DAY TWO: A Desperate Plea
Please carefully read Esther 8:4—6 and answer the following questions.
1. How did Ahasuerus honor Esther’s heart for her people (v. 4)?
2. At first view, Esther’s plea (v. 5a) seems repetitious, or almost like a woman using her “feminine wiles” to get her way. But carefully look at the beginning of her plea and find four different things she based her request on. After that introduction, what was her plea to Ahasuerus (v. 5b)?
NOTES: Unfortunately, the nlt translates this in a way you’ll only see two reasons mentioned. The word pleasing meant beneficial, good, well pleasing, and favorable; favor meant grace, favor, kindness, used in a sense of a superior extending favor to an inferior; right is the word kasher, meaning right, straight, acceptable, and is only used three times in the Old Testament (Esther 8:5, Ecclesiastes 10:10, 11:6), and later became the word kosher, something that met the criteria of Jewish rules of ritual purity.[iii]
3. How did Esther bare her heart to Ahasuerus (v. 6)?
4. We look at this plea of Esther and can draw one of two conclusions: Either she was pouring on the “feminine wiles” to get Ahasuerus to do something about this, or that this was truly the crushing burden of her heart to see her people saved. This author feels that the latter is the case, as Esther was willing to risk her life to take any step to save her people. Read the following passages regarding some who used “feminine wiles” (conniving) to get their way, contrasted with some who were moved out of self-sacrificial compassion for others. List their heart attitudes and techniques, and make your own decision about Esther’s methodology and motives.
Connivers:
Sarai, Genesis 16:1, 2
Rebekah, Genesis 27:5—10, 41—46
Rachel and Leah, Genesis 30:1—6, 9, 14—16
Compassionates:
Moses, Exodus 32:30—33
Ruth, Ruth 1:16—18
Paul, Romans 9:1—5
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.
Light is sown for the _______________________, and gladness for the upright in heart. _______________________ in the LORD, you righteous, and _______________ thanks at the remembrance of His holy name. (Psalm 97:11, 12, 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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