Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Esther 5:9
Then went Haman forth that day joyful and with a glad heart: but when Haman saw Mordecai in the king’s gate, that he stood not up, nor moved for him, he was full of indignation against Mordecai.
9. in the king’s gate ] Mordecai’s resumption of his old position indicates that he had put off his mourning apparel (see Est 4:2) now that hope had dawned through Esther’s undertaking to plead with the king.
moved for him ] better, as marg., trembled before him.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
9 14. Haman’s proposed vengeance upon Mordecai
The greater Haman’s excitement and exultation at having reached the highest pinnacle of dignity attainable by a subject, the more did Mordecai’s conduct rankle within him and move his rage; so pointed was the contrast with the extreme adulation naturally exhibited by all others connected with the palace towards the king’s favourite.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
He stood not up, nor moved for him – This was undoubtedly a serious breach of Persian etiquette, and may well have angered Haman.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Est 5:9
Then went Haman forth that day joyful
The superficial man
I.
Hamans gladness. It arose–
1. From a false estimation of himself.
2. From a false estimate of his position.
II. Hamans use of his eyes. He saw, but not correctly. Pride casts a film over the mental vision. Prejudice lessens the power of vision. Green-eyed jealousy cannot see correctly. He could not see that stubbornness rightly read meant integrity of purpose.
III. Hamans consequent change of state. A false use of the eyes has its penalties. No faculty can be perverted without bringing retribution.
IV. Hamans power of self-control. The power of self-control is not to be despised, but the power of self-conquest is a nobler achievement.
V. Hamans resource in trouble. It is observable how many bad men have attached themselves to wives who have stuck to them in all circumstances. (W. Burrows, B. A.)
Joy from meagre sources
There is much joy among the children of men which arises from very meagre sources, much joy the loss of which would be better than its possession. (J. Hughes.)
Short-lived gladness
That day was the last of his gladness; next mornings sun should not set before all his glory was laid in the dust. Nay, that very day, and that very moment when it was most buoyant, his joy was destined to suffer a dash from which it would never completely recover. (T. McCrie.)
The last tomorrow
Be not so cruel as speak to him of to-morrow! Let the wicked enjoy their bright to-day–it is the only bright to-day which they will ever have. Yes, to-morrow! Let worldly men fear and prepare for their last to.morrow! He that being often reproved hardeneth his neck shall suddenly be destroyed and that without remedy. (T. McEwan.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 9. That he stood not up, nor moved for him] This was certainly carrying his integrity or inflexibility to the highest pitch. But still we are left to conjecture that some reverence was required, which Mordecai could not conscientiously pay.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Mordecai stood not up, nor moved for him; partly, lest he should seem or be interpreted to give him that adoration which he hitherto had justly denied; partly, because by his bloody and barbarous design and practice he had put off all humanity, and forfeited all respect; and partly, to show how little he feared him, and that he had a firm confidence in his God that he would deliver him and his people in this great exigence; which he was the more encouraged to hope, because God had inclined Esthers heart to that pious and valiant resolution of interceding with the king, which he doubted not would meet with good success.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
Then went Haman forth that day, joyful, and with a glad heart,…. From court to his own house
but when Haman saw Mordecai in the king’s gate, that he stood not up, nor moved for him; did not show him the least degree even of civil respect; which he refused to do, partly lest it should be interpreted an adoration of him, and partly because it was well known to him he had formed a scheme for the destruction of him and all his people; and the rather he refused it to him, as Esther was about to make intercession with the king to revoke his decree, of the success of which he had no doubt; and therefore had nothing to fear from him, but treated him with the utmost contempt, as he deserved:
he was full of wrath against Mordecai; it was a sad mortification to him, and a great allay of that joy and elation of mind on account of the favour he was in; not with the king only, but the queen also, as he imagined.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Haman went forth from the palace satisfied and with a joyful heart. When, however, he saw Mordochai in the king’s gate, who neither stood up nor trembled before him, he was full of indignation against him. are circumstantial clauses following the principal clause without a copula. and are perfects, and – are used in the sense of neque – neque . constructed with means to tremble before any one, to be disquieted.
Est 5:10 Haman, however, refrained himself; and without immediately giving vent to his rage at Mordochai, went home and sent for his friends and his wife Zeresh, that he might unburden himself before them, and take counsel with them for Mordochai’s destruction.
Est 5:11-12 He first spoke to them of his wealth and domestic happiness, of the “glory of his riches and the multitude of his children.” From Est 9:7-10 we learn that Haman had ten sons; and many sons were not looked upon as a great blessing from God by the Israelites only, but were also esteemed a signal prosperity among the Persians, the king annually sending presents to him who had the greatest number of sons.
(Note: Herod. says, i. 136: , . Comp. Strabo. xv. 3. 17.)
Haman next recounted to them the great honours he had attained; , all how the king had made him great, and how he had advanced him above the princes; comp. Est 3:1. is a second accusative of the means by which something is brought to pass. Finally, Est 5:12, what high distinction had just been accorded him, by the queen having invited him alone to come to her banquet with the king. “Yea, Esther the queen did let no man come in with the king unto the banquet which she had prepared but myself; and to-morrow am I also invited unto her with the king.” enhances the meaning: even this honour is shown me. , I am her invited guest = I am invited to her and by her; comp. Ew. 295, c.
Est 5:13 And yet all his good fortune is embittered to him as often as he sees the hated Jew Mordochai. “And all this availeth me not at every time when I see the Jew Mordochai sitting in the king’s gate.” is, not being equalled to me, i.e., not answering my desires, not affording me satisfaction. , at all time when = as often as. The fortune and honour he enjoys fail to satisfy him, when he sees the Jew Mordochai refuse to show him the reverence which he claims.
Est 5:14 His wife and all his friends advise: “Let a tree be made (set up) fifty cubits high, and to-morrow speak to the king, that Mordochai may be hanged thereon (i.e., impaled; see on Est 2:23); and then go in merrily with the king to the banquet.” The counsellors take it for granted that the king will without hesitation agree to Haman’s proposal to execute Mordochai, and therefore advise him at once to make the necessary preparations, so that the hated Jew may be hanged on the morrow before the banquet, and Haman may then go with the king to the feast prepared by the queen, free from all annoyance. , to make, i.e., to erect a high tree. The higher the stake, the farther would it be seen. The 3rd pers. plur. stands instead of the passive: let them make = let … be made. So too for let … be hanged. This speech pleased Haman, and he caused the stake to be erected.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| Haman’s Joy and Chagrin; Haman’s Mediated Revenge. | B. C. 510. |
9 Then went Haman forth that day joyful and with a glad heart: but when Haman saw Mordecai in the king’s gate, that he stood not up, nor moved for him, he was full of indignation against Mordecai. 10 Nevertheless Haman refrained himself: and when he came home, he sent and called for his friends, and Zeresh his wife. 11 And Haman told them of the glory of his riches, and the multitude of his children, and all the things wherein the king had promoted him, and how he had advanced him above the princes and servants of the king. 12 Haman said moreover, Yea, Esther the queen did let no man come in with the king unto the banquet that she had prepared but myself; and to morrow am I invited unto her also with the king. 13 Yet all this availeth me nothing, so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king’s gate. 14 Then said Zeresh his wife and all his friends unto him, Let a gallows be made of fifty cubits high, and to morrow speak thou unto the king that Mordecai may be hanged thereon: then go thou in merrily with the king unto the banquet. And the thing pleased Haman; and he caused the gallows to be made.
This account here given of Haman is a comment upon that of Solomon, Prov. xxi. 24. Proud and haughty scorner is his name that deals in proud wrath. Never did any man more answer that name than Haman, in whom pride and wrath had so much the ascendant. See him,
I. Puffed up with the honour of being invited to Esther’s feast. He was joyful and glad of heart at it, v. 9. Observe with what a high gust he speaks of it (v. 12), how he values himself upon it, and how near he thinks it brings him to the perfection of felicity, that Esther the queen did let no man come with the king to the banquet but his mighty self, and he thought it was because she was exceedingly charmed with his conversation that the next day she had invited him also to come with the king; none so fit as he to bear the king company. Note, Self-admirers and self-flatterers are really self-deceivers. Haman pleased himself with the fancy that the queen, by this repeated invitation, designed to honour him, whereas really she designed to accuse him, and, in calling him to the banquet, did but call him to the bar. What magnifying glasses do proud men look at their faces in! And how does the pride of their heart deceive them! Obad. 3.
II. Vexing and fretting at the slight that Mordecai put upon him, and thereby made uneasy to himself and to all about him. 1. Mordecai was as determined as ever: He stood not up, nor moved for him, v. 9. What he did was from a principle of conscience, and therefore he persevered in it, and would not cringe to Haman, no, not when he had reason to fear him and Esther herself complimented him. He knew God could and would deliver him and his people from the rage of Haman, without any such mean and sneaking expedients to mollify him. Those that walk in holy sincerity may walk in holy security, and go on in their work, not fearing what man can do unto them. He that walks uprightly walks surely. 2. Haman can as ill bear it as ever; nay, the higher he is lifted up, the more impatient is her of contempt and the more enraged at it. (1.) It made his own spirit restless, and put him into a grievous agitation. He was full of indignation (v. 9) and yet refrained himself, v. 10. Gladly would he have drawn his sword and run Mordecai through for affronting him thus; but he hoped shortly to see him fall with all the Jews, and therefore with much ado prevailed with himself to forbear stabbing him. What a struggle had he in his own bosom between his anger, which required Mordecai’s death immediately (O that I had of his flesh! I cannot be satisfied! Job xxxi. 31), and his malice, which had determined to wait for the general massacre! Thus thorns and snares are in the way of the froward. (2.) It made all his enjoyments sapless. This little affront which he received from Mordecai was the dead fly which spoiled all his pot of precious ointment; he himself owned in the presence of his wife and friends, to the everlasting reproach of a proud and discontented mind, that he had no comfort in his estate, preferment, and family, as long as Mordecai lived and had a place in the king’s gate, v. 10-13. He took notice of his own riches and honours, the numerousness of his family, and the high posts to which he was advanced, that he was the darling of the prince and the idol of the court; and yet all this avails him nothing as long as Mordecai is unhanged. Those that are disposed to be uneasy will never want something or other to be uneasy at; and proud men, though they have much to their mind, yet, if they have not all to their mind, it is as nothing to them. The thousandth part of what Haman had would serve to make a humble modest man as much of a happiness as he expects from this world; and yet Haman complained as passionately as if he had been sunk into the lowest degree of poverty and disgrace.
