But he disdained to lay hands on Mordecai alone. So, as they had made known to him the people of Mordecai, Haman sought to destroy all the Jews, the people of Mordecai, throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus.
Mordecai would not bow to Haman, and Haman would not settle for punishing one man. So this verse asks two questions: why did one man's pride reach so far, and what older quarrel lay underneath it?
The reason given and the reason hidden
The story gives one reason on the surface: Mordecai was a Jew. A commentator points out that the deeper reason is never said out loud.
William KellyThere 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.
The Agagite
That hidden reason sits in Haman's family name: the Agagite. It explains why Mordecai would not bow.
Morrish Bible DictionaryHaman 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.
Pride that will not settle for one victim
The verse says Haman "disdained" to touch Mordecai alone. One writer traces that scorn back to how well life had gone for him.
The Christian's FriendHe 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.
An old war, still running
One writer looks past Haman to the enemy using him, and to what that enemy was after.
H. L. RossierThe 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.
Why a scattered people draws hatred
Haman went after a whole people, not one man. One commentator says that kind of hatred outlives Persia.
William KellyGod'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.
A death sentence that gets reversed
Haman's rage did not stop at feeling. One writer follows it into law, and then to what undid it.
Michael HardtHaman 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.
Commentators differ in emphasis. Some read Haman as the proud man ruined by his own pride. Others read him as a picture of the enemy of God's people in every age.
Summary
- One man. Mordecai stayed on his feet, and that is the only cause the book states. The older reason, Israel's ancient war with Amalek, is never said out loud.
- One grudge. All Haman held from the empire counted for nothing while one servant of God refused to worship him. So he made the whole nation pay.
- One war. Behind the Agagite stands an old hatred. It began in the desert and aimed, in the end, at taking Israel away from Christ.
- One offence. God's people offend the world because they are His. That stays true even when they have lost His open favour.
- One reversal. The decree of death is not the last word. A second decree turns the sentence into life and peace.