A CERTAIN PEOPLE

Text: Esther 3
Readings: 1 Pet 2:11-25, Ex 17:8-16, Deut 25:17-19, 1 Sam 15:1-3,7-9,32-33
Theme: Haman gains authority to destroy all the Jews throughout the Persian empire. 
Purpose: To alert us to the ongoing conflict between God and Satan, the reality of persecution against the church, and the final victory of Christ.

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People who are part of minority groups often get picked on. This happens all the time, especially if the people who are in that group stand out by their colour or their dress. 
Sometimes people will verbally abuse those who belong to a minority group; they will make fun of them and mock them and call them names.
At other times they will physically abuse them - they will threaten them and attack them.
And at other times people will even try to entirely wipe out these groups. If the people of that minority all belong to one race of people we call this "genocide" - the murder of an entire race.

This lies behind some of the violence going on in our world today. This was also attempted in Bosnia in recent times and in Rawanda. Hitler tried to do this in the 1940s in Germany and Western Europe when he tried to wipe out all the Jews. This also happened in the ancient world.

Today we are going to look at an attempt to wipe out the Jewish people in the Persian Empire. We will see that this was not only an attempted genocide but was part of a larger battle between God and Satan where Satan sought to destroy the people of God. 

The previous chapter (2) introduced us to two main characters in this story - Esther and Mordecai. Esther was very beautiful and had been chosen as the new queen. Mordecai had foiled a plot on the life of the king. In chapter 2:3 we are told that Mordecai was "a Jew of the tribe of Benjamin…son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish." Kish was the father of King Saul and was also from the tribe of Benjamin. 

This is very significant because chapter 3 introduces us to another character. If this was a movie the sinister music would play when he appeared on the screen, because here is the evil villain of the story. We read; "After these events, King Xerxes honoured Haman son of Hammedetha, the Agagite." (vs 1)

Haman is introduced as an "Agagite". Most scholars are agreed that this is a deliberate reference to Agag the King of Amalek (1 Sam 15:20). When the people of Israel left Egypt and were on their way to Mt Sanai they were attacked by the Amalekites. Israel fought against them and defeated them and Moses promised that the Lord would "be at war against the Amalekites from generation to generation." (Ex 17:16). Before Israel went into the promised land the Lord told them not to forget what Amalek had done and to "blot out the memory" of this people (Deut 25:17-19). Later on he gave this task to King Saul and told him to completely destroy them. Saul did not do that properly because he spared the sheep and cattle and Agag the king. 
Haman is identified as a descendant of these long-standing enemies of Israel, Amalekites.

So these two men represent two ancient rivals. 
Saul the Benjamite versus Agag the king of Amalek.
Mordecai the Benjamite versus Haman the Agagite.
Israel verses Amalek.
This ancient rivalry was about to erupt into another major conflict that would threaten the people of Israel once again.

In chapter 3:1 we read that the king gave Haman a high position in the empire, higher than anyone else. There is a deliberate contrast here with Mordecai. Haman has done nothing and yet he was elevated. Mordecai had helped the king but did not get honoured. We ask ourselves; "Who is this fellow Haman? And why does he get promoted and not Mordecai?" 

The king also commanded that everyone bow down to Haman and pay him honour. 
This was very common in Persian society and expressed the social and political position a person had. You had to bow to those higher than you to show your respect.  

Haman went about the streets of Susa and the court of the King Xerxes and everyone bowed down to him. Everyone, that is, except Mordecai. He refused to bow. It seems as though Haman had his nose so high in the air that he didn't even notice that Mordecai remained standing. But others did and they asked him; “Why do you disobey the king’s command?” (vs 3) Day after day they spoke to him. "Why are you doing this? Don't you know what this could mean?! Why are you causing trouble?" 

In explaining his action Mordecai "told them he was a Jew". This is how the writer introduced him back in 2:5, but this is the first time that Mordecai made this public. Up to this point it seemed that nobody knew. He had kept this hidden when Esther was taken to the palace and he had given her strict instructions to keep secret her nationality and family background (2:10,20). But here he finally came out with it. 

