Esther Esther. God, through Esther, saved Israel from destruction so that the promised Messiah could come from Judah.

Transcription

1 sther sther God, through sther, saved srael from destruction so that the promised essiah could come from Judah. God s and in ur ives ld estament sther - evel 2 10/13/02

2 he tory nce there was a king of ersia named erxes. e had a great feast where he invited many important people in his kingdom. he feast lasted many, many days. ear the end of the feasting King erxes ordered his queen, ashti, to come to the feast in order to show off her beauty. Queen ashti refused to come before the king. Because she did not obey the king she was no longer the queen. ll the young beautiful women of the land were brought before the king so that he could choose another queen. e loved sther above all the other young women and she became the new queen. sther was a Jew, one of God s people. he was raised by her cousin, ordecai, because her parents had died. ordecai worked in the king s palace. ne day ordecai overheard two gatekeepers planning to kill the king. e told sther who told the king of this evil plan. he two gatekeepers were killed and the story of ordecai s help was written in the history book of King erxes. ater a wicked man named aman became a leader in the king s palace. e made an order that everyone should bow down to him because he thought he was so important. ordecai would not bow down because God does not want us to worship anyone but im. Because ordecai would not bow down, aman was very angry. e planned how he could kill ordecai and all ordecai s people, the Jews. aman came up with a plan. e told King erxes that there was a group of people in the kingdom who had their own laws. hese people should be killed. King erxes let aman make an order to destroy these people, the Jews, in one year. hen sther, ordecai and all the Jews heard about this order they were very sad. ordecai told sther that she should go before the king and ask that the Jews be spared. sther knew that she could be killed if she went to the king without being invited. he asked ordecai and all the Jews to pray for her so that she would not be killed when she went before the king uninvited. he said, f perish, perish. he next day she went to the king. e held out his golden scepter to her to show that she found favor in his eyes. e said, hat do you want, Queen sther. will give you up to half of my kingdom. You and aman come to a feast, she told King erxes. aman felt great pride that he and the king were asked to sther s feast. t that feast she asked them to come again the next day and then she would make her request. hen aman then saw ordecai at the palace he was reminded of how he didn t bow down to him. gain aman was very angry. aman had gallows built so that one day he could have ordecai hung on them. hat night the king could not sleep. e had his servants read for his history book. e was told of how ordecai had saved his life when the two gatekeepers had planned to kill him. hat did we do to honor ld estament 2 sther - evel 2

3 ordecai? the king asked. othing, said the servants. ater King erxes asked aman what should be done to honor someone the king favored. aman thought the king wanted to honor him so he told the king to have royal robes and a royal horse be given to the person the king honored. hen have the person taken through the city and have the people pay their respect to him. urry, go take robes and a horse to ordecai and take him through the city so that everyone can honor him, said the king. aman had to do this since he was ordered by the king. ater aman and the king again went to see Queen sther s feast. sther told the king about the man who had ordered the death of her and her people the Jews. ho is that man? asked King erxes. t is aman, said Queen sther. aman was ordered to be hanged on the gallows he had built for ordecai. ordecai was then given aman s job in the palace. hen the time of aman s order came, the Jews were not killed but were allowed to defend themselves and kill their enemies. special celebration was started called urim to honor the time that God spared the Jews from death. ctivity ne - Draw a line to match the names to the sentence about them. 1. am the King of ersia......ordecai 2. am the Queen of ersia am a wicked man who hated Jews am a Jew who worked in the king s palace will save the Jews will die for all people......aman...jesus...erxes...god...sther ld estament 3 sther - evel 2

4 ld estament 4 sther - evel 2 ctivity wo - Find the names from the story in the D below. Y F G K J B Y G D assages cts 5:29 -e ought to obey God rather than men. evelation 2:10 - "Be faithful until death, and will give you the crown of life." salm 37:5 ommit your way to the D, trust also in im, and e shall bring it to pass. D B D F G K

5 God, through the oly pirit in the ord, has led us to Jesus. ymn & rayer- orship upplement 2000 #785 hildren of the heav nly Father afely in is bosom gather; estling bird nor star in heaven uch a refuge e er was given. God is own doth tend and nourish; n is holy courts they flourish. From all evil things e spares them; n is mighty arms e bears them. either life nor death shall ever From the ord is children sever; nto them is grace e showeth, nd their sorrows all e knoweth. hough e giveth or e taketh, God is children ne er forsaketh; is the loving purpose solely o preserve them pure and holy. men. ld estament 5 sther - evel 2