Much has been written about the Book of Esther, which reads much like a fictional story. Some say it should not be included in the Scriptures because the Name of God does not appear in it.
A recent Bible Class on this book started me thinking about the events related therein.
It is true the Name of God is not mentioned in the book, but the Hand of God is evident in the rescue of the Jews, due to be exterminated by the hatred of Haman and the indifference of King Ahasuerus.
The King did not know, when Haman proposed his scheme to wipe out the Jews from the Country, that Queen Esther was a Jewess (and Mordacai, too, whose previous action had saved the King’s life, although the King was not aware of it at that time.)
Haman had gone too far. His natural hatred of the Jews being increased by the fact that Mordecai refused to bow down to him when he entered the King’s gate as the others did. In spite of the King’s favor, this small occurrence aggravated him out of all proportion to its seriousness. Mordecai was in no position to harm him at that time, but the irritation rankled.
Who was Haman ? He is called an “Agagite”. According to Young’s Concordance, the Agagites were a division of the Amalekites who had incurred the wrath of God by an unprovoked attack on the Israelites as they journeyed through the wilderness. At that time Moses commanded Joshua to go out and fight with them and they were defeated at Rephidim. This account is found in Exodus 17, beginning at the 8th verse.
In I Samuel 15:2-3, King Saul was told to go and “Smite Amalek; and spare them not; but destroy both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.”
We know that Saul did not obey the dictate of God, but saved Agag, the King, (who was later killed by Samuel 1 Sam. 15:32), and the best of the livestock to be used as sacrifices to the Lord. At that time Saul learned to his sorrow that “to obey is better than sacrifice” when he was told by Samuel that, because of his disobedience, the Lord had rejected him from being king (1 Samuel 15:23).
The Amalekites were enemies of Israel down through history and we read of many encounters between the two nations. Haman’s aversion to the Jews was a natural attitude, increased by his annoyance at Mordecai.
Haman was probably unaware of the fact that Queen Esther was a Jewess, because, at Mordecai’s request, she had not even told the king. Nor did he seem to be aware of her relationship to Mordecai. Secure in his lofty place in the king’s retinue, he had only one thought in mind; to use his high position to get rid of Mordecai, and at the same time eliminate the hated Jews.
The details of Haman’s downfall are well known to us all, and in Esther 6:13 we find the following words “And Haman told Zeresh, his wife, and all his friends everything that had befallen him. Then said the wise men and Zeresh, his wife, unto him ‘If Mordecai be of the seed of the Jews, before whom thou hast begun to fall, thou shalt not prevail against him, but shall surely fall before him.” They were evidently not ignorant of the fact that God was not on their side.
God chose the Israelites as the vehicle through whom His Purpose should be accomplished, and they were in the same position as we find ourselves today—no worse, often no better, but more responsible to God than those around them. At times when they acted disobediently, God used other nations to punish them, but He did not permit other nations or individuals to take it upon themselves to afflict the Jews to serve their own ends. That was a lesson Hitler had to learn the hard way, just as Haman did.
How carefully he plotted
With his unholy gang.
He even built the scaffold
On which his foe would hang.
He couldn’t fail, but somehow
His plans went all askew,
For Haman was an Agagite —
His enemy, a Jew.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One