We left Queen Esther last week resolved to risk her life and go before her husband, King Xerxes to make a plea to save the Jews. Her cousin and guardian, Mordecai, made the famous statement, “And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14b NIV) Queen Esther, recognizing that it was God’s favor that put her in her position, responds that she will do as Mordecai suggests and states, “If I perish, I perish,” (Esther 4:16b NIV)
But she isn’t ready just yet. She makes the request that Mordecai gather the Jewish people in their territory and fast for three days and three nights. Fasting would be coupled with prayer. Queen Esther pledges to do the same, along with her Gentile servants.
Mordecai had faith that God would protect the Jews with or without the assistance of Queen Esther. Esther now demonstrates her faith by requesting intercessory prayers.
What requests do you imagine were made in those prayers?
Open-mindedness of King Xerxes?
God’s favor upon Queen Esther?
Revelation of truth about Haman?
Change of mind about Haman or the planned executions?
Do you think Queen Esther would have been fervently praying that God would intervene sometime during those three days and make it all go away? I’ll be honest. That would have been my prayer. My petition would have been, “Dear God, I am coming to you laying this request at Your feet. I know that You can do all things and we have not because we ask not. So, I’m asking. I don’t want to risk my life by just showing up before the king. I’m asking that You, in Your infinite wisdom and authority, make all of this go away. I know You don’t need reminding, but we Jews are Your people. So, I know You don’t want us destroyed and all. So, thanks in advance for taking care of this! And especially for saving me from doing something risky and dangerous. Amen.”
But day three rolls around and it doesn’t appear as if anything has changed. “On the third day Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the palace, in front of the king’s hall. The king was sitting on his royal throne in the hall, facing the entrance.” (Esther 5:1 NIV)
Queen Esther prepares herself to go before the king by putting on her royal robes. She dresses the part. The king looks up and sees her. This was the moment where this could go really well or really bad. Remember, the protocol didn’t allow for someone to just drop in to see the king. One had to be summoned. Queen Esther had a 50/50 chance of finding herself on the sharp end of the sword if her husband the king wasn’t happy for her unsummoned visit. Remember what happened to his other wife, Queen Vashti, when she disobeyed him and denied his order to appear before him? King Xerxes had a reputation for acting impulsively and trying to prove that he was the man in charge.
However, God’s favor and God’s providence are very much still at work despite the circumstances. The king is actually pleased to see Esther.
Esther 5:2 CEV “ 2 He was happy to see Esther, and he held out the gold scepter to her.
When Esther came up and touched the tip of the scepter, 3 the king said, “Esther, what brings you here? Just ask, and I will give you as much as half of my kingdom.”
The king’s scepter was a symbol of his authority. By extending it out to Queen Esther, it was a way of extending his authority to forgive her crime of appearing before him without being summoned. He could have just as easily nodded the scepter to one of his guards standing by and that would have indicated his authority to take Esther out and kill her. But instead, he extends it in favor of her. Queen Esther, in return, touches the end of the scepter which is her acknowledgment of the king’s authority over her.
The king asks her reason for coming before him like she has. This would seem the perfect opportunity for Esther to bring the king up to date on all that has been taking place and to ask him to do something about Haman and his plan to annihilate the Jews.
The way the king asks her indicates that he recognizes she’s troubled. After all, they’ve been married for a few years. Although theirs was certainly not a conventional marriage, he would have sensed that something was amiss and that’s why she risked her life coming before him like she did.
He offers to give her what she wants without knowing what that is. Up to half of his kingdom!
Golden opportunity. This could not have gone any better had Esther sat down to plan it out herself. The offer is made – name your desire and it’s yours.
But she doesn’t.
