Women with a Story to Tell, Esther, 4.

 We have been introduced to Esther and her adopted father Mordecai. Mordecai was one of the captives of the war with Babylon which Judah lost, along with his cousins who were the parents of Esther. Esther herself likely was born in captivity in Persia, but there is no ‘birthright citizenship’ in this evil empire. 

 Esther and Mordecai are Jews, but the Jews are among dozens of ethnic groups that have been captured and enslaved by the Persians. The Jews are keeping a low profile, and Esther has even risen to be the favorite wife of the king. However, there is a hint of trouble on the horizon.  

“After these things King Ahasuerus promoted Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite and advanced him and set his seat above all the officials who were with him.  And all the king’s servants who were at the king’s gate bowed down and did obeisance to Haman, for the king had so commanded concerning him” (Esther 3: 1-2).

 At first this seems innocuous. What’s the danger? The danger is when a national leader appoints someone who is not qualified for the job. The issue is not Haman’s credentials (which we don’t know anyway) but his character (which is being revealed). Political leaders and their cronies can purchase their way to power, but they cannot force the people to love and respect them. The king can demand respect, but the people can withhold their love. 

“But Mordecai did not bow down or do obeisance. Then the king’s servants who were at the king’s gate said to Mordecai, ‘Why do you disobey the king’s command?’ When they spoke to him day after day and he would not listen to them, they told Haman, in order to see whether Mordecai’s words would stand, for he had told them that he was a Jew. When Haman saw that Mordecai did not bow down or do obeisance to him, Haman was infuriated. But he thought it beneath him to kill (or lay hands on) only Mordecai. So, having been told who Mordecai’s people were, Haman plotted to destroy all the Jews, the people of Mordecai, throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus” (Esther 3: 2-6).

 There’s the problem. When the cabal in charge decides that your acquiescence to power is not enough, they want to own your soul as well. Beware the temptation to bow to power. 

 There is another problem here. In Anthropology, we call it ‘ethnocentrism’, that is, the all too human tendency to see the world through your own group’s eyes. Thus, centered on himself and his own group, Haman reacts against one man’s refusal to bow with hatred for the man’s whole ethnic group. We call it xenophobia (prejudice against foreigners) and chauvinism (extreme pride for one’s own ethnic group), leading to bigotry (hatred of all the members of a particular ethnic  or religious group). We have seen all three of these time and again in history and we see it still. Sometimes such prejudice becomes engrained in government structures. We see that as well.

 But, what was the spark that so quickly drove Haman over the edge? Go back and look. We missed it in the first paragraph. He is called Haman the Agagite. What is that? Agag was the generic name for the kings of the Amalekites, rather like Caesar for Roman Emperors.

 (As an aside, there were 12 ‘Caesars’ beginning with Augustus Caesar, Tiberius Caesar, Caligula Caesar, and Nero Caesar. Here is some trivia for you: In recent history, which 20th century kings still carried the title of Caesar? Answer: The Czar of Russia and the Kaiser of Germany).

 Back to the Amalekites and their Agag. As the Jews were making their way to the promised land, they were harassed by the Amalekites. One Agag named Balak tried to get the prophet Balaam to curse them, but the curse backfired. Instead, the prophet ended up saying: “(Israel’s) king shall be higher than Agag, and his kingdom shall be exalted” (Numbers 24: 7). 

 Later King Saul defeated the Amalekites and captured the Agag; but it was left to Samuel, the prophet and first judge, to kill the Agag (see I Samuel 15). This long and bitter history left a mark on the Amalekites, and now we know the reason that Haman carries a grudge since he was descended from the line of kings or agags of the Amalekites. Haman is not just angry, he begins a conspiracy that shakes the Persian government.

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”In the first month, which is the month of Nisan, in the twelfth year of King Ahasuerus, they cast Pur—which means ‘the lot’—before Haman for the day and for the month, and the lot fell on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar. Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, ‘There is a certain people scattered and separated among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom; their laws are different from those of every other people, and they do not keep the king’s laws, so that it is not appropriate for the king to tolerate them. If it pleases the king, let a decree be issued for their destruction, and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver into the hands of those who have charge of the king’s business, so that they may put it into the king’s treasuries’. So the king took his signet ring from his hand and gave it to Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews. The king said to Haman, ‘The money is given to you, and the people as well, to do with them as it seems good to you’” (Esther 3: 7-10).

 I left in the first part of the story about the month Nisan and the method of deciding called Pur, but I will explain it in a later devotional. 

This has all the marks of despotism, an early example of some of the practices of the Nazis. First, the leaders depend on the occult or spiritualism to make decisions. Haman found a day that was propitious. 

Then, they mark people who are easy to identify as being different from all the rest, that is, they are thought not to be real human beings. Then they reveal the identity at the right time once the stage has been set. 

Third, set up a self-assured but otherwise incompetent leader who is easily convinced by his counselors to make an executive order without thinking about the consequences. Here are the consequences of ignorance coupled with power.

”Then the king’s secretaries were summoned on the thirteenth day of the first month, and an edict, according to all that Haman commanded, was written to the king’s satraps and to the governors over all the provinces and to the officials of all the peoples, to every province in its own script and every people in its own language; it was written in the name of King Ahasuerus and sealed with the king’s ring. Letters were sent by couriers to all the king’s provinces, giving orders to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate all Jews, young and old, children and women, in one day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar, and to plunder their goods. A copy of the document was to be issued as a decree in every province by proclamation, calling on all the peoples to be ready for that day. The couriers went quickly by order of the king, and the decree was issued in the citadel of Susa. The king and Haman sat down to drink, but the city of Susa was thrown into confusion.

 What are the components of this story?

Hatred of the Jews. A ‘final solution’ plan to eliminate them. Lies and propaganda that lead to dehumanization of a marked people. No one who knows the Jews well enough to understand them and put a face on them for the rest of society. The treatment of Africans as ‘slaves’ was like that. This can happen to any ethnic group or religious group. Lunacy prevails.

Corruption and bribery. This is, as John Wesley said, a case of ‘complicated wickedness’. The king maintains his innocence by giving authority to a subordinate and thus has what we call ‘plausible deniability’. If this plot is revealed to be evil, the king can throw his subordinate under the bus. The treatment of immigrants as ‘illegal aliens’ is like this. Greed prevails.

Long-nourished revenge. What is an Agagite? As I noted above, Agag was the title of the king of the Amalekites who harried the Jews on their long march in the wilderness and continued as enemies when the Israelites settled in the land. Later, King Saul defeated the Amalekites. So the Amalekites have nurtured this lost cause for centuries.  

 Esther and Mordecai are marked to become the victims of structural evil in Persian society. How will they get out of this?