III. Meditating revenge, and assisted therein by his wife and his friends, v. 14. They saw how gladly he would dispense with his own resolution of deferring the slaughter till the time determined by the lot, and therefore advised him to take an earnest and foretaste of the satisfaction he then expected in the speedy execution of Mordecai; let him have that to please him at the moment; and having, as he thought, made sure the destruction of all the Jews, at the time appointed, he will not think scorn, for the present, to lay hands on Mordecai alone. 1. For the pleasing of his fancy they advise him to get a gallows ready, and have it set up before his own door, that, as soon as ever he could get the warrant signed, there might be no delay of the execution; he would not need so much as to stay the making of the gallows. This is very agreeable to Haman, who has the gallows made and fixed immediately; it must be fifty cubits high, or as near that as might be, for the greater disgrace of Mordecai and to make him a spectacle to every one that passed by; and it must be before Haman’s door, that all men might take notice it was to the idol of his revenge that Mordecai was sacrificed and that he might feed his eyes with the sight. 2. For the gaining of his point they advise him to go early in the morning to the king, and get an order from him for the hanging of Mordecai, which, they doubted not, would be readily granted to one who was so much the king’s favourite and who had so easily obtained an edict for the destruction of the whole nation of the Jews. There needed no feigned suggestion; it was enough if he let the king know that Mordecai, in contempt of the king’s command, refused to reverence him. And now we leave Haman to go to bed, pleased with the thoughts of seeing Mordecai hanged the next day, and then going merrily to the banquet, and not dreaming of handselling his own gallows.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
CRITICAL NOTES.]
Est. 5:9.] Haman was joyful at the thought of receiving such honour from the king and queen; but the greatness of his joy rendered him still more indignant at Mordecai for his stubborn refusal to show outward tokens of respect.
Est. 5:10.] However, Haman refrained himself till he could consult his friends and his wife Zeresh. His friendshis intimate associates and companionsdiviners and wise menwith whom he met in councils and in festivities.Whedons Com.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH. Est. 5:9-10
THE SUPERFICIAL MAN
We can readily picture Haman going forth from the royal banquet with glad heart, with elated step, and haughty mien. Not more proudly did Nebuchadnezzar walk in the palace of the kingdom of Babylon, and gaze upon the mighty city with feelings of self-laudation, than did the wicked Haman go forth from the palace that was in Shushan, and congratulate himself on his success. And not more certainly did pride have a dreadful fall in the case of Nebuchadnezzar than it was destined to have in the case of Haman. Now he is glad, but soon his gladness is turned into the wailing of discontent. Now he is proud, but soon he will be humbled.
I. Hamans gladness. Then went Haman forth that day joyful, and with a glad heart. Hamans gladness arose from a false estimation of himself. He vainly fancied that the banquet was in his honour. He regarded all the costly and painful preparation as a fitting homage to his own self-importance. These kinds of false estimates are not peculiar to the Hamans. The poet may exhort, but the poet does not give the power, to see ourselves as others see us. Perhaps after all the power would not be so beneficial. Many a man would be less useful if he saw himself through other peoples spectacles. Still exaggerated views of self are harmful. A true estimate of self, with firm dependence upon God, and an earnest desire to do our duty, will furnish the most lasting satisfaction. Hamans gladness arose from a false estimate of his position. We are sometimes never less safe than when we feel most secure. It is not to be supposed that a doubt crossed Hamans mind as he passed away from the royal presence. He did not perceive the dark shadow dogging his steps. Many are glad instead of being sorry because they take false estimates of their position. They build on the sand, and not on the rock. Happy the man who builds on the rock Christ Jesus! Here is abiding gladness. Here is heavenly calm. Here is enduring safety. Thus Hamans gladness was superficial, and consequently transitory. The rapturous gladness of earth is superficial and transitory. The chastened gladness of the soul resting upon Christ is profound and abiding.
II. Hamans use of his eyes. He saw, but he did not see deeply; he did not see correctly. Pride had cast a film over his mental vision. He saw only Mordecais stubbornness. He did not see that the stubbornness rightly read meant integrity of purpose. He did not see glorious heroism in that unbending form. Prejudice lessens the power of vision. Green-eyed jealousy cannot possibly see correctly. A vast deal of suffering would be saved if eyes were used in a right manner. Men see and yet do not see. Seldom do men see one another justly. We either see too much or see too little. Most see through other peoples spectacles. We see virtue and genius in the man who has a reputation. We see a repellent sight in the Jew who sits unbendingly at the kings gate. Let eyes be allowed to do their own proper work.
III. Hamans consequent change of state. The eyes affect the heart. Haman saw, and Haman became full of indignation. Had Haman seen correctly he would have been full of admiration. A false use of the eyes has its penalties. No God-given power or faculty, whether physical, intellectual, or moral, can be perverted or misused without bringing retribution. There is an indignation which is righteous, and there is an indignation which is unrighteous. When we see tyranny, oppression, and vice flaunting itself in high places, then we do well to be full of indignation. But when we see integrity in low places; when we see a man determined to be honest though it may mean poverty; a man who resolves not to cringe to wickedness, and not to fawn upon and to flatter even royal sinners, then we do badly to be full of indignation. There is so much false propriety in the present day that we are not allowed to be indignant. Zeal is rude. Zeal must never violate the proprieties of polite life. A mans indignant feelings must never get the better of his self-control. If a man can be zealous and not run counter to sthetic rules, and not hinder his success, well and good. But woe to the man who lets zeal get the better of discretion!
IV. Hamans power of self-control. Nevertheless, Haman refrained himself. Haman had evidently some of that power which would have fitted him to take his place in modern polite society. He could keep his feelings in subjection when it served his purpose. Perhaps if Mordecai had met him at the banquet Haman could have carried on a conversation with the man whom he thoroughly hated. Too many set Haman before them as an example. They refrain themselves. Words smoother than butter are on their tongues; war is in their hearts. With the mouth they kiss; the concealed dagger is in the hand. Hail, master! is the voice of the betrayer, but the meaning of that voice is too often only known to the Divine. The power of self-control for the time being, however, is not to be despised. But the power of perfect self-conquest is a noble achievement. Haman should not only have refrained himself, but subdued himself. He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city.
V. Hamans resource in trouble. He went home, and consulted his friends and his wife. Happy the man who can feel that his home is a place of refuge; who can go there and forget his sorrows. This is wonderful, that thoroughly bad men have attached to themselves wives who have stuck to them in all calamities. However, Hamans home was not a safe place, for his wife was evidently a bad woman. Only a good true wife can make a good home; a safe place when troubles come. Hamans resource in trouble should not be ours, or at least not our only one. A wife may be wicked; if not wicked she may be weak. The best wife may lead us wrong. Jesus Christ has love dearer than that of fondest wives. Earthly friends may be false, or if not false, unwise. There is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. There is a friend who knows how to help in, and deliver from, trouble. Let prayer to the great High Priest be our resource in trouble. And then when we pass away from the homes of earth we shall go to the home of the blest, where Mordecais cannot trouble.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON Est. 5:9-10
And with a glad heart.But he rejoiced as many more do in a thing of nought. And the end of this his mirth was heaviness. It was risus sardonius, like that of those, who being stung with the tarantula (a viper in Italy), die laughing and capering. Or as the dolphin, that sporteth most before a storm. Or as the little fishes, that swimming merrily down the silver stream of Jordan, fall shortly after into the Dead Sea. Haman doubtless held himself now the happiest man alive; as having the royalty, not of the kings ear only but of the queens too, as he foolishly fancied. This wicked one boasted of his hearts desire, and as for all his enemies, he puffed at them. He said in his heartI shall not be moved, I shall never be in adversity. Herodotus saith of Apryes, king of Egypt, that he conceited and bragged that his kingdom was better settled to him than that any, either God or man, could remove him; yet was he afterwards taken and hanged by his own subjects. lian tells us, that Dionysius, the tyrant, thought it impossible that he should have been cast out of Italy, but it proved otherwise. How suddenly were Alexander, the great conqueror, and Julius Csar, the perpetual dictator, cut off, and quenched as the fire of thorns. Sic transit gloria mundi. The worlds greatest dealings are in no better condition than the bull that goes to be sacrificed with garlands on his head, and music before him, but suddenly feels the stroke of the murdering axe.Trapp.
Then went Haman forth that day joyful, and with a glad heart.This is true to human nature, to common fact. A mans heart may be black as hell with lying, treachery, and murder, yet there are times when he is joyful; moments when everything goes according to his wish; even when, as now, unsought smiles are shed on him. The future is hidden in the blaze of present light; vengeance, treading close behind, is shod with wool and unheard. It is a ghastly fact, profitable to be observed, when it comes in our way. That day! Before the next, Haman will be hanged high on his own gibbet. Hamans gladness did not last him home, for Mordecai, his sackcloth laid aside, was again at his post. He had fasted to good purpose, having regained quietness of mind.
Haman strutted forth in all his magnificence, drinking with greedy eyes the obsequious homage of the menials; but in a moment a black scowl of rage eclipsed the simper of gratified vanity. How small this great man was! It would appear that he had expected Mordecai to bow at last. But there Mordecai sat unmoved, not pointing the finger at Haman, not calling him traitor or murderer, but not standing up or movinga spectacle to men and angels. Possibly he was pondering these words of Zophar: Knowest thou not this of old, since man was placed upon earth, that the triumphing of the wicked is short?A. M. Symington, B. A.
God restrains mens lusts, either by wisdom, as is said of Haman, that he restrained himself. Yea, many times one lust restrains another. He restrains himself (speaking of a covetous man), and bereaves his soul of good. One lust eats up another; yea, sometimes and often God doth restrain by the immediate work of his own Spirit, by the gift of continence; for there is a spirit put into every man by nature of moral virtues, by which the Lord restrains the corruptions of nature. And though naturally men are filled with all unrighteousness, and every lust is as a hole to let it out, yet God oftentimes stops and plugs up the holes as he pleaseth, that they may not run out at every hole. God doth not broach every lust in every man, yet so as in some man or other, all corruption is broached; some in one and some in another; and in all the barrel is no less full. And though there be a sluice to keep in the water, though there be a less stream, yet there is nevertheless water; even so, though lusts be restrained, yet there is nevertheless corruption within; so that Gods restraining of mens lusts is no argument to prove that therefore they have not all sin in them.
Natural wisdom, which doth both assist conscience, and help to strengthen these moral dispositions, and assists against many sins, so Haman, though his revenge began to boil, and was ready to break forth, and he was exceedingly wroth with Mordecai, yet notwithstanding he was kept by his wisdom from present revenge, for he thought to take a fitter opportunity for it afterwards; it is said, he refrained himself. So Saul, his natural wisdom moved him to moderation, for though a band of men, whose hearts God had touched, followed him, yet there was a company of the children of Belial, who said, How shall this man save us? And they despised him, and brought him no presents; but he held his peace; that is, Saul winked at this, and did not go about to revenge it, for his natural wisdom toll him that it was best for him to be silent until he had made his party good.
Fleshly wisdom is a great principle by which the world is guided.Goodwin.
