Please carefully read Esther 6:7-9 and answer the following questions.
The Greeks had a mythical hero named Narcissus. He was the most handsome man alive, but he would shun the love of all the women who sought after him. A nymph also fell in love with him, but he spurned her as well. She wished that he would love himself as much as others loved him. Narcissus then came upon a pool of water, and when he bent over to get a drink, he suddenly became enraptured with himself, burning for love of himself to the point he couldn’t draw himself away, to his own destruction, because he starved to death as he gazed longingly upon his own reflection![vi]
Haman was another Narcissus. All he could see was his own reflection, and he spurned all others who came across his path or in the way of his selfish pursuits, also to his own destruction, as he couldn’t see past the nose on his face! Yet as we read through all of this, we see how this too was part of the sovereign plan of God.
1. Haman pictured himself as the one who would be honored, and concocted quite the narcissistic plan for honoring, well, himself! What was the first thing he suggested Ahasuerus do for such a person (v. 8a)?
NOTE: If Haman were garbed like this, it would show the people that his true ambition was making a bid for the throne itself, thus he craftily suggested this.[vii]
2. What else did Haman suggest be done to honor this man (v. 8b)?
NOTES: The royal crest was a crown or decoration of some sort placed on the horse, not the rider, to signify it as being the horse of a royal person; the typical Persian crown the King would wear would be a high turban with ornamentation.[viii] Some skeptics scoffed at this Scriptural account of a crowned horse until archaeology uncovered Persian artwork showing the King’s horse wearing this type of crown.[ix]
3. Most appealing of all to Haman in his self-adulation, what did he suggest also for this man to further honor him (v. 9)
4. Haman truly loved himself! Above all, he wanted to be lifted up above everyone else, and have proclaimed (the Hebrew word meaning to cry out, roar, or shout this out to accomplish the purpose the message was designed for[x]) as the one the King delighted in. Foolish indeed were the assumptions he made here, but his narcissistic and smug attitude would shortly be dashed! We assume and seek foolish or even destructive things when we are filled with ourselves, spending too much time looking at our own reflection. Rather, how do the following passages tell us to seek humility, not self promotion, and leave the results up to God?
Jeremiah 45:5
Matthew 16:24-26; John 12:24-26
Philippians 2:3-8
Scripture Memory: Try to fill in the missing words in the blanks below, by memory if at all possible, and then review the passage several times today.
Pride goes before ___________________________, and a ______________________ spirit __________________ a fall Proverbs 16:18 (nkjv).
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© 2005 by Harvest Christian Fellowship. All rights reserved. Written by Thomas Klock for Men’s Bible Fellowship, 2004-2005.
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