The timing wasn’t right. She’s risked her life by just showing up. That has been forgiven by the king. But if she had then made such an accusation about the king’s righthand man, that could have been considered treason and that would have been undeniably unforgivable. The place wasn’t right. The king is on his throne, the seat of his authority and power. He’s surrounded by guards who would have heard her claims against Haman. For the king’s wife to uncover such a devious plot in front of his guards may have made the king feel foolish and uninformed about his trusted Haman. And then there is the issue of Haman. Haman wasn’t present. “With womanly intuition, Esther was confident that Haman, caught off guard, would in some way, admit his guilt and do something foolish that would anger the king.”[i]
Instead of citing what we would expect her to ask of the king, she simply asks that the king and Haman join her for dinner that day.
Esther 5:4 CEV “4 Esther answered, “Your Majesty, please come with Haman to a dinner I will prepare for you later today.”
5 The king said to his servants, “Hurry and get Haman, so we can accept Esther’s invitation.”
The king doesn’t seem to be suspicious, but rather excited to attend. Perhaps his ego is stroked because all the queen asks for is to spend time with him even though he had offered up to half of his kingdom. And speaking of egos, can you imagine Haman’s response? This would have been a highly unusual setting. To have a private audience with the king and the queen in her quarters was unheard of.
Esther 5:6 MSG 5-6 “Get Haman at once,” said the king, “so we can go to dinner with Esther.”
So the king and Haman joined Esther at the dinner she had arranged. As they were drinking the wine, the king said, “Now, what is it you want? Half of my kingdom isn’t too much to ask! Just ask.”
7-8 Esther answered, “Here’s what I want. If the king favors me and is pleased to do what I desire and ask, let the king and Haman come again tomorrow to the dinner that I will fix for them. Then I’ll give a straight answer to the king’s question.”
Here again, a golden opportunity. She didn’t even have to knock. That door of opportunity flung wide open. They’ve eaten their meal, gotten their bellies full, and are now sipping on some after-dinner wine. Ready, aim, fire! But once again, Esther doesn’t take the bait.
Why do you think Esther didn’t reveal her petition at that time?
Did she chicken out? Could she just not find the right words? Did something just not feel right at the moment? We aren’t privy to the answer to that. We can only guess.
In Beth Moore’s Bible study on Esther, she explains that some “Jewish commentators have often thought the idea is to make [King Xerxes] jealous of Haman – – Why should the queen be so eager to have him at her party?”[ii]
This theory isn’t out of the realm of possibilities. If Esther is successful in making Xerxes jealous and suspicious of Haman, the king is more likely to knock Haman down a few pegs to make him less desirable and important to the queen. This would give Esther the leverage to persuade the king to strip Haman of his authority.
Consider the characteristics of the main players in this scene.
King Xerxes – irrational at times, doesn’t quite have a handle on things, moody, not strategic, doesn’t appear to be well-respected nor well-informed.
Queen Esther – somewhat vulnerable because of her big secret of being a Jew, totally reliant on prayers and God’s guidance, must be careful in what she says, how she says it, when she says it, and where she says it, feels responsible for her people and needs to be thoughtful and strategic in all that she does.
Haman – narcissist, motivated for his own benefit, prideful, boastful, manipulating, and opportunist. He is driven by his ego.
This is messy! This is a hodgepodge of traits that have the potential to implode.
There are all the makings of a great scene here. There’s mystery, unpredictability, a hint of romance, jealousy perhaps, intrigue, flirtation, teasing, overconfidence, vulnerability, and suspense.
Queen Esther may have played this night out in her head multiple times thinking about how she’d say what needs to be said. She may have envisioned speaking directly to the king until she reveals her true identity as a Jewish woman, then looking at Haman to see the blood drain from his face as he realizes he’s put a bounty on her head. She may have thought carefully about what words to use, and the tone to use. Perhaps she was ready to make the big reveal when she was stopped.
“You can make many plans, but the LORD’s purpose will prevail.”
Proverbs 19:21 NLT
Though the opportunity seemed perfect, it wasn’t. Something more needed to take place and even though Esther was unaware of the events that were to take place, she allows herself to be stopped before uttering a single word about her true request.
