In But Out 12

A little old Fashion Justice Coming Down

understand justice. You are reaping what you sowed. That is a fact of life. And thats what I got stuck to. The second line. Just a little old fashioned justice going round. We dont believe in Karma, but we do understand justice. The bible says

Esther 7
I hate to take my cues from Willie Nelson, but he did a song a decade or so ago that nails Esther seven. The title was, A little old fashioned Karma, and the lyrics went like this:

There's just a little fashioned karma coming down Just a little old fashioned justice going round A little bit of sowing and a little bit of reaping A little bit of laughing and a little bit of weeping Just a little old fashioned karma coming down Coming down coming down just a little old fashioned karma coming down It really ain't hard to understand If you're gonna dance you gotta pay the band It's just a little old fashioned karma coming down There's just a little fashioned karma...
Karma is a Hindu idea synonymous with bad luck. Only you did it to yourself in a past life. If you are good in a previous life then you will enjoy good Karma in this life, but if you act wickedly then you can expect trouble. So if a person has a lot of trouble, he must have bad karma. Nothing you can do about it except do really good in this life so that your next life goes better. Of course we dont believe that and to be honest, thats not exactly how Willie used the term. Willie used it more like we

Galatians 6:7 Dont be misledyou cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant.
In Esther chapter 7 we see a little old fashioned justice going round for Haman. Remember the story. The Jews are scattered throughout the ancient world. Most are living in Persia, which also happens to be the ruler of the world. The capital is Susa. Xerxes the Great is king. A young Jewish beauty named Esther was selected as his queen. Esthers cousin, Mordecai, has a confrontation with an antiSemitic under lord named Haman. Haman eventually secured the kings permission to eliminate all Jews, including Mordecai. Mordecai approached Esther the queen and said, You have to do something. After praying for three days, Esther called for a banquet and invited the King and his minion, Haman. The plan was to soften them up and then deliver the news that Haman was going to kill the Jews and that meant her too. But for whatever reason, Esther balked. She couldnt bring herself to say it. When the king asked, Now tell me what you want up to half the kingdom, Esther said, I want to have another Banquet with you and Haman. We would have to wait 24 more hours to find out if this plan would save the jews. That 24 hour period proved to be extraordinary. God stepped in, the king remembered a good

deed mordecai had done. Haman is all night building a gallows to hand mordecai when the king calls him in and forces him to ride mordecai through the streets of Suza on his official horse with his official robe. Meanwhile, back at the palace, there is this conspicuous 70 ft. gallows. Haman went home to sulk, and he received even more discouraging news. Lets revisit the last few lines of that scene before we see the justice roll over him.

Haman has no illusions of how this is going to turn out. He knows that his time is done. And I think its interesting that he views it this way because he understands the spiritual connections of life. Sad that a foreigner and his wife are the ones that figure this out. He goes to the banquet expecting the worse. And he is not to be disappointed.

13 And Haman recounted to Zeresh his wife and all his friends everything that had happened to him. Then his wise men and Zeresh his wife said to him, "If Mordecai, before whom you have begun to fall, is of Jewish origin, you will not overcome him, but will surely fall before him."
They could offer little help. Interesting who your friends are when you are against the wall. I sense a distancing here. The very ones that encouraged the gallows construction are now saying, Dude, your goose is cooked!

2 And while they were drinking wine that day, the king again asked her, "Tell me what you want, Queen Esther. What is your request? I will give it to you, even if it is half the kingdom!"
Esther has set this up perfectly. Again, using her gifts to do Gods work. This is such an important principle. We are uniquely designed. Esthers beauty was a tool for God to use. We tend to glorify the tool. Look at this tool. What a beauty. Man this tool is better than your tool. This tool is the best tool. Its not the tool that counts, its what you do with it. Some of you were given beauty. Some have intellect. Some of you are tremendous athletes. Some are skilled artists. Some of you have mechanical skills. You can fix things. Some of you have a freedom with the languages. Words come easily and naturally. Its not the gift you have that counts, its what you do with it.

14 While they were still talking with him, th e kings eunuchs arrived and hastily brought Haman to the banquet which Esther had prepared.
Again, there is no time to prepare. The events were happening in lightening succession. God was moving like a Mack truck on the interstate. And Haman was about to be road kill. Now we pick it up in chapter 7. Justice comes rolling round.

Esther had used her beauty for self-promotion. Now shes using it for Gods purpose.

1 So the king and Haman went to Queen Esthers banquet.

3 And so Queen Esther replied, "If Your Majesty is pleased with me and wants to grant my request,

my petition is that my life and the lives of my people will be spared.

She framed this thing perfectly. She didnt ask that Haman be executed. She humbly asked for her life to be spared. The king is stunned. Who is trying to kill my wife! Remember, hes already narrowly escaped the assassination attempt by the doorkeepers some years earlier. Now there is new treachery in the court. Xerxes felt unsafe enough to rise in the middle of the night and go back over the chronicles to see if there were any characters that hed overlooked. Someone was trying to kill him too. So he powerfully identifies with this. The timing of those words could not have been any more intense. NOW THEY ARE TRYING TO KILL MY WIFE!

