Shabbat Shalom, everyone. Open your Bible, please, to the book of Esther. Today, we are going to deal with the Feast of Purim, Chag Purim, as we say it in our mother's tongue, the Feast of Purim, amazing how the Lord over the generation preserved our people of all, the people of Israel. And you know, there is a song that we are singing every Passover season. It is sung in a feast of Passover, and the song deals with the truth that in every generation, the people of Israel have experienced someone who rose to seek to destroy Israel, Israel to destroy the Jewish people, and yet God preserved His people Israel for a purpose.

Some of the words that are being sung are these: In each and every generation, they rise up against us to destroy us. But the Holy One, blessed be His name, saves us from their hands. I mean, it is amazing when I think of this song that I was singing from a little boy in my own home in the city of Jerusalem with my grandparents and parents. We sing that song very emotionally because we realize that Israel as a nation, the Jewish people, are people that have been chosen by God, not because they were better, but it is because God in His wisdom and His sovereign choice have chosen a people through whom He is intending to bring blessing to the nations of this world.

He gave us the Bible through the Jewish people. He gave us Yeshua, Jesus the Messiah through the Jewish people. He gave us the prophets through the Jewish people. He gave us many, many things over the generations through the people of Israel, not because the people of Israel are better, and I remind you this. It is simply because it is the divine design in which God, who is a sovereign God, have chosen Israel the nation, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Abraham, Yitzhak and Yaakov, to use these people, these descendants, to bring a blessing to the world. And the world yet will one day experience the future blessing when Israel as a nation will recognize that the Lord Yeshua, Jesus, is indeed the promised Messiah and the Savior of the world.

Before I am going to read these verses in Esther chapter 3, I would like to remind you, at about 1430 BC, about 1500 years before Yeshua came, the king of Egypt, Pharaoh, wanted to kill all the Jewish boy, and he said that all Jewish boy is going to be cast onto the river. That happened 3500 years ago, beloved brothers and sisters, when Israel, the Jewish people, were slaves in the land of Egypt. Later on, we are going to read about it here in this passage, there was a man who rose by the name of Haman, the wicked man. In the book of Esther, it is in the Bible, it is in the scripture.

He sought to destroy all the Jewish people at about 356 BC. And we are going to talk about it in a moment. It didn't take too many years later. And later on, there was a man by the name of Antiochus Epiphanes. And this wicked man was a Grecian Syrian king. He sought to destroy the nation of Israel, desecrated the temple, and sought to do away with the Jewish faith and the belief in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And I don't have to tell you the history of the Crusaders. In 1096, in 1146, the first and second Crusaders, when many of the Jewish people have been killed and murdered.

And of course, the saddest of them all is in 1939 to 1945, when Hitler literally killed six million of our own Jewish people. And yet, it is unbelievable. There is a state called Israel today. There are over seven million Jews, seven and a half million Jewish people who are still in the land today. And the vast majority, the remaining Jewish population around the world, is still awaiting the day when they will be restored to go back to the promised land. And finally, we believe, as the prophet Zechariah tells us, the future days yet awaiting when Zechariah says in chapter 12 and verse 10, "They shall look upon me whom they have pierced and they shall mourn." And finally, Israel as a nation will acknowledge that Yeshua, that Jesus is indeed a promised Messiah.

While today, Israel as a nation is partially blinded. Yet there is a day coming when all Israel, Romans 11:26, shall be saved as it is written. The deliverer will come out of Jacob and will turn ungodliness from Israel and will turn them back to himself. What we are going to read today is found in the book of Esther in chapter 3 with regard to the Feast of Purim, the Feast of Esther. And I would like you to just follow with me some of the thoughts that I would like to share with you concerning this Feast of Esther. It is a happy feast. We call it Purim in Hebrew.

And the word Pur in Hebrew means Goral. Goral is a lot. And a lot is where God somehow preserved, turned about the evil requirements of Haman, this wicked man to destroy the Jewish people. God has turned it about and preserved the Jewish people during the days of the Persian captivity. Look at this. Just follow me in Esther chapter 3 if you have a Bible with you. It says in Esther chapter 3, it says after these things, verse 1, did King Ahasverosh promote Haman, the son of Hamadatta, the Agagite, and advanced him and set his seat above all the princes that were with him. And all the king's servants that were in the king's gate bowed and reverence Haman for the king had so commended concerning him.

