Do You Care?

Mordecai had been treated unfairly. That wasn’t the worst of it. Look at the first part of vs. 2. [read it] As bad as it was to be overlooked in the promotion process, the king ordered that all the other officials, including Mordecai bow down to Haman to honor him whenever he passed by! Mordecai was to humiliate himself before the man who had already humiliated him. It was more than Mordecai could bear. Look at the last part of vs. 2. [read it] He couldn’t bring himself to do it.

Though Haman didn’t notice Mordecai’s resistance to the king’s command at first, the other officials noticed. They couldn’t believe that Mordecai would be so brazen to publicly refuse the king’s order. Day after day, they counseled Mordecai to change his behavior and bow in the presence of Haman. And day after day, Mordecai remained standing up straight. The Bible doesn’t tell us the real reason Mordecai disobeyed the king’s order. The reason that Mordecai gave was that he was a Jew, with the assumption being that something about his faith prevented him from bowing to Haman. This was not true. Other great Jewish leaders – like Abraham (Gen. 23:7) and David (1 Sam. 24:8) had bowed in the presence of other men. Besides that, if the king ordered people to bow in the presence of Haman who was second in command, surely they also had to bow in the presence of the king. There is no record that Mordecai had ever refused that obligation. It seems that Mordecai was using his faith as an excuse for disobedience even though his faith had never been a very big part of his life. He brought up his faith when it was convenient or beneficial for him. It’s kind of like when I go knocking on doors in Bridgeport, and someone tries to get rid of me by telling me that they’re Catholic, or Methodist or Presbyterian even though they haven’t been to church in several years. I think that Mordecai’s reasoning had little to do with religion and a lot to do with plain old jealousy. From his perspective, Haman did not deserve his new position, so he wasn’t about to honor him in it. Mordecai had some animosity toward Haman. Rather than admitting to all that, it was much easier to just say that his actions were because he was a Jew.

Up to this point in his life, Mordecai had kept it a secret that he was a Jew. At least, that’s what we assume since he had counseled Esther to keep her Jewish identity a secret (2:10). Mordecai must have felt that it was now safe to reveal his identity since he had friends in high places. If he got into any trouble, Esther would be sure to get him out of it.

Mordecai did get into trouble and a lot of it. Look at vs. 4. [read it] Tattletales! They told on him to see what kind of a reaction they would get out of Haman. They got more than they bargained for. Look at vs. 5. [read it] Get a picture of Haman coming through the king’s gate. He’s a proud man, elevated by the king to a position of great power and prominence. He’s sitting in his own throne of sorts that’s on top of a platform being carried above the heads of the crowd by four strong men. The proud man that he is, he keeps his head held high and does not look down at the lowly people around him to see them bowing down to him, but he knows that they are bowing because the king has commanded it. At least, that’s what he normally did. But today, he lowers his gaze to look down at the crowd. His information says that someone dares to not bow down in his presence. And sure enough, he spots Mordecai. He’s enraged, not because someone has disobeyed the king but because someone is mocking him.