I love watching a good movie about conspiracies, and at this point in the Book of Esther, the text is pregnant with conspiracy. Conspiracies often muddy the waters, and it isn’t so easy to decide righteousness from unrighteousness, or truth from falsehood? Real life is often presented with a conundrum, truth with a black eye, and we become troubled over what to think what should be the correct way to act. This kind of thing is known as cognitive dissonance. Cognitive dissonance was once defined as: “…trying to live rationally despite the galloping irrationality.”[1] In other words, it is the discomfort one feels, when one’s worldview has been challenged by a not so clean idea. It is when one discovers that his worldview isn’t as clean as he’d like it to be, and is tempted to choose the more comfortable state of misinterpretation of the facts.
Apparently five years have transpired, between the time Esther was made queen of Persia (Esther 3:7, cp 2:16), and when Ahasuerus, promoted Haman the Agagite, advancing him in authority over all the princes that were with him. In other words, Haman became a kind of prime minister of those officials who were of equal or subordinate rank. However, he was not placed in authority over the seven princes mentioned in Esther 1:14, as some like to think.
We are told that Haman was an Agagite, but does this have any significance? Yes, I believe it does, and it also reveals why Mordecai told Esther to keep her nationality a secret (cp. Esther 2:10, 20). What we have at this point are two conspiracies both of which were operative at the same time: one by Mordecai, who laid a trap for Haman (Esther 3:4), and the other by Haman, who sought to wipe out the Jewish race (Esther 3:6)! Centuries ago, the Lord told Saul, a Benjaminite and Israel’s first king, to wipe out the Amalekite nation (1Samuel 15:2-3), because from the very beginning Amalek sought to destroy Israel. Amalek was the grandson of Esau, who continually sought to slay Jacob over the loss of his father’s (Esau’s) inheritance (Genesis 25:34; 27:41).
When Israel left Egypt, the Amalekites laid in wait for them, in order to utterly destroy them and keep them from inheriting the Promised Land—the inheritance, which Esau, their grandfather, had lost to Jacob, the father of the nation of Israel. Israel was journeying to enter into their inheritance, but their doing so was challenged by the Amalekites (Exodus 17:8). According to the account, the Lord’s promise to Jacob could be fulfilled only through hands raised to the Lord. In other words, when Moses’ hands were weak, and he lowered them, Israel was left to his own strength, the purpose of Amalek prevailed (Exodus 17:11). It was at this time, because Amalek sought to challenge the Lord’s promise to Jacob and prevent the Lord from performing his will, that the Lord told Moses he would wipe out the name of Amalek from the face of the earth (Exodus 17:14).
The Lord had chosen Saul, Israel’s first human king (the son of Kish; 1Samuel 9:1-2), to destroy the Amalekites (1Samuel 15:2-3), but, although Saul did wipe out the whole nation and “all that was vile,” he refused to destroy Agag, the king and “all that was good,” and this included Agag’s descendants, his heirs (1Samuel 15:7-9). So, all that was left of Amalek were the Agagites, of whom Haman was a descendant. Moreover, just as his father, Amalek, sought to destroy Israel, Haman sought for an excuse to have the whole Jewish nation destroyed. He found that excuse in Mordecai’s deliberate behavior of civil disobedience (Esther 3:3).
For Mordecai’s part in this, it seems that he had conspired to destroy Haman by keeping Esther’s nationality secret. So, at the opportune moment, Mordecai revealed his own national origin (Esther 3:4), risking the lives of every Jew in the kingdom in his effort to destroy Haman! Both men acted politically, each seeking to destroy the other through the power of the state. Indeed, the Lord did decree that Amalek would be destroyed, and Saul almost succeeded in bringing that event into reality. Nevertheless, by saving the king’s family, he left the Lord to complete the task at a later time.
So, was Mordecai performing the Lord’s will? He was a descendant of Kish, and the Lord had decreed that Kish’s descendant would, indeed, destroy all that was Amalek’s. But, is conspiring to slay Haman through the power of the state seeking to do the Lord’s will? The waters are muddy, and we’re presented with the conundrum of cognitive dissonance, trying to embrace rationality in the face of galloping irrationality. Should God support Mordecai’s conspiracy to lay a trap for Haman, when Mordecai’s efforts put the very existence of the nation of Israel in jeopardy?
Certainly, everything that transpired during these days aren’t recorded in the Book of Esther, and we don’t know how righteous, or how irrational Mordecai’s efforts were. That said, however, is there any evidence in the text that would allow God to support Mordecai? No one seems to be extending his hands up to the heavens by acknowledging the power of the Lord. Instead, everyone is hiding his relationship to the great God of the heavens?
In the case of Daniel, the truth was clear. He lifted up the name of the Lord from the very beginning, but we don’t find that kind of behavior in Esther. What we do find are political maneuvers and conspiracies on both sides. Perhaps, Mordecai does wish to fulfill the will of God, but that’s only a guess. What is the right way? How should God act?
I believe we have the answer in the New Covenant text, in the writings of Paul. There Paul writes to the Thessalonians, “Prove all things; hold fast that which is good” (1Thessalonians 5:21). Notice, he doesn’t say: prove all things, hold fast what is true! The truth has a black eye in Esther. Everyone hasn’t acted righteously or is expressing their devotion to God. They’ve relied on their own efforts both to save themselves, and (maybe) to do the will of God by doing away with Amalek, but we’re guessing here. God doesn’t act according to man’s will, or his efforts. Instead, the Lord looks upon man’s heart and performs that which is good (1Thessalonians 5:21). God doesn’t necessarily act according to the truth, because the waters are often (sometimes?) muddy. Instead, he does what is good, because God is good!
[1] See Times, Sunday Times (2018).
Smoodock's Blog 