“Pride & Providence” – FBC Morning Light (10/3/2024)

Mordecai’s Refusal to Bow and Haman’s Revenge

Good Thursday morning to you. Today we're reading Esther chapters 4, 5, and 6, continuing this fascinating story, this enigmatic story of Esther in the Old Testament. And I just want to point out in chapter 4 how far-reaching one man's stubbornness can go, the effects of it, the impact of it.

And I'm thinking here at this point of Mordecai's stubbornness. Remember we pointed out yesterday that Mordecai refused to bow down before Haman, and this is not a bowing down of worship as if Haman was a god.

It was a bowing down of respect, of reverence for a king's official. It was very common practice. Mordecai would have done this for the king himself if the king came walking by. It was just common practice.

He refused to do it to Haman, and I believe that it was out of pride and jealousy, because Mordecai foiled a plot to kill the king. Nothing was done for Mordecai, but Haman, one of his peers, got the promotion.

You've probably seen that in the office, right? Well anyway, and because of that stubborn refusal, Haman, a very wicked man to be sure, devised a plot to eliminate all the Jews, because finally Mordecai revealed that he was a Jew, and he was using that as an excuse for not bowing down to Haman.

So Haman, in his wickedness and his evil, decided he's going to eradicate all the Jews. What an impact, and the devastating emotional impact of this one man's stubbornness and another man's evil ploy is brought out in verse 3 of chapter 4.

Verses 1 and 2, Mordecai hears the news of this edict that all the Jews are going to be destroyed, and he cries out with a loud and bitter cry, and he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes. And verse 3 says, in every province where the king's command and decree arrived, there was great mourning among the Jews with fasting and weeping and wailing, and many lay in sackcloth and ashes.

Why? Because one man wouldn't give honor to a guy who got promoted above him. And this also put Esther in a very precarious position. So in verse 8, you know, Esther finds out Mordecai is out there in sackcloth and ashes, and she, the queen, she's like, what's going on?

She finds out what's going on, and Mordecai pressures her to go to the king and ask the king to overrule this plan. But Esther says, I haven't been before the king in a long time, and you know that if a person goes before the king without being summoned, they can be executed.

Esther’s Courage and Mordecai’s Challenge

Well, Mordecai's response to that is, well, don't think that you're going to escape the king's palace any more than all the other Jews. If you remain completely silent, deliverance is going to come in from someplace else, but who knows whether you've come to the kingdom for such a time as this.

And he puts the screws to her, if you will, pressuring her to use her position to go and reverse this edict by the king. Now, is he right that God will bring deliverance through somebody else? Well, he doesn't actually say that.

He doesn't say God will bring deliverance, he just says, who knows whether you've come to the palace for such a kingdom for such a time as this. So he puts Esther in this very, very precarious position.

God’s Providential Grace in Esther 6

In the end here, and I want to get to this point in chapter 6, remember I said yesterday, the book of Esther is not about Esther, it's not extolling her, it's not extolling Mordecai. The book of Esther is in the Bible because it extols God.

It exalts him for his providential power to preserve his covenant people and his grace, the grace of God in preserving and undeserving people. And you see this providential grace in chapter 6, when the king, the night before Haman is going to have Mordecai executed on a gallows, which is like a big stake in the ground, where Mordecai is going to be placed on the top of it until he dies, a pretty gruesome thing.

That's going to happen the next day. The night before that happens, in chapter 6, King Ahasuerus can't sleep, and in his insomnia he calls for some chronicles of the kingdom to be brought before him that hopefully will bore him so that he falls asleep in it.

But the section from the chronicles that he hears in his reading is this account of Mordecai sparing the king's life, foiling the plot of assassination. And the king says, what's been done for him? Nothing is the answer.

Oh, we need to do something about this. And right at that time, Haman comes in, and he wants to ask that Mordecai be executed. But the king, before he can ask, the king says, what do we do for the one who is to exalt, who needs to be exalted by the king?

Haman says, that's got to be me he's talking about. And then he finds out it's not him, it's Mordecai that's to be exalted. What do we make of this? Here is God's gracious providence leading the king to be sleepless on this particular night, and bringing before the king this account of Mordecai's foiling of the assassination plot, so that Haman's plot can be overcome.

Oh, what a gracious God. Our Father and our God, we do thank you for your amazing grace, and we thank you for how in your grace you work to preserve even an undeserving people. Thank you for who you are, thank you for your grace and mercy to us, Lord.

Oh Lord, bless these thoughts we pray in Jesus' name, amen. All right, listen, have a good rest of your Thursday. I trust the Lord will bless you. Have a good day.