It were a blessed thing if, in matters which affect the interests of religion and practical godliness, the followers of Christ would exhibit the same kind of firm determination as we read of in the case of Mordecai. There would then be a more decided separation between the Church and the world, and less of tha tendency to combine the two services of Christ and the world which prevails among us so extensively. If men were estimated according to their real character, and treated rather as their moral worth merits, than with deference to their wealthif the true elements of greatness, such as the fear of God, the love of truth, and unbending adherence to Christian principle, were honoured by those who profess to follow Christ, and the opposite qualities were visited with the disapprobation they deserve, then the Church would occupy her proper ground, and her members, although hated by the world, would be the object of its secret respect.
When the all-influential man of power saw the Jew in the kings gate, that he stood not up nor moved for him, he was full of indignation against Mordecai. He had come out from the banquet, we are told, joyful and with a glad heart. And no wonder; for the honour which had been conferred upon him, of being invited to such an entertainment, was higher than usually fell to the lot of the most exalted subject. He seemed now to be secure in the possession of his dignities and influence, when he stood so high in the favour both of the king and of the queen. Visions of still greater grandeur and wealth than he had yet attained floated before his mind; and as he passed along, receiving the profound homage of the servile crowd of attendants, who knelt as he approached, and shaded their eyes, as if it had been presumptuous to look upon the face of so great a man, he was the more puffed up with a sense of his own pre-eminence. But all at once he comes to the spot where Mordecai sits, and here his triumph ends. The Jew takes no more notice of him than if he were the humblest officer about the court, excepting that there is in his countenance an expression of contempt, and perhaps of dislike. This scorn is like a dagger in Hamans heart. All the feelings of self-gratulation which he had so pleasingly cherished, and the visions of yet higher honour which he was to attain, are at once dissipated, and he retires to his house, with the mingled passions of anger, and hatred, and revenge burning in his bosom. It is remarkable, and it is profitable to notice, how completely worldly men lie at the mercy of very trifling incidents for the preservation of their comfort and happiness. A circumstance in itself of no importance, falling out unexpectedly, will have the effect of disturbing and deranging the whole train of their enjoyments. A little matter, which you would think scarcely worth their notice, is poison in the cup of their pleasures, and converts their satisfaction into exquisite misery. Hamans case finds many parallels. We have referred to the subject before: we may allude to it again. From the banquet and the gay assembly, from which it might have been supposed that all vexation, and care, and trouble would be excluded, the votaries of fashion frequently part with such bitterness of spirit, as to make them the objects rather of pity than of envy. A supposed slight, a contemptuous glance, a suspicious whisper, a preference shown to some other party over them by those whose favour and patronage are regarded as of consequence, will throw a deep cloud of disquietude and discontent over the minds of those lovers of vanity, which distresses them more than many of the real ills of life would do. In this way it is that the proud, and vain, and frivolous are partly punished, even in this life, for their sin and folly. They carry about in their own breast the materials which, by a just retribution, turn their sweetest enjoyments into gall and wormwood.
The chief lesson which is evidently deducible from the verse before us is founded upon the contrast between the two individuals mentioned in itMordecai and Haman;between the servant of God and the wicked enemy of Gods people. Mordecai occupied the subordinate place; and not only so, but he was, with all his countrymen, doomed to death in consequence of the royal edict. He had done good service to the king, even to the preservation of his life, but for that service he had received no reward. If he had been of morbid temper, he would have been dissatisfied on this account: and more especially, with the prospect before him of the coming evil, he would have been unfitted for all his ordinary duties. Only three days before he was running about in sackclothwailing, and refusing to be comforted. But now he is in his ordinary dress, and in his usual place, as calm and composed as if all his affairs had been most prosperous, and with as independent and manly a spirit and as unabashed countenance as if he had had nothing to dread. We may truly say of him, then, that in the midst of his trials he was happy. There, again, is Haman, who is the next man to the king, and who really possesses more power, because he can mould the king to his purposes. Rank, wealth, and honour are his, sufficient, it might be thought, to satisfy the most ambitious mind. Thousands bow before him,his will is law,the lives and destinies of millions are in his hand,he can rule everything but his own spirit. Here, however, he is a slavea slave to fiendish passions. And in consequence of this, because Mordecai the Jew would not do him reverence, he is frantic with rage. He forgets all the real benefits he enjoys by reason of the slight put upon him by this one man. It needs no argument to prove which of these two persons is truly the greater character, and which of them is most entitled to our respect. But how, it may be asked, came Mordecai to be able to bear with such equanimity the pressure of real trouble, while his enemy was all discomposed by an imaginary wrong, or by that which, if it was a real injury, he could so well afford to overlook? The answer to this question is easily given. Mordecais heart and mind were under the influence of the word of God. He had committed to him the whole issue of that affair in which all the Jews were so deeply interested. He could thus look forward with good hope to a happy deliverance from danger, through the interposition of the God of Abraham, who had told his people that he was the shield and the reward of all who trusted in him. Mordecai, therefore, possessed his soul in patience, assured that some outlet would be found from the threatened danger. Haman, on the other hand, was destitute of all fear of God, and unaccustomed to lay any restraint upon his passions, except when self-interest prompted him so to do. His success in life had only stimulated the evil principles of his nature, and rendered him haughty, imperious, and revengeful, where he had power to gratify his dispositions. He was therefore capable of any villany, and incapable of enjoying the blessings of his condition, as all must be who are strangers to self-government.Davidson.
Haman refrained himself.It is a circumstance not unworthy of notice, that even those persons who are habitually self-willed, and destitute of the power of self-government, can nevertheless, when occasion requires it, exercise a wonderful control over both their speech and their passions. Thus, for example, a man who is addicted to the sin of profane swearing, will be found to put such guard upon his words in the presence of a superior who detests that sin, that not one oath will escape from his lips. A man who has no command of his temper at ordinary times, will appear smooth and unruffled in his intercourse with those on whom he is dependent, or whose good opinion he desires to gain. A man given to excess in the indulgence of his appetites, will be careful not to transgress in company where it would be accounted shameful. Now there is an important principle involved in all this, deeply affecting the moral responsibility of such men for all their conduct. For if they can lay themselves under such restraintwhen it serves their purposethat long-formed habits can be checked and mastered, then we think that even they themselves must admit that they are deprived of all excuse when they suffer themselves to be usually governed by these habits. And if regard for the opinions and feelings of their fellow-men exerts a power over them which the law of God does not possess, then manifestly they are chargeable with the guilt of standing more in awe of men than of God. These remarks have been suggested by the words of the text, that Haman refrained himself. Sorely galled as he was by Mordecais contemptuous look and attitude, he did not openly give vent to his passion. It must have been a hard struggle; but he contrived to conceal his wrath, so as to appear in the sight of all the kings servants calm and dignified, as became his exalted station. And very probably it was this feeling, that he had a character to sustain, and that it would have been beneath his dignity publicly to notice the affront that he had received from a Jewish slave: it was this that prevented him from giving way to the rage that swelled in his breast.
Then went Haman forth that day joyful, and with a glad heart.The wickedest of men may be not only prosperous, but joyful; though their hands are stained with blood, though their thoughts may have been devising inquity on their beds, that they may practise it when the morning is light,* yet they go forth with a glad heart and a light step. With consciences as black as hell, they are not afraid to look on the unsullied orb of day, or to be seen by the moon when she walks in brightness. Such is the deceitfulness of sin, especially when it is cherished by prosperity. They are corrupt, they speak wickedly concerning oppression: they speak loftily. They set their mouth against the heavens; and their tongue walketh through the earth. They say, The Lord shall not see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard it. This has often been a source of bitter distress to good men, who have been envious at the foolish, when they saw the prosperity of the wicked. But this is their infirmity, and they are brought to confess it. Why should they envy that joy which dwells in a guilty heartthat prosperity which betrays them to their ruin? There is greater reason for deriding them; for the triumphing of the wicked is short. What a pitiable object would Haman be in the eyes of Esther that day, when she viewed him from the lattice of her window, as he left the palace! The virgin, the daughter of Zion, hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee.
Then went Haman forth THAT DAY joyful, and with a glad heart.That day was the last of his gladness; next mornings sun should not set before all his glory was laid in the dust. Nay, that very day, and that very moment when it was most buoyant, his joy was destined to suffer a dash from which it would never completely recover. Before he left the court of the palace, from which he had come out with such uplifted spirits, a dart entered his liver, and inflicted a wound, which the zeal and art of all his physicians could not heal. But when Haman saw Mordecai in the kings gate, that he stood not up, nor moved for him, he was full of indignation against Mordecai.
Theres a picture! standing out in bold relief, and contrasted with that of the proud but worthless premier. The one haughty and enraged; the other humble, but composed and dignified. It is not the port, the state, the pageantry; it is not the rank, riches, or power; the mind and spiritthat is the man. The person who occupies the place of a common porter may have within him a soul that towers in real greatness far above that of the proudest and most titled grandee. He may have that within him, which, while it rouses the indignation, quails the courage of him who has armies at his beck. He who is conscious of acting rightly, has no reason to grow pale at the sight of danger. He who is embarked in the cause of God and his people, and whose conscience acquits him of having failed in his duty to his prince, or of having done evil to any man, feels himself clad in the panoply of heaven, stands fearless and scathless, is immovable in his purpose, and will not do a mean or unworthy, far less a sinful, thing, to save his own life, or the lives of those whom he holds dearest.
Such was Mordecai. He had had ample leisure to reflect on his conduct in refusing the homage claimed by Haman. That refusal had drawn down the vengeance of the wicked favourite on himself and his people. But still Haman is contemned in his eyes as a vile person. He exhibited no tokens of positive disrespect. He would not insult him, he would not rail upon him as he passed, or behind his back. But he would not yield him any direct homage; he stood not up, nor moved for him. An ordinary patriot would have been disposed to act in a different manner. He would have said, My daughter is employed in using means for obtaining from her royal husband a revocation of the decree for the slaughter of the Jews; but she has to contend against powerful influence. I will endeavour to smooth her difficulties; and much as I despise this minion, I will for once abase myself before him, and try to assuage his resentment and propitiate his favour, by offering him that obeisance which is so grateful to his pride. Moses did not act on this principle, when Pharaoh, awed by the plagues which he had suffered, offered to allow the Israelites to go, provided they left their flocks and herds behind them: There shall not an hoof be left behind! Our Saviour did not act upon this principle, when the Pharisees said, Get thee out and depart hence, for Herod will kill thee. Go, tell that fox, behold, I cast out devils, and do cures to-day and to-morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected. Nor would Mordecai act upon this principle. Haman had devised a deed which created horror both in heaven and earth; the devoted Jews were cast on the special protection of Providence; Mordecai was persuaded that enlargement and deliverance would arise to them from some quarter, and he entertained sanguine hopes that Esther had come to the kingdom for this very end. He would not, therefore, displease God, and dishonour himself, by having recourse to the mean expedient of cringing to the author of his countrys wrongs, lest the day of their deliverance should witness his own destruction and that of his fathers house.