But Mordecai bowed not, nor did him reverence than the king's servants which were in the king's gate said unto Mordecai, Why transgressest thou the king's commandment? Now it came to pass when they spake daily unto him and he hearkened not unto them that they told Haman to see whether Mordecai's metah would stand for he had told them that he was a Jew, Yehudi, Jewish. And when Haman saw that Mordecai bowed not, nor did him reverence, then was Haman full of wrath. And he thought scorned to lay hands on Mordecai alone for they had showed him that the people of Mordecai wherefore Haman sought to destroy all the Jews that were throughout the whole kingdom of Achashverosh, even the people of Mordecai.

In verse 7 it continues and we read, And in the first month, that is the month of Nisan, the seventh year of King Achashverosh, they cast Pur, that is the lot, before Haman from day to day and from month to month to the twelfth month, that is the month of Adar. And Haman said unto King Achashverosh, there is a certain people scattered abroad, first among the people in all the provinces of thy kingdom, and their laws are diverse from all people, neither keep they the king's laws. Therefore it is not for the king's prophet to suffer them. If it please the king, let it be written that they may be destroyed.

And I will pay 10,000 talents of silver to the hands of those that have the charge of the business to bring it into the king's treasures. And the king took the ring from his hand and gave it unto Haman, the son of Hamadatta, the Agagite, the Jews' enemy. And the king said unto Haman, the silver is given to thee, the people, this is the Jewish people also, to do with them as it seemeth good to thee. Then were the king's scribes called on the thirteenth day of the first month, and there was written according to all that Haman had commanded unto the king's lieutenants that were over every province and to the rulers of every people of every province according to the writings thereof and to every people after their language in the name of king Achashverosh was it written and sealed with the king's ring.

And letters were sent by post into all the king's provinces to destroy, to kill, and to cause to perish all Jews, both young and old, little children and women in one day, even upon the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar, and to take the spoil of them for a prey and a copy of the writing for the commandments to be given in every province was published unto all people that they should be ready against that they. The post went out being hastened by the king's commandment and the decree was given in Shushan the palace. And notice what it says in the last portion of verse 15.

And the king and Haman sat down to drink. But the city of Shushan was perplexed. Just to read this chapter of Esther chapter 3 It will cause you to wonder why in the world there will be someone who desires notice that verse 13 to destroy, to kill, and to cause, to perish all Jews and to do that with the young, the old, the little one, the women and to do so in one day. Next you wonder, beloved brothers and sisters, how in the world does anyone with his greatest imagination have this idea to go and to kill a whole nation, the people of Israel, the Jewish people.

Why in the world would Haman, this wicked man, want to do such an evil thing to kill, to destroy the nation and the people of Israel. Well, let me tell you, beloved brothers and sisters, let me tell you that the truth of the matter is that as we have mentioned earlier from generation to generation, there always rise someone who desires to destroy the Jewish people. There always rise someone who wants to make an end of the nation of Israel. And we learn very quickly as we read the Bible and we study the word of God, that there is a constant conflict that exists today. There is a living God, the creator of the universe.

And then there is the enemy of God, an enemy of God's people. This is Satan himself. God choose a nation and Satan seeks to oppose the plan and the program of God. Satan is called in Scripture in 2 Corinthians chapter 4 the God of this world that blinded the mind of them that believe not the gospel. Satan, with a small G, is the God of this world that blinded the mind of men to seek eventually to frustrate, frustrate the plan of God, to try to divert the plan of God as God has set it in the Scripture, in the Word of God. Now notice that, that in the first four verses of this third chapter, we find out that the Jewish people are not even in the land of Israel.

Now you ask the question, how come? How come we find the people of Israel in these four verses finding themselves in an area that is called Shushan? Shushan, the capital city there of the Persian. What in the world are the Jewish people even doing there? Don't they supposed to be in the promised land in the city of Jerusalem? Well, apparently, when Israel disobeyed, God have raised Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon. And the king of Babylon at 605 BC, 589 BC, 586 BC, he took captive Jewish people in every one of those years, he took them captive to the land of Babylon. Our own people Israel, instead of enjoying the present blessing of the temple in Jerusalem, find themselves by the rivers of Babylon.

