Haman’s Edict

I. Haman’s apathy (Es. 3:15)

15 The couriers went out, hastened by the king’s command; and the decree was proclaimed in Shushan the citadel. So the king and Haman sat down to drink, but the city of Shushan was perplexed.

A. His calloused heart.

Haman could send out the death warrants for thousands of innocent people and then sit down to a banquet with the king! What a calloused heart he had! He was like the people the Prophet Amos described: Who drink wine from bowls, And anoint yourselves with the best ointments, But are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph. (Amos 6:6).

Before we condemn wicked Haman, let’s examine our own hearts. Billions of lost sinners in today’s world are under a sentence of eternal death, and most Christians do very little about it. We can sit at our church banquets and Sunday dinners without even thinking about helping to get the message out that “the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world” (1 John 4:14).

B. Some may have had anti-Semitic feelings.

In general the people were “bewildered” by such an edict. No doubt many thought, If it can happen to them, it could happen to others. History has shown this to be true. Twentieth-century dictators not only tried to exterminate the Jews but massacred many others, including Christians, in the process.

When Christians see the beginnings of anti-Semitism, they must realize that they must raise their voices against it for two reasons: (1) it is against the will of God, and (2) similar persecution could fall on them as well. Those who have persecuted the Jews have always come to ruin. We must still take seriously God’s promise to Abraham and his descendants: “I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you” (Gen 12:3).

II. Mordecai expressed his concern (Es. 4:1–3)

When Mordecai learned all that had happened, he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the midst of the city. He cried out with a loud and bitter cry. 2 He went as far as the front of the king’s gate, for no one might enter the king’s gate clothed with sackcloth. 3 And in every province where the king’s command and decree arrived, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping, and wailing; and many lay in sackcloth and ashes.

A. Mordecai was neither afraid nor ashamed to let people know where he stood.

He had already told the officers at the gate that he was a Jew; now he was telling the whole city that he was not only a Jew but also that he opposed the murderous edict. Mordecai ended his mournful pilgrimage at the king’s gate, which was the commercial and legal hub of the city, a combination of marketplace and courtroom. That was as far as he could go because Oriental kings lived in an artificial paradise that sheltered them from the realities of life.

What could Mordecai hope to accomplish at the gate with his sackcloth and his wailing? Well, perhaps somebody from the palace would take notice of him and get a message to Queen Esther. Since Mordecai couldn’t enter the house of the women, this was his only hope.

B. Esther received a report about Mordecai.

Mordecai was dressed in sackcloth and ashes, mourning at the king’s gate. Since she wasn’t told the reason for her cousin’s strange conduct, she did the logical thing and sent him fine clothes to put on lest his sackcloth arouse the concern of the king’s officers and guards.

The queen’s motives were fine, but her method was faulty. Before sending the new clothes to Mordecai, she should have found out what the problem really was. If Ahasuerus did appear at the gate, Mordecai’s courtly garments might save him temporarily from the wrath of the king; but they couldn’t rescue the Jews from the penalty of death that Haman had issued for them. Mordecai’s mourning, however, finally got the attention of the queen; and that’s what he wanted.

III. Mordecai explained their peril (Es. 4:4–9)

4 So Esther’s maids and eunuchs came and told her, and the queen was deeply distressed. Then she sent garments to clothe Mordecai and take his sackcloth away from him, but he would not accept them. 5 Then Esther called Hathach, one of the king’s eunuchs whom he had appointed to attend her, and she gave him a command concerning Mordecai, to learn what and why this was. 6 So Hathach went out to Mordecai in the city square that was in front of the king’s gate. 7 And Mordecai told him all that had happened to him, and the sum of money that Haman had promised to pay into the king’s treasuries to destroy the Jews. 8 He also gave him a copy of the written decree for their destruction, which was given at Shushan, that he might show it to Esther and explain it to her, and that he might command her to go in to the king to make supplication to him and plead before him for her people. 9 So Hathach returned and told Esther the words of Mordecai.

A. Mordecai’s refused the new clothes.

Mordecai’s refusal of the new clothes gave him opportunity to get his vital message to the queen, for she sent one of her eunuchs to the gate to ask Mordecai what was wrong. I doubt that Hathach realized what an important part he was playing in God’s plan to defeat Haman and save the Jews.

So often in the work of the Lord, He uses obscure people to accomplish important tasks. What was the name of the lad who gave Jesus his loaves and fishes? Who were the men who rescued Paul by lifting him over that Damascus wall in a basket? What was the name of the little servant girl who told Naaman to go see the prophet? We don’t know, but God used these people to accomplish His purposes.

B. Mordecai knew the facts about the decree.

Mordecai not only knew all the facts about the decree, but he also had a copy of it for Esther to read for herself. This proves that he held a high position in the government, a position God had given him for the very purpose of saving the Jewish nation. But Mordecai did much more than inform the queen. He urged her to reveal her true nationality and go to the royal throne and intercede for her people.

When Mordecai told Hathach to tell the queen to ask for mercy “for her people,” he divulged to him the fact that Esther was a Jewess. Did it shock Hathach, or was he perhaps a Jew himself, and that’s why Mordecai entrusted him with this secret? Like Daniel and his three friends in Babylon, Jewish exiles in the Persian Empire were often pressed into royal service.