Her request for a second dinner with both the king and Haman would have caused a few reactions.
There would have been a hint that what she had to say was something of importance. The king would have been even more curious. Haman would have wrongly assumed his status in Queen Esther’s world and his ego would have grown a few sizes too big. And Queen Esther had another day to wait on God to set the stage. Another day for God’s providence to put the players and scenes in motion.
Esther 5:9 TLB “ 9 What a happy man was Haman as he left the banquet! But when he saw Mordecai there at the gate, not standing up or trembling before him, he was furious.”
What was Haman’s mood when he left the banquet? Happy!
What was his mood when he saw Mordecai? Furious!
Haman lost his euphoric feeling and replaced it with fury when Mordecai didn’t stand up or show fear. Perhaps Mordecai had the words of Joshua 1:9 ESV running through his mind. “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” (Isn’t that a great verse for us to keep at the forefront of our thoughts?)
Prior to this incident, Mordecai refused to bow to Haman based on his Jewish faith. On this particular evening, Mordecai not only doesn’t bow, but he also doesn’t even bother to stand up. This was enough for Haman to become infuriated and let it consume him.
Esther 5:9 MSG “9-13 Haman left the palace that day happy, beaming. And then he saw Mordecai sitting at the King’s Gate ignoring him, oblivious to him. Haman was furious with Mordecai. But he held himself in and went on home. He got his friends together with his wife Zeresh and started bragging about how much money he had, his many sons, all the times the king had honored him, and his promotion to the highest position in the government. “On top of all that,” Haman continued, “Queen Esther invited me to a private dinner she gave for the king, just the three of us. And she’s invited me to another one tomorrow. But I can’t enjoy any of it when I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the King’s Gate.”
Haman restrains his anger…for a bit. He goes home and gathers his friends and his wife for the sole purpose of making himself the center of attention. He brags about the amount of money he had. He boasted about his ten sons. He names the many honors given to him by the king. And he reminds them of the high-ranking position he has been given. As if all of that egotistical rant wasn’t enough, he gloats about his private dinner with the king and queen as well as the fact that he’s got another date with them lined up. But all of that is not enough to overshadow his hatred of Mordecai. In fact, the mere sight of Mordecai the Jew ruins all that Haman is boasting about. Mordecai had done nothing to Haman other than not bow down and worship him. Haman was so prideful, so conceited, and so full of self-importance, that any lack of respect he felt he was owed was enough to not only ruin his mood but also enough to wipe out anyone of Jewish descent.
Beth Moore hits the nail on the head. “He [God] knows that nothing leaves us more hollow than being full of ourselves. We have no greater burden than our own egos. I’ll add that we have nothing more breakable. Our present segment shows that the human ego is about as strong as a cheap balloon bouncing around in a room of sharp needles.”[iii]
I want to sit here for a moment on this. It’s really easy to dislike Haman, isn’t it? His self-importance and his ego leave a bad taste in our mouths. It’s easy not to like him because we aren’t told of any good traits he might have. If we stop and consider the people in our lives, we may be able to identify at least one person who has a similar ego. Someone who does think highly of themselves and feels deserving of honor and respect. Or even someone who makes everything about them. It could be someone who is clever with boasting about their lifestyle, their status, their children or grandchildren and their accomplishments, or any aspect of their life that they like to make known. People who delight in reminding others of their situations. These are people who come to mind when we think of inflated egos.
It may not seem like such a big deal to be considered a bit arrogant, conceited, or boastful. After all, that’s just the way some people are. However, Proverbs gives us a bullet list of things God hates.
Proverbs 6:16 TLB “16-19 For there are six things the Lord hates—no, seven: haughtiness, lying, murdering, plotting evil, eagerness to do wrong, a false witness, sowing discord among brothers.”
