Yet all this is worth nothing to me, so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king's gate.”
Haman has just come from a private banquet with King Ahasuerus and Queen Esther. He goes home and lists his riches and honours for his family to admire. Then the list collapses in a single sentence, because one man at the palace gate will not bow to him.
One man spoils everything
The verse turns on a strange arithmetic: a huge total, cancelled by one small subtraction. One writer sets out what Haman had, and what it was worth to him.
C. H. MackintoshHe had all his honour, wealth and splendour. Still, one small thing wounded his wretched heart — a thing not worth a moment's thought to a truly great mind or a steady heart. What made him miserable was the simple fact that Mordecai would not bow to him! ... The highest position, the greatest wealth, the widest influence, the warmest signs of the king's favour — all of it "was worth nothing" just because a poor Jew refused to bow to him! Such is the human heart! Such is man! Such is the world!
Why Mordecai would not bow
Mordecai's refusal was not stubbornness about court manners. It rested on an old quarrel that God Himself had declared, since Haman came from the line of Amalek.
C. H. MackintoshHaman was the highest officer of Ahasuerus, but he was the greatest "enemy of the LORD," being the greatest "enemy of the Jews." He was an Amalekite, and the LORD had sworn that He would "have war with Amalek from generation to generation" (Ex. 17:16). How then could a true son of Abraham bow to one with whom the LORD was at war? Impossible! Mordecai could save the life of an Ahasuerus, but he never could bow to an Amalekite.
Why Haman held back
Haman was the king's highest officer, and Mordecai sat within his reach. One writer points to the place Mordecai was sitting.
Arno Clemens GaebeleinWhy did he not kill him at once? According to Persian law one who sat at the king's gate put himself under the protection of the king. As long as he was there he was safe... So if Haman had killed Mordecai, his enemies would have reported it to the king. They would have said he had murdered a man who had asked for the king's protection and had put himself under the king's wings. Haman knew what that could cost him.
An appetite that is never full
Haman had got what he wanted, and it stopped counting the moment he got it. That pattern is not unique to him.
H. L. RossierThe things Satan offers people to lure them are always like this. Once a man has them — as Haman had the satisfaction of his pride — they are of no more use to him while some new craving stays unsatisfied. This is how sinners are led from one craving to another, from one illusion to another, until the day of judgment.
Why judgment waited
Haman keeps climbing, and God does not stop him. The same writer explains why.
H. L. RossierFor judgment to fall on Haman, his pride and hatred had to reach their full measure. He had to be found face to face with the people he wanted to wipe out — the people whose defence God Himself had taken up. The first meal Esther offered him only lifted his pride higher.
A quarrel larger than two men
Some commentators read this scene as a picture of something far bigger, and hear in Haman's words the voice of Satan himself.
H. L. RossierAll this is an image, not only of the struggle between Haman and Mordecai, but also between Satan and Christ. The Adversary must completely unmask himself before God intervenes. At the cross, Satan said: Everything is worthless to me, as long as I am not rid of Christ.
Another writer names the two figures this picture points to, and marks its limits:
Leslie M. GrantSymbolically, Haman is a very striking picture of the coming antichrist, determined to destroy the people of Israel. Who is it who stands in his way? Certainly it is the true Christ, the Son of God, though Mordecai is but a faint type of the Lord Jesus.
The height of the gallows
Haman's complaint ended in a plan to hang Mordecai. He was building the gallows for the wrong man.
C. H. MackintoshBut "pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall." Haman proved this. He seemed about to plant his foot on the highest peak of his ambition. At that very moment, a just providence paid him back and made him wait on Mordecai. And the very gallows he had ordered built for his intended victim became the place of his own execution!
Summary
- One bow. One man who would not bow cancelled everything Haman owned — the smallest possible loss, and enough to make him miserable.
- One loyalty. Mordecai's refusal was not rudeness. Haman came from Amalek, and God had sworn to be at war with that people, so a faithful Jew could not bow.
- One gate. Mordecai sat under the king's protection, and Haman knew it — which is why he plotted instead of striking.
- One appetite. What Satan gives stops satisfying the moment a man has it. He is pulled on from one craving to the next, right up to the day of judgment.
- One gallows. Pride goes before a fall. God let Haman's pride reach its full height, and the gallows built for the man who would not bow became the place where the proud man died.