10/31/2008
Esther 6:1 - 6 (HCSB) 1That night sleep escaped the king, so he ordered the book recording daily events to be brought and read to the king. 2They found the written report of how Mordecai had informed on Bigthana and Teresh, two eunuchs who guarded the [king’s] entrance, when they planned to assassinate King Ahasuerus.
3The king inquired, “What honor and special recognition have been given to Mordecai for this [act]?”
The king’s personal attendants replied, “Nothing has been done for him.”
4The king asked, “Who’s in the court?” Now Haman was just entering the outer court of the palace to ask the king to hang Mordecai on the gallows he had prepared for him.
5The king’s attendants answered him, “See, Haman is standing in the court.”
“Have him enter,” the king ordered. 6Haman entered, and the king asked him, “What should be done for the man the king wants to honor?”
Haman thought to himself, “Who is it the king would want to honor more than me?”
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Have you seed these t-shirts that sport phrases like “The one who finishes second is the first loser”? Or books that tell you how to look out for “number one”? What message are these sending?
Through a series of events, Ester, a Jewess and also the niece of Mordecai became queen of the Medo-Persion Empire. Mordecai happened to overhear two men plotting to kill the king and informed Ester who in turn told the king. This is the event that the king heard about as he spent that sleepless night.
Haman was an official in the king’s court. He was an arrogant man and insisted that everyone bow to him at the king’s gate. Mordecai refused and for this, Haman had plotted not only to kill Mordecai, but to eliminate all Jews.
God, of course, knew of Haman’s plot and caused the King to hear of Mordecai’s loyalty and that Mordecai had not been honored. So, the king asked Haman how a man should be honored by the king. Haman, in his arrogance naturally assumed that it was he that would be honored. So he answered with a lavish answer only to find that his mortal enemy was the one that he, himself personally had to honor.
The man that had refused to bow to Haman, Haman now had to honor publicly in the streets of Susa. Can you imagine Haman’s humiliation?
As people of God, we are expected to love the things that God loves, and to hate the things that God hates. Got hates arrogance but loves humility. Arrogance says “me first’ while arrogance says “after you.”
If our society exercised radical humility, then we would have far fewer problems. We would eliminate all road-rage as we would each be pleased to let others go ahead of us. We would share our possessions freely because we would love others so much that we would gladly give them whatever we have (and others would give also to us). So we would be free of guarding our assets and locking doors and so forth.
Look at the life of Jesus. This was a man who was completely God. He could have commanded scores of angels to go before Him announcing His glory, or He could have commanded to be given royal robes and crowns. But what did He do?
Isaiah 53:7 (HCSB) 7 He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet He did not open His mouth.
Like a lamb led to the slaughter
and like a sheep silent before her shearers,
He did not open His mouth.
The very One who had the right and authority to restore His glorious estate, chose instead to remain silent and take on Himself our pain, our sickness, our sorrow, and our punishment.
I am convinced that God humiliated Haman because of his self-pride. We have the opportunity to be humble, or to be humiliated. Jesus was the very model of humility. We should do our very best to imitate that humility with others.
Jeff Justus
Cleff Publishing
www.cleffpublishing.com
©2008 Cleff Publishing, all rights reserved.
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