Esther 2:19-3:15
We all know the hurt and pain of being treated unfairly, when life “ain’t fair.” It’s difficult to handle life when it doesn’t treat us fairly, or what we perceive as just. The sad truth is that life is full of injustices. What should we do when faced with life’s unfairness?
Before we address that question, let’s consider the unfairness that Mordecai had to deal with in this section of Scripture. When he was deserving of a promotion or at least some kind of reward for his act of loyalty, he was singled out to be murdered!
1. An Attempt on the King’s Life (2:19-23)
“When the virgins were assembled a second time, Mordecai was sitting at the king’s gate.” The reason for this second gathering of the virgins is not explained. Perhaps these women were the ones who never saw the king during the pageant contest because they were scheduled after Esther, thus they were sent home as virgins, free to marry. Possibly this was a new batch of women. We simply don’t know. Scripture is silent.
The king’s gate was a place where commercial, civil and business matters were transacted. It would be like our city hall. This particular “gate,” built by Xerxes’ father, Darius, has been excavated. It was a large building, measuring 131 feet by 92 feet and consisted of a central hall that led to the royal compound with two side rooms. The central hall was supported by four columns with trilingual inscriptions that read, “Xerxes the King says, ‘By the grace of Ahuramazda, the Gate, Darius the King made it, he who was my father.’” This building and the open square in front of it match the details given by the author in 4:6, indicating the author of Esther was familiar with the palace at Susa.
For the second time, the text informs us that Mordecai had instructed Esther not to reveal her family background and nationality (2:10 is the first time) and that she continued to obey him, just as she had done when he was raising her. Perhaps implied here is that Mordecai’s position was due to Esther’s influence with the king, and Mordecai suspected he wouldn’t have gotten the position if Esther had told him they were both Jews.
One day, while conducting official business at the gate, Mordecai overheard two of the king’s guards, Bigthana and Teresh, conspiring to assassinate the king. Becoming angry, they spoke openly about their plans. Mordecai foiled the assassination attempt by reporting it to Queen Esther, who in turn told the king, giving credit to Mordecai. All of this was written in the official annals of the king. Acts of loyalty were usually rewarded immediately and generously by Persian kings, but Mordecai’s reward was apparently overlooked.
Note that verse 23 states, “And when the report was investigated and found to be true, the two officials were hanged on a gallows.” This was not hanging as we think of it; rather it was impalement.
2. Haman’s Promotion and Prominence (3:1-15)
For the first time in our narrative, the villain is introduced. We are immediately struck with the injustice of rewarding Haman instead of rewarding Mordecai. How could this be? The king elevated Haman and gave him a seat of honor higher than that of other nobles who were commanded by the king to bow to Haman.
Who is this Haman? Haman was an anti-Semite noble in the king’s court. He was the king’s right-hand man and had great wealth and influence. Scripture adds he was an Agagite.
What is an Agagite? The term Agagite in verse one, could refer to some other immediate ancestor or to an unknown place, but it’s also possible that it refers to Agag, the Amalekite, found in I Samuel 15:7-9, where it says, “Then Saul attacked the Amalekites…He took Agag, king of the Amalekites alive, and all his people he totally destroyed with the sword. But Saul and the army spared Agag and the best of the sheep and cattle….” Hundreds of years before, the Amalekites had attacked Israel after she fled Egypt (Exodus 17:8-16; I Samuel 14:47-48) and God had instructed Saul to kill them all. He had disobeyed and left the king, Agag, alive along with the best sheep and cattle. God wasn’t pleased and this disobedience cost Saul his kingship. Verse 1, as well as Jewish tradition, have linked Haman to this evil king. How interesting that Mordecai’s ancestor appears to be King Saul, the son of Kish (Esther 2:5), and Haman’s ancestor appears to be King Agag. It appears that Haman was continuing the old feud between the Amalekites and the Israelites.