And because of disbelief, because of disobedience, God had to remove them from the land and to send them to the land of Babel. And you remember, there in the land of Babel, they wept. They were suffering, they experienced persecution by the people of Babylon, later on by the Persians. But you can just see how we find ourselves in Esther chapter 3, the whole setting is here, is that now Israel, the Jewish people, find themselves under the king by the name of Achashverosh. Achashverosh. Notice it says in verse 1, after this thing did King Achashverosh. This king is actually King Xerxes. He was the one that ruled in Persia and he was the one that the Jewish people who remained in Persia were under King Achashverosh.

And the previous king by the name of Cyrus, earlier, in about 539 BC, he called Jewish people to go back to the promised land. after the 70 years of judgment in Babylon, many of them came back, but these Jewish people that we find here in the book of Esther are Jews who remain away from the promised land, from the land of Israel. And what happened, beloved brothers and sisters, as they remained there in the land? They shouldn't have been there. They should have got back to the promised land. What in the world they are doing there in Persia. But what we find, like today, like over the generation, there are many of the Jewish people who are satisfied to remain outside of the promised land instead of going back to the city of Jerusalem, to the place where they belong.

But many of them remained, they were satisfied to remain in the land of Persia. So, we find out that during this time there was someone who rose to seek to destroy the nation of Israel, the Jewish people. Now, it is very interesting because there is a spiritual lesson for us in this as well. You see, Christianity or the church have to learn many lessons from our own people of Israel. Many times there are believers in the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, who are satisfied to stay away from where the Lord gathered His people. They don't attend church meeting anymore. They don't read their Bible anymore. They don't pray anymore.

They are believers, but they are in such a sad condition that they are not living in the light of which God has called them to have an exercise and a burden to come to the presence of the Lord, to gather around the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, to be around Him, to be occupied with Him. They say, "No, I am a believer and I am satisfied to stay where I am. I don't need to read my Bible. I don't need to go to a meeting. I don't need to pray. God save me and I am satisfied away from the presence of the Lord." Well, that is not what the believers were called for.

God saved us and all that we will be close to Him, that we will follow after Him, that we will live for Him, that we will serve Him. But here we find a people that they did not return to the presence of the Lord. And so what happened? You see, in the first four verses, we find out that there was a man by the name of Mordechai the Jew. This man was a believer in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, yet we find that he did not return back to the promised land. He remained in Persia. Yet, he did not want to bow down to this man by the name of Haman.

Notice that. Let me show you this in a moment. In verse 1, we find out that there is this, the King Echashverosh promoted Haman. He promoted Haman, verse 1, the son of Hamadatta, the Agagite, and he advanced him and he set him above all the princes that were with him. Now, it's so interesting how the Bible is so accurate because the Bible tells us that this man by the name of Haman, he was, Haman, that he was an Agagite. he belonged to the people of Agag. Agag was the king of the Amalekites and the Amalekites were a nation that constantly fought against the Jewish people from the time they came out of Egypt until the days in which Haman is found here in the book of Esther.

You notice it's used the expression Haman a Hamadatta the Agagite. Notice the word Agag is mentioned. Now, if you don't mind, please, put your finger here and turn with me to Exodus. I would like to read for you a verse there in the book of Exodus to help us to grasp it. In Exodus chapter 17, notice that, we read, in Exodus chapter 17, when Israel came out of the land of Egypt, we find already the Amalekites opposing our own people, the people of Israel. Notice Exodus chapter 17, it says in verse 8, notice that, then came Amalek, here's the Amalekites, and fought with Israel in Rephidim. Here is the forefathers of Haman, the first enemies of Israel.

Since Israel left the land of Mitzrayim, the land of Egypt was the Amalekites. And what does it do? They're fighting against Israel in Rephidim. It says in verse 9, And Moses said unto Joshua, Choose us, out men, and go out, fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill, with the rod of God in mine hand. So Joshua did, as Moses had said, to him, and he fought with Amalek. And Moses and Aaron and Hu went up into the top of the hill. And it came to pass, when Moshe, Moses, held up his hand, that Israel prevailed. And when he let down his hand, that Amalek prevailed.

