Esther 6: 1 – 13

That night the king could not sleep, and he gave orders to bring the book of records, the annals, and they were read to the king. It was found written how Mordecai had told about Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s eunuchs, who guarded the threshold, and who had conspired to assassinate King Ahasuerus.  Then the king said, ‘What honour or distinction has been bestowed on Mordecai for this?’ The king’s servants who attended him said, ‘Nothing has been done for him.’  The king said, ‘Who is in the court?’ Now Haman had just entered the outer court of the king’s palace to speak to the king about having Mordecai hanged on the gallows that he had prepared for him.  So the king’s servants told him, ‘Haman is there, standing in the court.’ The king said, ‘Let him come in.’  So Haman came in, and the king said to him, ‘What shall be done for the man whom the king wishes to honour?’ Haman said to himself, ‘Whom would the king wish to honour more than me?’  So Haman said to the king, ‘For the man whom the king wishes to honour,  let royal robes be brought, which the king has worn, and a horse that the king has ridden, with a royal crown on its head.  Let the robes and the horse be handed over to one of the king’s most noble officials; let him robe the man whom the king wishes to honour, and let him conduct the man on horseback through the open square of the city, proclaiming before him: “Thus shall it be done for the man whom the king wishes to honour.”’  Then the king said to Haman, ‘Quickly, take the robes and the horse, as you have said, and do so to the Jew Mordecai who sits at the king’s gate. Leave out nothing that you have mentioned.’  So Haman took the robes and the horse and robed Mordecai and led him riding through the open square of the city, proclaiming, ‘Thus shall it be done for the man whom the king wishes to honour.’

Then Mordecai returned to the king’s gate, but Haman hurried to his house, mourning and with his head covered. When Haman told his wife Zeresh and all his friends everything that had happened to him, his advisers and his wife Zeresh said to him, ‘If Mordecai, before whom your downfall has begun, is of the Jewish people, you will not prevail against him, but will surely fall before him.’

Reflection

Karma – a word most often used by many of us when a despised person is brought low, but in Hindu tradition describing the acts of rewarding good deeds while offering fitting repayment for bad ones. This is the point in the story of Esther when you might feel sorry for Haman. He has belatedly become acquainted with the law of unintended consequences, and it hurts.

The king realised that Mordecai who had previously saved his life was a Jew who had never received the customary award. So the king called in Haman to suggest a fitting prize for his rescuer.  The puffed up vizier, believing he was the one about to be publicly lauded, shared his own dream of a victory parade – then was comprehensively humiliated.

At a Purim performance, this is a signal for the audience to boo enthusiastically. It’s like a pantomime. You have two “goodies”, Mordecai and Esther, with Haman as the ultimate “baddie”. The only opportunity for nuance lies with the bit players who are permitted to be a mixture, as most of us are.
Public humiliation, while unattractive, should have offered Haman an opportunity at least to repent and clear his conscience. After all his plan to kill all Jews never came to fruition. But he was hanged anyway. The king, who gave his permission for Haman to go ahead with plans to kill all Jews, was untouched by regret or in any way punished for his part in the crime.

As a Christian and having read the bloody climax of this book of the bible, I cannot take joy in what happened – the bit the Purim re-enactments, especially for children, tend to skim over. It was ultimately the Jews who killed hundreds of people they regarded as enemies.
Fitting Karma, or just crude and cruel revenge? 

Prayer

Lord God,
Many events and people in life hurt and distress us,
sometimes intentionally,
at other times without appreciating the damage caused.

Help us to learn the art of forgiveness,
however difficult,
so that we do not prolong any feud,
but instead repair our own hearts
and in doing so heal those who may have caused us harm.
Amen

Esther 5: 9 – 14

Haman went out that day happy and in good spirits. But when Haman saw Mordecai in the king’s gate, and observed that he neither rose nor trembled before him, he was infuriated with Mordecai; nevertheless, Haman restrained himself and went home. Then he sent and called for his friends and his wife Zeresh, and Haman recounted to them the splendour of his riches, the number of his sons, all the promotions with which the king had honoured him, and how he had advanced him above the officials and the ministers of the king. Haman added, ‘Even Queen Esther let no one but myself come with the king to the banquet that she prepared. Tomorrow also I am invited by her, together with the king. Yet all this does me no good so long as I see the Jew Mordecai sitting at the king’s gate.’ Then his wife Zeresh and all his friends said to him, ‘Let a gallows fifty cubits high be made, and in the morning tell the king to have Mordecai hanged on it; then go with the king to the banquet in good spirits.’ This advice pleased Haman, and he had the gallows made.

Reflection

The day I started writing this, wearing the “church secretary” hat  I received a notice for the church of a call to a day of prayer about the increasing knife violence in Bristol.   

Someone sitting in a park minding their own business is attacked; people leaving a party turn on one; others leaving home for a pizza; why attack these people?   Maybe the attacked didn’t rise and tremble, or maybe it’s that strange human emotion, tribalism, that regards happiness as best when it depends on others’ pain.

The resonance between the unprovoked knife attacks and Haman’s pleasure over advice to take retribution against Mordecai was striking.   From a simple start, how often crimes become violent until a person is killed and families vow “no on else should suffer in this way”.   

In her commentary on Esther, Carol Meyers notes:  “Happy as Haman was to have been entertained by the queen, he becomes intensely distressed when Mordecai once more refuses to do obeisance. At the bidding of his wife Zeresh, he erects monumental gallows intended for Mordecai; only then can Haman feel relaxed enough to look forward to Esther’s second banquet.”  

Tribalism permeates Haman’s thinking: he has started a scheme killing all Jews following Mordecai’s failure to offer obeisance.  The gallows are built very high, implying this is no secret execution but a way to achieve a public show of disgrace for Mordecai and by implication all Jews.  So jealous is Haman he cannot foresee any other outcome than glory for himself.  

By contrast, Esther followed advice which put herself in danger, asked for prayer from all whom she is connected with, then fasts and prays herself.   Only then does she prepare the first banquet.   As the story continues to unfold we find Queen Esther working with King Ahasuerus to protect her people that no one else should suffer.  

Prayer

Creator God,
when we see only one outcome, good or bad, 
remind us that you see the whole and another outcome.
Help us follow advice and prepare. 
Help us walk your way and bring your outcome to completion.
Amen