Mordecai refused to kneel?
§ Perhaps Mordecai was upset because Haman had had been
promoted as Xerxes’ top official. Mordecai may have felt slighted by not being
rewarded when he had reported the assassination plot.
§ Perhaps Mordecai felt that the Torah prohibited him
from kneeling to any human. He could only kneel before God.
§ Perhaps Mordecai knew that Haman was extremely
antisemitic and so he refused to kneel before an enemy of the Jews.
·
There was age-old
hostility between Israel and the Agagites (named after an Amalekite king, Agag).
This animosity dated back to the days of Moses, when Israel battled the
Amalekites. Remember the battle in Exodus 17 where Aaron and Hur held up Moses’
hands so that the Israelites would keep winning?
In Exodus 17:15-16, Moses prophesied a perennial
conflict between Israel and the Amalekites:
“15
Moses built an altar and called it The LORD is my Banner. 16 He said, ‘Because
hands were lifted up against the throne of the LORD, the LORD will be at war
against the Amalekites from generation to generation.’”
·
Many years later,
King Saul, a Benjamite like Mordecai, was commanded by God to kill all the Amalekites,
their livestock, and their king, Agag. Saul disobeyed God by allowing Agag and
the best livestock to survive. Samuel ended up killing Agag. Many Amalekites
escaped, and the feud would continue. (1 Samuel 15)
o
If Mordecai had foreseen the consequences of not kneeling
before Haman, do you think he would have kneeled?
§ I think Mordecai would have kneeled. He would have
placed the welfare of the Jewish people above his own humiliation.
§ Most of the class felt like Mordecai would have knelt.
o
Why do you think Mordecai told the royal officials
that he was Jewish? (v. 4)
§ Perhaps this was an error in judgment on Mordecai’s
part. In his anger against Haman, Mordecai may have blurted out this key bit of
information to the officials.
§ As an employee sitting at the gate, perhaps Mordecai
thought the officials would hold the information in confidence. Perhaps
Mordecai thought these officials were to be trusted.
·
Application/Conclusion
·
Closing prayer
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