Esther 3: The Hot Hatred of Hamen

Esther 3 ESV

1 After these things King Ahasuerus promoted Haman the Agagite, the son of Hammedatha, and advanced him and set his throne above all the officials who were with him. 2 And all the king’s servants who were at the king’s gate bowed down and paid homage to Haman, for the king had so commanded concerning him. But Mordecai did not bow down or pay homage. 3 Then the king’s servants who were at the king’s gate said to Mordecai, “Why do you transgress the king’s command?” 4 And when they spoke to him day after day and he would not listen to them, they told Haman, in order to see whether Mordecai’s words would stand, for he had told them that he was a Jew. 5 And when Haman saw that Mordecai did not bow down or pay homage to him, Haman was filled with fury. 6 But he disdained to lay hands on Mordecai alone. So, as they had made known to him the people of Mordecai, Haman sought to destroy all the Jews, the people of Mordecai, throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus. 7 In the first month, which is the month of Nisan, in the twelfth year of King Ahasuerus, they cast Pur (that is, they cast lots) before Haman day after day; and they cast it month after month till the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar. 8 Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom. Their laws are different from those of every other people, and they do not keep the king’s laws, so that it is not to the king’s profit to tolerate them. 9 If it please the king, let it be decreed that they be destroyed, and I will pay 10,000 talents of silver into the hands of those who have charge of the king’s business, that they may put it into the king’s treasuries.” 10 So the king took his signet ring from his hand and gave it to Haman the Agagite, the son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews. 11 And the king said to Haman, “The money is given to you, the people also, to do with them as it seems good to you.” 12 Then the king’s scribes were summoned on the thirteenth day of the first month, and an edict, according to all that Haman commanded, was written to the king’s satraps and to the governors over all the provinces and to the officials of all the peoples, to every province in its own script and every people in its own language. It was written in the name of King Ahasuerus and sealed with the king’s signet ring. 13 Letters were sent by couriers to all the king’s provinces with instruction to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate all Jews, young and old, women and children, in one day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar, and to plunder their goods. 14 A copy of the document was to be issued as a decree in every province by proclamation to all the peoples to be ready for that day. 15 The couriers went out hurriedly by order of the king, and the decree was issued in Susa the citadel. And the king and Haman sat down to drink, but the city of Susa was thrown into confusion.

Introduce

Christian, someone somewhere wants to kill you for no other reason than that you are a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. We will consider this idea more later.

Up to this point in Esther, we have encountered the phony power of the world empire and the weak witness of God's people. The chapter we just read shifts focus to the ancient animosity between God's people and God's enemies. In the hot hatred of Haman, we witness on a small scale the old and all-encompassing battle between God and the Devil, God's people and God's enemies. This chapter answers a fundamental question: Christian, how do God's enemies view you?

To answer this question fully I will retell the story and apply it to our lives.

Retell

To start, witness the heating of Haman’s hatred (1-6).

God's enemies hate God's people. However, their hatred is not always at a boil. It sometimes manifests in apathy or subtle mocking. Here in the first scene of our story, we see the heat of Haman's hatred rise from a slight simmer to a bubbling boil. A lot happens before it gets there.

Where we left off, Mordecai had exposed a plot to murder the king. His deed was forgotten. Instead of Mordecai receiving a worthy promotion to the king's right hand, we discover another man, hateful Haman, is raised to the second most powerful office of Persia. The king commanded that all his servants, including Mordecai, bow down and pay homage to Haman.

Haman was an Agagite. Agag was a king of the Amalekites during the reign of King Saul (1 Samuel 15). This rivalry between the Jews and Amalekites predates both Saul and Agag. The Amalekites were the first people to attack Israel after the Exodus. This was a time of great weakness for the newly freed people and formed nation. By God's grace and power, Israel drove back Amalek and the Amalekites (Exodus 17:8-16). God promised that He would "utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven" (Exodus 17:14-15). Later, God commanded Israel to carry out His vengeance upon Amalek and his people once they had entered the promised land (Deuteronomy 25:17).

King Saul was supposed to carry out God's command and wipe out Agag and the Amalekites entirely, along with all their plunder. Saul did defeat Agag, but he took him hostage and kept some of the best of the livestock. Saul's disobedience resulted in his removal as king and eventual demise. His line, however, was preserved because of David's friendship with Jonathan, Saul's son.

