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Oh What a Tangled Web We Weave
Esther 2:1-4
But after Xerxes’ anger had subsided, he began thinking about Vashti and what she had done and the decree he had made. 2 So his personal attendants suggested, “Let us search the empire to find beautiful young virgins for the king. 3 Let the king appoint agents in each province to bring these beautiful young women into the royal harem at the fortress of Susa. Hegai, the king’s eunuch in charge of the harem, will see that they are all given beauty treatments. 4 After that, the young woman who most pleases the king will be made queen instead of Vashti.” This advice was very appealing to the king, so he put the plan into effect.
Okay, this is going to be an empire-wide beauty contest.
3 Some time later King Xerxes promoted Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite over all the other nobles, making him the most powerful official in the empire.
There’s something very interesting about this man and this is key to the whole story. He was an Agagite. A small detail, but the origin of Haman’s hatred for Mordecai and his hatred for the Jews.
2 All the king’s officials would bow down before Haman to show him respect whenever he passed by, for so the king had commanded. But Mordecai refused to bow down or show him respect. 3 Then the palace officials at the king’s gate asked Mordecai, “Why are you disobeying the king’s command?” 4 They spoke to him day after day, but still he refused to comply with the order. So they spoke to Haman about this to see if he would tolerate Mordecai’s conduct, since Mordecai had told them he was a Jew.
How many of keep our faith a private matter until it benefits us. In other words, we really don’t walk with God, but we’ll pull out the Christian card when it’s for our convenience, and then all of a sudden we’re really committed and the rules don’t apply to us.
To bow down could have been a means of showing respect, or it could have been a form of worship.
How can we as Christians respond when confronted with religious and political demands? What helps us know when to draw the line between obedience to authority and refusal to compromise our faith in God?
1 Timothy 2:1-3 (NLT)
2 I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them. 2 Pray this way for kings and all who are in authority so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity. 3 This is good and pleases God our Savior.
Romans 13:1 (NLT)
13 Everyone must submit to governing authorities. For all authority comes from God, and those in positions of authority have been placed there by God.
Mordecai lived in a culture in which bowing to officials was customary. It seems it would have been easy for Mordecai to just simply blend in with the crowd and bow to Haman. We face that same struggle today—whether to blend in or take a stand on issues where our contradicts God’s Word. When is the right time to take a standand when is it time to speak out? How do we decidewhich customs to hold and which to discard?
5 When Haman saw that Mordecai would not bow down or show him respect, he was filled with rage.
How many of us are like Haman? We just can’t let it go. Like, Haman’s life is going good. He’s got a throne, he’s ruling and reigning, everybody bows down to him except for one guy. What does he become obsessed with? One guy. We get like that, don’t we? Everything in life is great except for one thing, and that’s what we obsess over. That’s what we freak out about. That’s who we’re frustrated by.
Esther 3:6
6 He had learned of Mordecai’s nationality, so he decided it was not enough to lay hands on Mordecai alone. Instead, he looked for a way to destroy all the Jews throughout the entire empire of Xerxes.
Are you like Haman? Do you hold grudges?
So Haman goes to the magicians and the astrologers and he says, 7 So in the month of April, during the twelfth year of King Xerxes’ reign, lots were cast in Haman’s presence (the lots were called purim) to determine the best day and month to take action. And the day selected was March 7, nearly a year later.
Next, he goes to the king says, “There is a certain race of people scattered through all the provinces of your empire who keep themselves separate from everyone else. Their laws are different from those of any other people, and they refuse to obey the laws of the king. So it is not in the king’s interest to let them live. 9 If it please the king, issue a decree that they be destroyed, and I will give 10,000 large sacks of silver to the government administrators to be deposited in the royal treasury.”
I’m going to make you a lot of money and get rid of your problem. “So the king took his signet ring,” this is power of attorney, “from his hand and gave it to Haman the Agagite, the son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews.”
Many of us are horrified that a government could send forth a decree for the execution of an innocent people—through the efforts of Haman or Hitler or Hussein.
But we as a nation don’t have moral high ground either. As a nation, we have sanctioned the murder of the unborn. We take life every week; we do it legally, and it’s not holy.
However, we’re no better than the Persians. They would slaughter innocent people who hadn’t done anything, and we do as well. We’ve got to be very careful if we’re going to condemn holocausts that we condemn all holocausts, even the ones on our watch.
What can we learn from the story so far?
How do we tell the story in such a way that it benefits us? We all do it. It started when we were little. We would do something evil against our sibling, they would start screaming, then we would try to get to mom and dad first in order to tell our version. Proverbs says it rightly, “Everyone seems right until the other side is heard.”Have we looked at both sidesof a situation before passing judgment?
We need to be careful and cautious and ask, “How are we like Xerxes?” We believe things about people, negative things that are said, criticisms, gossip. We don’t even know them. We haven’t even checked the facts. Or greed. We make decisions solely based upon the bottom line, not the glory of God and the good of others.
Haman hits the fast track, dispatches a royal decree, 3:13, “all Jews—young and old, including women and children—must be killed, slaughtered, and annihilated on a single day. This was scheduled to happen on March 7 of the next year. The property of the Jews would be given to those who killed them.”
How do we interpret all this data? What do we do with it?
Appearances can be deceptive. From a snapshot taken at the time of Haman’s manipulation of Xerxes, you might conclude that the enemies of God had won. But when you look at the big picture, the long-term reality of God’s love and His control of history, it all leans toward Jesus.
The whole Bible is one story with one hero, our deliverer.
Esther: For Such a Time As This – John Macarthur
A Deadly Poison: Holding a Grudge -- Edward L. Winkfield
Jesus Died a Better Death -- Mark Driscoll
Explore the Bible –Tony Evans (General Editor)
