Tag: haman

A Great Reversal (Esther 8:1-17)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
Reversal, by Margarita Lypiridou, 2021

That same day King Xerxes gave Queen Esther the estate of Haman, the enemy of the Jews. And Mordecai came into the presence of the king, for Esther had told how he was related to her. The king took off his signet ring, which he had reclaimed from Haman, and presented it to Mordecai. And Esther appointed him over Haman’s estate.

Esther again pleaded with the king, falling at his feet and weeping. She begged him to put an end to the evil plan of Haman the Agagite, which he had devised against the Jews. Then the king extended the gold scepter to Esther and she arose and stood before him.

“If it pleases the king,” she said, “and if he regards me with favor and thinks it the right thing to do, and if he is pleased with me, let an order be written overruling the dispatches that Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, devised and wrote to destroy the Jews in all the king’s provinces. For how can I bear to see disaster fall on my people? How can I bear to see the destruction of my family?”

King Xerxes replied to Queen Esther and to Mordecai the Jew, “Because Haman attacked the Jews, I have given his estate to Esther, and they have impaled him on the pole he set up. Now write another decree in the king’s name in behalf of the Jews as seems best to you, and seal it with the king’s signet ring—for no document written in the king’s name and sealed with his ring can be revoked.”

At once the royal secretaries were summoned—on the twenty-third day of the third month, the month of Sivan. They wrote out all Mordecai’s orders to the Jews, and to the satraps, governors and nobles of the 127 provinces stretching from India to Cush. These orders were written in the script of each province and the language of each people and also to the Jews in their own script and language. Mordecai wrote in the name of King Xerxes, sealed the dispatches with the king’s signet ring, and sent them by mounted couriers, who rode fast horses especially bred for the king.

The king’s edict granted the Jews in every city the right to assemble and protect themselves; to destroy, kill and annihilate the armed men of any nationality or province who might attack them and their women and children, and to plunder the property of their enemies. The day appointed for the Jews to do this in all the provinces of King Xerxes was the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar. 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 that the Jews would be ready on that day to avenge themselves on their enemies.

The couriers, riding the royal horses, went out, spurred on by the king’s command, and the edict was issued in the citadel of Susa.

When Mordecai left the king’s presence, he was wearing royal garments of blue and white, a large crown of gold and a purple robe of fine linen. And the city of Susa held a joyous celebration. For the Jews it was a time of happiness and joy, gladness and honor. In every province and in every city to which the edict of the king came, there was joy and gladness among the Jews, with feasting and celebrating. And many people of other nationalities became Jews because fear of the Jews had seized them. (New International Version)

“So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

Jesus (Matthew 20:16)

Knowing that someone is not who they present themselves as can be maddening. They’re selfish and enamored with having authority, yet everyone thinks they are okay.

Haman was a bad man who camouflaged himself as important. As the right hand man to King Xerxes of the vast Persian Empire, Haman valued position, power, and attention above all else. But his arrogance proved to be his downfall.

People who are concerned to be seen as important can never get enough. Haman was not satisfied to be the prime minister in the empire, even though millions of people bowed down to him.

Mordecai, a Jew, Queen Esther’s cousin, refused to bow down. He saw the pride and arrogance within Haman to have what only belongs to God.

Haman could not stomach this one Jew dismissing his power and authority. As a person who wanted only “yes men” around him, Haman was determined to eradicate Mordecai. And even that was not enough for him. So, Haman proposed the destruction of all Jews.

He was supposedly an imperial expert on “the Jewish problem.” So, King Xerxes listened to him when he hatched a devious strategy to rid the empire of all Jews. A decree was made that on a particular day the Jews could be destroyed and plundered.

But the real plan that resets all other plans is the plan of God. And God’s plans are for good, not evil; and for Jewish life, not death.

Esther Denouncing Haman, by Ernest Normand, 1888

Pride and arrogance never ends well for the proud and arrogant person. They may have their way for a while, but ultimately such people find that their evil plans come back on themselves.

So, one night when the king was unable to sleep, he had the annals of the kingdom read to him. He heard of Mordecai’s successful effort at saving the king’s life from an assassination plot. The king also learned that Mordecai had never been properly recognized and rewarded.