But Moses' hands were heavy. And they took a stone, and they put it under him, and he set thereof. And Aaron and Hu stayed up his hand, the one on the one side, the other on the other side, and his hands were steady, until the going down of the sun. Joshua discomforted Amalek, and his people, with the edge of the sword. And the Lord said unto Moses, Write it, listen to these brothers and sisters, write it for a memorial, in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua. I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek, from under heaven. And Moses built an altar, and he called the name Jehovah Nisi.

And he said, because the Lord had sworn that the Lord will have war with Amalek, from generation to generation. Now pause with me for a moment. There is a link, beloved brothers and sisters. From Exodus chapter 17, and Esther chapter 3, the link is, these are the people of Amalek, of which Haman was a descendant of Amalek. Amalek was going to constantly cause the people of Israel, you might say, hurdle from generation to generation. And God said in verse, the last verse through Moses, in verse 16, the Lord said, He said, because the Lord had sworn that the Lord will have war with Amalek, from generation to generation.

Why? Because Amalek is always going against Israel. Amalek is always seeking to hinder the people of Israel from spiritual growth. Now there is a spiritual lesson. And the spiritual lesson is this. Amalek is a representation of the old sinful nature that you and I have. And you remember, we just finished the study the book of Galatians. And the apostle Paul, Shaul Paul says, "Walk in the spirit and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh." Why? It's because the flesh lusts against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh and they are contrary to each other. And the war is always going to happen from generation to generation.

Amalek is always going to seek to destroy the people of God. And you and I know that as believers in the Lord Yeshua, the Messiah, if there is any enemy that we always get defeated by and harmed by, is this old sinful nature. From generation to generation, even as believers today, we experience the opposition of Amalek in our own life. And we are struggling every day. Every day we are struggling with this conflict that exists in us. And only as we allow the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of God to lead us, we will be able to defeat Amalek and Israel only when they submitted to the word of God that they will be successful to defeat Amalek.

Otherwise from generation to generation, they will have this conflict with Amalek. And so who rises up? This man sometime at about 500 and something BC, this man rises up by the name of Haman. And what does he want to do? You would think he would do good to the kingdom of King Achashverosh. But no, he was a proud man that wanted to get his own will. So you notice what we read in the next verses, verses 2, 3 and 4 of Esther chapter 3. It says in verse 2, it says, "And all the king's servants that were in the king's gate bowed and reverenced Haman for the king had commanded concerning him." See, everyone bowed to Haman, this Agagite.

They bowed to him because the king said, "Here is Haman. He's going to be the one that you're going to bow to." But you see, the Jewish people don't bow to men. The Jewish people have been exhorted by the scripture "You have no other God before them." Here's Mordecai. Notice it says here in verse 2 at the end, "But Mordecai did not... nor did him reverence. He would not bow." So Haman is passing by. Everybody is bowing. But there was one man that stood straight. He never bowed. And everybody looking at this man and said, "Wait a minute. Don't you hear? The king, Azixas, Achashverosh, he commanded us all to fall down and to bow to this man by the name of Haman, this wicked man.

Don't you think that you should bow to him?" But Mordecai didn't. Because Mordecai knew that Haman was a mere man. He was not God. He was not divine. And he was an Agagite, an Amalekite. How can I, a Jewish man, that already God told me in the past days in Exodus chapter 17 that from generation to generation I'll have conflict with Agag and the Agagite, how can I bow to this wicked man? So he didn't. And you notice that? What we read here in these verses, beloved brothers and sisters, it says here, "Then the king's servants, which were in the king's gate, said unto Mordecai, Why do you transgress the king's commandment?" Verse 3 and verse 4, "It came to pass when they sped daily unto him that he hearkened not unto them that they went to Haman and they told him." It says at the end of verse 4, "For he told them that he was a Jew." He was Jewish.

I'm not. We Jews don't bow before men. We Jews don't bow before Agag, the one that is a descendant of Amalek. We Jewish people believe in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Oh, yes, we are not in the right place where we should be. We should have been in the land. But nevertheless, we will not bow to this wicked man by the name of Agag. Well, you see, beloved brothers and sisters, Haman was not happy. He was not pleased. He was not going to be satisfied with saying, "Okay, the Jews don't, but at least I got the rest of them." And Haman was very angry, very unhappy.

