No Quarter - Audio
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We're right at the point in Esther where everything's going to turn upside down. We've seen a little bit of it in the last couple of weeks. For example, Esther, poor Jewish girl, becomes queen of the country. Her adopted father, Mordecai, meant for shame and dishonor is raised up and prayed through the streets by his enemy. Heaven has been shamed, Haman, the persecutor of the Jews, Haman, the one who seeks to murder all of God's people. Esther's promised Mordecai that she is going to try and intercede on behalf of the Jewish people. She's scared. She's got a lot riding on this, but today is her day, or tonight is her night. Tonight is when she makes her move. Esther is going to begin the rescue of her people from annihilation tonight. Before we read, I just wanted to point out a few things. Today's sermon title is called "No Quarter," and we'll see how that works as we go through. But I do want to notice, we read from the New King James here. You have New King James Bibles in your pews. And one of the things that Neil and I were talking about is sometimes you'll see in your New King James Bible, or even up here, you'll see words in italics. Text does not mean in the New King James Bible what it means in English, which is emphasize this. Italics in the New King James is an example of a place where translators have inserted words that aren't in the Hebrew. It's because Hebrew as a language is maybe a little bit less precise than English, or just perhaps the syntax of English grammar doesn't quite work the same way, and so translators try to give us a little bit of help. So if you see that up there, don't be confused. Also, you'll see sometimes when we're preaching I'll have things in brackets, and that'll come up. That's where, based on some of my work and research, or just to smooth things out, I've kind of just taken the New King James language and maybe updated it a little bit to give us a little more of a sense of what's happening on the ground, to give us a sense of the tone or the feel of the text in a way that won't go against the actual language. And if I ever skip over one of those things and you're curious about it, please don't hesitate to ask me. I'm happy to explain decisions that I've made. With all that in mind, let's stand together and read. This is Esther chapter 7, verses 1 through 10. Esther begins the rescue for people, and she shows no quarter. So the king and Haman went to dine with Queen Esther. This is the second time she's invited them, and they're coming here. This is on the second day, the second invitation at the banquet of wine, or the wine course, the drinking portion of the meal, the king again said to Esther, "What is your petition, Queen Esther? It shall be granted to you. And what is your request, up to half the kingdom? It will be done." Then Queen Esther answered and said, "Perhaps to morally, perhaps cunningly, difficult to say. If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it pleases the king, let my life be
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Teaching on Esther 7:1-10, Pastor Tom discusses Esther's providential circumstances, and the fall of the evil Haman, reminding us that God gives sin "no quarter."