even inquire as to what race it was which would be snuffed out through massacre. (Some people today are in a poor position to crit icize the king when they do not stop to check out the stories of those who gossip.) This should cer tainly be a lesson for us! All the Jews were to be killed in one single day and their property was to be confiscated (3:12-15). (It reminds us of Nazi Germany.) The king and the prime minister sat down together to drink. No won der the city of Shushan, which was the capital of the Persian empire, was perplexed. The proclamation permitted robbery and murder of the innocent. The whole citizenry probably felt insecure. God's Word says in Prov. 29:2, “When the right eous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked bear- eth rule, the people mourn." As we will see in our next study Haman is an absolutely unforget table character whose life should be a graphic warning against pride. The book of Esther teaches us some tremendous lessons as we find emphasized in it the dangers of personal power developing into sinful pride. Such certainly was the case with wicked Haman. He arose quickly with God's swift judgment. How foolish he was to think that he could exterminate the Jewish nation. No matter how clever his plan, the Lord would never allow such to take place. Of course, we know that the sentence of death is upon every unbeliever, apart from Jesus Christ. "The soul that sinneth, it shall die" (Ezekiel 18:20). The people looked to Queen Es ther to intercede on their behalf. Yet, she knew that to approach the king, even though she was married to him, without an invitation, was Page 46
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