THE BAD THAT WE WISH FOR OTHERS MAY BE DONE TO US

PROCLAMATION

“So they impaled Haman on the pole he had set up for Mordecai.”  Esther 7:10 (NIV)

EXPLANATION

After Esther agreed to do that which Mordecai had requested of her to save her people, she asked him to have the people fast and pray for her for three days. (Esther 4:15-17)  Then Esther approached the king and asked him to come to a banquet which she had prepared for him.  She also asked that Haman be present. (Esther 5:1-5)  At the banquet the king asked her what it was that she wanted.  She requested that the king and Haman attend a second banquet the following day and then she would answer his question. (Esther 5:6-8)  After the first banquet, Haman left feeling very full of himself until he saw Mordecai.  Then he went home filled with rage.  His wife and friends told him to have a pole set up and ask the king to have Mordecai impaled upon it. (Esther 5:9-14)  The king had been reminded that Mordecai had warned him about a threat to assassinate him.  When the king saw Haman, he asked him how he should honor such a man.  Haman offered a suggestion thinking that the king was going to honor him. (Esther 6:1-9)  Then the king told him to go and bestow this honor upon Mordecai.  He did as the king requested and returned home in grief. (Esther 6:10-13)  At the second banquet, Esther told the king that Haman had ordered that all of the Jews be destroyed, killed, and annihilated and that she was a Jew. (Esther 7:1-6)  Then the king left the room in a rage.  He returned to find Haman on the couch with Esther and he had Haman impaled on the pole which he had set up for Mordecai. (Esther 7:9-10)

APPLICATION

It is not good to think evil of someone or to wish evil upon someone.  As believers we are to pray for and do good to our enemies. (Matthew 5:44)  We are not even to think evil thoughts about the bad things we want to befall those that we do not like. (Proverbs 40:7)  We are to do that which is good and right to those who we feel have wronged us and The Lord God will deal with them. (Proverbs 25:22 and Romans 12:20)  We are not to return evil for the evil which was done to us. (Romans 12:17, 1 Thessalonians 5:15, and 1 Peter 2:14)  The Bible says that we ourselves may fall into the hole which we have dug for others. (Psalm 7:15)  “Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” (Galatians 6:7)