Esther 3:5–6

Haman was the son of Hammedatha the Agagite... That means Haman was an Amalekite. This explains why Mordecai refused to bow down before Haman. He belonged to the race that Jehovah had sworn to fight for ever, and that Saul was told to wipe out completely. Ex. 17:16; Deut. 25:19; 1 Sam. 15:3.

Here then was Mordecai's authority for refusing a single nod of his head to the Agagite. How could a faithful member of the house of Israel bow to a member of a house with which Jehovah was at war? Impossible... People might accuse him of arrogance, blind stubbornness, stupid bigotry, and contemptible narrow-mindedness. But that was not his concern at all... The apparent folly was simple obedience.

All the king's servants bowed down and paid him homage. They gave him the honour due to a god. Almost all these Eastern rulers claimed to be divine... Haman received this worship as the king's representative. But Mordecai did not bow down. Such homage meant recognising a false god, and it went against the commandment of God... All around him the servants bow low in worship before Haman, while Mordecai the Jew stands upright.

Ahasuerus advances this noble to the very highest place. But among all his piled-up honours there was one thorn! Mordecai did not bow. As a result, Mordecai became a target of blame.

...seen in the wicked Haman, and leading to the attempted destruction of an entire people. The same cause, PRIDE, filled Nebuchadnezzar with rage and fury. His face changed (like Cain's). It led to INTENSE CRUELTY against his victims — cruelty that God overruled by a miracle.

There was the secret. God does not appear. There is no hint in the history that God had spoken about Haman! Yet here was the secret reason; but the only public reason that appears is that Mordecai was a Jew.

Haman's fury against a man who despises him and refuses his yoke knows no limits. It is like the fury of the Antichrist against those who will not acknowledge his power and authority, and who refuse to wear his mark on their forehead and hands. But he would have scorned to put Mordecai alone to death. He must strike him down together with all his people.

Mordecai, however, refuses to bow before Haman (verse 2). The Lord refused to bow before Satan when He was tempted. The faithful remnant will refuse to bow before the triad of evil too, and many will pay for this with their lives.

Does this not strongly encourage us to stand for the truth of God, whatever it costs? Just look at the wonderful results that came from the actions of one man! Many might have condemned Mordecai's conduct. Refusing a simple mark of respect to the highest noble in the empire might have looked like senseless stubbornness. But it was not so. It was simple obedience.

There was the secret. God does not appear. Nothing in the story hints that God had spoken about Haman! Yet here was the secret reason; but the only public reason that appears is that Mordecai was a Jew.

Haman was the son of Hammedatha the Agagite. Fürst says that Josephus explains Haman's national name as meaning Amalekite by race, and Jewish tradition says the same. That is, Haman was an Amalekite. This explains why Mordecai refused to bow down before Haman. He belonged to the race with which Jehovah had sworn to have war forever, the race Saul had orders to destroy completely. Ex. 17:16; Deut. 25:19; 1 Sam. 15:3.

He came from the true seed of Amalek. The Lord had a quarrel with Amalek forever. Long ago, in the earliest days of Israel's history, Amalek defied God's glory just as it began to shine out in the bleak desert. (Ex. 17) He had prospered in a remarkable way. He had the ear, the hand, and the ring of his master, the Persian (the greatest monarch on earth) at his command. Because of all this, his pride could not take a refusal. If the servant of God will not worship, then the whole nation of God's people must pay the penalty.

The people are captive now. Their unfaithfulness has brought them to the lowest point of humiliation. So Satan stirs up Haman the Agagite to wipe out the weak remnant of this people. And let us not forget his hidden purpose: to take Israel away from Christ, their king according to the counsels and promises of God. Could there be a deceitful plan more satanic than that? Satan is frustrated in his efforts, as this book teaches us, but he does not consider himself beaten. He attacks the very Leader of Israel, Christ. At His birth, he attempts to put Him to death, by means of a new Agag, in the massacre at Bethlehem.

God's people, just because they are His, are always an offence to the rest of mankind — above all to the proud and boastful. This stays true even when their unfaithfulness costs them His open favour, as it had in fact done here.

Haman is furious and decides to persecute not Mordecai only, but his entire people (v. 5-6). He accuses the Jewish people before the king, and stands exposed as "the Jews' enemy" (v. 10; cf. 8:1; 9:10, 24) – all of which matters in relation to Satan and his agents (cf. Rev. 12:4, 10). The king then ratifies his plan by a royal decree: all Jews must die (v. 12-15). This pictures a divine death sentence on the Jewish nation. How good to know that the king later passes a second decree which overturns the first. The sentence of death turns into life and peace.