Yet all of this does not satisfy me every time I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king’s gate (Esther 5:13).

Haman was accorded wealth, power and honor, but all these things were overshadowed by the disrespect shown by one man, Mordecai. Haman's overweening pride sapped him of every enjoyment of his privilege. 

Friends, my dad taught his students, "When you are enjoying your burger, don't look over at the next table, where people are enjoying steak." He said this repeatedly and on numerous occasions because he knew the danger of jealousy and discontent. Such persons would wonder, "Why is his portion greater than mine? Why was he promoted before I was?"

He understood that jealous feelings and the nagging sense of inequity would corrode an otherwise joyful spirit. For such persons it is not enough to know that a wise and discerning leader is guiding the organization as he sees fit. When such persons are called on about their jealousy and discontent, they may get defensive and say that they are simply seeking fairness. When they are asked to simply trust their leader, or if not, then at least the head of the organization, they may even then show resistance. This is how powerfully corrosive the spirit of jealousy and discontent can be. 

Friends, let us be watchful against this corrosive spirit. Paul taught that "godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it" (1 Timothy 1:6-7). So let us not be anxious over anything pertaining to this life or world, but let us entrust ourselves to a wise and discerning God, who is able to take care of us in our need and bring us into eternal glory. If our salvation is divinely secured for us in Christ, why should we be discontented about anything or jealous of anyone? Instead, we ought to say, as Paul,

I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength (Philippians 4:11-13).

The last verse is not a declaration of power to pursue impossible ventures, as it has sometimes been taught. In this context it is a confession of enduring faith and hope in Christ regardless of any circumstance, whether good or evil. So let us also be content in the Lord in this way. Then, we will escape the corrosive spirit of jealousy and discontent and find peace and joy as we zealously serve the Lord.

All the king’s servants who were at the king’s gate bowed down and paid homage to Haman; for so the king had commanded concerning him. But Mordecai neither bowed down nor paid homage (Esther 3:2).

God forbid that Mordecai, the Jew, would give divine homage to Haman, the Amalekite, a people chosen for destruction by God (cf. 1 Samuel 15:1-3). Haman's actions throughout the Esther narrative demonstrate why the Amalekites were so despised by God. Haman intended to destroy not only Mordecai for his refusal to worship him but also the entire Jewish race. Thus, Mordecai refused to prostrate himself before this wicked man.

Even when Mordecai realized that he had imperiled the entire Jewish race, he still refused to bow before Haman. What is more, he put the burden of saving the Jewish people on Esther, who had to risk her own life to appear before the king unannounced. 

When I read this account I have mixed feelings about Mordecai. On one side, he seems noble in his unwillingness to compromise his singular devotion to God. On the other side, he seems reckless in blatantly flaunting his disdain for Haman, who wielded such influence before the king. Couldn't he have simply bowed in form to give respect to authority without bowing his heart in worship? Was it truly devotion to God or his own personal pride that kept him from bowing to Haman or pleading with him for the lives of his people?

The tough part of interpreting Old Testament texts, such as the Book of Esther, is that sometimes there is no spiritual or moral guidance given from God. In fact, there is not a single direct reference to God in the book. Therefore, even greater care must be taken in discerning the applicable truths in this book.

Let us, therefore, not quickly take Mordecai's example and disrespect the ruler of our people, which includes the current president. I am amazed at how even Christians talk so easily and disdainfully about the leaders of our country. Perhaps this has something to do with the democratic system under which we live. Yet, I feel that it is un-Christian (cf. Romans 13:1-7) to caricature and name-call the leaders of our country. I am often reticent about certain issues, especially political ones, just because there is so much that I don't know and that the news media may distort or fail to report. Yet, some of my brothers are passing along this or that negative tidbit just like gossip, without checking anything, and that regarding the rulers of our people! 

Friends, it is right that we speak the truth in love, but it is not right that we disrespect those that God has ordained to have authority over us. If we are to practice ecclesiastical or civil disobedience for the sake of conscience and principle, then let us do so biblically and honorably, sacrificing ourselves only and not unnecessarily imperiling others. We can still declare what is biblically right or wrong without name-calling and caricaturing our leaders as dunces, fools, Communists, etc. When we so disrespect these authorities, it takes away from the force of our message, which becomes overshadowed by our ad hominem attacks.

I pray that the people of God would be wise, so that while seeking to uphold God's Name, we do not tear down that very Name because of our shameful attitudes and methods. 