And so in verses 5, 6 and 7, look immediately what a plan this Haman has. Because one person didn't bow his knees to him and worship him. He got angry. He got upset. And he found out, of course, that Mordecai was a Jewish man. And I'm sure looking in his history, he realized, "Oh boy, these are the descendants who came out of the land of Egypt where my forefathers have fought against them in past days. Now is the time for me to get them. I'm in a position. I'm second to King Achashverosh. I'm second to the king of Persia. I can't do it now. I'm going to destroy this man by the name of Mordecai and his people." And so notice verses 5 and 6, Haman was very angry and he began to plan.

Verse 5, "And when Haman saw that Mordecai bowed not, nor did him reverence, then Haman was full of wrath. And he sought scorn to lay hand on Mordecai alone. For they had showed him the people of Mordecai. Therefore Haman sought to destroy, notice, all the Jews that were throughout the whole kingdom of Achashverosh, even the people of Mordecai." And so we find out, beloved brothers and sisters, that he began to make a plan. And as I mentioned to you in the songs and consistently sing in the Feast of Pesach, "Bechol dor vador amad aleinu mishu." Someone rose up in every generation who wanted to destroy us.

And here is that man rising up right now by the name of Haman. He began to plan the destruction. Notice it says in verse 6, "Not only Mordecai." You could be angry with Mordecai, but what do you have to do with the rest of Mordecai's people? But it was not enough for him. He sought to destroy all the Jews. And he sought to destroy all the Jews, not only in Shushan, the capital city of Persia, but in the whole, as it says here, the whole kingdom of Achashverosh. He wanted to destroy the Jewish people. Now, how would you feel if you would happen to be in those days there?

If somebody who is in authority, second to the king, make a command and make a plan to begin to destroy a nation, the whole people of Israel. How would you feel? It's a terrible feeling. I mean, think about it, especially with what's going on today in the world in which we live in. It's very up-to-date with the rise of anti-Semitism in Europe. Even in the United States of America when they go to a Jewish home where they celebrate the Feast of Hanukkah and they come with a machete and seeking to kill the family, the people that are celebrating simply at home the Feast of Hanukkah.

How would you feel? How would you feel when somebody that is responsible almost of the whole kingdom of Achashverosh will begin to plan for the destruction of your people? It's a terrible feeling. The fear that may rise up in your own heart. The sense of the beginning of persecution. trying to hide your identity, to try to find out a way whereby you can preserve yourself. I can just imagine what happened in the days of Hitler in Europe when the Jewish people had to hide in many places from the fear and how many Christians even protected the Jewish people during those days. for those who sought to preserve the Jewish people but Hitler successfully succeeded to kill 6 million of our own Jewish people.

And so here's a man. Haman, wicked man. He's already now beginning to have his plan as to how to destroy all the Jewish people not as all the Jews everywhere in the whole kingdom of Achashverosh. It says in verse 7 that Haman began to search for a date. And you notice it says in verse 7 from the first month that is the month of Nisan. In the 12th year the king Achashverosh they cast out poor that is lot before Haman from day to day and from month to month to the 12th month that is the month of Adar. In other words, what happened is that Haman began every day to cast lots to cast the poor.

Remember the word P-U-R come from the Hebrew word Goral. I'm planning to destroy the Jewish people. Which day should I do it? In the first day of the month? In the second day of the month? In the third day of the month? In the fourth day of the month? And every day they cast out the poor before him whatever way they were kind of making it you might say almost a lucky kind of cast away whereby they could choose a day the dead day will be the day when the Jewish people will completely be destroyed. And it is very interesting from verse 7 we learn that the biblical days of the Hebrew calendar began from the month of Nisan.

Notice that? The first month that is the month of Nisan and notice it said at the end of verse 7 until the 12 months this is the month of Adar. So the Hebrew calendar always began biblical calendar from the month of Nisan and it concludes with the month of Adar. We are now in the month of Adar. According to the biblical calendar we are in the last day of the Hebrew calendar and immediately after Nisan which we are going to celebrate the Feast of Passover on the 14th day of the month of Nisan is the first month in the Hebrew calendar new beginning a new year has started.

