Children Bible Overview 94 15/2/09

WHEN HAMAN WANTS TO KILL ALL JEWS,

ESTHER GATHERS ALL JEWS TO JOIN IN PRAYER

Teachers to read bible scripture: <Est 2:19-4:17>

Children to memorize bible scripture: <Mt 26:41>

Recap
Last week, we saw how God made use of little Esther to become the Queen of Great Persia.

Introduction
After Esther became Queen, God’s blessings continued to fall on the Jews, His people and Mordecai.
There was once, two eunuchs conspired to murder the King of Persia but they were discovered by
Mordecai. Mordecai told Queen Esther who in turn told the King of Persia about this matter. The two
eunuchs were subsequently hanged and the King’s life was spared. However, in Persia, there was a
very proud man whom the King trusted very much. His name was Haman. Because the King favored
Haman, he therefore commanded everyone who saw him to kneel before him. Hence, everyone in
Persia had to kneel before Haman, except one person, Mordecai who refused to do so. Mordecai was
a Jew who believed and rely on the Lord, God. Therefore, other than God, he would never kneel
before anyone else. When Haman saw that Mordecai refused to kneel before him, he was enraged.
And because he also hated all the Jews, he hence thought of a plan to kill them all. Haman hence
cast the pur (that is a lot) to kill all the Jews on the 13th day of the 12th month, the month of Adar. After
he had set a date, Haman went before the King of Persia and said, “O King, there is a certain tribe of
people (which is the Jews) dispersed and scattered among the peoples in all provinces of your
kingdom and who do not obey the King’s laws but only obey the laws of their God. Therefore, it is not
in the King’s interest to tolerate them but to destroy them.” So the King took his signet ring from his
finger and gave it to Haman and told him to do with the people as he pleased. Haman hence issued
an edict, ordering all the Jews in Persia, young and old, women and little children to be annihilated.
Therefore, all the Jews got really frantic. When Mordecai found out about this matter, he tore his
clothes and ran to the King’s gate, knelt down, cried and prayed. Esther sent her people to find out
from Mordecai what happened. Mordecai hence told Esther of Haman’s plan to destroy all the Jews.
At the same time, he urged Esther to go to the King to beg for mercy and plead with him for her
people. Initially, Esther was afraid because anyone, regardless of his identity, who approached the
king in the inner court without being summoned would be put to death. Mordecai hence told Esther,
“Didn’t God made you the Queen for a time as this? If you do not approach the King, you will
eventually be killed too because you are a Jew.” Esther hence sent a reply to Mordecai, “Go, gather
together all the Jews in the city and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for 3 days, night and day and pray
earnestly for me in “chain prayer”. My maids and I will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to
the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish.”

1. The enemy Haman got up to attack and destroy all of God’s people
1) Because Mordecai believed God and did not kneel before Haman, Haman wanted to
kill and destroy Mordecai and God’s people, the Jews, who believed in the Lord, God.
2) Haman is like the devil, Satan. Because we believe in Jesus Christ, become God’s
children, do not follow the world and do not worship other gods, the devil therefore
hates us very much, and often uses a lot of problems to frighten us (e.g. some times,
he causes others to dislike me, causes parents to quarrel at home, causes the
teachers in school to scold us…), so that we would lose our faith and hence not pray.
3) Although this is the case, God has never left us (His people). When the devil attacks
us amidst the greatest danger and many problems, God continues to look after us
and protect us.
2. Those who cannot see God will only be fearful and frantic
1) Although God has never left us, God’s people who cannot see Him would get very
frantic. They do not know what to do and would only be fearful, crying… When we
are frightened and crying, the problems continue not to be solved and the devil
remains very happy.
2) Today, when the devil uses a lot of problems to attack us. If we are only frightened
and cry, the problems would still not be solved because the devil is not afraid of our
cries and moans. The devil is also not afraid of us wrecking our brains. The devil is
hence very happy.
3) Let us ponder: Under what situation would we be most fearful to the extent that we
would cry? E.g. When our parents leave us, when we are punished by our teachers
Is it due to the loss of our belongings? People scolding us and even beating us?
When people do not play with us? When people snatch away the toys we love very
much etc? Actually, at these times, God never leaves us. Therefore, the most
important thing we must do is to pray.

3. Those who know God know that there is only 1 method, that is, “to pray”
1) When the Jews were about to be killed, the first thing that Mordecai did was to tear
his clothes (very earnestly), ran to the king’s gate, knelt before God and prayed.
Thereafter, Esther instructed all the Jewish people to gather to pray for her. [In the
next few weeks, we shall see how God saves His people and destroys all his
enemies through His people’s prayers.]
2) Qn: Why does God want us to pray in order to save us? Ans: This is because God
does not merely want to save us. More importantly, he wanted us to have a heart
that believes Him through our answered prayers. In that way, we would then rely on
God in all things.
3) Esther was still afraid when she prayed by herself. Therefore, she instructed the
people in the city to pray together with her. [There are times when one person’s
prayer is not enough, and the heart still feels fearful without faith. At these times, we
need to find a few more people who know God and come together to do a “chain
prayer”. This is because God wants all those who participate in prayers to see God’s
blessing and help together.]