That first word – the very first thing listed – even before murder – is haughtiness. Just so we’re on the same page, the definition of haughtiness is “blatantly and disdainfully proud : having or showing an attitude of superiority and contempt for people or things perceived to be inferior”[iv] It is also defined as “scornful pride, snobbishness, or arrogance”.[v]
What kind of examples of arrogance or snobbishness come to mind? Name-dropping. Always voicing your opinion as if yours is the only one that’s right. Monopolizing conversations. Frequently mentioning accomplishments or achievements.
I once had a co-worker (a Christian, by the way) brag to me that they were so down-to-earth, they not only spoke to the cleaning people in the office but even knew some of their names. My immediate thought was, “Why wouldn’t you know their names? We see them every day.” But this person’s ego was so inflated that she commended herself on speaking to others that she considered beneath her. What she thought would impress me actually disgusted me a bit.
Haman had an ego problem that set him up for failure and would ultimately destroy him.
We too can have an ego problem that sets us up for tainting our testimony and displeasing to God. I recently read an article that lists “sneaky symptoms of the infection of pride.”
- Fault-Finding – When I’m sitting in a sermon or studying a passage, it’s pride that prompts the terrible temptation to skip the Spirit’s surgery on my own heart and instead draft a mental blog post or plan a potential conversation for the people who “really need to hear this.”
- A Harsh Spirit – Those who have the sickness of pride in their hearts speak of others’ sins with contempt, irritation, frustration, or judgment. Pride is crouching inside our belittling of the struggles of others.
- Superficiality – We fight the sins that have an impact on how others view us, and make peace with the ones that no one sees.
- Defensiveness – For the humble Christian, the more the world is against him, the more silent and still he will be, unless it is in his prayer closet, and there he will not be still.
- Presumption Before God – Humility approaches God with humble assurance in Christ Jesus. If either the “humble” or the “assurance” are missing in that equation, our hearts very well might be infected with pride. Some of us have no shortage of boldness before God, but if we’re not careful, we can forget that he is God. Others of us feel no confidence before God. Which sounds like humility, but in reality, it’s another symptom of pride. In those moments, we’re testifying that we believe our sins are greater than his grace. We doubt the power of Christ’s blood and we’re stuck staring at ourselves instead of Christ.
- Desperate for Attention – Pride is hungry for attention, respect, and worship in all its forms. You seek the glory that comes from men, not God.
- Neglecting Others – We consciously or unconsciously pass over the weak, the inconvenient, and the unattractive, because they don’t seem to offer us much.[vi]
I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that if you didn’t feel convicted by at least one of those, your ego may be so inflated, it’s caused you to become deaf and blind and unaware.
I feel as if sometimes when I’m reading through books such as Esther or Ruth, it’s almost instinctual to identify with the main character. Going back to the list of characteristic traits we discussed, did any of you think of yourself as Haman? I didn’t. I still don’t want to. I’m uncomfortable thinking that my ego and pride may be displeasing to God.
William Barclay wrote, “Pride is the ground in which all the other sins grow, and the parent from which all the other sins come.”
Haman’s pride certainly provides a fertile breeding ground for a whole bunch of displeasing characteristics. And those he considered his inner circle weren’t any better. Instead of offering encouragement and trying to subdue his anger, they offered a permanent and murderous solution to the thorn in his side.
Esther 5:14 MSG “14 His wife Zeresh and all his friends said, “Build a gallows seventy-five feet high. First thing in the morning speak with the king; get him to order Mordecai hanged on it. Then happily go with the king to dinner.”
Haman liked that. He had the gallows built.”
To be continued……
[i] Be Committed by Warren W. Wiersbe
[ii] Esther, It’s Tough Being a Woman by Beth Moore
[iii] Esther, It’s Tough Being a Woman by Beth Moore
[iv] Haughtiness Definition & Meaning – Merriam-Webster
[v] Haughtiness Definition & Meaning | Dictionary.com
[vi] https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/seven-subtle-symptoms-of-pride
Beacons of Light 