Week 2 DAY 3
Today
We will:
- LOOK at Esther Chapter 8:11-12, a small bite at a time.
- LEARN ‘how‘ to incorporate GODcha’s tools along the way.
- LISTEN to God speak to us as we focus on GODcha’s LEARN/LIVE question –
And Continue With an Attitude of Prayer
O LORD, You are the center of our being. In You we live and move. Forgive our indifference, our sin this week, our wandering. We come today to see You in a fresh new way, and to see ourselves. May we have ears to hear what You are saying to us in Your Word of Truth. Oh give us the understanding we need in order to live in obedience to You. May we know the fullness of blessing and bring You honor in Your Son’s name. Thank you.
If you get STUCK at any point in your discovery, stop, and pray!
GOD, your Creator, loves you and desires to reveal much to you.
Context
Context Tutorial >
In Esther Chapter 8:11-12
We left off wanting to understand if Mordecai and Esther were justified in killing their enemies under this new edict. We know the king granted the Jews the right to kill anyone who might attack them.
Today: Destroy, Kill, Annihilate
LOOK 
At Verses 11-12
Always Begin By READING
READ Esther 8:11-14 again and ask the who, what, where, when, why, and how questions.
Focus on Esther 8:11-12 again.
Remember:
Reflect on the events that demonstrate God’s hidden hand.
How the Jews could defend themselves is key.
What does destroy, kill, and annihilate mean?
You might review what you learned about destroy, kill, and annihilate.
Let’s Focus a Bit On ‘Kill’.
Check Out the Cross References (aka CR).
Note: Remember to check the context of these passages.
Let’s understand the difference between kill, as the Jews were given the right to do, and murder.
1. Focus on Kill When it Refers to Murder
a. What happened the first time we see the word kill in God’s Word?
Gen 4:8
b. What did God establish when it comes to killing, taking a human life?
Gen 9:6
Num 35:33
c. What does God’s law say about intentionally killing another human being?
Exo 20:13
d. What did God establish the government to do?
Rom 13:4
2. Focus on Kill When it Refers to War (Battle)
a. There is a time for what?
Ecc 3:3, 8
b. What did God command Saul to do? What happened?
1Sa 15:3, 19, 26
c. What did God train David’s hands for? What did He do for David?
Psa 18:34-40, 47-48
d. What will Jesus do when He returns?
Rev 19:11
d. What would be good to understand as we see the Jews were given the right to kill any who would come against them?
1Sa 17:47; 2Ch 20:15; Exo 14:13-14
Rom 8:31
3. Focus on Kill When it Refers to Judgment
Who does the Lord kill? Why does He do this?
Exo 13:15
Num 16:35, 46, 49
1Ch 10:14
Psa 78:31, 34
LISTEN To the Spirit
Do I understand the uses for this word kill?
Can I, will I, share why the Lord allowed the Jews to kill an entire army of any people that might attack them?
When the battle is raging, physical or spiritual, what am I going to remember?
Respond, LIVE It Out!
God is waiting. Have a heart-to-heart with Him!
Great!
READ Esther 8:11 again.
Who did the Jews have the right to defend themselves against?
Now THINK, who would come and attack them?
We have already looked at this but do a quick review.
Est 3:1, 10; 8:3, 5; 9:24
Exo 17:8-16
1Sa 15:3
1Sa 15:19, 26
READ Esther 8:12
When could the Jews defend themselves?
What Did You LEARN
Check Out GODcha’s #4 LEARN Question(s).
#4. The king could not cancel the old edict that would destroy the Jews, so a new one was written to supersede the old. Consider Mordecai’s edict:
a. When was it written? How did it intentionally and deliberately parallel and counter Haman’s in Ch 3?
b. What were God’s people allowed to do to their enemies on one day?
c. Do you see God’s hand working behind the scene? (v8-14)
We have answered (a), and still working on point (b) of this LEARN Question.
Bring It Together!
We LEARN:
The Jews were granted the right to assemble and defend their lives, to destroy, kill, and annihilate anyone who would attack them, including children and women, and to plunder their spoil, v11.
We Discover:
Destroy means overthrow, perish, pluck down, utterly. A verb meaning to be destroyed, to be exterminated, or to be annihilated, referring to individual people, households, or nations.
Annihilate means to perish, to be lost, to wander, or, in a causative sense, to destroy, to reduce to some degree of disorder. It is used to signify God’s destruction of evil.
Kill means to smite with deadly intent:—destroy, out of hand, kill, murder (-er), put to [death], make [slaughter], slay (-er), surely. A verb meaning to kill, murder, slay. It carries a wide variety of usages. 1) Its first use in the Bible is in the fratricide of Cain and Abel (Ge 4:8). 2) The word is employed for war and slaughter (Jos 8:24; 1Ki 9:16; Est 8:11); 3) God’s killing in judgment.
– Murder means to slay, to kill. It refers to an unlawful premeditated unjustified killing of a human being by another.
– War means battle. It indicates killing in combat declared and engaged in by peoples and/or nations.
– Judgment refers to God’s killing.
We Discover:
Kill – Murder
The first place kill is used is when Cain killed [murdered] his brother Abel, Gen 4:8.
After the Flood, the Lord instituted capital punishment for murder, unjustified, premeditated killing, Gen 9:6; Num 35:30, 33-34.
God’s 6th command tells us we are not to murder, Exo 20:13.
God set up civil government to administer justice and punish evil. We are to do what is good, but if we do what is evil, be afraid; for it (the government) does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil, Rom 13:4.