Under King Hezekiah, most of the remaining Amalekites in Israel were destroyed (1 Chronicles 4:42, 43). Some remained elsewhere, and a few centuries later, one of them rekindled the long rivalry between Israel and the Amalekites. The hostility began in Exodus and continued through Saul's reign to Esther, some 1000 years of bad blood.

All this gives context to the ancient hatred of God's enemies for God's people, which rears its ugly and murderous head again in our story. For now, though, let's go to the story itself.

Mordecai refused to obey the king's command to bow or pay homage to Haman. Haman did not even notice, but others did. The king's servants who sat at the gate with Mordecai pressed him on why he disobeyed the king daily and compelled him to obey. He refused. His reason was that he was a Jew. In other words, he refused to bow to Haman because of the ancient animosity between the Agagites and Israel. He refused to pay homage to Haman because he represented the enemies of God and His people. This refusal is out of character. Mordecai and Esther had concealed their ethnic and religious identity for a while. They had also bowed and paid homage to others who were their superior. There is no doubt they paid such respect to the king. I suppose a late stand for one's convictions is better than no stand at all.

Once Haman found out about Mordecai's refusal, his hatred heated to a full boil. His ego could not stand for one man, let alone a Jew, to not give him the respect he deserved. Haman's hate, though, could not be satisfied with the mere execution of Mordecai. He also wanted the blood of all his people. He wanted all who represent Yahweh to be whipped off the face of the planet.

You have witnessed the heating of Haman's hatred

Next, witness the of harboring Haman’s hatred (7-11).

Haman cast lots in the first month of the year, Nisan, and in the twelfth year of Ahasuerus' reign. He likely cast these lots with the help of professional soothsayers. He had these lots cast to decide what day and month the extermination of the Jews should happen. A lot was either a pyramid-shaped or a cube-shaped die. Regardless, the lot "happened" to land on the twelfth month, Adar. That is nearly a year from the time the lot was cast.

Haman and the soothsayers undoubtedly believed in invisible forces that guide the visible events of day-to-day life. They desired answers from these invisible forces. They, however, did not realize that above all visible and invisible forces, there is the one true God who stands supreme. To the naked eye, it might seem coincidence, chance, and luck led the lot to fall on a date nearly a year out, giving Jews ample time to respond to the impending crisis. But, as Solomon says, "The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD" (Proverbs 16:33).

After the day was selected through the casting of lots, Haman approached the king. He made his request to destroy the Jews while harboring His hateful motivations. Look at what Haman said in verse 8, "There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom. Their laws are different from those of every other people, and they do not keep the king's laws so that it is not to the king's profit to tolerate them."

He shares a truth, some half-truths, and an outright lie.

The truth is that there is a certain people scattered among the king's domain.

One half-truth is that they are a people with their own law. This is true on its face, but these laws are not necessarily against the kingdom's laws.

Another half-truth is that they do not keep the king's laws. One Jew, Mordecai, has broken one law, and that was to respect Haman. However, Esther came to be a part of the king's harem, and Mordecai served in the king's administration. These people are hardly lawless and seditious.

The lie is that it does not profit the king to tolerate them. The king is profited in tolerating them because first his queen is one of them and second Mordecai saved the king's life by foiling a murderous plot.

Not only does Haman harbor his hateful motivations, but he also bribed the king with 10,000 talents of silver. That amount of silver would equal about two-thirds of Persia's annual tax revenue. The king's treasuries had recently been depleted from war with Greece. It would be like a lead government official offering the federal government 2.4 trillion dollars to get something he wanted. This amount is nearly two-thirds of the annual tax revenue of the United States in 2020, which was 4.05 trillion dollars. Haman conditioned such a generous gift on the king decreeing that this unnamed people be destroyed.

King Ahasuerus listened to Haman's mischaracterization of the Jews and his bribe. Without a single question or investigation, he gave Haman a charge to do what he had recommended. He gave Haman his signet ring, politely, but not seriously, said he could keep the bribe (Genesis 23; Esther 4:7), and gave him permission to destroy this unnamed people. The wisdom of the world empire is lacking. The king unwittingly cosigned his queen to death. Haman harbored his hatred—that is, he covered the boiling pot of his hot hatred with a lid. In doing this, Haman got what he wanted, permission to murder those he hated.

You have seen the heating and harboring of Haman's hatred.

Lastly, witness the heralding of Haman’s hatred (12-15).