This conduct on the part of Mordecai exceedingly enraged Haman. Perhaps he had heard of the distress into which the object of his hatred had been thrown by the decree for exterminating the Jews, and therefore expected, the next time they met, to see him grovelling in the dust. But when he found his independent spirit unbroken, and that he neither rose up nor moved at his approach, he boiled with indignation, and his wounded pride demanded instant revenge. Oh that I had of his flesh! I cannot be satisfied.*
Proud and haughty scorner is his name that dealeth in proud wrath. Pride was the first sin that entered into the universe. It was pride that turned angels into devils. It was pride that, after thinning heaven and peopling hell, invaded our world, and drove man out of paradise. It was pride that caused the first-born on earth to embrue his hands in the blood of an only brother. Pride has broken the peace of families and nations, and carried fire and sword through the earth. It is equally the parent of oppression and licentiousness, setting the father against the son, and the son against the father; the master against the servant, and the servant against the master; the sovereign against his subjects, and the subjects against their sovereign. Pride has marred the work of God, given birth to infidelity, apostasy, impiety, blasphemy, and persecution; it is the mother of heresy, and has fomented strife and contention, and wrath, and swellings, and tumults, within the sacred enclosures of the house of God. O beware of giving place to this monster! The man that harbours pride in his heart, harbours a murderer, a fratricide, a parricide, a suicide, a deicide;for it crucified the Lord of glory, and still crucifies him afresh in his doctrine and in his members.McCrie.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
VI. The Petulance of Haman, Est. 5:9-14
A. Depression
TEXT: Est. 5:9-13
9
Then went Haman forth that day joyful and glad of heart: but when Haman saw Mordecai in the kings gate, that he stood not up nor moved for him, he was filled with wrath against Mordecai.
10
Nevertheless Haman refrained himself, and went home; and he sent and fetched his friends and Zeresh his wife.
11
And Haman recounted unto them the glory of his riches, and the multitude of his children, and all the things wherein the king had promoted him, and how he had advanced him above the princes and servants of the king.
12
Haman said moreover, Yea, Esther the queen did let no man come in with the king unto the banquet that she had prepared but myself; and to-morrow also am I invited by her together with the king.
13
Yet all this availeth me nothing, so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the kings gate.
Todays English Version, Est. 5:9-13
When Haman left the banquet he was happy and in a good mood. But then he saw Mordecai at the entrance of the palace, and when Mordecai did not rise or show any sign of respect as he passed, Haman was furious with him. But he controlled himself and went on home. Then he invited his friends to his house and asked his wife Zeresh to join them. He boasted to them about how rich he was, how many sons he had, how the king had promoted him to high office, and how much more important he was than any of the kings other officials. What is more, Haman went on, Queen Esther gave a banquet for no one but the king and me, and we are invited back tomorrow. But none of this means a thing to me as long as I see that Jew Mordecai sitting at the entrance of the palace.
Est. 5:9-10 Disregarded: The Hebrew text says Haman left Esthers banquet samecha vevtov lev, i.e., joyful and good of heart. He was exhilarated that he had been singled out by the queen for special favor this day and tomorrow also. The Jewish Haggadah also theorizes that Haman thought Esther prepared the banquet in his honor, little realizing that she had set a trap for him. According to the Haggadah, Esthers motive in inviting Haman to the banquet was that he should not discover that she was Jewish, and that the Jews should not say, We have a sister in the kings palace, and so neglect to pray for Gods mercy. Furthermore, says Jewish tradition, Esther thought that by being friendly to Haman she would arouse the kings jealousy to such an extent that he would kill both of them.
But when Haman came out of the queens chambers he evidently went directly past Mordecai at the kings gate. Mordecai made no move whatever to acknowledge Haman. Remaining in either a sitting or squatting position, Mordecai ignored the presence of the second most important man in the entire kingdom of Persia. There is nothing more galling than such utter contempt shown openly in the presence of others (Pulpit Commentary). The Hebrew word translated wrath is chemah and is more accurately fury. Anger raged within Hamans heart. The interesting thing to observe here is Hamans physical restraint. He must have recognized some danger in precipitous and public revenge or he would have seized Mordecai and executed him on the spot. He dared not do anything to jeopardize his new promotion to such high rank. He cunningly held his fury in check until he was on surer grounds. Then he would be prepared to fulfill his hidden wrath on this Jew, Mordecai. Rage, wounded pride and desire for revenge is psychological dynamite. It must explodeeither internally or externally. All that is needed is a spark of self-justification and that is often supplied by sympathetic friends or Yes men. That is where Haman went. He called in his friends and his wife for supportive rationalizations to justify what he had already made up his mind to do.
Est. 5:11-13 Discontentment: There is nothing more boring than to have to attend a party given by a man who uses the evening to brag and boast about all that he has. Of course, if the braggart has the power Haman had, attendance is compulsory.
To be the father of many sons was counted an honor by the Persians (Herodotous 1:136) as with most cultures of the ancient world. We know already that Haman was rich enough to offer to Xerxes an amount of money equal to one years tax revenue for the whole Persian empire (cf. Est. 3:9). Haman also had been promoted to chief of all princes. He probably went into great detail as he recounted all these honors. The more he embellished them the more he was sure of his own self-importance. To put the icing on the cake, Haman was even convinced that the queen herself was impressed with his importance. He alone had been invited to accompany the emperor to a place of honor at the queens banquet. Not once, but twice had the queen invited him.
But Haman was bitter. He could not enjoy any of this. The Hebrew word translated availeth is shoveh and means satisfy or suffice. In other words, all the fame and fortune Haman had was not sufficient to satisfy his soul so long as there was one Jewish gate-keeper who ignored his importance! Today we would say Haman had an identity problem. He suffered from a poor self-image. No matter how much he bragged about his own importance, he really didnt feel important so long as there was one person who did not agree with his own estimate of himself. Haman just could not handle that. It destroyed him. He did not understand that self-respect and respect from others does not accrue from titles but from character! One would come centuries after Haman and teach that the greatest among men would be the servant of all.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(9) He stood not up.In Est. 3:2 we saw that Mordecai refused to bow or prostrate himself to Haman, here he refuses even the slightest sign of respect. The honourable independence of the former case here becomes indefensible rudeness.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
HAMAN’S INDIGNATION AT MORDECAI, Est 5:9-14.
9. Joyful At the thought of receiving such honour from the king and queen.
Mordecai stood not up, nor moved From this it seems that after Mordecai knew Haman’s wicked plans against the Jews he purposely refused him all signs of respect. His inmost soul despised Haman, and he took no pains to conceal his feeling, but seems rather to have intentionally offended him.
Full of indignation A cloud suddenly covers his joy. The heart that is exceedingly proud and lifted up is easily offended, and he who “thought scorn to lay hands on Mordecai alone” (Est 3:6) finds all his honour of no avail from the mere lack of respect shown him by this one man.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Haman’s Fatuous Security
v. 9. Then went Haman forth that day joyful and with a glad heart, v. 10. Nevertheless, Haman refrained himself, v. 11. And Haman, v. 12. Haman said moreover, Yea, Esther, the queen, did let no man come in with the king unto the banquet that she had prepared but myself, v. 13. Yet all this availeth me nothing, v. 14. Then said Zeresh, his wife, and all his friends unto him, Let a gallows be made of fifty cubit high,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
EXPOSITION
HAMAN, EXULTING AT THESE SIGNS OF ROYAL FAVOUR, IS THE MORE EXASPERATED AT MORDECAI‘S CONTEMPT OF HIM. AT THE BIDDING OF HIS WIFE HE RESOLVES TO IMPALE MORDECAI, AND CAUSES A LOFTY CROSS TO BE ERECTED FOR THE PURPOSE (Est 5:9-14). The favour shown him by the king and queen in admitting him to the very close intimacy implied in their making him the sole companion of their private hours, produced in Haman a dangerous exaltation of spirit. He seemed to himself to have attained the pinnacle of a subject’s greatness. Returning home in this frame of mind, and having to pass through the gate where Mordecai was on duty, he was more vexed than usual with that official’s disrespect, which was more pointed and open than it had ever been before (Est 5:9). However, he took no immediate notice of the porter’s conduct (Est 5:10), but proceeded to his own house, where he assembled his friends, and communicated to them, and at the same time to Zeresh his wife, the circumstances which had so greatly raised his spirits. The climax was that “Esther the queen had let no man come in with the king unto the banquet that she had prepared but himself; nay, more, he was again invited on the morrow to banquet with her and the king” (verse 12). He added, however, Mordecai’s insult remaining fresh in his recollection, that all his glory, all his honours, availed him nothingwere as nothing in his eyesso long as he was condemned to see Mordecai the Jew every time that he passed though the palace gate, and to be treated by him with contempt and contumely (verse 13). Upon this Zeresh made, and Haman’s friends approved, a proposal that a lofty cross should be at once erected in the court of Haman’s house, on which Mordecai should be impaled, with the king’s consent, as soon as it was finished. Haman agreed to this, recovered his spirits, and gave orders for the cross to be made (verse 14).
Est 5:9
Mordecai stood not up, nor moved for him. Originally Mordecai bad merely declined to prostrate himself before Haman on religious grounds. Now he looked upon Haman as his personal enemy, and would not even acknowledge his presence. There is nothing more galling than such utter contempt shown openly in the presence of others.
Est 5:10
Haman refrained himself. That is to say, so far as speech and act went. He said nothing; he did not strike his insulter; he did not order his servants to drag the fellow outside the gate and give him the bastinado. But he did not “refrain his heart.“ He allowed the affront that he had received to remain in his mind and rankle there. It poisoned his happiness, marred all his enjoyment, filled him with hatred and rage. When he came home, he sent and called for his friends. It was not so much to be partners in his joy that Haman called his friends around him as to be companions in his grief. It is true that his speech to them was chiefly occupied with boasts; but the true intention of the discourse is seen in its close”All this availeth me nothing,” etc.
Est 5:11
The multitude of his children. Literally, “of his sons.” Of these we see by Est 9:7-10 that he had ten. To be the father of many sons was accounted highly honourable by the Persians (Herod; 1:136). How he had advanced him above the princes. See above, Est 3:1.
Est 5:13
All this availeth me nothing. The bitter drop in his cup deprived Haman’s life of all sweetness. He had not learned the wisdom of setting pleasure against pain, joy against sorrow, satisfaction against annoyance. Much less had he taught himself to look upon the vexations and trials of life as blessings in disguise. His was a coarse and undisciplined nature, little better than that of a savage, albeit he was the chief minister of the first monarch in the world. So little proof is worldly greatness of either greatness or goodness of soul
Est 5:14
Let a gallows be made. Rather, “a pale” or “cross.” The Persians did not hang men, as we do, but ordinarily executed them by impalement (see the comment on Est 2:23). Fifty cubits high. This is a very improbable height, and we may suspect a corruption of the number. It occurs, however, again in Est 7:9. Speak thou unto the king. Haman’s wife and friends assume that so trifling a matter as the immediate execution of one Jew will be of course allowed at the request of the chief minister, who has already obtained an edict for the early destruction of the entire people. It certainly would seem to be highly probable that Xerxes would have granted Haman’s petition but for the accident of his sleeplessness, as narrated in the next chapter.