Esther 1:1-4

King Ahasueurs reigned from India to Ethiopia. The nobles and governors were before him, while he showed the riches of his royal glory and the splendor and pomp of his greatness for many days, 180 days.  

Israel never got this big and powerful. It seems like the greater blessing has always been for those outside of God’s hand. But then again seeing Israel as the only nation that God operates blasphemes Him. No ruler is out of his range and no one is able to interfere with his plans. Some the greatest honor to God has been through the hands of gentiles. Consider the work of Cyrus and Darius in having the government fully furnish the temple and even decreeing a punishment for defying the edict.

Esther 1

17 For the queen's behavior will be made known to all women, causing them to look at their husbands with contempt, since they will say, ‘King Ahasuerus commanded Queen Vashti to be brought before him, and she did not come.’…19 If it please the king, let a royal order go out from him, and let it be written among the laws of the Persians and the Medes so that it may not be repealed, that Vashti is never again to come before King Ahasuerus. And let the king give her royal position to another who is better than she. 20 So when the decree made by the king is proclaimed throughout all his kingdom, for it is vast, all women will give honor to their husbands, high and low alike.”  

22 He sent letters to all the royal provinces, to every province in its own script and to every people in its own language, that every man be master in his own household and speak according to the language of his people.

In verse 22 the word “Master” is ‘sarar.’ Used 6 times, each speaks of an absolute ruler, like kings and princes.

1 peter 3:6, points to Sarah’s godliness in calling her husband “lord” or ‘Kyrios,’ an absolute ruler such as “sarar.” The terms used many times for male headship in the old and New Testament depict someone who has ‘no oversight’ or a better word, ‘autonomous.’  This is to say each man has their own little kingdom around them and must be a pillar for that area.  So men should be like absolute rulers, ones who operate as if they have no oversight, autonomous (– having no one to blame).

Hitler was this kind of person, King Ahasuerus was this kind of person, but so was King David and King Jesus. And, this idea is said in a book that says (romans 13:1): The authorities that exist have been established by God; also (romans 13:4) for he is God’s servant for your good; also (Ephesians 5:25): Husbands love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy cleansing her with the Word.

Men have autonomy. But it is ‘freedom’ in the same sense that we ‘freely choose’ God as our savior. We have the sole responsibility for ensuring the Word has a place around us. Men have the duty to treat women as equal heirs with different duties of their own. Men are to rule in gentleness and meekness, in prayer, and foregoing their desires for the desires of their God and wive’s. Men have the freedom to die on the cross… and be blessed through the joy of pleasing their Father in heaven.

Then Haman gathered together his friends and Zeresh, his wife, and boasted to them about his great wealth and his many children. He bragged about the honors the king had given him and how he had been promoted over all the other nobles and officials. Then Haman added, “And that’s not all! Queen Esther invited only me and the king himself to the banquet she prepared for us. And she has invited me to dine with her and the king again tomorrow!” Then he added, “But this is all worth nothing as long as I see Mordecai the Jew just sitting there at the palace gate." (Esther 5:10-13)

Haman was very proud of his riches, his honor, and his many children. He "boasted" and "bragged" about them to his wife and all his friends. But clouding all of this was his resentment of Mordecai. It was not sufficient that he held a noble position, that he received respect from the great majority of his subjects, and that he was blessed with a good and secure pay. Because one person in the kingdom would not bow down to him, he was both hurt and resentful, so much so that nothing else mattered to him. 

Haman, therefore, considers treachery against Mordecai, but not just against him, but against all his people, the Jews. But as the story proceeds, we discover that God foils all of Haman's wicked plans.

Let us learn from this event that pride and resentment are two sides of the same coin. On the one side, a person brags about what they have. On the other side, they resent what they do not have. Yet, the Scripture teaches us a different way: 

But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that (1 Timothy 6:6-8).

I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength (Philippians 4:11-13).

Friends, let all of us understand that any of us can be susceptible to pride and resentment. Someone recently caught me off guard and asked me, "Do you think you are humble?" How do you answer that?! If you say, "Yes," then you clearly are not. If you say, "No," then you may be guilty of false modesty. What is most evident is that whatever you may think, the person that asked the question probably thinks that you are not. Be that is it may, we must all guard our hearts against this double-edged sword of pride and resentment.