Other Bible scholars disagree since Samuel killed Agag, causing the entire nation to be destroyed. Also, how did the Amalekites, if some escaped, ever migrate to Persia? Some say the term Agagite is a synonym for anyone who is seen as an enemy of Israel. Others see Agag as simply a geographical location in or near Persia, which archeology supports. The evidence is inconclusive.
But Mordecai refused to bow to Haman, nor pay him honor. Why? Again the text is silent. Two suggestions have been offered: (1) For a Jew to bow would have been an act of idolatry. Hundreds of years later, Jewish commentators, seeking to vindicate Mordecai, put this prayer in his mouth, “You know all things, Lord, I did not bow for to do so would have put the glory of man above the glory of God.” Two centuries later, Josephus said that Haman claimed to be divine, therefore Mordecai would see bowing to him as blasphemy (Exodus 20:5). However, throughout Scripture, Jews have bowed to kings and nobility. Bowing was simply mid-eastern custom, much like our modern curtsy or bowing before the British Queen.
(2) Mordecai’s national pride. By including the ancestries of both men (2:5-6 and 3:1), the author is making it clear that Mordecai would not bow to Haman because he considered Haman to be an enemy of his people. The royal officials had been asking Mordecai day after day why he wouldn’t obey the king’s command to bow to Haman. But Mordecai refused to answer them.
However, the text implies that Mordecai now felt it safe to reveal his nationality, “for he had told them he was a Jew” (vv. 3-4). Was it because his cousin was now queen he felt he could do as he pleased and not bow to Haman?
Haman was furious at Mordecai’s refusal to bow. So much so that he wasn’t content to just have Mordecai killed, he wanted to exterminate Mordecai’s entire race! Certainly, this was Satanically motivated. Satan has been behind all the attempts to annihilate the Jews throughout history. Anti-Semitism is Satanic.
History has shown there is a force at work in the world intent on destroying God’s chosen people, Israel, attempting to thwart God’s promises. All assaults on God’s people are an attack on the authority, power and character of God Himself. Satan used Haman to try and exterminate God’s chosen people. He would do so again throughout history (e.g. the Crusades, the genocide of 6,000,000 Jews during World War II, the hatred of mid-east Arab nations and their desire to destroy the Jewish people today and antichrist’s future betrayal of the Jews (Revelation 12; Daniel 9:27).
Verse 7 says that in Xerxes’ 12th year (Esther’s 5th year as queen), “they cast the pur (that is, the lot) in the presence of Haman to select a day and a month. And the lot fell on the twelfth month, the month of Adar.” The “they” is unidentified, but this casting of lots occurred outside the presence of the king. Lots, or what we would call dice, were used to determine the day of vengeance on the Jews. Such dice were not used for gambling, but for divination, or determining the will of the gods. They cast the lots during the first month, Nisan, and the lot fell on the 12th month, Adar, 11 months away. Pur is the Persian word for lot, therefore, the Jewish feast that is described in 9:18-19, came to be called Purim. Orthodox Jews still celebrate the feast of Purim to this day. They read the book of Esther during the celebration to remind them of God’s deliverance from extermination.
“Then Haman said to King Xerxes, ‘There is a certain people dispersed and scattered among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom whose customs are different from those of all other people and who do not obey the king’s laws; it is not in the king’s best interest to tolerate them. If it please the king, let a decree be issued to destroy them, and I will put ten thousand talents of silver into the royal treasury for the men who carry out this business’” (vv. 8-9). Notice Haman never mentioned the Jews by name and the king appears to not care because he doesn’t even ask! Once again, Xerxes is being manipulated! Just because people have different customs is no reason to exterminate them! Was the king really listening? Persia was filled with different people groups, truly a multi-cultural world government. This action, or lack of action, on the king’s part once again shows Xerxes’ apathy, ruthlessness and disregard for his people.
