Why did Mordecai refuse to bow down to Haman?

Let us ask why Mordecai refused to bow to Haman? Did it not seem like a blind obstinacy to refuse the customary honor to the king's noblest lord — his highest officer? Assuredly not! Haman was the highest officer of Ahasuerus, but he was the greatest “enemy of Jehovah,” being the greatest “enemy of the Jews.” He was an Amalekite, and Jehovah 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 Jehovah was at war? Impossible! Mordecai could save the life of an Ahasuerus, but he never could bow to an Amalekite. As a faithful Jew, he walked too closely with the God of his fathers to pay attention to one of the seed of Amalek.

Haman was the son of Hammedatha the Agagite. Esther 3:1-10; Esther 8:3, 5; Esther 9:24. Fürst says the Gentile name "of Haman is therefore explained by Josephus τὸ γένος Ἀμαλεκίτες and so too by Jewish tradition." That is, that Haman was an Amalekite. This explains why Mordecai refused to bow down before Haman. He was of that race with which Jehovah had sworn to have war for ever, and which Saul was directed to utterly exterminate. Ex. 17:16; Deut. 25:19; 1 Sam. 15:3.

And all the king's servants bowed down and did him reverence. They paid to him the honor of a god. Nearly all these Oriental rulers claimed divinity. Artaban is saying to Themistodes, according to Plutarch "The important thing with us Persians is that a king is worshipped and looked upon as the very image of God." As the king's representative this worship was extended to Haman. But Mordecai did not bow down because such reverence involved the recognition of a false god and was against the commandment of God. Mordecai may have remembered Isaiah's great prediction, "To Me every knee shall bow and every tongue shall swear." According to Jewish tradition Haman wore on his coat the image of an idol and that this was the reason why Mordecai refused. The king's servants warned Mordecai and when this was not heeded they told Haman. What a noble figure! In the midst of the worshipping servants bowing deep before Haman stands erect Mordecai, the Jew. He manifested faith in God. He trusted in Him who had delivered Daniel's companions out of the fiery furnace, when they refused to worship the image set up by Nebuchadnezzar. He trusted the same God who had stopped the lion's mouths when Daniel would not pay divine honors to Darius, the Persian king.

The chief minister of Ahasuerus in the time of Esther. He was called 'the Agagite,' which associated him with the Amalekites, a people that had attacked Israel maliciously. Perpetual warfare had been pronounced against them by Jehovah and this accounts for Mordecai's refusal to pay Haman reverence, which so wounded his pride and aroused his anger that he plotted to destroy not only Mordecai but all the Jews that were in the king's dominions. His offer of the immense sum of 10,000 talents of silver ought to have shown the king that he had some sinister end in view. Lots were drawn to get a propitious day for their destruction. Not wishing however to wait for that distant day, he thought he would get rid of Mordecai at once by hanging him, and prepared a gallows for the purpose, intending in the morning to ask for his life. But God, who was watching over all, caused that the king on that very night should be reminded of Mordecai's services, which resulted in Haman being compelled to take his intended victim through the city on the king's horse, and proclaim him as the man whom the king delighted to honour. Then Esther pleaded for her life, and the salvation of her people, pointing out Haman as the one who had plotted their destruction; and he was hanged on the very gallows he had prepared for Mordecai: cf. Prov. 26:27. The ten sons of Haman lost their lives also. Thus God watched over His people in their captivity and made the device of their enemy to fall upon his own head, as it will be with Satan. Esther 3 - 9.

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. He could clothe himself in sackcloth, fast and weep for his people, but he could not, he would not, he dare not bow to an Amalekite. He might be charged with presumption, blind obstinacy, stupid bigotry, and contemptible narrow-mindedness; but with that he had nothing whatever to do. It might seem the most unaccountable folly to withhold the common mark of respect from the highest noble in the kingdom; but that noble was an Amalekite, and that was enough for Mordecai. The apparent folly was simple obedience.

Mordecai was ready to give a reason of the hope that was in him; and his simple answer was, I am a Jew! God had not forgotten His oath of old (Ex. 17), even if Israel were reaping the fruit of their sins under the Eastern Kings. He had said, "Remember what Amalek did unto thee by the way, when ye were come forth out of Egypt; how he met thee by the way, and smote the hindmost of thee, when thou wast faint and weary, and he feared not God … Thou shalt not forget it." (Deut. 25.) Therefore the Lord had sworn that He would have war with Amalek from generation to generation. Mordecai refuses to surrender this fundamental truth in the calling of Israel.