Haman's hatred has heated to a boil, but he harbored it from the sight of Ahasuerus. In the final scene of our story, his hatred is no longer harbored but heralded to the entire world empire. The king's scribes were summoned on the thirteenth day of the first month. They drafted a letter containing all that Haman wanted in every script and language of every province the king's reign. It was sent out in haste to every part of the kingdom, beginning in Susa and going to the ends of the known world. This letter was issued as a royal decree. It charged the people of every province to destroy, kill, and annihilate all the Jews, whether young or old, woman or child, in one day, exactly 11 months from the day the letter was drafted.

The fact this letter was drafted on the 13th day of the first month should not be missed. This is the day before the Passover festival begins. A festival that celebrates God's mighty deliverance of Israel from slavery. A festival that remembers how God slew the firstborn of the Egyptians and passed over the homes of the Israelites. The time Israel would celebrate their salvation from slavery, they would also find out their planned annihilation. It would be like finding out that you are terminally ill on your birthday or on your wedding anniversary that your spouse has left you. But a man only makes plans; God establishes his steps (Proverbs 16:9).

While the letter was sent and proclaimed, King Ahasuerus and Haman sat and drank. Meanwhile, the city of Susa was thrown into confusion.

Ahasuerus may not see the boiling pot of Haman's hot hatred, but the people throughout his kingdom could not miss it. It was boiling over.

Transition

You have witnessed the heating, harboring, and heralding of Haman's hatred. As we witnessed the heating of Haman's hatred, I showed you how its origins predate both Haman and Mordecai. I showed you how it went to the very origins of Israel as a nation. However, this hatred even predates Israel. And it survives Haman and Mordecai. It goes all the way back to the garden and the curse God declared upon the serpent. It was first revealed in the murder of Abel by the hand of his own brother Cain. It continued through to Israel, then to Mordecai, then to Christ, and now to Christ's people. It will continue until the final enemies of God and His people are cast into eternal judgment. The invisible war between God and the Devil becomes visible in the clashing of their respective subjects. Yet, the one who is within the people of God is greater than the one who is within the world. Victory belongs to God and His people.

With both our story and the grand narrative of Scripture in view, we may answer the question I asked at the beginning: Christian, how do God's enemies view you? The answer is Christian, God's enemies hate you. This is one part of big idea we should draw from our passage.

Now consider another truth that looms in the background of our story and is in the foreground throughout the grand narrative of Scripture, namely God preserves His people, including you. Putting it all together, we may say that Christian, God's enemies hate you, but God preserves you. These truths are within the story and confirmed both in life and throughout the rest of the Bible.

The second truth that God preserves you is found in our story between the lines and in subtle clues. It is seen in where the lot fell for the day of the Jews' destruction. It could have fallen a day after it was cast or a week, but it did not. The lot fell in a place that would give the Jews adequate time to prepare and respond to this horrific plan.

God's preservation is also seen in the places He put His people, namely Mordecai at the king's gate and Esther at the king's side. From these places, they could thwart the evil schemes of their enemies. As the story plays out, God's people are preserved, and His enemies perish.

Such preservation for God's people and perishing for His enemies will also be seen at the end of this present evil age. All who belong to God in Christ shall be preserved. All who rage against God and His people shall perish.

"So what?" You might ask. Or "So how should I live in the meantime?" Here are three practical implications of the ideas presented in our story, those ideas being that Christian, God’s enemies hate you, but God preserves you.

Apply

1. Christian, God’s enemies hate you, but God preserves you, so praise loudly.

I say praise loudly because we need not hide our knowledge of God and His grace towards us. God is worthy of praise by being the God who reigns over all and redeems His people. Even those frowning providences that we encounter are under God's control and guided to His good and perfect ends. What God gives and what God takes away all work together for our good.

Furthermore, He does all things in accord with His perfect wisdom and infinite goodness. We may not see always see the silver lining. However, we can look at God's past dealings with His people and even with us and know the One “Whom [we] have believed… He is able to keep that which [we’ve] committed unto him against that day!”

Praise God loudly in your homes. If you have, children praise God with them in prayers, psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. If you don't have children, do it with your spouse. If you don't have a spouse, do it privately.

Let us never grow tired of gathering together to praise our God who reigns and redeems. Praise should be woven into the fabric of our gatherings, whether they be formal corporate worship such as this, Sunday School we did earlier, TeamKid, Youth, and Prayer Meeting we do on Wednesday night, or fellowship meals like the one we will have this evening. When we come together as a visible outpost of God's Kingdom, let's praise His Holy Name.