His Jewishness in itself was not a reason to remain standing. Many other Jews through the Bible bowed down to other people as a mark of respect or honour. Bowing or kneeling before others did not mean you were worshiping them, nor did it mean you worshipped them instead of God. So this was not the reason. 

Rather, this goes back to that long standing rivalry between Amalek and Israel. For Mordecai this was a matter of national pride; he would not bow down to one of Israel's ancient enemies. 
Was he right to refuse? That is not clear. He had perhaps given way on lots of other things so why did he choose to make a stand on this one? This was a debatable point and different Jews would have had different ideas on the subject. But for him this is where he drew the line. This was a hill to die on!

For some time the royal officials kept urging him but when he refused to budge they went and told Haman what was going on. He began to look out for Mordecai and he saw they were right! Mordecai did not bow down, and Haman was enraged!  
As he plotted his revenge he decided that he would not only kill Mordecai but would destroy all the Jews throughout the empire!

We need to pause here and see this in the wider context of the rest of the Bible. This was not just a personal conflict between Mordecai and Haman, but rather a battle between the people of God and her enemies, and beyond that, a larger warfare between the kingdom of light and the kingdom of darkness, and behind those kingdoms, a warfare between God and Satan. 

This conflict went back to the fall into sin and the curse on the serpent and the warning that there would be "enmity between you and the woman, between your offspring and hers." (Gen 3:15). This was an ongoing battle between the people of God and the people of Satan, a battle played out in all of Old Testament history. Satan always sought to destroy the people of Israel. This story in Esther is one of his attempts to do this. He used Haman as an evil instrument to carry out his purpose.

Haman chose a date for the genocide of the Jews and then went to the king with his plan. He was very clever, very shrewd. His speech is a cunning mixture of truth, half truth and outright lies! Read verse 8....

He described "a certain people". He did not name them or say who they were. He left that undefined. He described them with the vague term, "a certain people". This is a common trick of evil people when they want to distract attention from what they are really doing. 
eg. Hitler did this when he spoke not about the murder of millions of Jews but about "The Aryan question". 
eg. Those who support abortion do not talk about the shocking murder of babies in the womb but about "a woman's right to choose".
eg. Those who advocate euthanasia do not talk about the killing of old people in hospital but about "the right to die". 
eg. The anti-smacking lobby promoted their campaign as one against child abuse, but its effect is to undermine the authority of parents over their children. 
Let's be careful that we look behind fine sounding words and see what people are actually saying and what they are really planning. That takes wisdom and discernment. 

"There is a certain people dispersed and scattered among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom whose customs are different from those of all other people." (vs 8)

The Persian Empire prided itself on its cultural and religious diversity; it allowed people groups to keep their own customs and follow their own religion. But when it came to the Jews Haman put this in a negative light; he implied these people kept themselves separate from others, they were unassimilated, they were distinct and exclusive. 

This has remarkable parallels to our own situation today. We too live in a pluralistic world where this is enormous diversity of thought and belief and opinion. Our postmodern world welcomes and promotes this diversity - it sees it as a good thing ... except when it comes to Christians. We are suspect. We are looked at as people who are separate, distinct, exclusive and therefore as dangerous. Our postmodern society will tolerate all sorts of radical and fanatical groups but it is intolerant of the Christian church. 

Haman went on to say that the Jews did "not obey the king's laws." This was an outright lie. The prophet Jeremiah had written a letter to the Jewish exiles urging them to settle down in the land and make it their home for those 70 years of the exile. They were to "seek the peace and prosperity of the city" (Jer 29:1-7). They were to be faithful and obedient citizens of the empire.

500 years later Peter gave the same advice to Christians who were scattered through the Roman Empire, and to us today: Live good lives among the pagans; submit to all human authorities including kings and governors; show proper respect to everyone (1 Peter 2:11-17). We are to be good citizens of this country - active, helpful, obedient, and seeking the good of this country and nation. We are to obey the laws of the land as far as we can. 

Haman's accusation against the Jews was slanderous; he accused them of being lawless which was a lie. 