The king is stunned. Who would do such a thing? He cant believe that anyone would even consider this. One thing Xerxes does NOT like to lose is a beautiful queen. His idiotic counselors had encouraged him to banish Vashti. It wasnt going to happen again. Notice, that after the first chapter the names of those counselors never appear in this text again. Xerxes had to keep his word on Vashti, but when he got to missing her, he got to hating them. Boom, they are gone. Now someone else is messing with his woman. Who would dare touch you? There is a man in the room right now, that realizes his death sentence is about to come. Think of this heart stopping moment. He was ruthless and brutal. He knew how to set people up and take people down. He had undoubtedly done away with countless rivals. Nobody knew this game better than Haman. Nobody was better at it. . . nobody, except God, and God had his hand on Esther. Theres added humiliation for this arrogant man in that world of chauvinism. Hes about to be taken down by a GIRL! She beat him at his own game. And she was a girl!

4 For my people and I have been sold to those who would kill, slaughter, and annihilate us. If we had only been sold as slaves, I could remain quiet, for that would have been a matter too trivial to warrant disturbing the king."
Kill, slaughter and annihilate us. Shes quoting the actual edict that the king signed. Only she added the word slaughter. Kill meant to slay or kill. Murder. Annihilate meant to utterly destroy. Wipe them out. All of them. Remember that line in Star words. The final solution from Hitlers dark counselors. Holocaust. Esther, still humble says, I wouldnt even bring this up if there were any other way. I mean if they had wanted to sell us as slave, then ok, but this is my life and the lives of my people.

6 Esther replied, "This wicked Haman is our enemy." Haman grew pale with fright before the king and queen.
This is the first time Haman is called wicked. Esther doesnt have to speak it loudly. In fact, she never gets off the couch. Just quietly, this foe and adversary, evil Haman. The NASV ads two descriptions, foe and adversary. Wicked Haman. The Hebrew word is ra. It meant evil. Haman was evil and now the king knew it.

5 "Who would do such a thing?" King Xerxes demanded. "Who would dare touch you?"

The essential meaning of the root can be seen in its frequent juxtaposition with the root tb. Thus Moses concluded, See I set before you today life and what is good [tb], death and what is evil/bad *ra+. ,cf. #Mic 3:2- Frequently they occur in the merism that one distinguishes good and evil/bad (#2Sa 14:17 2Sa 19:35 *H 36+; #1Ki 3:9 Isa 7:15; cf. here tree of good and evil,#Ge 2:9,17).1

as he does that the King returned to the quarters. Will he even assault the queen right here in the palace. . . The attendants threw a sack over his head. It was over for Haman. One last piece of divine irony. It was time to remember the gallows.

Haman went white.

7 Then the king jumped to his feet in a rage and went out into the palace garden. But Haman stayed behind to plead for his life with Queen Esther, for he knew that he was doomed.
The king went to think this through. Haman had been a trusted friend. He needed time to fully consider the situation. Haman is desperate. He could tell by the kings countenance that his case was lost. He was doomed. His only hope is to change Esthers mind.

9 Then Harbona, one of the kings eunuchs, said, "Haman has set up a gallows that stands seventyfive feet tall in his own courtyard. He intended to use it to hang Mordecai, the man who saved the king from assassination." "Then hang Haman on it!" the king ordered.
As if Hamans fate wasnt already sealed, the eunuchs took the opportunity to bring up the gallows. Haman had no time to deconstruct the thing. He knew that word would get out, but these events happened in such quick succession that he couldnt fix it. And his worst fear was suddenly realized. They knew who he planned to hang. The man that had saved the kings life from an assassination attempt. The very person the king had just exaulted. There was no way to explain that the gallows were built BEFORE the king exalted Mordecai. As if that would matter. No way to convince the king that Haman wasnt taking out Mordecai because Mordecai was a friend of the king. I mean, it couldnt have looked any worse. The misunderstanding and innuendo that Haman had always used to his advantage suddenly came roaring back on him. He was done. This was the final nail. Insult was heaped on injury. The king said, Then hang Haman on it!

8 In despair he fell on the couch where Queen Esther was reclining, just as the king returned from the palace garden. "Will he even assault the queen right here in the palace, before my very eyes?" the king roared. And as soon as the king spoke, his attendants covered Hamans face, signaling his doom.
He fell on the couch. Haman must have jumped on the couch and grabbed the queen to get her attention. Maybe he shook her, Look at me . . . you cant do this . . . ask him to spare my life. Just

Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament

10 So they hanged Haman on the gallows he had set up for Mordecai, and the kings anger was pacified.

Justice comes roaring back. What can we take from this? There is a powerful principle.

1. God will prevail. The wicked will be thrown down.

Psalms 1:5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, Nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. Proverbs 12:7 The wicked are overthrown and are no more, But the house of the righteous will stand.
Sometimes its hard to see that early on. The bad guys look like they are getting ahead. They exploit the innocent and take down the righteous. Yes, that does happen. But ultimately, God prevails and good wins out. It always happens.

2. Be sure that you dont find yourself on the wrong side 3. Wait for the providence of Gods hand to prevail