HOMILETICS
Est 5:11, Est 5:12
Prosperity and self-gratulation.
In Oriental courts, where promotion depends upon the favour of the sovereign, it is sometimes as rapid as it is undeserved, and as insecure as it is rapid. So was it with the worthless, vain, arrogant Haman. His career is full of instruction, especially as an instance of the effects and perils of prosperity.
I. Observe THE ELEMENTS of worldly prosperity.
1. Riches. The minister’s position gave him the opportunity of acquiring vast wealth, especially by means of extortion, and oppression, and bribes. And the king gave his favourite large sums of money, in that lavish and insane capriciousness which distinguished him.
2. Family. We are told that Haman had ten sons, and we know that a large number of sons was counted in Persia the highest blessing of fortune.
3. Promotion and power. What Haman’s origin was we are not told, but that he was raised by royal favour to a station he could never have anticipated is clear enough. He was the first of subjects, and had the car of the king, who delegated to him his authority, handing him his signet to use as he thought fit.
4. Pre-eminence over rivals. This, to such a nature as Haman’s, was no mean element in joy and self-gratulation. To pass others in the race, to see them behind him, to have them supplicating his favour and good word with the monarch, all this was very gratifying to the minister of state.
5. Favour with the queen. He only was invited to the banquet given by Esther. True, he misconstrued the motive of the invitation; but, at the time, to himself and to the courtiers this must have been regarded as a proof how high he stood in royal favour.
6. The companionship of the monarch. Haman was evidently admitted to frequent audiences; he had the ear of the king, and was not presuming when he deemed himself “the man whom the king delighted to honour.”
II. Observe THE NATURAL EFFECTS Of prosperity. That Haman’s “head was turned” by the giddy elevation to which he had climbed is clear enough.
1. Joy and elation.
2. Boasting and self-confidence. So convinced was he that he was secure of favour and power, that he vaunted of his greatness before his family and friends.
3. Contempt of those in adversity. This is ever a proof of a mean, a little mind. Remark, that the higher Haman rose, the more did he despise the lowly.
III. Observe THE DANGERS Of worldly prosperity.
1. There is danger lest men forget the vicissitudes of life. “In my prosperity I said, I shall never be moved.” “Riches take to themselves wings and flee away.” “Man that is in honour continueth not.”
2. There is danger lest men forget the approach of death. How often has God said to the prosperous, the boastful, the self-confident, “Thou fool, this night shall thy soul be required of thee!”
3. There is danger lest men lose sympathy with those in obscurity or adversity.
4. There is danger lest men forget God. They say, like the great king, “Is not this great Babylon that I have built?” like Israel, “My power, and the might of my hand, hath gotten me this wealth.” Let these considerations lead the prosperous to reflection, to trembling, to searching of heart.
Est 5:13
Happiness marred.
A little “screw loose” may spoil the working of a vast and powerful engine. A clot of blood upon the brain may suddenly deprive of life a man seemingly healthy and certainly powerful. A seeming trifle may spoil the content and embitter the life of a prince. And so mean a person as Mordecai, by so insignificant an act of disrespect as is here mentioned, may mar the happiness of a great minister of state like Haman, and may make even his prosperity miserable.
I. Consider THE UNSATISFACTORY NATURE OF ALL EARTHLY HAPPINESS.
1. It is at the mercy of circumstances. Ahab was a powerful and prosperous king; but whilst he could not have Naboth’s vineyard for his own pleasure nothing gave him any satisfaction. Place your welfare in worldly good, set your heart upon an earthly object, and something will certainly occur to show you the vanity of such an aim and of such a trust. Whatever Haman gained, it was insufficient to make him happy. A poor Jew would not do him reverence; it was the fly in the apothecary’s ointment
2. It is at the mercy of an evil heart. The same circumstances which spoil the pleasure of a worldling have no power to occasion a Christian one moment’s distress or anxiety. If Haman had not been a bad, and selfish, and vain man he would never have troubled himself about the conduct of Mordecai. A good conscience and a quiet heart, with the habit of referring to God’s judgment rather than to men’s, will render you largely independent of common causes of solicitude and vexation.
II. This consideration should lead us to SEEK OUR HAPPINESS THERE WHERE EARTHLY TROUBLES WILL HAVE LITTLE POWER TO MAR IT. Not in outward prosperity, not in the approval or the applause of men, not in pre-eminence and authority, is true happiness to be found. But in the favour, the fellowship, and the approbation of him “who searcheth the heart and trieth the reins of the children of men.” They who make this choice choose that good part which shall not be taken away from them.
Est 5:14
Malevolent purpose and pleasure.
This one verse contains the record of “a world of iniquity,” and shows us to what lengths sinners may proceed in their evil plans. Happily the sequel shows us that there is One who says to the raging sea of human malevolence and impiety, “Hitherto shalt thou go, and no further; and here shall thy proud waves be stayed!” Follow the clauses of the verse, and behold the progress of atrocious crime.
I. WICKED COUNSELLORS. Wife and friends, instead of expostulating with Haman because of his folly, “fooled him to the top of his bent.” They counselled him as they knew he would fain be counselled. It is too generally so with the families and companions of the great. Haman’s responsibility was not diminished because his friends were partakers of his sin.
II. UNJUST PROPOSALS. What had Mordecai done that deserved hanging? His offence was trifling, and should have been altogether disregarded. It is a serious thing to take away the life even of a murderer; how much more of an innocent, unoffending man.
III. INFLUENCE ABUSED. The minister could not put the poor Jew to death by his own authority. The plan was to speak to the king, and to get his sanction for the detestable deed. It is well when a sovereign is reluctant to use his prerogative and order the execution of a capital sentence; as the Roman emperor, who in such a ease exclaimed, I would I could not write my name; or as Edward VI, who could hardly be persuaded to sign the order for burning one condemned. There was no apprehension of any difficulty with Artaxerxes; let him but be urged by his favourite, and the deed was done. An awful responsibility, to give such advice.
IV. THE HEART RELIEVED AND REJOICED BY AN UNJUST ACT. As Stephen Gardiner would not dine until the tidings reached him that the Protestant bishops were burnt at Oxford, so Haman could not enjoy the banquet until the order for Mordecai’s impalement or crucifixion had been given by the king. They sleep not, except they do evil.
V. PLEASURE IN THE PROSPECT OF SIN. “The thing pleased Haman!” What a “thing!” and what a man to be pleased therewith!
VI. MISCHIEF ANTICIPATED. Already, before the project was sanctioned by the king, the order was given to rear the gallows, that the evil work might be accomplished. Little thought they whose body should be hanged thereon, ere many hours were passed.
Practical lesson:The heinousness of sin; the need of a Divine remedy; the wisdom and grace of God in the gospel of Christ.
HOMILIES BY P.C. BARKER
Est 5:13
The bathos of confession.
After all necessary allowances and substitutions have been made, it may be very justly said that Shakespeare’s Wolsey is essentially dwarfed by Scripture’s Haman, and that not the finest of Shakespeare’s five act playswonderful products of human genius as they arebut must yield to the ten briefer chapters, with their five chief characters, of our Book of Esther. The book is indeed a consummate epic of the human heart. Its photographs are vivid and accurate, but they are not the facsimile of a countenance alone, but of things revealed and laid bare, in the fallen type of man, by the most skilful anatomy. What an extraordinary proclamation it makes, at one and the same time, of the vanity of human greatness and of the greatness of human vanity. How forcibly does it remind us of that Scripture that saith not in vain, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked;” and there bids us hold our breath awhile. We can scarcely go on to say, Who can know it?” for we find it manifestly set forth as known by One at all events, whose finger guides us to the observation of it, and whose pencil limns it. Certainly the present passage lays bare such a heart to the core of it, and at the core it is bad. It is of an aggravated type. It reveals a miserable creature on his own showing, judged by his own standard, and at the confession of his own lips. We have no difficulty in understanding the description which Haman gives of himself. But the difficulty would lie in crediting the phenomenon of any man, knowing his own symptoms so well, being ready to speak them so frankly, where they are what they are here. Let us notice
I. SOME STRIKING AND DISCREDITABLE FACTS WHICH HAMAN‘S OWN LANGUAGE REVEALS ABOUT HIMSELF. Haman finds himself in trouble. He analyses it himself, and unhesitatingly publishes the results And in doing so he shows these two things about himself:
1. He can confess without penitence, without shame. In confession one would have hoped to find a favourable symptom. But it aggravates the case if what in ten thousand other instances would have been some redeeming feature, is none here. His confession proves that his trouble is of the smallest kind, and of the smallest quantity. He is exalted with honour, he is laden with wealth, he is closely surrounded with a profusion of earthly blessings. It is the very point of his own representation that he had touched the summit of success. But there was a humble man, no competitor whatever of his, low down on the rungs of the ladder, nor seeking to climb higher. He did not cross Haman’s path, but Haman sometimes crossed his. This man, not for whim, nor to affront, but for his religion’s sake, did not make the obeisance which the rest around were making to this rising or risen sun. Haman did not know the loss by feeling it. He did not know it till some one, who owned to the gift of not being able to do anything so well as mischief, informed him of the fact. And on this omission, recurring at a critical moment of Haman’s glory, it is that Haman confesses to himself, to his wife, to his friends specially called together, that all his wealth, glory, promotion are “nothing” to him while Mordecai withholds his obeisance. This is the confession he makes without one expression of penitence, without one sign of shame.
2. He is content to have self-knowledge without realising any of the benefits that might accompany it. It is not every one who knows his nature’s and his own disease so well. There are few who could speak the plague of their own heart so plainly. There was also, apparently, freedom from that form of deception which in things of high moment must ever be the worstself-deception. Yet if we want to commend Haman for all this, it is impossible. We have to take away more with our left hand than we give with the right. He is not ignorant of self, yet he has no idea of improving self. He is not self-deceived, yet he is not awake to the enormity of his danger. He describes his own loathsome symptoms, yet loathes them not. He speaks them, to boast them.
II. THE TERRIFIC FORCES OF EVIL WHICH UNDERLAY THOSE FACTS.
1. Immoderate ambition. From the moment that his lip made the confession which it did make, Haman should have seemed to hear it as charging him to come down and “avoid ambition.” His confession should have sounded the knell of ambition, since, if not, it were certain to sound another knell.
2. The intense worship of self. Haman must be all, and have all. He cannot let an obscure exile in the land have a thought, a liberty, a conscience, a will of his own. He cannot tolerate the slightest infringement of his own rights.
