“King Ahasuerus promoted Haman the Agagite, the son of Hammedatha, and advanced him and set his throne above all the officials who were with him” (Esther 3:1).
We don’t know very much about Haman the Agagite’s background. He may have been a descendant of Agag, the king of the Amalekites, but we know for sure he was second only to the King in power and authority.
We also know other things...
Haman hated the Jews. He had an obsession with wiping them out.“All the king’s servants who were at the king’s gate bowed down and paid homage to Haman, for the king had so commanded concerning him. But Mordecai did not bow down or pay homage” (Esther 3:2). Haman was so angry at Mordecai and by extension, all the Jews, he determined to exterminate them. I get it...we all have our feelings hurt from time to time. But...genocide?
We call this, at the very least, hubris...
Later...when the king asked Haman what he might do for a man he desired to honor...Haman was sure that he was the one the king wanted to honor. So he replied, “Your Majesty, if you wish to honor a man, have someone bring him one of your own robes and one of your own horses with a fancy headdress. Have one of your highest officials place your robe on this man and lead him through the streets on your horse, while someone shouts, ‘This is how the king honors a man!’” The king replied, “Hurry and do just what you have said for Mordecai the Jew, who is on duty at the palace gate!” Haman obeyed but was humiliated and furious.
So, he devised a plan. He informed King Xerxes the Jews were not obeying royal laws and gained permission to force compliance. We know this was merely a ruse to attack and destroy the Jews. So, Haman was not only obscenely narcissistic...he was also a dishonest schemer. Power, pride and petulance are a combustible combination.
What he would later realize, and only then too late, was that “He who digs a pit will fall into it” (Eccl 10:8a).
His intrigues were baffled by Queen Esther. She invited him to a banquet that included only Haman, Esther and the king. Naturally, his arrogance interpreted the invitation as indicating special favor and honor. His sense of self-assurance was so puffed up he went so far as to prepare a gallows upon which to hang Mordecai (v. 14). But later in the evening Esther exposed Haman’s intrigues to the king. The king was filled with anger and ordered his officers to hang Haman on the very gallows which he had prepared for Mordecai
We’ve all fallen into some pit we’ve dug. It’s a metaphor for looking at what we’ve done and taking pride in our accomplishments. When Uzziah became king of Judah he became strong, his heart was so proud that he acted corruptly, and he was unfaithful to the Lord his God. God inflicted him with leprosy (2 Chronicles 26). To some degree we are all inclined toward Haman or Uzziah. It’s is a natural inclination since we know...as humans...we have been created above all else. We are actually created in the image of God. With this divine DNA, we understand that we are ‘fearfully and wonderfully made”. And, of course, that knowledge induces us to believe we are “somebody”.
But...it doesn’t have to.
We are unique, but not special for the reason we might observe. Before he was converted, the Apostle Paul was a Pharisee at the zenith of his profession. He was world renowned as an intellectual and a teacher, His zeal led him to persecute any who defied his belief system. Then...Jesus confronted him. Paul learned “whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” Philippians 3:8
The lesson? When our lives become more about us and less about Christ...we are digging a pit. We are proud of the pit. We love the pit. The pit defines us. The pit eventually destroys us. So, the antidote? “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.” 1 John 2:15-17
To paraphrase M. Scott Peck: It’s not about me...
Live boldly out there today...
No comments:
Post a Comment