One of the main differences between the proud and the humble is that arrogant people are obsessed with recognition and rewards; whereas the humble person cares about what is right and just, viewing good deeds as their own reward.

As the king’s trusted right hand man, Haman was consulted as to what ought to be done for someone the king wants to honor. The proud person always believes the honored person is themselves.

So, Haman, believing Xerxes wanted to honor him, suggested an elaborate recognition ritual involving a parade and plenty of accolades.

The king, however, had this in mind for Mordecai. He ordered Haman to be the one who made sure the recognition happened. And that’s not all. Haman would also get retribution for his evil heart.

Behind the scenes of royal power and scuttlebutt, Esther and her people were praying and fasting. Esther had her own plans for good, and not for evil.

Of course, Haman believed that a banquet was being given in his honor by the queen. In reality, not at all.

Esther revealed to the king the true plot and hate against her own people. Enraged, King Xerxes demanded who would dare presume to do such a thing against his beloved queen and her people.

With Haman directly in front of them, Esther pointed out the adversary. And then, the gallows which Haman had made to hang Mordecai were used for his own execution. Thus ended the story of the villain Haman.

There was still, however, the problem of the royal decree to destroy the Jewish people on an appointed day. Haman had been dealt with, but there were still wide-ranging consequences of his actions that remained in effect, and that could only be dealt with at the political level.  

Queen Esther interceded to the king on behalf of her people. Although a decree from the king cannot be revoked, yet another decree could be written in another’s name that would counteract the first. And this is precisely what Mordecai and Esther did, with the king’s full knowledge and blessing to it.

Today’s Old Testament lesson is a great reversal of fortunes if there ever was one. The high position of Haman and his extreme hatred and arrogance are gone. The Jewish people, on the precipice of annihilation, are not only alive, but had the opportunity to pushback on their enemies. Mordecai was not hanged on a gallows, but became in charge of Haman’s entire estate.

This was a restoration beyond what anyone could have thought or imagined. And that is the sort of reversal which God specializes in.

You cannot fool God, so don’t make a fool of yourself! You will harvest what you plant. If you follow your selfish desires, you will harvest destruction, but if you follow the Spirit, you will harvest eternal life. Don’t get tired of helping others. You will be rewarded when the time is right, if you don’t give up. (Galatians 6:7-9, CEV)

God, I am far too often influenced by what others think of me. May I not pretend to be either richer or smarter or nicer than I really am. Please hinder me from trying to attract attention. Don’t let me gloat over praise on one hand or be discouraged by criticism on the other. Nor let me waste time weaving imaginary situations in which the most heroic, charming, witty person present is myself. Show me how to be humble of heart, like you. Amen.

When Things Are Screwy (Esther 3:1-15)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment

After these events, King Xerxes honored Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, elevating him and giving him a seat of honor higher than that of all the other nobles. All the royal officials at the king’s gate knelt down and paid honor to Haman, for the king had commanded this concerning him. But Mordecai would not kneel down or pay him honor.

Then the royal officials at the king’s gate asked Mordecai, “Why do you disobey the king’s command?” Day after day they spoke to him but he refused to comply. Therefore they told Haman about it to see whether Mordecai’s behavior would be tolerated, for he had told them he was a Jew.

When Haman saw that Mordecai would not kneel down or pay him honor, he was enraged. Yet having learned who Mordecai’s people were, he scorned the idea of killing only Mordecai. Instead Haman looked for a way to destroy all Mordecai’s people, the Jews, throughout the whole kingdom of Xerxes.

In the twelfth year of King Xerxes, in the first month, the month of Nisan, the pur (that is, the lot) was cast in the presence of Haman to select a day and month. And the lot fell on[a] the twelfth month, the month of Adar.

Then Haman said to King Xerxes, “There is a certain people dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom who keep themselves separate. Their customs are different from those of all other people, and they do not obey the king’s laws; it is not in the king’s best interest to tolerate them. If it pleases the king, let a decree be issued to destroy them, and I will give ten thousand talents of silver to the king’s administrators for the royal treasury.”