We have already sought to describe the character of Ahasuerus and the character of Esther. We will develop and summarize of the character of Mordecai in the course of this account. But first of all we may draw the portrait of the enemy who reappears here in such a sudden way. He is marked by unmanageable pride, the desire to exalt and deify himself, terrible hatred directed against the people of God and against the one who represents them. In order to revenge himself of him, the enemy sacrifices the entire nation. Finally, he is characterized by deceit and infernal craftiness to obtain his murderous purposes. In a word, he is the spirit of wickedness incarnated. Is he not the same one who says: "Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation, and let the name of Israel be mentioned no more"? (Ps. 83:4) Can Mordecai, the "poor man" who is defenseless, resist him? Will the wonderful deliverance of the people be renewed now that Israel is no longer the people of God? Now that there is no more Moses or Aaron to intercede for them, and no more Joshua to lead them? Now that a simple decree from the king is enough to wipe them out entirely? Will Amalek triumph here, when Israel has no weapons and no resources? But did he triumph over Christ at Bethlehem, in the wilderness, or on the cross? On all these occasions, the victory of Christ was complete, and His victory was won on behalf of the people: on the cross by giving Himself and in the wilderness by simple dependence on the word of God. But, for Mordecai, the word of God is silent. Nowhere do we find it in this account, and there is a reason for this (although in fact it existed in the midst of the people). Does Mordecai then have any resource to avoid death? Nothing could be easier, some will say. Let him accept the king's decree and reverence Haman. But no: Mordecai remembers that there will always be war against Amalek. He will not bow down before the Agagite any more than Daniel would bow down before Darius. The only difference is that Daniel was forbidden to bow down before God, whereas Mordecai was ordered to bow down and reverence Haman. A true figure of Christ in anticipation, Mordecai refuses to do this. Like his Master, he can say: "Get away behind me, Satan!" There is perpetual war against Amalek. There is no other reason for his resistance to give those around him, but the fact that he is a Jew. (v. 4) He cannot, like Daniel, openly declare by his attitude that he is a servant of God, for everyone could ask him: "Where is your God?" This explains that while on the one hand he forbade Esther to declare her origin, on the other hand he is bound to declare his own origin This declaration makes us think of the Lord's good confession at Gethsemane: "I am [he];" only this confession drew down judgment on Christ alone, so that His own might be delivered, whereas the confession of Mordecai brings down vengeance on all his people. This attitude is in nowise one of pride in Mordecai. He fully recognizes the rights of the head of the nations over him and over his people (rights ordained by God as chastening) but in no way does he recognize the rights of Amalek. Although he is placed under judgment and although he belongs to the rejected royal line through the flesh, which God no longer recognizes, nevertheless he obeys the word of God, kept in his heart, by refusing to bow down to Amalek.

The godliness of this dear and honoured man begins to show itself in his refusal to reverence the Amalekite. The common duty of worshipping only the true God, the God of Israel, would have forbidden this. And shall a Jew bow to one of that race with whom the God of the Jews had already said, that He would have war for ever and ever? — bow to one who, instead of bowing himself to the Lord of heaven and earth, had even come forth to insult His presence and His majesty, yea, and to cut off His people before His face? Mordecai will jeopard his life by this refusal. But be it so. He is in the mind of his brethren Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who can say to an earlier Haman, "We are not careful to answer thee in this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up."

It is only a type — only a shadow, and not the very image. In the millennial day there will be no Haman. Till that day come, whatever may be the vivid picture of coming blessing, there is always a dark shadow. There is an enemy; there is one that tries to frustrate all the plans of God: and, of all the races of the earth, there was one that was particularly hostile to God's people of old — the Amalekites, — so much so that Jehovah swore and called upon His people to carry on perpetual war against that race. He would blot them out from under heaven. The Amalekites were the peculiar object of God's most righteous judgment, because of their hatred of His people. Now this Haman belonged not only to Amalek, but even to the royal family of Amalek. He was a descendant of Hammedatha the Agagite, as it is said, and Ahasuerus advances this noble to the very highest place. But in the midst of all his thick honours there was one thorn! Mordecai bowed not. The consequence was that Mordecai became an object of reproach. The king's servants asked him, "Why transgressest thou the king's commandment?" And after this went on for a time Haman hears of it. "He told them that he was a Jew."

What makes the rise of Haman into the highest place next the throne so surprising is that we have not had the least trace of him before. Privy counsellors and chamberlains- many have been personally named. But now at this juncture comes forward no Mede or Persian, but a stranger to the ruling races, into a seat above all the princes that were with the monarch. He, like his father, is described as "the Agagite," which seems to have been the royal seed among the Amalekites. No doubt Saul had crushed them, and David yet more. But here in the highest and most, influential position is, not an Amalekite only, but "the Agagite" to whom Mordecai refused reverence. The king had commanded it on his behalf; but Mordecai bowed not. Had not Jehovah caused it to be written down that He would utterly blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under the heavens? He persists and takes the consequence, whatever the fury of Haman, and his resolve to destroy all the Jews throughout the empire.