Today in God's Word—May 2023
East Tallassee Church of Christ
May 3, Esther 3
And all the king's servants who were at the king's gate bowed down and paid homage to Haman, for the king had so commanded concerning him. But Mordecai did not bow down or pay homage. - Esther 3:2
How did one man's refusal to bow to another escalate into a death decree for an entire race of people? When Haman perceived an insult in Mordecai’s refusal to bow before him, Haman developed a plan to exterminate the chosen people of God. Chapter 3 relates the incident. Let's meditate for a while and see if we can understand what happened and why.
Let's not ignore the actions and words of the gossips and talebearers whose words fueled this highly combustible situation. They questioned Mordecai for days about his noncompliance, but Mordecai would not answer their questions. So they told Haman about the only man who remained standing when he passed by, and added that he was a Jew. If these busybodies had minded their own business, Haman’s rage might never have been aroused to plan the slaughter of the Jews.
Was Mordecai just being stubborn and uncooperative when he refused to bow? I don't think that is correct. It seems to me that Mordecai refused to bow on the same grounds that three other Hebrews in captivity refused to bow and worship Nebudchadnezzar’s image. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego are famous for disobeying the Babylonian king's demand for all to bow and worship his idol when they heard the music. Those three young Hebrews refused because to do so would violate the first line of the 10 Commandments: "You shall have no other gods before me." Mordecai would show reverence before God alone. So he refused to bow to Haman.
Let's think about some possible reasons why this situation between Haman and Mordecai was so explosive. First, Haman's promotion
propelled his prideful arrogance to new heights. He liked the royal treatment, and was highly offended when Mordecai would not show him the obeisance he craved. The old Jew standing there while everyone else was face down honoring him insulted Haman. His maniacal egotism was obsessed with getting revenge against his adversary.
Speaking of revenge, this incident is typical of the human tendency to overreact to real or perceived insults or injuries. It's quite human to seek retribution for wrongs done to us. Remember back in Genesis, Lamech bragged to his wives about how he killed people who wounded or struck him, saying that if Cain was avenged sevenfold, Lamech would take seventy-seven fold revenge. That was the mindset of the ancient culture in which God moderated that barbaric unrestrained response to wrongs. He taught Israel to recompense “eye for eye, tooth for tooth." The prevailing thought was more like, "If you hurt me, I will kill you and your family and burn your house down."
Do you think it's possible that Haman's gross overreaction to Mordecai's refusal might have stemmed from an incident that took place 400-500 years before these men lived? The text says Haman was an Agagite. Does that mean he was a descendant of King Agag of Amalek? Remember, God sent Israel's King Saul to annihilate the Amalekites. Saul killed some of them but took the king and some other things he perceived to be of value. Samuel the prophet rebuked Saul for his disobedience and told him he had lost his kingdom because of it. Then Samuel took a sword and hacked Agag to pieces. Did Haman know about this? Did he see an opportunity to avenge the death of his ancestors from something that happened centuries before?
Haman set the date eleven months ahead for the national day of killing all the Jews. He was guided by lot-casting fortune tellers. Haman needed royal permission and funding to carry
out his evil plan. It wasn't very hard to get Ahasuerus to go along. He gave Haman free rein to write whatever he wanted to do, and sign the king’s name and proceed with the plan. He gave Haman his signet ring, which was the equivalent of a blank check.
Regardless of the motive behind it, Haman’s plan was doomed to fail. God, not Haman or Ahasuerus or Mordecai, was in charge. God was already at work through the king's drunken demand that created a vacancy in the queen's place. God's hand moved, and a slave girl became queen of the Persian empire, even through an ungodly selection process. God made sure that Mordecai's name got into the records of the king's activities when Mordecai saved the king from the assassination attempt.
Haman’s plan was indeed diabolical, but it was doomed to fail. No human or devil can cause God to break his promise or defeat his eternal purpose.
We should remember that pride is not only wrong in itself, but also leads us to mistreat people around us. Also, this chapter reminds us that standing on principle (quite literally in Mordecai’s case) may be costly, but is still the right thing to do. And let’s never forget that God is in control and can use even the evil intent of others to bless his people.
Copyright © 2023 by Michael B. McElroy. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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