Esther 3
McGeeCHAPTER 3THEME: Haman and anti-SemitismThis is a chapter in the life of the Jew that has been duplicated many, many times. When you read this chapter, you can almost substitute the name of Pharaoh instead of Haman, or you can substitute the name of Hitler or Nasserin fact, there are many names that would fit in here. There never has been a time since Israel became a nation down in the land of Egypt to the present moment that there has not been a movement somewhere to exterminate them.
Esther 3:1
Here we are introduced to a man by the name of Haman. He is one in the long line of those who have led in a campaign of anti-Semitism. He is promoted by the king to the position that would correspond to prime minister. He was an Agagite. If you turn back to 1Sa_15:8, you will find that Agagite was the royal family of the Amalekites. Saul should have obeyed God and destroyed the Agagites. If Saul had done what he had been commanded to do, his people would not have been in this situation, because the Agagites would have completely disappeared. God could see down through history and He knew what was coming. Saul’s failure to exterminate the Agagites almost led to the extermination of his own people. But again, God is behind the scenes, keeping watch over His own. No weapon is going to prosper against Israel. Many people thought that Hitler might become a world dictator. Our nation, in fear, rushed into World War II. Other folk said that we should not have been involved in that war. I agree with that. We should have let Germany and the other countries slug it out, and when they got so weak they could no longer fight, then we could have stepped in.
There are those who said we should not have entered the Vietnam War. I agree with that. I think this idea of always shipping our manpower abroad is entirely wrong. We thought we stopped Hitler, but it was God who stopped him. God is going to stop Haman, too. Now we are beginning to see why God has moved Esther to the throne.
If she had not been there, this anti-Semite Haman would have exterminated the Jews. That certainly was his intention.
Esther 3:2
The king sent out word that he had a new prime minister. Everyone was to bow before him and recognize his position. Now we have seen already that Mordecai is a judge at the gate. He has a political job, which means that he is one of the officials of the kingdom, and he must bow to Haman. But we are told that he did not bow to Haman. Friends, I am prepared to change my mind about Mordecai. I feel like throwing my hat up in the air because he refuses to reverence Haman. I think all of the other flunkies in the king’s service went down on all fours when Haman passed byin that day they didn’t just bend to the waist when they bowed. I see now for the first time the hand of God beginning to move in the life of Mordecai. You may say, “But he is out of the will of God. How can God move in a case like that? He should have returned to his own land.” Right! For reasons of his own he did not return but, being a Jew, his place was back in Palestine. It is clear that he is out of the will of God, but he is still recognizing God.
Though he makes no appeal to Him anywhere in the Book of Esther, he does recognize God. Do you know how I have come to this conclusion? God’s law to the Jews was explicit. They were not to bow to anything but God Himself. They were not to make an image or ever bow to an image. They were not to bow down to anything or anyone.
And so when this man Haman comes by after his promotion, everybody who has a political job gets down on his face before himexcept one man, Mordecai. Believe me, he is obvious when he is the only one left standing! Mordecai and Esther were not faithful enough to return to Jerusalem, but they were willing to jeopardize their lives in order to save their people. Therefore, I’m sorry for what I said previously about Mordecai.
Esther 3:3
He was asked why he didn’t bow, and for the first time Mordecai reveals that he is a Jew. Up to this time he has told no one. And you will remember that he had instructed Esther, when she entered the beauty contest, not to let anyone know her race. Even her husband did not know it. But now Mordecai tells them, “The reason I am not bowing to Haman is because I am a Jew.” The minute he says that he is also telling them his religion. He worships only the true and living God; he bows to no idol, to no image, to no man.
He had been taught in Deu_6:4, “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD.” He was to declare to the world, the ancient world, the world of idolatry, the unity of the Godhead. Today in a world of atheism, we are to declare the TrinityFather, Son, and Holy Spirit. Mordecai took a stand, and now the others know why. The Jew was known in the world of that day as a worshiper of the one and true God. I feel like saying, “Hurrah for Mordecai!” I apologize for what I previously said about him. He is beginning now for the first time to take a stand for God, and it is going to cost him a great deal. I do not think he dreamed it would be so far-reaching as to touch all of his people, but he recognizes that it probably will cost him his job, and even his life.
