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Esther 3 Commentary
by Brad Boyles
Haman was a descendant of Agag, the mortal enemies of the Jews. So, of course, when Haman found out that Mordecai was a Jew it only compounded the issue at hand. Mordecai’s choice not to bow down to Haman was one thing, but his Jewish ancestry sealed the deal.
There are Haman’s everywhere today. Insecure and power-hungry, they need the validation of man to feel good about themselves and they will do whatever it takes to get it.
During my days of playing college basketball, our coach had a unique and severe type of punishment that he would often use on players at practice. Every time you made an error in a drill, you were told to go to center court and stand. The rest of the team had to line up on the baseline. He then preceded to make the entire team run… and run… and run. All you could do was watch. I will admit, watching my teammates run for something I did was brutal. It made no sense to me, but in his mind, he thought it would be motivating.
Haman takes a similar approach. Instead of just punishing Mordecai for his lack of bowing, he decided to kill off the entire Jewish race!
As horrible as this act sounds, we do see a miraculous glimmer of God’s grace in this chapter. Haman decides to cast lots to determine when he will execute this vicious plan.
Proverbs 16:33 GNB People cast lots to learn God’s will, but God himself determines the answer.
We don’t know all the options that were cast, but we do know the result. Haman’s massacre would not take place for another 11 months. This was God’s plan. This extended delay was known by God from the beginning! Sometimes when bad news strikes, we don’t even think along these lines. It could have potentially happened much sooner, but the Lord was working. Just like the Proverb says, He would determine the answer in the end.