Read Esther 3.
Who is Haman?
What did Mordecai do to make Haman angry?
Because he is mad at Mordecai, what does Haman decide to do?
What year of King Xerxes reign did this happen?
And Esther was selected to be queen in the _______th year, so this is _______ years later.
Does the king ask Haman any questions before giving approval?
What day were the scribes summoned to write the letters for the couriers to deliver?
Lev. 23:5 In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight, is the LORD's Passover.
Passover was the biggest celebration of the Jews all year. The day before Passover they got a letter saying they were going to be killed on a particular day basically about a year from then. Can you imagine getting a letter on Christmas Eve saying next December you and all of your family are going to die?! That would certainly put a huge damper on all the Christmas festivities. I imagine that’s very much like how the Jews would have felt about this news right before Passover. (This has nothing to do with our theme, it’s just crazy to me! What awful timing!)
What did King Xerxes and Haman do while this news was being delivered to the Jews?
In the introduction to Mordecai in this chapter we yet again see him making a decision that is right but could come with some consequences. We should not be bowing down and worshiping any one or thing besides God. Mordecai knows that, and also knows that there could be consequences to not bowing down if Haman finds out.
I bet you already figured out that Haman is a bad example! Haman is so full of himself. He gets promoted to a pretty powerful position and just lets it go to his head. Seriously, he decides to annihilate all of the Jews because one Jew doesn’t bow down and honor him.
Haman is not portrayed as being very likeable. One time when we were teaching this story in Sunday School, the teens all booed or hissed every time they heard his name mentioned. But he didn’t start out as a bad guy. In order for the king to have promoted him to his position, I think that he had to have been doing things right. He had qualities that King Xerxes recognized and made Xerxes think this guy should be promoted.
But at some point that changes and Haman starts thinking “It’s all about me!” He has people start bowing down to him, sure it’s at the king’s command, but Haman didn’t have to let that happen. And he gets irrationally upset when he isn’t bowed down to. It isn’t normal to get upset at one person and then decide to eliminate their entire race as a result. He’s so insistent upon it that he also offers the king a huge bribe to be sure Xerxes will approve it.
I think the craziest part of everything he does is that he sits down with the king to drink. While the Jews all throughout the land are learning about their pending destruction, Haman sits and has a beer with the king.
Much of what we learn not to do from Haman in this chapter is similar to what we discussed about King Xerxes about pride and humility. Something different though is that if we realize “It’s not all about me!” we should not take things personally and forgive people. Haman took offense to what Mordecai did and as a result made bad decisions. The Bible is full of commands for us to love others and to forgive others. The only way we can do those things is if we recognize “It’s not all about me!”
Write about a time that you tried to get revenge instead of forgiving someone.
Write about a time that you forgave someone even though they hurt you..
1 John 4:7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.
Eph. 4:32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
Phil. 2:3-4 Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.
Matt. 6:14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you,
What do these verses tell us about “It’s not all about me!”?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In August, we spent a week at Word of Life in New York doing some work projects. These are devotionals on the book of Esther and the theme "It's not about me!"
Who is Haman?
What did Mordecai do to make Haman angry?
Because he is mad at Mordecai, what does Haman decide to do?
What year of King Xerxes reign did this happen?
And Esther was selected to be queen in the _______th year, so this is _______ years later.
Does the king ask Haman any questions before giving approval?
What day were the scribes summoned to write the letters for the couriers to deliver?
Lev. 23:5 In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight, is the LORD's Passover.
Passover was the biggest celebration of the Jews all year. The day before Passover they got a letter saying they were going to be killed on a particular day basically about a year from then. Can you imagine getting a letter on Christmas Eve saying next December you and all of your family are going to die?! That would certainly put a huge damper on all the Christmas festivities. I imagine that’s very much like how the Jews would have felt about this news right before Passover. (This has nothing to do with our theme, it’s just crazy to me! What awful timing!)
What did King Xerxes and Haman do while this news was being delivered to the Jews?
In the introduction to Mordecai in this chapter we yet again see him making a decision that is right but could come with some consequences. We should not be bowing down and worshiping any one or thing besides God. Mordecai knows that, and also knows that there could be consequences to not bowing down if Haman finds out.
I bet you already figured out that Haman is a bad example! Haman is so full of himself. He gets promoted to a pretty powerful position and just lets it go to his head. Seriously, he decides to annihilate all of the Jews because one Jew doesn’t bow down and honor him.
Haman is not portrayed as being very likeable. One time when we were teaching this story in Sunday School, the teens all booed or hissed every time they heard his name mentioned. But he didn’t start out as a bad guy. In order for the king to have promoted him to his position, I think that he had to have been doing things right. He had qualities that King Xerxes recognized and made Xerxes think this guy should be promoted.
But at some point that changes and Haman starts thinking “It’s all about me!” He has people start bowing down to him, sure it’s at the king’s command, but Haman didn’t have to let that happen. And he gets irrationally upset when he isn’t bowed down to. It isn’t normal to get upset at one person and then decide to eliminate their entire race as a result. He’s so insistent upon it that he also offers the king a huge bribe to be sure Xerxes will approve it.
I think the craziest part of everything he does is that he sits down with the king to drink. While the Jews all throughout the land are learning about their pending destruction, Haman sits and has a beer with the king.
Much of what we learn not to do from Haman in this chapter is similar to what we discussed about King Xerxes about pride and humility. Something different though is that if we realize “It’s not all about me!” we should not take things personally and forgive people. Haman took offense to what Mordecai did and as a result made bad decisions. The Bible is full of commands for us to love others and to forgive others. The only way we can do those things is if we recognize “It’s not all about me!”
Write about a time that you tried to get revenge instead of forgiving someone.
Write about a time that you forgave someone even though they hurt you..
1 John 4:7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.
Eph. 4:32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
Phil. 2:3-4 Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.
Matt. 6:14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you,
What do these verses tell us about “It’s not all about me!”?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In August, we spent a week at Word of Life in New York doing some work projects. These are devotionals on the book of Esther and the theme "It's not about me!"
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