We See: The sword is an instrument of death, symbolizing the right of civil government to inflict punishment, including the ultimate penalty of death for crimes that deserve it. The government has the right to exercise retribution and has the responsibility to provide protection.
We Discover:
Kill – War
There is a time to kill, a time for war and peace, Ecc 3:3, 8.
David boasts of the LORD God saying,
– God trained his hands for battle and enlarged his steps and his feet did not slip.
– Thus, he pursued and overtook his enemies.
– All because God girded him with strength for battle, and subdued those who rose up against him.
God made his enemies turn their backs to him and he destroyed those who hated him, Psa 18:34-40
God executes vengeance for David, subdues peoples under him, delivering him from his enemies, rescuing him from the violent, Psa 18:47-48
Jesus will return and wage war, Rev 19:11
The battle is the Lord’s, 1Sam 17:47, 2Ch 20:15; Exo 14:13-14
If the Lord be for us, who can be against us, Rom 8:31
We See: there is war, justified killing.
We Discover:
Kill – Judgment
The Lord killed every firstborn, Exo 13:15
When Korah rebelled against Moses, God’s chosen leader, the Lord consumed 250 men; then He sent a plague killing 14,700, Num 16:35, 46, 49
The Lord killed Saul for his trespass and turned the kingdom over to David, 1Ch 10:14
The Lord killed His people because of their sin and rebellion, Psa 78:31, 34
THINK and REASON:
The Lord never speaks against killing in war or the death penalty.
War is protective, defensive.
War is divinely delegated to governments, who are the God-appointed authority for preservation, punishment, and protection.
“War starts when the peace is interrupted and ends when it is restored. That’s really what a war should be. It starts when the peace is interrupted and it ends when it is restored. Stopping Hitler would be the classic example of a just war, wouldn’t it? He was going to commit genocide, obliterate the Jews from the face of the earth…
The primary duty of a government is not welfare, it’s not the reallocation of wealth, it’s not the roads, it’s not education. The primary duty of civil government is law enforcement. It is to punish evildoers so they can’t harm other people and to deter would-be evildoers by letting them know what the penalty is.” John MacArthur
We LEARN:
The Jews could defend themselves against anyone who would attack them, including children and women, and to plunder their spoil, v11.
We Discover:
Those who would attack them, including children and women, and to plunder their spoil would be those Haman had influenced and other Amalakites. Remember we saw the Jew’s 1st enemy and 1st war after the Exodus was with the Amalekites.
– The Amalekites who took their name from Amalek, the grandson of Esau, tried to destroy God’s people. As a result, God said He would blot out the memory of their name from under heaven for what they did to His people, Israel, Exo 17:8-16.
– God commanded Saul to utterly destroy Amalek. He was to put to death both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey, 1Sa 15:3.
– But Saul did not obey and rushed upon the spoil (the plunder), which was evil in the sight of the LORD, and God rejected him from being king as a result, 1Sa 15:19, 26.
THINK and REASON:
Do you remember Haman was an Agagite, an enemy of the Jews, Est 3:1, 10; 8:3, 5; 9:24? And that the Agagites, were Amalekites? Agag was a descendant, and king of the Amalekites, thus the name Agagite.
Now hang on to this huge fact, that this family feud, this war, had gone on for centuries, and now in Esther’s day it was coming to its climax.
Haman and the Agagites want to murder all the Jews, God’s people.
We LEARN:
And it would happen on a set day, on only one day, the 13th day of the 12th month, the month of Adar, in all the provinces, v12.
We Discover:
The one day was to be in the month of Adar, Feb/March, on the 13th day, Est 8:12; Est 3:13-14.
This doesn’t continue for days, weeks, or months, it is only for one day.
One day was granted to the Jews to kill anyone who showed up on their doorstep to murder them and, or their family.
We Discover:
This new edict was written on the 23rd day of the month of Sivan – May/June, v9.
This new edict would take place on the 13th of the month of Adar – Feb/March, v12.
This would give the Jews almost 9 months to prepare to fortify, protect, and be ready to defend themselves.
That’s It For Today!
“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord,” (Col 3:16).
Reflect and Meditate on what you have LEARNED!
Talk to God about how you are to live in the light of this Truth.
Now, Record What God Has Taught You
Put your discovery in your Notes.
Record the personal things God has touched you with.
Video Tutorial> Notes Tutorial >
Let’s Close in Prayer
OH FATHER WHO ART IN HEAVEN, WE HALLOW YOUR HOLY NAME, as we see this new edict, decree, that allowed Your people to defend themselves. Help us to understand that You make a distinction between killing and murder. Help cement down deep in our hearts what You say about killing when it refers to murder, war, and then, of course, Your judgment. As we see Haman, and the Agagites, wanting to intentionally kill, murder, Mordecai, and Your people, then to defend themselves was not murder. Rather, Mordecai’s edict was a law set up as justice! And the murderers, Your people’s enemies, had 9 months to rethink attacking the Jews. You gave them plenty of forewarning! And Father, this was a Holy War, a battle against Your people’s enemies as You describe in Deut 20. Keep us ever sensitive to these truths, for we know Father we are not to go out and intentionally harm anyone for Your command is – Thou shalt not murder! Oh, we thank you that we are Your children under Your divine laws. Hear oh Lord as we pour out our hearts to You today. In Your blessed Name, we pray Lord Jesus. Amen!
Isn’t it wonderful to hear God Speak to us?
Next: LOOK@ Esther Chapter 8:13-14.
Need the GODcha Bible Guide? Go to www.Godcha.org and subscribe.