Esther 3:5
In this passage Haman reveals that he is a small man. He should have ignored Mordecai. As Mordecai is beginning to stand out as a man of God, this man Haman begins to stand out in all of his ugliness as a man of Satan. The first thing we notice is his littleness. We are going to note all the way through the story that Haman is a little man. You will hear him later on crying on his wife’s shoulder. He will say something like this, “I’ve got everything in the world I want; I can have anything in the kingdom, but that little Jew won’t bow to me.” It is a small man who will let that sort of thing bother him, and he is permitting it to disturb him a great deal. Haman is going to attempt to do a terrible thing. He is going to try to destroy all the Jews that live in the kingdom of Ahasuerus. I am sure he knew nothing about God’s promise to Abraham to bless those who blessed the Jews and curse those who cursed the Jews. But God makes good that promise. We have only to turn back the pages of history to find that the Jew has attended the funeral of every one of the nations that tried to exterminate him. Hitler tried to exterminate them. He thought he would get rid of them; yet today Hitler and his group are gone, but the Jew is still with us. Yes, God has promised to take care of His people. The fact that they have not been exterminated is in itself miraculous. God has indeed preserved them. And we will see Him do it in the Book of Esther.
Esther 3:7
Each day Haman’s irritation grows. Every time he goes through the gate everybody goes down on his face except that little Jew Mordecai, and it disturbs him. He resolves to do something about it. When Haman discovered that Mordecai’s refusal to bow to him was based upon his religious convictions, he decided that a nationwide massacre of the Jews would solve his problem. Haman had the magicians cast the lot called Pur to decide on which day of the year the Jews would be destroyed. What the magicians and Haman did not realize was that God was the One who disposed the lot. God overruled in this situation. The lot fell in the last month of the year, which allowed time for Haman’s plot to be discovered and stopped.
Esther 3:8
Hamam brought it to the attention of Xerxes that there were some people living in his kingdom who were different. They were unusual; they followed the Mosaic Law. They were a people who should be exterminated. He convinced the king that the Jews were defying the king’s laws and that their liquidation would bring a lot of wealth into his treasuries from their confiscated property. You will remember that Xerxes had recently been engaged in war, a costly one. He needed money to pay for the bills incurred. Perhaps Haman’s idea would bring in enough money to take care of the deficit. The king, of course, was interested in that plan. Most politicians are interested in ways to raise more money, and this seemed like a way out for the king. Xerxes had so little regard for life, as most potentates of that day did, that he did not even inquire who the people were that Haman wanted to exterminate. Haman doesn’t know that Esther, the queen, happens to belong to that nationality. Xerxes himself does not know that his queen is Jewish and that he is signing away her life at this time.
Esther 3:10
Xerxes took a ring off his finger and gave it to Haman. It was his signet ring. The signet on the ring was pressed down in soft wax and that became the signature of the king. An order that had that signet stamped on it became the law of the kingdom. So Xerxes carelessly takes off his ring, hands it to Haman, and says in effect, “I don’t know who they are and I don’t care who they are, but if you feel they ought to be exterminated, then you go ahead and take care of the matter.” What little regard Xerxes had for human life! He had dissipated the wealth of his kingdom against Greece, and it is variously estimated how many men perished in that campaign.
Some feel that as many as two million men died in that war. It didn’t seem to bother him one bit that so many had given their lives for a mistake that he had made.
Esther 3:11
The decree to destroy the Jews goes out as a law of the Medes and Persians. It took quite an effort to get this word out because, as you will recall, this empire stretched from India all the way across Asia down through the Fertile Crescent and Mediterranean Sea. It included some of Europe and all of Asia Minor and reached into Africa, through Egypt, and to Ethiopia. It was a vast kingdom. In it were people speaking many languages, a minimum of 127 languages. Also we have to take into account that there were tribes speaking various dialects in these provinces.
This law had to be translated into these many tongues. This was quite a government project. The scribes had the job of translating and making enough copies of the law. This was a huge undertaking. When enough copies were made to cover the entire kingdom, they went out by camel and donkey, runner and messenger. On a certain day the Jews were going to be exterminated.
This law was giving anti-Semitism full rein and permitting a great many people to do what apparently was in their hearts to do. On this designated day it would be legal to kill Jews. This decree went out as a law of the Medes and Persians. We were told again and again at the very beginning of this book that a law once made was irrevocable. This law could not be changed; it could not be repealed. Another law, we will find out, was issued that counteracted it; yet this law had to stand on the books.