3. The rankling of unforgivingness. A forgiving spirit would have saved Haman all the destruction that was about to descend upon his head. No wound of any sort whatsoever has such a determined bias towards a fatal result as the wound received and not forgiven. Do whatsoever else you will for that wound, this undone it is almost certain that, if in itself not fatal, it will become so.
4. A greed that had grown with getting, an appetite that increased with feeding, and which was now rapacious as the grave. Haman had everything except one thing which he would never have missed unless he had been told of it. The whole day was bright but one moment of it, and then it was only overcast. The whole sky was fair and shining except one little touch of it. The whole prospect was glorious except for one duller spot. Life was a luxurious banquet, immensely to his taste, and there were no fingers of a hand writing dread things on the wall to spoil, hut it was spoiled. Haman says it was utterly spoiled, profoundly unsatisfactory. One little diminution of dignity, one little drop of incense withheld, one little humble, harmless presence, fascinates him, as a basilisk would, nor releases him till he is lured to his ruin. “Dead flies cause the apothecaries’ ointment to stink,” says Solomon; and “the buzzing of an insect too near the ear may,” says Pascal, “thwart a thought and put back a discovery fifty years; but who can defend the man who says, “I have millions of money, multitudes of titles, honour and glory beyond any one beside, ‘yet all this availeth me nothing, so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king‘s gate.‘”
Lessons:
1. In the larger, bolder, blacker portrait of Haman is there not some semblance of self, when, amid opportunities and advantages innumerable, comforts and joys innumerable, bright prospects and hopes innumerable, we put them all far from us just because everything conceivable is not to our mind.
2. We are prone to share the perverse nature of Haman when, as mere matter of fact, we overlook a thousand mercies we possess in favour of keenly noticing the absence of one withheld, like Eden’s apple, or withdrawn after long enjoyment of it.
3. We are prone to share the unfruitful nature of Haman. No fact has come to be better ascertained in human life than this, that it is not those who have most who give most. The greatest opportunity often witnesses the least improvement of it.B.
HOMILIES BY F. HASTINGS
Est 5:13
Unavailing honour.
“Yet all this availeth me nothing, so long,” etc. How many look with envy upon Haman as he rides forth. His servants hasten on before him, crying, “Bow the knee, bow the knee.” Grateful to him is the reverence he receives. He cares not that it is reverence lacking respect, so long as there is outward obeisance. Such an one is sure to observe the least slight. His temper will not endure to see one erect head among so many bowed backs.
I. THE CAUSE OF A PRIME MINISTER‘S DISCONTENT. One day Haman, as he goes forth, cannot help seeing that there is one who bows not before him. He pretends not to see the slight, but with difficulty he refrains from commanding his attendants to inflict summary vengeance on the offender. Mordecai thus treated Haman not only once, but constantly. It has been suggested that as the king claimed in some sense Divine honours, so by his command he intended that Haman should have in some degree Divine honour paid to him. Knowing this, Mordecai dare not bend. Some may have called it obstinacy, but it was in reality consistency. Allurements and threats are tried upon him, but in vain. Now if Mordecai refused honour to whom honour was due, he was in the wrong. None may practise incivility. Religion teaches us that we should “be courteous.” After all, what a trifle it was that vexed the mind of this grand vizier! It was the one drop of poison in the cup of his joy. It was the black cloud glooming the sunshine of his prosperity. Although he has attained an elevation that may at one time have seemed far beyond his reach, he finds that thorns bestrew his path, and even leave their sharp points on his pillow.
II. MODERN INSTANCES OF SIMILAR DISCONTENT. Who that looked upon Haman as he rode forth in all the glory of purple and gold, or as he lounged on his divan in the midst of his friends, would have supposed that he had anything to cause him so much annoyance? And yet is it not always so? There is a skeleton in every house, the worm in every rose, sorrow in every heart. Look at that stately mansion; see how richly it is furnished; pictures of the choicest character deck the walls; busts and antiques are here and there; the velvety carpet feels like a mossy bank beneath the feet. Ask the occupants of the mansion if they are content, and perhaps the owner will tell you, “All this availeth me nothing,” so long as my neighbour on the hill has a house larger and better furnished. The wife will perhaps tell you that” all this availeth nothing,” so long as a Certain family is accounted as higher in the social scale than hers; or because at a dinner-party she noticed with annoyance that some one had taken precedence of herself; or because she had not been invited to some great gathering where certain persons of higher rank were expected. The vexations of the weak-minded and exclusive are more than equal to those of the excluded. The petty social, fanciful annoyances oft make all comforts and possessions to “avail nothing” in the production of real happiness. Enter the shop of that tradesman. What a large business he carries on; yet he in his soul is not happy. He is envious. He will confess to himself, if not to you, “All this availeth me nothing,” so long as a certain competitor in the same business can buy cheaper, or make money more rapidly. Go along a country road, and note some pretty homestead nestling among the trees; surely that must be the abode of content and peace! You approach it. Meeting the occupant thereof, you congratulate him on the beauty of his dwelling-place and on the charm of the surrounding hills; he, haggard and worn, only replies, “All this availeth me nothing.” Look at my neighbour’s barn, how much larger, and his crops, how much finer than mine. So the warrior or statesman, the preacher and the potentate, are often alike discontented. They are dissatisfied, successful men. The blessings and privileges they possess are nothing; the trifling lack or annoyance is everything. Their state is as sinful as it is miserable. They are lineal descendants of Haman the Agagite. All the joys, honours, comforts of the world are after all only “as a lamp that goeth out, leaving a disagreeable smell; whereas the peace which flows from an eternal God is like a sun which shineth more and more to the perfect day.” To prefer the world to heavenly and spiritual delights is to act according to the folly of one who, being heir. to a kingdom, should yet prefer some map or model to the kingdom itself. How easily might the map be torn or the model be broken! The possession of the kingdom of heaven in the heart can never be destroyed. Those who possess it will not make Haman’s confession, “All this availeth me nothing.” They will say rather, “Seeking first the kingdom of heaven and its righteousness, all other things are added thereunto.”H.
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary
(9) Then went Haman forth that day joyful and with a glad heart: but when Haman saw Mordecai in the king’s gate, that he stood not up, nor moved for him, he was full of indignation against Mordecai. (10) Nevertheless Haman refrained himself: and when he came home, he sent and called for his friends, and Zeresh his wife. (11) And Haman told them of the glory of his riches, and the multitude of his children, and all the things wherein the king had promoted him, and how he had advanced him above the princes and servants of the king. (12) Haman said moreover, Yea, Esther the queen did let no man come in with the king unto the banquet that she had prepared but myself; and tomorrow am I invited unto her also with the king. (13) Yet all this availeth me nothing, so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king’s gate.
The sacred historian hath drawn the portrait of this man in a short compass to a full length painting, and of the most finished kind, in a description of misery. He confesses, in the midst of all the possessions the highest rank in the court of eastern magnificence could afford, that such dreadful malignity rankled within, that the whole was nothing, so long as he saw a poor Jew whom he envied, sit without doing him reverence in the king’s gate. Reader! pause over this, and remark how wretched must be the state of a man’s heart, which is open to such dreadful corroding passions! how little to be esteemed then must be all outward things, when a profusion of them cannot ensure happiness. And above all think, I charge you, how infinitely precious must be that blessed and only remedy, which the gospel of JESUS affords, for changing the heart, and curing such guilty passions.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Est 5:9 Then went Haman forth that day joyful and with a glad heart: but when Haman saw Mordecai in the king’s gate, that he stood not up, nor moved for him, he was full of indignation against Mordecai.
Ver. 9. Then went Haman forth that day joyful ] Saeculi laetitia est impunita nequitia, saith an ancient. He looked upon himself now as no less favoured by the queen than by the king, and was puffed up with this new honour, as a bubble is with a child’s blast in a walnut shell with a little soap, but it shortly after falls down again into his eyes and vexeth him.
And with a glad heart
But when Haman saw Mordecai in the king’s gate] There he sat, and would not stir an inch, for Haman’s greatness; as resolute he remained, notwithstanding the bloody edict now published, as was Rawlins White, the martyr, in Queen Mary’s days. The bishop of Llandaff pretended to pray for his conversion; after which he said, Now, Rawlins, how is it with thee? Wilt thou revoke thine opinions or no? Surely, said he, my lord, Rawlins you left me, and Rawlins you find me, and Rawlins, by God’s grace, I will continue. The heavens shall as soon fall, said another, as I will recant. This the mad world styles stiffness, self-willedness, fool-hardiness, &c., as was before noted; but the saints do it out of Christian courage, an invincible faith, and zeal for God’s cause and kingdom.
That he stood not up, nor moved for him
He was full of indignation against Mordecai
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Est 5:9-14
9Then Haman went out that day glad and pleased of heart; but when Haman saw Mordecai in the king’s gate and that he did not stand up or tremble before him, Haman was filled with anger against Mordecai. 10Haman controlled himself, however, went to his house and sent for his friends and his wife Zeresh. 11Then Haman recounted to them the glory of his riches, and the number of his sons, and every instance where the king had magnified him and how he had promoted him above the princes and servants of the king. 12Haman also said, Even Esther the queen let no one but me come with the king to the banquet which she had prepared; and tomorrow also I am invited by her with the king. 13Yet all of this does not satisfy me every time I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king’s gate. 14Then Zeresh his wife and all his friends said to him, Have a gallows fifty cubits high made and in the morning ask the king to have Mordecai hanged on it; then go joyfully with the king to the banquet. And the advice pleased Haman, so he had the gallows made.
Est 5:9 Haman went out that day glad and pleased of heart This book, like the Bible itself, is filled with shocking role reversals (i.e., Adam, Joseph, David, Solomon, Manasseh, etc.). The evaluations of the people of this planet are different from God’s (e.g., Isa 55:8-11; Eze 18:32).
In this book Haman is up and down, up and down, up and down. He becomes a type of restless evil, human cunning, thwarted by God’s unseen hand.
Mordecai in the king’s gate Again Mordecai is identified with the palace guard (cf. Est 2:19; Est 2:21; Est 3:2; Est 5:13; Est 6:10).
he did not stand up or tremble before him After the issuing of the edict for the destruction of the Jews, Mordecai not only would not bow down, but would not even recognize Haman’s presence. Mordecai had no respect for, or fear of, Haman!
Haman was filled with anger The VERB (BDB 569, KB 583, Niphal IMPERFECT) expresses Haman’s hatred (cf. Est 3:5).
His irrational anger (cf. Est 5:13) will be his undoing. The role reversal will occur because of Haman’s anger/hatred/wrath (BDB 404).
Est 5:10-14 Haman apparently had spiritual advisors who used divination for him (cf. Est 3:7; Est 6:13).
Est 5:11 the glory of his riches The Hebrew word glory (BDB 458, KB 457) often is associated with wealth (cf. Gen 31:1; 1Ch 29:12; 1Ch 29:28; 2Ch 1:11-12; Pro 3:16). The word’s basic meaning of to be heavy relates to weights of precious metals.
the number of his sons From Est 9:7-10 we learn that Haman had ten sons. Both Hebrews and Persians saw a large number of sons as a sign of divine blessing (cf. Herodotus, 1.136).