But Adam Haman is seeking to find a day in which he will destroy the people of Israel. Now it is amazing also to learn that really you might cast lots but really the outcome is only from the Lord. According to Proverbs chapter 16 and verse 33 every plan that man has eventually is in the hand of the Lord. God is sovereign. He is in providence of all creation. He is the one who is in control over the events that are happening here in this world. Let me just highlight one more thing here. You will never find the name God mentioned one time in the book of Esther.

You will never find the word prayer mentioned even one time in the book of Esther. You will never find the name Yahweh or Jehovah one time in the book of Esther. And yet the hand of God is seen throughout the book of Esther. The Jewish people were not in the right place. they were wrong. They should have not remained in Persia. But God protected his own people even though they were in the wrong place in the time of the Persian Empire. So we learn from verses 1 to 4 that Mordecai the Jewish men refused to worship before Haman the Agagite. Secondly, we learn from verses 5, 6, and 7 that Haman this wicked man began to have a plan to destroy all the Jews and only because Mordecai did not bow to him.

And he was angry and he began to make his plan. brothers and sisters how Satan is working behind the scene and how Haman is used by the hand of Satan and he is determined to destroy the Jewish people for now notice what he does he is accusing wrongfully accusing the Jewish people before the king you know the Satan is calling the Bible according to Revelation chapter 12 the accuser of the brethren. He always accused God's people before God's people before God always trying to find fault in them and sometimes correctly but trying to find fault in them in order to cause them harm. So look what this wicked man does by the name of Haman it says in verse 8 it says in verse 8 and 9 Haman now appealed to the king and how does he do it?

He appealed to his ego to his self selfishness he come to him notice that verse 8 and he said Haman said unto the king He said there is a certain people they are scattered abroad and they are dispersed among the people in all the provinces in all the provinces of their kingdom and their laws are diverse from all people neither keep they the king's laws therefore it is not for the king's prophet to suffer them and then it says in verse 9 and if it please the king let it be written that they may be destroyed and I will pay 10,000 talents of silver to the hands of those that have the charge of the

business to bring it into the king's treasure so what Haman does he is coming before King Ahasverosh after all King Ahasverosh promoted him to be second to him he gave him the ring he gave him a position a high position in that days in Persia and he is appealing to his ego he says you know what king you know there are some people verse 8 that they are you know they are scattered all abroad around he says they are dispersed among the people in all the provinces of your kingdom and notice what he says to him see they have a different kind of laws they are not like you King Ahasverosh they have different laws

and because they have different laws of course he meant the law of the God of Israel now they don't submit to your laws you know it's bad for your testimony King Ahasverosh how can you benefit from this kind of people that don't submit to your laws they have their own laws so he said listen they are not benefit for you he says and then he continues they keep not your laws he says listen they are not profitable for you King Ahasverosh and you can just imagine King Ahasverosh after all wow my laws are supreme I am the greatest king of Persia and I do not want to allow anybody not to submit to me if

somebody is not going to submit to my authority I am going to be unhappy with this and if my assistant Haman come to me and give me this suggestion that they are not profitable for me he may be right it's amazing how a king how a person even have the thought of himself so high that he doesn't take the time to be wise and to say wait a minute I cannot continue on in this way allowing this man to influence me but he was not wise he was not wise notice what what we read here in the next verse it says here in verse 9 it says if it please the king let it be

written that they may be destroyed you know king what we can do we can destroy these people they are not good for you and even even then beyond that I myself Haman going to help to destroy them I am going to give 10,000 of talents of silver into the hands of those that have charge over this business and I will bring it to the king's treasury you know the king said listen I have benefited in two ways number one I am going to destroy the people who oppose me number two I am going to have more money in my treasure what a bargain I don't care who are those people I don't ask about those

people I don't have to know anything about these people I will let Haman be in charge of destroying these people what a sad you can just see the lack of wisdom of a king instead of kind of saying well who are those people why would you want to destroy this nation how can you destroy maybe there are some rebels around them let's deal with them but why are you going to destroy all these nations so instead of taking a stand notice what we read in verse 10 and 11 this is how senseless was the decision making of king it says in verse 10 and 11 that a king responded to Haman and we find out

