I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.
Today, I am reading and commenting on Esther 1-3.
The first chapter of the Book of Esther was written as the setup for the rest of the story, but there are still lessons we can learn. Some of those lessons involve reading back into the story things I doubt the writer would have seen, but they are still valid. King Xerxes made a series of bad decisions. First, he held a festival to show off his power and wealth. While bragging is generally a bad idea, this may not have been. Sometimes a ruler can forestall other problems by demonstrating the extent of his power and wealth. However, King Xerxes combined this demonstration of his wealth and power with heavy drinking. That is always a bad decision and is what led to his other bad decisions. Next, he ordered his wife, who was holding her own celebration demonstrating their combined wealth and power, to join him. When she refused him he got angry and declared their marriage over. Something he regretted when he became sober. The lesson here is that a) alcohol tends to cause us to use poor judgment and b) the consequences of that poor judgment lasts longer than the alcohol. When I started this paragraph I intended to discuss how this chapter illustrates aspects of a bad relationship, but I think the reader can see those for themselves.
In the second chapter the focus shifts from King Xerxes to Esther and Mordecai. These two offer us positive role models throughout the rest of the Book. Esther was clearly a beautiful and attractive woman. The passage tells us that each of the women were allowed to choose what they wore in clothing and jewelry on the night they went to the king for the first, and usually only, time. The wording of the passage suggests that Esther was unique in only wearing those items recommended to her by Hegai. In doing so, Esther demonstrated the willingness to take advice from those with more experience than herself. Actually, this is the second time she followed such advice because we are told that she followed Mordecai’s advice to keep her nationality and family background a secret. As a result, no one knew she was Jewish or related to Mordecai.
Mordecai’s behavior is more ambiguous. First, he demonstrates his loyalty and wisdom by getting word of an assassination plot against the king to the king through Esther. I think the loyalty part of that is obvious. However, the wisdom part takes a little thought. Mordecai had no way to know who else was involved in the plot besides those he had overheard. By telling Esther of the plot he bypassed the various levels of the bureaucracy, any of which may have been also involved in the plot. The second part of his personality revealed in today’s passage is more ambiguous. That is his failure to bow down or otherwise show respect to Haman, despite the king’s orders to do so. We do not know why Mordecai chose to take this action. Perhaps he held Haman in contempt for some reason. Perhaps, he believed that it was idolatrous to bow to anyone but God. Perhaps he believed in the equality of all men and thought that bowing would indicate that Haman was superior to others. Whatever his reason, by choosing this course of action he angered Haman, a powerful man in the kingdom.
Which brings us to Haman, an individual who demonstrates the bad judgment which results from excessive pride. When Mordecai refused to offer him the outward signs of respect which he thought he deserved he became angry. However, it was not enough for Haman to get revenge on Mordecai for his lack of respect. No, Haman chose to go after all of Mordecai’s relatives and people (this suggests the possibility that Mordecai’s failure to bow to Haman was religiously based). If Haman had limited himself to the person by whom he felt offended, things would likely have turned out differently. And even better would have been for Haman to speak with Mordecai concerning his reasons for acting as he did. Perhaps if Haman had done the latter he would have learned that Mordecai’s action was not an expression of disrespect.