Let us remember that though the Lord Jesus is our great prophet and priest, He is also our great king! He subdues us to Himself, rules and defends us, and restrains and conquers all His and our enemies.

Unbeliever, God deserves your praise.

You know He exists from the things He has made and His law that He has written upon your heart.

You know you are a sinner worthy of judgment. Indeed such judgment is the end for all who are God's enemies, including you.

God's Word gives the remedy to your calamity as a condemned sinner.

God's Word testifies to His love in sending His only Son to become man through the power of the Holy Spirit within the womb of the virgin Mary.

God's Word testifies to His love in sending His Son to live in perfect righteousness as a representative of and to die as a substitute for His people who trust in Him.

God's Word testifies to His love in sending His Son to enter the place of the dead, declare victory, and rise on the third day.

God's Word testifies to His love in sending His Son to ascend to His right hand and intercede for His people, calling, regenerating, justifying, and sanctifying them by His Word and Spirit.

God’s Word testifies to His love in sending His Son to return, raise all His people from the dead to never die again, rescue them from the final judgment, establish them on the new earth, and judge all their enemies.

God's Word testifies to His love in redeeming sinners through His Son Jesus.

If you trust in Jesus, you will become a hated enemy of the unbelieving world. Still, you will also become a redeemed child of the living God.

Will you accept God's love by trusting in His Son? If you do, you will have life as God's child. If you do not, you will perish as God's enemy. What will it be?

Christian, God's enemies hate you, but God preserves you, so praise loudly.

2. Christian, God’s enemies hate you, but God preserves you, so petition earnestly.

Because we have not yet reached glory, you should be a person who petitions God earnestly.

Do you or someone one you know need comfort, strength, help, preservation, forgiveness, boldness, or deliverance? Where better to go than the God who reigns and redeems? Where better to go than the God who preserves you unto the end? The answer is nowhere. God is the best place to go.

Do you have lost neighbors, loved ones, or friends? Who should you petition to for their salvation? The answer, of course, is God.

So, let us pray earnestly in private, in families, and in public. Let us, with thanksgiving, state all our needs, insecurities, and wants. Let us come to God's throne of grace in His Son by His Spirit and lay bare our hearts to our Heavenly Father. God blesses the prayers of His people.

Christian, God's enemies hate you, but God preserves you, so praise loudly and petition earnestly.

3. Christian, God’s enemies hate you, but God preserves you, so preach boldly.

Preaching is the verbal proclamation of God's law and gospel. Believers, not only pastors, are commanded to make God's law and gospel known for His glory and the salvation of sinners.

We are ambassadors of God's kingdom.

We should preach God's reign and redemption in and through His Son Jesus Christ to all kinds of people.

We should call sinners everywhere to repent of sin and trust in Christ Jesus.

Do you know any lost people? Do you care about them? Pray for the opportunity and the boldness to preach the truths of God to them.

Do you know what to say to them? If not, ask someone who does.

What if they respond negatively? What if they respond with hostility? What if they respond with hate? Such responses should not surprise us because God's enemies hate God and His people. They, also, will hate His reign and reject His redemption.

We do not have the power to change their hearts, but we do have the message that God most often uses to accomplish such a change of heart. So, Christian, preach God's law and gospel. Preach it to the lost and preach it to each other. Listen to it preached on the Lord's day. Hear it. Believe it. Study it. Live it. Preach it. The one who is in us is greater than the one who is in the world. Take heart. Fear not. Preach boldly.

Conclude

Christian, I started with a simple yet startling truth: someone somewhere wants to kill you for no other reason than that you are a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. This fact bore itself out in the testimony of Holy Scripture when you witnessed the heating, harboring, and heralding of Haman's hatred. I also stated it plainly in the big idea. However, the big idea also contained a comforting truth despite the startling one. The big idea is Christian, God's enemies hate you, but God preserves you. I have drawn three practical implications from this big idea: praise loudly, petition earnestly, and preach boldly.

Therefore, Christian, from all these things, I call upon you to reckon with the truth that God's enemies hate you while never forgetting that God preserves you. God's reigning and redeeming love, most clearly seen in His Son Jesus, should never leave your mind's attention or your heart's affection. May God help you and preserve you. He most certainly will. Let’s pray.