that it says here and the took his ring notice that what he did he took a ring from his hand he gave it unto Haman the son of Hamadatta the Agagite and notice the Bible is underlining here that Haman was the Jew's enemy notice that it says in verse 10 at the end the Jew's enemy it's mentioned three times in the book of Esther in chapter 3 and 10 in chapter 7 6 the one that makes sarot and trouble to the Jewish people and that's the one that is called underlined here in scripture is called the enemy of the Jewish people what does he do king take the ring out of his finger and give

it to him so Haman will now be able to have his authority in doing what he planned to do so we read in verse 11 and the silver is yours and I give unto thee also the people also to do with them as it seemest good unto thee what a shame what a shame for king to do and to say what he did he took the ring gave it the authority to Haman and said to him you know what keep the money for yourself I have plenty of money of my own and on top of it the people belong to you do with them as it is pleasing unto thee again brothers and sisters to

remind you Haman is a descendant of Agag the Amalekites the Amalekites were the first nation that opposed Israel when Israel came out of the land of Mitzrayim the land of Egypt Exodus chapter 17 the Agagites the Amalekites are a nation that constantly God said that from generation to generation he will have to fight against the descendants of Agag and here is a later generation that came and God once again have to stand on behalf of his people because Agag the Amalekite seek to destroy the people of Israel and again to remind us for spiritual lesson for us you and I have the flesh the old nature and that old nature we will never stop to

have until we die we will never stop to have this sin nature that we have within us that we are struggling with it every day of our life and the only way to defeat this sinful nature is to allow the spirit of God to lead us and to live in the light of the new nature the divine nature which God had given to us in the present day as believers and so brothers and sisters very said and let me just draw an eye towards the end of this chapter and I'm just going to read a few other verses and we're going to stop in the last verses 12 to 15 we find out he make

a decree as it says here in the next verses and the decree will be that law or that edict will be now is the time to destroy all the Jewish people I got the ring I got the authority I got the permission I set up a date and we have to destroy the Jewish people and so we read in verse 12 to 15 notice verse 12 letters are written then were the king scribes called on the 13th day of the first month and there was written according to all that Haman had commanded unto the king's lieutenants and to the governors whereover every province and to the rulers of every people of every province according to

the writing thereof and to every people after their language in the name of king Achashverosh was it written and it was sealed with the king ring imagine what he did he took all those scribes you remember there were 127 provinces in the Persian empire many people many languages so you know what they did what Haman did he wrote he took scribes and every scribe wrote in a different language there's there's time coming we are going to destroy these people the Jewish people in all the languages of those days as it says here and he put in fact on top of it he sealed this letter or these letters with the king's ring that's it and

you see beloved brothers and sisters when you seal with a ring and when you choose already and the king gave the command you can reverse it because the Persian rule was that you can never reverse as it says here in a decree that was given by the Persian king the only way to reverse that judgment is to introduce another decree but you could never reverse the same decree and so the letters were prepared it says in verse 13 even the date we find out that they already have chosen the date and the date is about the which we are now here today beloved brothers and sisters notice in verse 13 it says there and the

letters were sent by post and all the king's provinces notice to destroy to kill to cause to perish all Jews young and old little one women in one day and look at the date even upon the 13th day of the 12th month which is the month of Adar if you will take your calculator and you'll figure out now the dates you might say and you will realize that we live very close to the 13th day of the month of Adar and if you go back from generation to generation all the way back to sometime in the 530s or so BC exactly in the era in the time in which you and I are living today

some years earlier the Jewish people were in preparation of being destroyed by the people of Persia Haman's people of whom we read in verse 13 that he sent by post those letters that all the king's provinces the people of those provinces must destroy kill cause to perish all Jews imagine beloved brothers and sisters what went through the mind of our own people imagine what a fearful thing is to know that there is an edict there is a decree that one day you are going to lose your life what do you do how do you handle a situation like that only God has to come in to help otherwise you can't do anything on your own