So the king took his signet ring from his finger and gave it to Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews. “Keep the money,” the king said to Haman, “and do with the people as you please.”

Then on the thirteenth day of the first month the royal secretaries were summoned. They wrote out in the script of each province and in the language of each people all Haman’s orders to the king’s satraps, the governors of the various provinces and the nobles of the various peoples. These were written in the name of King Xerxes himself and sealed with his own ring. 

Dispatches were sent by couriers to all the king’s provinces with the order to destroy, kill and annihilate all the Jews—young and old, women and children—on a single day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month 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.

The couriers went out, spurred on by the king’s command, and the edict was issued in the citadel of Susa. The king and Haman sat down to drink, but the city of Susa was bewildered. (New International Version)

A Purim mask of Haman, by Mimi Gross, 1964

I don’t like arrogant people. I don’t like those who only think of themselves, and expect others to fall in line with them, too! It’s unlikely that an arrogant person would be reading or listening to this, namely because such individuals believe they are above the menial task of reading – unless it gets them more attention and/or power.

I don’t like Haman. The story clearly sets up Haman as the antagonist. He is a number one jerk in the first degree. Having a front row seat to his manipulative ways with the king arouses our sense of justice and injustice. Mordecai was the one person who saw Haman for who he is; so, if Haman couldn’t cajole and control Mordecai, he was determined to do him in, permanently.

It’s interesting that the royal command that people bow to Haman, follows the command that men are the lord of their homes. That doesn’t sound very “complimentary” to me. Haman wanted a strict hierarchical structure, with himself at the top.

It is consistent of the arrogant authoritarian person to not stop with wanting Mordecai out of the way, but also to lay plans for all of Mordecai’s people, the Jews, to be destroyed.

Because of Haman’s arrogant anger, he sought to enlist the king in his sinister plan. Every authoritarian dictator throughout history has scapegoated an entire race of people through rewriting history. Haman spun the Jewish people as a constant historical problem.

Using generalities and twisted truth, Haman depicted Jewish life as one long continuous rebellion against governmental authority. Note that Haman did not produce any hard evidence to his claims.

If this weren’t bad enough, Haman appealed to the king through the promise of financial gain with a plan of ridding the empire of Jews. The king let Haman go ahead with the plan, while keeping his own hands clean from the affair.

Thus, it was decreed that on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the people of the empire were to rise up against the Jews and wipe them off the face of the earth. No one was to be spared. And the Jews could be plundered.

So, King Xerxes and Haman went back to drinking and having a good time, neither being aware nor caring that the entire plan is insane and nonsensical – which is why we get the picture of the city’s citizens looking at one another quizzically… “Huh!?”

The story’s stage is set for the protagonist, Esther, to enter. Yet, we need to sit with this terrible situation for a while, and not rush to the conclusion of the narrative. That’s because the ancient Jews had to sit with this for an agonizing stretch of time, knowing that the actual day of their demise was on the calendar.

There would not be the centuries old Jewish celebration of Purim without this tension. Yes, the awful suffering would eventually end in glorious joy. However, there would not be such joy apart from the grinding circumstance of facing extinction.

Another way of putting this: There cannot be a resurrection without a crucifixion. There must be suffering before glory. When things are screwy, we have only our faith to cling to.

The wise person will ponder these things and take them to heart.

Do not forget us, your people, O Lord.
Be present to us in the time of our distress and grant us courage.
Save us by Your power, and come to our aid,
for I am alone and have no one but You on whom to depend. Amen.

The Trouble Is Turned (Esther 7:1-10)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment
The Coronation of Queen Esther, from the 1617 Scroll of Esther, Ferrara, Italy.

So the king and Haman came to have dinner with Queen Esther. On the second day, while they were drinking wine, the king asked Esther, “What is your request, Queen Esther? It will be granted to you. And what would you like? Even if it is up to half of the kingdom, it will be granted.”

Then Queen Esther answered, “If I have found favor with you, Your Majesty, and if it pleases you, Your Majesty, spare my life. That is my request. And spare the life of my people. That is what I ask for. You see, we—my people and I—have been sold so that we can be wiped out, killed, and destroyed. If our men and women had only been sold as slaves, I would have kept silent because the enemy is not worth troubling you about, Your Majesty.”

