Standing

Esther 5:9 ESV

And Haman went out that day joyful and glad of heart. But when Haman saw Mordecai in the king’s gate, that he neither rose nor trembled before him, he was filled with wrath against Mordecai.

The pride of the powerful is of magnitudes beyond comprehension. Esther seems to be the story of one man on a power trip. Haman rises to power but one man refuses to honor him. One man in the entire city does not bow before him and he goes into a rage to destroy all the Jews. Partly because seeing that one man, he was worried there were more that he had never seen that would dare not to honor him! He hatches a plan, like all tyrants, to destroy any who would not bend the knee to his power.

The verse above picks up the story near its conclusion. The plan for the destruction of the Jews has already been announced. The Imperial declaration was posted, copied, and spread to the Empires four corners by a mail system that was the envy of all the world. And yet even after this, Mordecai did not “tremble” he paid no heed to fools, even powerful ones. He would persist to deny the KINGS command to bow to Haman. It wasn’t simply that Haman was powerful so people bowed, according to Esther 3:2, we are told that: “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…” and they would ask Mordecai “why do you transgress the KING’s command?”

Scripture is not so clear about why Mordecai felt Jews were not to bow before Haman the Agagite. Yes, you can research the command to destroy the Amalekites and Saul sparing Agag and build a narrative of tribal animosity, but the fact remains it wasn’t EXPRESSLY unbiblical to bow to Agag. Yet, conviction of the events and times had so persuaded Mordecai that he could not follow such a command from the King. It is easy to see why Daniel, Hananniah, Mischael, and Azariah should not pray to the king, or worship a golden image, but with Mordecai it seems to be much less clear. And God protects him for his conviction, and works in providence to raise him to new heights of honor.

Often, fools are placed in positions of authority. They will bask in the glory they feel they have earned, and when they find their power has limits, they will chaff. When some will refuse to bend the knee because of their religious belief, they will take drastic action. How dare some stand when all should bow? Their action will not hinge on reason, wisdom, knowledge, or science but rather on their need to be obeyed, to feel powerful. They may claim all of those things or only some, but that is not the reality of the moment.

Mordecai shows us that what to do in those situations may not be as definitive as we may like. Some will choose different ways to respond to such times, but Christian Liberty tells us that God is Lord of the conscience and he is the one who will Judge.

All Christians have decided what they wish about vaccines, but I will tell you this, it is your Christian responsibility to “go outside the camp” (Hebrews 13:13) for those who chose not to obey a Mandate that seeks to establish the Government as Lord of the conscience. To join the Jews of Susa who would fast and pray, even though they were not the ones that chose not to bow.

Coram Deo