Haman, like others before him, informed the king about “what is not in the king’s best interest.” Xerxes, whose word was irrevocable law, was first advised by Memucan on how to deal with Vashti. Then his personal attendants suggested how a new queen should be chosen. In this scene as well, the king is being blindly manipulated by Haman to use his royal power to his own ends. In all three cases, the machinery of the entire empire was put in motion by the advisers’ manipulation of the king.
Xerxes responded to Haman’s request by taking off his ring from his finger and giving it to Haman. He gave full authority and power to Haman by handing him his official signet ring (an ancient Master Card with funds and authority). And in so doing he sealed the fate of thousands of his loyal subjects. He didn’t ask who and he never even asked why. Regarding the 10,000 talents of silver Haman had offered to do the job, Xerxes said, “Keep the money… and do with the people as you please”(v. 11). We assume Haman would collect this much by plundering the possessions of the massacred Jews. Is this amazing apathy or simply cold indifference of the king? Neither the king nor Haman realized that they had just decreed the death of the queen.
The official announcement was written on the 13th day of the first month in each of the various languages of the people: “… these were written in the name of the King Xerxes himself and sealed with his own ring. Dispatches were sent by courier to all the king’s provinces with the order to destroy, kill and annihilate all the Jews – young and old, women and little children – on a single day, the 13th of Adar, and to plunder their goods. A copy of the text of the edict was to be issued as law in every province and made known to the people of every nationality so they would be ready for that day (vv. 12b-14).”
Apparently, the citizens of Susa didn’t share Haman’s anti-Semitic views, for verse 15 ends with the words, “…but the city of Susa was bewildered.” They shook their heads in confusion as they heard this latest new law from the king. What could it mean? Some Jewish readers would have seen the irony with the date of this horrible news, the 13th of Nisan. This was the eve of Passover which commemorates the deliverance of Israel from Egypt.
Meanwhile, “the king and Haman sat down to drink” (v. 15). Remember how the Persians would deliberate the gravest matters while drunk, and when they had taken counsel about a matter while sober, they acted upon it when drunk? Why? Because they believed intoxication put them in touch with the spirit world.
Injustice … we have all faced it. Maybe you’ve experienced it many times. Maybe you have experienced what Mordecai did. Instead of being rewarded, his enemy was. The Jewish people were informed that they would be slaughtered 11 months later by the decree of their foolish king. No reason was given! How would you handle this life and death trial? Like Jeremiah of old we would likely ask, “You are righteous, O Lord, when I bring a case before you. Yet I would speak with you about your justice: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all the faithless live at ease?”(Jeremiah 12:1).
Certainly there are other Bible characters who experienced being treated unfairly. Job thought he was being treated unfairly by God (Job 19:7-22); Moses wondered about being treated unfairly when he went out to rescue his fellow Hebrew slave (giving up his princely status to do so). He killed an Egyptian and ran for his life to neighboring, pagan Midian (Exodus 2:11-15). Or consider Daniel who was taken captive, and trained to be a good Babylonian at approximately 15 years of age (Daniel 1). Where was God in all of these life situations? He was right where He wanted to be (Psalm 115:3), guiding each situation to bring about His will in each of their lives, as He also does for us when we think we are being treated unfairly. The key to victory is trusting God, believing He is guiding the situation and choosing to accept whatever He sends for His glory.
God is in control. Many today would see the throwing of the dice as purely coincidental or luck. But note Proverbs 16:33: “The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord.”
Haman may have cast the lot to determine the death sentence of all the Jews, but it was the God of the Jews who determined how it fell. This opens up the question, is God the author of evil? The answer is no, He’s not, but He allows evil to accomplish His will in our lives. Joseph’s brothers were morally responsible for selling him as a slave. Yet Joseph later said, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good” (Genesis 50:20). God is always in control.
Retaliation is not God’s way. When wronged, our natural reaction is to hit back, but Christ calls the believer to a higher ethic (Romans 12:17-19). We must commit ourselves to God’s justice when faced with injustice.
Take Home Truth: Remember God is still sovereign even when injustice comes into our lives.
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