Then King Xerxes interrupted Queen Esther and said, “Who is this person? Where is the person who has dared to do this?”

Esther answered, “Our vicious enemy is this wicked man Haman!” Then Haman became panic-stricken in the presence of the king and queen.

The king was furious as he got up from dinner and went into the palace garden. But Haman stayed to beg Queen Esther for his life, because he saw that the king had a terrible end in mind for him. When the king returned from the palace garden to the palace dining room, Haman was falling on the couch where Esther was lying. The king thought, “Is he even going to rape the queen while I’m in the palace?” Then the king passed sentence on him, and servants covered Haman’s face.

Harbona, one of the eunuchs present with the king, said, “What a coincidence! The 75-foot pole Haman made for Mordecai, who spoke up for the well-being of the king, is still standing at Haman’s house.”

The king responded, “Hang him on it!” So servants hung Haman’s dead body on the very pole he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the king got over his raging anger. (God’s Word Translation)

“Let nothing disturb you, let nothing frighten you. All things are passing away: God never changes. Patience obtains all things. Whoever has God lacks nothing; God alone suffices.”

Saint Teresa of Ávila (1515-1582)

I sometimes half-jokingly say to people that it’s important for me to keep busy so that I stay out of trouble. The truth is, however, that I tend to find myself in trouble a lot – whether I’m busy, or not. The same could be said for the Jewish people.

If you are anything like me, you have experienced, on more than one occasion, of feeling like you are in a circumstance that’s like quicksand. It’s as if you are stuck with no way out. Queen Esther found herself in such a situation. Through no fault of her own, she was thrust upon the stage of being the intercessor between life and death, salvation and elimination. 

The wicked Haman, a high official to the king of Persia, had it out for the Jews. So, he orchestrated a devious plan to do away with them once and for all – even building a gallows on his own property in the anticipation of hanging one of them on it. That’s how much the guy hated Jews.

The King, Haman, and Esther, by Rembrandt van Rijn, 1660

But God, who is always awake and alert to whatever is happening in this world, had their backs. Even though the book of Esther does not once pronounce the name of God, the Lord’s influence and divine sovereignty are evident throughout the entirety of the story. 

God seems to specialize in hard cases, and in people who keep getting into trouble, despite their good intentions. And through providential means, the Lord inevitably gains the glory, and God’s people are wonderfully saved from circumstances well beyond their ability to save themselves.

Esther, a Jewish girl who became part of the king’s harem, and then the king’s wife and queen, humbly and prayerfully entered the king’s presence on behalf of her people, the Jews. Even though she was exalted to such a status, there was still the very real possibility that taking such an initiative would get Esther into deep trouble.

Yet, because of divine providence superintending the whole affair, the tables were turned, with the Jews being joyously delivered; and Haman literally finding himself at the end of his rope, on his own gallows. 

Prayer, sensitivity to God, and the humility to listen, undergirded Esther’s decision and courage to step out and act on behalf of her people. 

Especially when it comes to trouble, prayer is not optional equipment for the believer, but absolutely essential to facing each and every difficult situation. That’s because it is God, not us, nor any of our skill or ingenuity, that ultimately brings deliverance. 

Saving ourselves from impossible situations and dire circumstances is way above our pay grade; only God can bring true deliverance – the kind that genuinely changes people so that divine purposes are accomplished.

Our discouraging situations, hard cases, difficult people problems, and vexing trouble – whatever the situation – God has your back, and delights to answer our desperate pleas for help and deliverance. 

Like me, you may find yourself in trouble. But you can also find yourself with all the power of heaven behind you; and with an answer to your prayer that is beyond what you can even think or imagine.

Loving God, your Son Jesus Christ came that we might have life and have it abundantly. We humbly ask that you pour out your blessing upon our nation. Where there is illness, bring your healing touch; where there is fear, strengthen us with the knowledge of your presence; where there is uncertainty, build us up in faith; where there is dishonesty, lead us into truth; where there is discord, may we know the harmony of your love. This we are to bold to pray through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit are one God, now and forever. Amen.