Est 5:13 Yet all of this does not satisfy me every time I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king’s gate Haman’s hatred was stronger than all of the wealth and power that the king had given. This is a valid psychological insight on what a root of bitterness will do to a human heart!
Est 5:14 Have a gallows fifty cubits high There is a series of IMPERATIVES (2) and IMPERFECTS (2) used as JUSSIVES:
1. have a gallows. . .made (BDB 793, KB 889) Qal IMPERFECT used in a JUSSIVE sense
2. ask the king (BDB 55, KB 65), Qal IMPERATIVE
3. hang Mordecai (BDB 1067, KB 1738), Qal IMPERFECT used in a JUSSIVE sense
4. go joyfully. . .to the banquet (BDB 97, KB 112), Qal IMPERATIVE
A cubit (see Special Topic: Cubit ) is the distance from a man’s longest finger to his elbow, about 18 to 20 inches. We know from history about two different cubit measurements, one about 18 inches and a longer cubit as the official one for construction. This would have made the gallows about 75-85 feet high (higher than the columns of the king’s palace). This may not relate to a hanging gallows but to a sharpened stake. The Persians were noted for impaling people, not for hanging them (cf. Est 9:13; Herodotus 3.159; 4.43; the Behistun Inscription column 2, paragraph 13 and 14; column 3, paragraph 8).
It is the exaggerations (e.g., the amount of money Haman offered for the Jews’ destruction) in the book that cause literary scholars to reexamine the genre. It is not that the book itself causes insurmountable problems, but that, like Jonah and Job, it may have an historical core which is elaborated for theological reasons.
A 75-85 foot impaling stake certainly shows the extent of hatred and planning of Haman and his advisors! But the unseen hand of God, shockingly reverses the roles of Haman and Mordecai!
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
stood not up. Notwithstanding the crisis reached; and well knowing the cause of it.
moved = stirred. Only here, and Ecc 12:3.
Zeresh his wife. By Gematria = 507 (13- x 3). See note on Est 9:10, also App-10.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Est 5:9-14
Est 5:9-14
HAMAN PREPARES FOR THE EXECUTION OF MORDECAI
“Then went Haman forth that day joyful and glad of heart; but when Haman saw Mordecai in the kinifs gate, that he stood not up, nor moved for him, he was filled with wrath against Mordecai. Nevertheless, Haman refrained himself, and went home; and he went and fetched his friends and Zeresh his wife. And Haman recounted unto them the glory of his riches, and the multitude of his children, and all the things wherein the king had promoted him, and how he had advanced him above the princes and servants of the king. Haman said moreover, Yea, Esther the queen did let no man come in with the king unto the banquet which she had prepared but myself; and tomorrow also am I invited by her together with the king. Yet all this availeth me nothing, so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king’s gate. Then said Zeresh his wife and all his friends unto him, Let a gallows be made fifty cubits high, and in the morning speak thou unto the king that Mordecai may be hanged thereon; then go thou in merrily with the king unto the banquet. And the thing pleased Haman, and he caused the gallows to be built.”
The picture of Haman that emerges here is a good example of, “The deceived sinner, glorying in himself, hating God, and God’s people.” “Although Esther’s maids and other attendants knew of her Jewish race, Haman obviously did not; and that ignorance was is undoing.”
Some critics have found fault with the height of the gallows mentioned here, making it either imaginative, untrue, or ridiculous, but they overlook the key fact that the text does not say how high the gallows was. The text only states that Haman’s advisers recommended a gallows that high. As a matter of fact, the Hebrew here is not `gallows’ at all, but `tree.’ Crucifixion was the usual form of punishment in Persia. It was Zeresh, Haman’s wife, who mentioned that the gallows should be fifty cubits high (some eighty or ninety feet), but that was nothing more than such a remark as that once heard in the old west that, “So and so should be hanged as high as heaven”!
Archibald Duff has an excellent explanation of how this was probably done. “This stake would have been some ten feet high, but set aloft upon a citadel (or the city wall), as in the case of Nicanor (2Ma 15:35).”
It is hard to understand why the mother of ten sons would have desired to see any man crucified; and her unwomanly suggestion found its terrible retribution when she saw her husband and ten sons all crucified on the same day.
“Although God’s name was not mentioned in Esther, probably because the narrative might have been copied from Persian court records; yet God’s providential care of his children is nowhere more visible than here.”
The shameful character of Haman is featured in this verse. In spite of innumerable blessings and preferments above all others except the king, he was an egomaniac.
“He was a coarse, undisciplined man, little better than a savage; and yet he was the chief minister of the greatest monarch in the world at that time. Worldly prominence and power are no proof of goodness or greatness of soul.”
“Haman’s unhappiness because of Mordecai’s refusal to honor him is true to the type; for it is lesser men who magnify and exaggerate slights; the great are able to overlook them.”
E.M. Zerr:
Est 5:9. “Every joy hath its sorrow,” is an old saying, and it was certainly true with Haman. He departed from the feast full of pride over the distinguished honors placed upon him by the invitations from the queen. But that pride received a wound as he passed out at the gate. He probably had momentarily forgotten his feeling against Mordecai in the excitement of the banquet and its joyful social atmosphere. Now that the hated Jew was thrust upon his vision again, and that in an attitude of contempt, his rage almost knew no bounds.
Est 5:10-12. Nevertheless, he restrained himself and rested on the hope of obtaining some consolation later in the midst of his home and friends. He went thither to report on his experiences of the day. Called for his friends, and Zeresh. We need not suppose that Haman’s wife lived apart from him, that he would need to call for her to come. The statement means that after he called for his friends to come, he spoke to them in the hearing of his wife. Much of the speech was for the information of friends since it pertained to his family circumstances, of which his wife would be aware already. But aside from those items, the conversation had to do with the honors just bestowed on him, all of which was news to the friends and his wife.
Est 5:13. The very sight of the Jew at the king’s gate so irritated Haman that his enjoyment of the honors bestowed on him was lost. Mordecai was only one Jew, and the edict had already been started out to destroy the whole number of them throughout the realm. But that was not to take place until the 12th month, and this personal humiliation at the contemptuous attitude of Mordecai was constantly with him. Immediate relief from the distress against his pride was what he desired.
Est 5:14. The suggestion to build a gallows for the hanging of Mordecai may have been from a personal impulse of Zeresh as far as her motive was concerned. But we should keep in mind the fact that God was in all this transaction, and was turning even the selfish motives of the enemies into usefulness for effecting the divine plans. This gallows will be needed in God’s service, and it was well that the personal motives of Haman and his wife be made use of.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
joyful: Job 20:5, Amo 6:12, Amo 6:13, Luk 6:25, Joh 16:20, Jam 4:9
he stood not up: Est 3:2, Psa 15:4, Mat 10:28
he was full: Est 3:5, 1Ki 21:4, Job 31:31, Psa 27:3, Dan 3:13, Dan 3:16-19, Mat 2:16, Act 7:54
Reciprocal: 1Ki 21:6 – Because Psa 73:6 – Therefore Jon 4:6 – So
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Est 5:9. That he stood not up, nor moved to him To show how little he feared him, and that he had a firm confidence in his God, that he would deliver him and his people in this great exigency.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Haman’s reaction 5:9-14
God had kept Haman from discovering Esther’s relationship to Mordecai.
"It was an unusual honor to be invited to a banquet with the queen, for Persian officials were protective of their wives." [Note: Martin, p. 708.]
The Persians placed great value on having many sons (Est 5:11). [Note: Herodotus, 1:136.] A person of good character overlooks slights against himself or herself, but a man or woman of inferior character magnifies them (Est 5:13). Haman may have erected his gallows (or stake) on the top of a hill or building, resulting in an elevated height of 75 feet. On the other hand, the gallows by itself may have been made 75 feet high to let everybody see it (and the hanging), though that would have made it unusually tall.
"This is a fascinating example of the deceived sinner, glorying in self and hating both the true God and His people." [Note: Whitcomb, p. 85.]
"Haman is a case study in that inordinate pride and arrogance that conceals a ’vast and tender ego’ (Fox, 179). . . .
"Haman’s plans are about to run head on into the providence of God." [Note: Bush, p. 418. The quotation is from Michael V. Fox, Character and Ideology in the Book of Esther.]
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
HAMAN
Est 3:1-6; Est 5:9-14; Est 7:5-10
HAMAN is the Judas of Israel. Not that his conduct or his place in history would bring him into comparison with the traitor apostle, for he was an open foe and a foreigner. But he is treated by popular Judaism as the Arch-Enemy, just as Judas is treated by popular Christianity. Like Judas, he has assigned to him a solitary pre-eminence in wickedness, which is almost inhuman. As in the case of Judas, there is thought to be no call for charity or mercy in judging Haman. He shares with Judas the curse of Cain. Boundless execration is heaped on his head. Horror and hatred have almost transformed him into Satan. He is called “The Agagite,” an obscure title which is best explained as a later Jewish nickname derived from a reference to the king of Amalek who was hewn in pieces before the Lord. In the Septuagint he is surnamed “The Macedonian,” because when that version was made the enemies of Israel were the representatives of the empire of Alexander and his successors. During the dramatic reading of the Book of Esther in a Jewish synagogue at the Feast of Purim, the congregation may be found taking the part of a chorus and exclaiming at every mention of the name of Haman, “May his name be blotted out,” “Let the name of the ungodly perish,” while boys with mallets will pound stones and bits of wood on which the odious name is written. This frantic extravagance would be unaccountable but for the fact that the people whose “badge is sufferance” has summed up under the name of the Persian official the malignity of their enemies in all ages. Very often this name has served to veil a dangerous reference to some contemporary foe, or to heighten the rage felt against an exceptionally, odious person by its accumulation of traditional hatred, just as in England on the fifth of November the “Guy” may represent some unpopular person of the day.
When we turn from this unamiable indulgence of spiteful passion to the story that lies behind it, we have enough that is odious without the conception of a sheer monster of wickedness, a very demon. Such a being would stand outside the range of human motives, and we could contemplate him with unconcern and detachment of mind, just as we contemplate the destructive forces of nature. There is a common temptation to clear ourselves of all semblance to the guilt of very bad people by making it out to be inhuman. It is more humiliating to discover that they act from quite human motives-nay, that those very motives may be detected, though with other bearings, even in our own conduct. For see what were the influences that stirred in the heart of Haman. He manifests by his behaviour the intimate connection between vanity and cruelty.