do you know when a man with wicked men by the name of Hitler sought to kill all the Jewish people he had a plan he had arranged for camps to be prepared he had arranged for gas chambers to be prepared just go to present day Poland today and go to the place called Auschwitz and you'll find out those gas chambers are being seen to prove what had happened some years ago to our own Jewish people the plan was inactive it was inactive ready to happen and he successfully have destroyed six million a man was going to destroy all the Jews in every province in every area every Jewish boy and girl men and women young

one and old one the destruction of the Jewish people you know it's very humbling when I think about it when God has a plan to use the Jewish people to be a blessing to this world Satan has a plan to destroy the Jewish people because Satan is opposing the plan and the program of God and people even today beloved brothers and sisters people even today are so blinded to the fact that God has a program for Israel he's going to restore one day the Jewish people to himself and a blessing will flow out to this world in which we live in but Haman didn't care for that Haman was not working for God he was

working for Satan and he was going to oppose the plan and the program of God and you notice it says here and I'm going to just just to conclude in verses 14 and 15 of our chapter notice a copy of the death decree letter was sent throughout all Persia we read here in verse 14 and a copy of the writings for a commandment to be given in every province was published unto all people that they should be ready against that day in verse 15 8 says the post went out being hastened by the king's commandments and the decree was given in Shushan the palace so the decree was given the letters were sent and the

day of preparation was hastening as the day of the destruction of the Jewish people was going to come and you notice how sad is what you think Haman and the king are going to do while the Jewish people already heard about the soon coming destruction the king and Haman sat down to drink they sat down to drink they did not care for anyone as far as they were concerned they could do as they please the Jews will suffer the anticipation of destruction while Haman and the king is sitting down and getting drunk no concern for the plan of God no care for the sense for the feeling of the Jewish people the plan is to

destroy the people of Israel now I want to close with that because Haman didn't succeed thank God for that can you say amen to that God did not allow the Jewish people to be destroyed some of us are here today and the reason for that is because God has a plan and God will not allow that if you just turn your page to chapter 8 for a moment just quickly Esther chapter 8 notice what it says in Esther chapter 8 and verse 10 it says in chapter 8 and verse 10 that now that this woman by the name of Esther became the queen and she knew very well that she could not allow her people

to be destroyed by Haman she invited Haman to come into the king's palace and she made for Haman and for the king a feast and so on and then she had exposed this wicked Haman before her husband king Achashverosh and then when he found out the wicked plan of Haman he now kind of got sense in his mind and God have awakened him to see that he cannot allow his wife because his wife Esther will be one of those will be killed so we find out that he had to write another letter while the first letter could not be changed king Achashverosh wrote a second letter in order to save the Jewish people Esther's descendant

it says in verse 10 he wrote in the king Achashverosh name this is Mordechai wrote that and he sealed it with the king's ring and he sent the letter by post on a horse bag and riders and mules and camels and young dromedaries and it says here wherein the king granted the Jews listen to this verse 11 which were in every city to gather themselves together and to stand for their life to destroy and to slay and to cause and perish all the power of the people and the province that would assault them both little ones and women and to take the spoil of them for a prey and we read in verse 12 and

upon one day all the provinces of the king namely upon the thirteenth day of the twelfth month which is the month of Adar and just go back down to verse 15 and Mordechai went out from the presence of the king in royal apparel of blue and white and with great crown of gold and with garment of fine linen and purple and the city of Shushan rejoiced and was glad the Jews had light and gladness and joy and honor and in every province and in every city where whithersoever the king's commandment and his decree came the Jews had joy and gladness and feast and a good day and many of the people of the land became

Jews for the fear of the Jews fell upon them it is fascinating brothers and sisters God did not allow the Jewish people to be destroyed by Haman and God have defeated even though his name is not there Haman and Haman's plan and he was not successful in doing what he wished to do and so brothers and sisters when we are here today and we look at the feast of Esther and the feast of Purim we look back and we see how faithful God had been to his own people Israel and we also look forward and we can think of the plan that God had for his people Israel how eventually God will restore Israel and

eventually many will be blessed through the nation of Israel when Israel as a nation will finally will come to know that Yeshua Jesus is indeed the promised Messiah of Israel so I'm waiting for this day I'm longing for this day and I'm sure you long for this day as well can we say amen today Gideon teaches God's word from a Hebrew messianic perspective