Esther 3:14
The city of Shushan was perplexed. The Jews were not traitors. They had committed no great crime. Why should extreme measures be used like this to try to exterminate them? Although they may not have liked the Jews and considered them foreigners with differing customs, the city’s inhabitants did not want to exterminate them. They could not understand Xerxes’ permitting a decree like this to go out.
At the palace late that evening you could see the riders getting their orders. Literally hundreds of men must have been pressed into service because of the extent of the kingdom. You could see these different riders being given copies of the new decree that had become law. One company started riding the road to the south, one to the north, another to the west, and to the east. They rode all night. When they came to a little town, they would nail on the bulletin board of that town the decree for the people to read the next morning.
Then the riders kept going. When their horses got tired, they were given fresh horses to carry on the job. All over the kingdom is spread the decree that the Jews are to perish. They are “hastened,” we are told, by the king’s commandment. Yes, the city “Shushan was perplexed,” but it didn’t bother the king. He and old Haman sat down together and had cocktails that evening.
What the king did not realize was that the decree was going to touch his queen. My friend, anti-Semitism is an awful thingand it is with us today. Certainly no Christian should have any part in it. Anti-Semitism had its origin down in the brickyards of Egypt, under the cruel hands of Pharaoh, where the Jews became a nation. From that time on, the great nations of the world have moved against them. It was the story of Assyria, and it was the story of Babylon that took them into captivity. In this Book of Esther we see how they fared in Persia. Rome also must plead guilty, and the Spanish Inquisition was largely leveled at the Jews. Then under Hitler in Germany it is estimated that six million Jews perished. What is the reason of the thing that we call anti-Semitism? Let us analyze it briefly. There are two things that are behind it. The first reason is a natural one, and the second reason is supernatural. The natural reason is simply this: They are unlovely. Now do not misunderstand me. There was a Christian Jew in Memphis who was a very personal friend of mine. He was a very personal friend of mine. He was a wonderful person. Let us face the facts. A godless person, Jew or Gentile, is unlovely. I know of no person more unlovely than a godless Gentile, nor do I know of a lovelier person than a Christian Jew. God saw us unlovely, undone, and unattractive; but by His sovereign grace He makes us new creatures in Christ. That same grace reached down and called the Jews a chosen people. Then there is a supernatural reason why the Jews are hated. In the providence and design of God, those who have been the custodians of His written Word have been the people of the Jewish race. Our Bible has come to us through them. God chose them for that. They transmitted the Scriptures. Satan hates them because they have been the repository of the Scriptures and because the Lord Jesus Christ, after the flesh, came from them.
Paul put it like this: “Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came …” (Rom_9:5). There is no way of escaping it. And because of this, there is a supernatural hatred of Jews. This is certainly clear in the Bible. We know that God has chosen them as His people and as His nation. They are hated by Satan and, as a result, the nations of the world at times are fanned into fury against these people. The law made by Xerxes could not be revoked. We have already seen one law that set aside Vashti the queen. That law could not be changed. Even the king could not change it. The law ordering the extermination of the Jews was signed by the king. It became the law of the Medes and Persians. There was no way it could be changed. How will God save His people? Another decree will have to be made. Somebody is going to have to intervene. God, by the way, has been preparing for this very thing. When we first began the study of this little book, we talked about the providence of God. We looked at a scene at a pagan palace where a drunken orgy was taking place. Several thousand people were attending a banquet. A family scandal is revealed, and the queen, who refused to obey the king, is set aside. What does this have to do with God’s saving His people? It has everything to do with it. God was moving, and He is going to continue to move in a mighty way. He has placed a person right next to the throne. She is going to be the means of saving the Jews. God moves in the affairs of men by His providence. God’s providence is illustrated in the story of the birth of Jesus Christ. Caesar Augustus signed a tax bill that decreed that all the world was to be taxed. When he signed that bill, he did not know that he was fulfilling prophecy. He did not know that the tax bill would cause a maiden in Nazareth to go to Bethlehem, where her first child would be born. I think Caesar Augustus would have laughed and said, “I don’t know anything about babies, but I do know about taxes.” Mic_5:2 foretold the birth of Christ in Bethlehem. Caesar signed a bill that caused Mary to be in Bethlehem at just the right time to give birth to the Lord Jesus Christ. God was in Caesar’s palace. God was in the palace of Xerxes. “Standeth God in the shadows keeping watch over His own.”