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Esther 7:8-10   Just as the king returned from the palace garden to the banquet hall, Haman was falling on the couch where Esther was reclining.  The king exclaimed, “Will he even molest the queen while she is with me in the house?”  As soon as the word left the king’s mouth, they covered Haman’s face.  Then Harbona, one of the eunuchs attending the king, said, “A pole reaching to a height of fifty cubits stands by Haman’s house.  He had it set up for Mordecai, who spoke up to help the king.  The king said, “Impale him on it!”  So they impaled Haman on the pole he had set up for Mordecai. Then the king’s fury subsided.

It is amazing, and encouraging, to see how our Sovereign LORD God can use the foolishness of sinful man to carry out his eternal purpose!  In the ‘Big Picture’, Joshua’s defeat of Amalek during the Exodus from Egypt, led to Moses’ prophecy: “Because hands were lifted up against the throne of the LORD , the LORD will be at war against the Amalekites from generation to generation” (Exodus 17:16).

A thousand years later, we find Haman, ‘a descendant of Agag, King of the Amalekites’ (3:1), plotting to exterminate the whole Jewish race, because one Jew, Mordecai, refused to pay him homage.  This is how egotistical sociopaths tend to react to opposition!  At a human level, Haman had built a large scaffold on which to carry out a very public execution of Mordecai. “Yet having learned who Mordecai’s people were, he scorned the idea of killing only Mordecai.  Instead Haman looked for a way to destroy all Mordecai’s people, the Jews, throughout the whole kingdom of Xerxes” (3:6).

Queen Esther, also a Jew, exposed Haman’s wicked plan to King Xerxes, and Haman could see clearly that his plan had backfired and his fate was sealed.  In an attempt to save himself he went to plead with Esther for clemency and, in the process, dug his burial hole deeper when he was ‘sprung’ by the King in what appeared to be a compromised situation with Esther!  It was now inevitable that the wicked, scheming, proud Amalekite would be ‘hoist on/with his own petard’ (to borrow a phrase from Shakespeare’s ‘Hamlet’ – Act 3, Scene 4).

This is a good context in which to reflect on the message of Psalm 2: “Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain?  The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together against the LORD and against his anointed, saying, ‘Let us break their chains and throw off their shackles.’  The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them.  He rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath, saying, ‘I have installed my king on Zion, my holy mountain.’ … Therefore, you kings, be wise; be warned, you rulers of the earth.  Serve the LORD with fear and celebrate his rule with trembling.  Kiss his Son, or he will be angry and your way will lead to your destruction, for his wrath can flare up in a moment.  Blessed are all who take refuge in him” (verses 1-6, 10-12).

Let us not only be ‘wise’ and ‘warned’, and ‘take refuge’ in the Only Saviour, but let us also persist in earnest prayer that more people today, especially those in positions of power and influence, will also be ‘wise’ and ‘warned’, and do the same.

– Bruce Christian