The first trait in his character to reveal itself is vanity, a most inordinate vanity. Haman is introduced at the moment when he has been exalted to the highest position under the king of Persia; he has just been made grand vizier. The tremendous honour turns his brain. In the consciousness of it he swells out with vanity. As a necessary consequence he is bitterly chagrined when a porter does not do homage to him as to the king. His elation is equally extravagant when he discovers that he is to be the only subject invited to meet Ahasuerus at Esthers banquet. When the king inquires how exceptional honour is to be shown to some one whose name is not yet revealed, this infatuated man jumps to the conclusion that it can be for nobody but himself. In all his behaviour we see that he is just possessed by an absorbing spirit of vanity.
Then at the first check he suffers an annoyance proportionate to the boundlessness of his previous elation. He cannot endure the sight of indifference or independence in the meanest subject. The slender fault of Mordecai is magnified into a capital offence. This again is so huge that it must be laid to the charge of the whole race to which the offender belongs. The rage which it excites in Haman is so violent that it will be satisfied with nothing short of a wholesale massacre of men, women, and children. “Behold how great a matter a little fire kindleth”-when it is fanned by the breath of vanity. The cruelty of the vain man is as limitless as his vanity.
Thus the story of Haman illustrates the close juxtaposition of these two vices, vanity and cruelty; it helps us to see by a series of lurid pictures how fearfully provocative the one is of the other. As we follow the incidents, we can discover the links of connection between the cause and its dire effects.
In the first place, it is clear that vanity is a form of magnified egotism. The vain man thinks supremely of himself, not so much in the way of self-interest, but more especially for the sake of self-glorification. When he looks out on the world, it is always through the medium of his own vastly magnified shadow. Like the Brocken Ghost, this shadow becomes a haunting presence standing out before him in huge proportions. He has no other standard of measurement. Everything must be judged according, as it is related to himself. The good is what gives him pleasure; evil is what is noxious to him. This self-centred attitude, with the distortion of vision that it induces, has a double effect, as we may see in the case of Haman.
Egotism utilises the sufferings of others for its own ends. No doubt cruelty is often a consequence of sheer callousness. The man who has no perception of the pain he is causing or no sympathy with the sufferers will trample them under foot on the least provocation. He feels supremely indifferent to their agonies when they are writhing beneath him, and therefore he will never consider it incumbent on him to adjust his conduct with the least reference to the pain he gives. That is an entirely irrelevant consideration. The least inconvenience to himself outweighs the greatest distress of other people, for the simple reason that that distress counts as nothing in his calculation of motives. In Hamans case, however, we do not meet with this attitude of simple indifference. The grand vizier is irritated, and he vents his annoyance in a vast explosion of malignity that must take account of the agony it produces, for in that agony its own thirst for vengeance is to be slaked. But this only shows the predominant selfishness to be all the greater. It is so great that it reverses the engines that drive society along the line of mutual helpfulness, and thwarts and frustrates any amount of human life and happiness for the sole purpose of gratifying its own desires.
Then the selfishness of vanity promotes cruelty still further by another of its effects. It destroys the sense of proportion. Self is not only regarded as the centre of the universe; like the sun surrounded by the planets, it is taken to be the greatest object, and everything else is insignificant when compared to it. What is the slaughter of a few thousand Jews to so great a man as Haman, grand vizier of Persia? It is no more than the destruction of as many flies in a forest fire that the settler has kindled to clear his ground. The same self-magnification is visibly presented by the Egyptian bas-reliefs, on which the victorious Pharaohs appear as tremendous giants driving back hordes of enemies or dragging pigmy kings by their heads. It is but a step from this condition to insanity, which is the apotheosis of vanity. The chief characteristic of insanity is a diseased enlargement of self. If he is elated the madman regards himself as a person of supreme importance-as a prince, as a king, even as God. If he is depressed he thinks that he is the victim of exceptional malignity. In that case he is beset by watchers of evil intent, the world is conspiring against him, everything that happens is part of a plot to do him harm. Hence his suspiciousness, hence his homicidal proclivities. He is not so mad in his inferences and conclusions. These may be rational and just, on the ground of his premisses. It is in the fixed ideas of these premisses that the root of his insanity may be detected. His awful fate is a warning to all who venture to indulge in the vice of excessive egotism.
In the second place, vanity leads to cruelty through the entire dependence of the vain person on the good opinion of others, and this we may see clearly in the career of Haman. Vanity is differentiated from pride in one important particular-by its outward reference. The proud man is satisfied with himself, hut the vain man is always looking outside himself with feverish eagerness to secure all the honours that the world can bestow upon him. Thus Mordecai may have been proud in his refusal to bow before the upstart premier, if so his pride would not need to court admiration; it would be self-contained and self-sufficient. But Haman was possessed by an insatiable thirst for homage. If a single obscure individual refused him this honour, a shadow rested on everything. He could not enjoy the queens banquet for the slight offered him by the Jew at the palace gate, so that he exclaimed, “Yet all this availeth me nothing, so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the kings gate.” {Est 5:13} A selfish man in this condition can have no rest if anything in the world outside him fails to minister to his honour. While a proud man in an exalted position scarcely deigns to notice the “dim common people,” the vain man betrays his vulgarity by caring supremely for popular adulation. Therefore, while the haughty person can afford to pass over a slight with contempt, the vain creature who lives on the breath of applause is mortally offended by it and roused to avenge the insult with corresponding rage.
Selfishness and dependence on the external, these attributes of vanity inevitably develop into cruelty wherever the aims of vanity are opposed. And yet the vice that contains so much evil is rarely visited with a becoming severity of condemnation. Usually it is smiled at as a trivial frailty. In the case of Haman it threatened the extermination of a nation, and the reaction from its menace issued in a terrific slaughter of another section of society. History records war after war that has been fought on the ground of vanity. In military affairs this vice wears the name of glory, but its nature is unaltered. For what is the meaning of a war that is waged for “la gloire” but one that is designed in order to minister to the vanity of the people who undertake it? A more fearful wickedness has never blackened the pages of history. The very frivolity of the occasion heightens the guilt of those who plunge nations into misery on such a paltry pretext. It is vanity that urges a savage warrior to collect skulls to adorn the walls of his hut with the ghastly trophies, it is vanity that impels a restless conqueror to march to his own triumph through a sea of blood, it is vanity that rouses a nation to fling itself on its neighbour in order to exalt its fame by a great victory. Ambition at its best is fired by the pride of power, but in its meaner forms ambition is nothing but an uprising of vanity clamouring for wider recognition. The famous invasion of Greece by Xerxes was evidently little better than a huge exhibition of regal vanity. The childish fatuity of the king could seek for no exalted ends. His assemblage of swarms of men of all races in an ill-disciplined army too big for practical warfare showed that the thirst for display occupied the principal place in his mind, to the neglect of the more sober aims of a really great conqueror. And if the vanity that lives on the worlds admiration is so fruitful in evil when it is allowed to deploy on a large scale, its essential character will not be improved by the limitation of its scope in humbler spheres of life. It is always mean and cruel.
Two other features in the character of Haman may be noticed. First, he shows energy and determination. He bribes the king to obtain the royal consent to his deadly design, bribes with an enormous present equal to the revenue of a kingdom, though Ahasuerus permits him to recoup himself by seizing the property of the proscribed nation. Then the murderous mandate goes forth, it is translated into every language of the subject peoples, it is carried to the remotest parts of the kingdom by the posts, the excellent organisation of which, under the Persian government, has become famous. Thus far everything is on a large scale, betokening a mind of resource and daring. But now turn to the sequel. “And the king and Haman sat down to drink.” {Est 3:15} It is a horrible picture-the king of Persia and his grand vizier at this crisis deliberately abandoning themselves to their national vice. The decree is out, it cannot be recalled-let it go and do its fell work. As for its authors they are drowning all thought of its effect on public opinion in the wine-cup; they are boozing together in a disgusting companionship of debauchery on the eve of a scene of wholesale bloodshed. This is what the glory of the Great King has come to. This is the anticlimax of his ministers vanity at the moment of supreme success. After such an exhibition we need not be surprised at the abject humiliation, the terror of cowardice, the frantic effort to extort pity from a woman of the very race whose extermination he had plotted, manifested by Haman in the hour of his exposure at Esthers banquet. Beneath all his braggart energy he is a weak man. In most cases self-indulgent, vain, and cruel people are essentially weak at heart.
Looking at the story of Haman from another point of view, we see how well it illustrates the confounding of evil devices and the punishment of their author in the drama of history. It is one of the most striking instances of what is called “poetic justice,” the justice depicted by the poets, but not always seen in prosaic lives, the justice that is itself a poem because it makes a harmony of events. Haman is the typical example of the schemer who “falls into his own pit,” of the villain who is “hoist on his own petard.” Three times the same process occurs, to impress its lesson with threefold emphasis. We have it first in the most moderate form when Haman is forced to assist in bestowing on Mordecai the honours he has been coveting for himself, by leading the horse of the hated Jew in his triumphant procession through the city. The same lesson is impressed with tragic force when the grand vizier is condemned to be impaled on the stake erected by him in readiness for the man whom he has been compelled to honour. Lastly, the design of murdering the whole race to which Mordecai belongs is frustrated by the slaughter of those who sympathise with Hamans attitude towards Israel-the “Hamanites,” as they have been called. We rarely meet with such a complete reversal of fate, such a climax of vengeance. In considering the course of events here set forth we must distinguish between the old Jewish view of it and the significance of the process itself.
The Jews were taught to look on all this with fierce, vindictive glee, and to see in it the prophecy of the like fate that was treasured up for their enemies in later times. This rage of the oppressed against their oppressors, this almost fiendish delight in the complete overthrow of the enemies of Israel, this total extinction of any sentiment of pity even for the helpless and innocent sufferers who are to share the fate of their guilty relatives-in a word, this utterly un-Christlike spirit of revenge, must be odious in our eyes. We cannot understand how good men could stand by with folded arms while they saw women and children tossed into the seething cauldron of vengeance, still less how they could themselves perpetrate the dreadful deed. But then we cannot understand that tragedy of history, the oppression of the Jews, and its deteriorating influence on its victims, nor the hard, cruel spirit of blank indifference to the sufferings of others that prevailed almost everywhere before Christ came to teach the world pity.
When we turn to the events themselves we must take another view of the situation. Here was a rough and sweeping, but still a complete and striking punishment of cruel wrong. The Jews expected this too frequently on earth. We have learnt that it is more often reserved for another world and a future state of existence. Yet sometimes we are startled to see how apt it can be even in this present life. The cruel man breeds foes by his very cruelty, he rouses his own executioners by the rage that he provokes in them. It is the same with respect to many other forms of evil. Thus vanity is punished by the humiliation it receives from those people who are irritated at its pretensions, it is the last failing that the world will readily forgive, partly perhaps because it offends the similar failing in other people. Then we see meanness chastised by the odium it excites, lying by the distrust it provokes, cowardice by the attacks it invites, coldness of heart by a corresponding indifference on the side of other people. The result is not always so neatly effected nor so visibly demonstrated as in the case of Haman, but the tendency is always present, because there is a Power that makes for righteousness presiding over society and inherent in the very constitution of nature.