How do you do this? Here are some suggestions:

(1) Think less of yourself. I have found that most people think too highly of themselves. Paul called himself the "least of the apostles," "not worthy to be called a disciple," and the "chief of sinners." These are certainly exaggerations, but I think in this way he kept a check on his pride. He also wrote, "Esteem others better than yourselves." After all, if you think the least of yourself, what pride do you have for someone to hurt? If you remember that you are merely dust, vapor, a worm, and deserving of the worst judgment from God, as the Scriptures teach, then you will have a greater appreciation of the grace God gave you and view everything in this life with a proper perspective. 

(2) Celebrate other people's success. The Bible teaches, "Mourn with those who mourn, and rejoice with those who rejoice." If you learn to celebrate the success of others, you will be less likely to resent them. If you learn to mourn with their loss, you will learn to appreciate them more. I have found this to be the hardest lesson but also to provide the greatest benefit. Now, I'm not talking about celebrating or mourning with friends. This is easy. I mean your enemies, your opponents, your competitors. At first you will not feel like it. It will be awkward. But if you learn to celebrate someone else's victory over you, you will have a great weapon against both resentment and jealousy.

(3) Embrace criticism. Our natural tendency is to shut down criticism. We feel that it is a threat to our leadership, authority, and influence. But the Bible teaches that fools reject criticism while the wise embrace it:

Do not rebuke mockers or they will hate you;
    rebuke the wise and they will love you. 
Instruct the wise and they will be wiser still;
    teach the righteous and they will add to their learning (Proverbs 9:8-9).

Instead of worrying about how not to look foolish, it is better to seek to be wise. If you are a teacher, I recommend you recognize and reward those that find faults and errors in what you teach. In doing this, you will disarm them and perhaps even bring them to your side. You will be recognized for being gracious and teachable, and you yourself will be able to learn without fear of losing your authority as a teacher. But if you try to silence or squash criticism, you will find that what occurs is just the opposite of what you desire. 

(4) Stay focused on your mission. If you are mission-centered, you will less likely be self-centered, even if no one follows you. Jesus taught,

"Seek first God's kingdom and righteousness and all these things will be added to you" (Matthew 6:33).

Throughout Scripture, those that seek God have almost always been in the minority. Solomon's words are instructive here:

"Look,” says the Teacher, “this is what I have discovered: “Adding one thing to another to discover the scheme of things— while I was still searching but not finding— I found one upright man among a thousand, but not one upright woman among them all. This only have I found: God created mankind upright, but they have gone in search of many schemes.” (Ecclesiastes 7:27-29)

I could quote numerous other verses that say the same thing. The righteous are always a remnant, the few, the one. So being among the few or being the only one may not be such a bad thing when following the Lord. Therefore, we should always stay wary of the general acceptance of things. God's truth is not discovered by a democratic vote, nor by the wisdom of many counselors, but simply through the unequivocal Word of God. We should not confuse the wisdom of this world with the wisdom of God.

I mention these things because it is difficult to stay focused when there are many people trying to take you off focus. This is not to say that everyone else is wrong and you are right. But you must test everything by the Word of God. Otherwise, you will be distracted, lose your way, and become ineffective.

God's sovereign plan for his People and His providence can be easily seen in the book of Esther. What encourages me is that God not only uses His prophets and priests as his human agents to accomplish His will but also ordinary, lay people. 5:14 caught my attention today,

"...For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?”

Mordecai says here that whether Esther acts to save her people or not, God will deliver His people by raising someone else. I pray that we all find God's calling for us and will respond with zeal to it just as Esther did by saying, "...if I perish, I perish.” It humbles me who is so insignificant but God is mindful of for reason that I cannot fathom.

There have been many descriptions of various punishment dealt out through the old testament so far.  None of them are particularly pleasant.  Here in Esther, impaling was mentioned at least twice, which is a particularly gruesome way to perish.  I watched a program on Vlad the Impaler (the real life Dracula) not too long ago, which showed in detail how impaling worked using forensic dummies, etc...Granted, I understand this was over 2,500 years ago, and as recent as 500 years ago, people were still being burned at the stake.  250 years ago people were beheaded.  And less than 100 years ago, people were being electrocuted.  Granted, in other parts of the world, some of these things continue to happen today.

I guess I wonder, when will this stuff ever stop (or will it)?  Who honestly thought of these horrible ways to punish/kill people?  Does it date all the way back to Eden when we became self aware?  Did Satan plant these ideas in someone's head?  I've never been one to pull wings off of flies or burn ants with a magnifying glass, so I can't imagine dreaming up some of the gruesome things done in the past.

And maybe this is mostly rhetorical in nature...asking what makes man "evil" but just something that struck a chord with me today.