After all this he drew out a conclusion: "it is not in the king's best interest to tolerate them."
Haman was not at all concerned about the king's interest - he wanted to promote his own interest! He did not provide any evidence for this statement; he simply pictured them as a menace to the empire. 

We should not be surprised at this hostility to God’s people. Believers think independently. We live by God’s book, not by the philosophies of the age. But totalitarian regimes will not tolerate diversity of thought; they will not put up with people who think independently. One of the most powerful descriptions of that is George Orwell's book, "1984", which is a terrifying description of how a government will seek to control every aspect of a person's life. 

While the king was still thinking about this idea that it is not in his interest to tolerate these people, Haman proposed that it would certainly be in his interest to have them destroyed. He said; “I will put in 10,000 talents of silver into the royal treasury for the men who carry out this business.” (vs 9) This was a vast sum of money, the equivalent of two thirds of the annual income of the Persian Empire. Presumably, most of this was going to come from plundering the property of the Jews. Haman knew that "money makes the world go round"; he appealed to the king's greed; he offered the king a bribe. And Xerxes was greedy, both sexually and materially, and he agreed. 

The order was written up "to destroy, kill and annihilate all the Jews - young and old, women and little children - ...and to plunder their goods." (vs 13). The king and Haman did not have the slightest uneasiness about what they had decided and they sat down to drink. Another problem in the empire had been solved and now they could relax! They were completely indifferent to the suffering of others, callous about the genocide they had set in motion, utterly insensitive to the murder and mayhem that would take place.  

"...but the city of Susa was bewildered."  (vs 15b) The people in the capital could not understand all this. They were disturbed and perplexed. They had no idea this was coming and it had happened so fast.

We could compare this with Germany in 1933. Hitler became Chancellor in Jan 1933. Within five weeks he had complete control over Germany! He banned the left wing press and outlawed the communist party. He removed the power of the parliament and abolished trade unions and other political parties. He removed the right of free speech and free assembly. He began persecuting the Jews and forced pastors to sign a pledge of obedience to Hitler. In a matter of weeks the whole situation had changed. 

Something similar happened in Russia in the revolution of 1917 - the privileges and power of the Orthodox church were removed almost overnight. 

The same thing can happen here against Christians and the church. Jesus warned us that the world hated him and it will hate us also. The New Testament warns us to expect persecution. It urges us to be ready. Don't be surprised (1 Pet 4:12ff). 

Yet in all this we must remember that God is in control of all things. This book shows us that he was in charge of all that went on. We see that in the details of this story.

Haman was a pagan and very superstitious. By casting a lot he chose the day of the massacre - it fell on the 13th day of the 12th month. (vs 13) Number 13 was considered an unlucky number by the Persians (that has obviously carried on since then!) and it was to prove a bad choice. 

What's more, it was the day before the Jewish Passover, the festival in which they remembered how the Lord had delivered them out of Egypt. The Jews had history on their side to prove that the Lord their God was almighty – he was powerful! He had defeated the gods of the Egyptians and had rescued his people. He could rescue them again from another world empire. 

The massacre was also set for 11 months away. The Jews could not escape to another country because the whole known world was ruled by the Persian Empire, so there was nowhere to go. But this long delay gave them time to seek deliverance.

That salvation would come from the Lord through Mordecai and Esther. The people of God would be victorious over their enemies. Satan did not destroy the Jews, and he could not prevent the coming of the Messiah.  

This has much application for us today as the New Testament people of God. We are in a battle; we are fighting the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places and the evil ideas and philosophies of our own day and age. There are many enemies ranged against us.

But we know that Jesus has come. He has defeated Satan, triumphing over him through the cross. He proved that victory by his glorious resurrection from the dead. He is ruling today from his throne in heaven. 

We are still fighting and struggling. There will be persecution ahead, and it could come on us very suddenly. Satan is still seeking to destroy all of God’s people. But a day is coming when Satan himself will be destroyed. That will take place when Jesus comes a second time, defeats Satan and establishes his eternal kingdom!

Amen