“Haman went out that day happy and in high spirits. But when he saw Mordecai at the king’s gate and observed that he neither rose nor showed fear in his presence, he was filled with rage against Mordecai.”
– Esther 5:9
Hi James and Ellen,
Do you do self-aggrandizing? A guy, gal or kid who does self-aggrandizement is trying to make himself or herself appear to be more powerful, affluent and/or intelligent than what he or she really is. Narcissists, egomaniacs and sociopaths do self-aggrandizing. Do you know a kid who thinks that he or she is always right. Do you know a kid who always thinks that he or she can do whatever it is that he or she wants to do? Do you know a kid who thinks that he or she always needs to lie to make himself or herself liked? Your grandpaa struggles with guys and gals who are self-absorbed, arrogant and antisocial. Self-aggrandizement invariably will lead a guy, gal or kid down doom’s slippery path. Haman did self-aggrandizement. After Persia’s King Xerxes gave Haman the heady position of being his prime minister in his government, Haman thought that he should be seen as a revered leader by the guys and gals who lived in the 127 provinces that had come under Persia’s rule. Haman conceitedly thought that every guy and gal who lived in the city of Susa should submissively bow to him. The city of Susa was Persia’s southern capitol city. Haman was not happy when a guy refused his mandate that every guy and gal bow to him. Mordecai was the guy who did not bow to Haman. Mordecai was a Jew. Jews are God’s specially chosen guys and gals. When Haman found out that Mordecai was a Jew, Haman came up with a fiendish plan to eradicate all the Jews who lived in the 127 provinces that were under Persia’s control. Before Haman dreamed up his abominable strategy to completely purge every Jew from the provinces that Persia had subjugated, God saw to it that Vashti – who was Persia’s queen and King Xerxes’ wife, was replaced by a gal who had Jewish heritage or linage. The gal’s name was Esther. Esther was a cousin of Mordecai. Esther was a young kid when her dad and ma died. Mordecai raised Esther as his own kid. When King Xerxes chose Esther to replace Vashti as his queen wife, Mordecai – being that he was Esther’s caretaker, was allowed to hang out at the king’s gate. While Mordecai was hanging out at the king’s gate, Mordecai overheard guards planning to kill King Xerxes which led to Mordecai being recognized and honored by King Xerxes after he told King Xerxes about the guards’ plans. Haman by this time had a role in Persia’s government where he could make life difficult for every guy and gal who was a Jew. Mordecai already knew about Haman’s diabolical plans for annihilating all the guys and gals who were Jews by the time what is written in Esther 5 took place.
When Mordecai heard about Haman’s scheme, Mordecai asked Esther to intervene with King Xerxes for the guys and gals who were Jews. Esther devised a tactful plan to expose Haman’s malicious plot. Even though she was King Xerxes’ wife, Esther still needed King Xerxes’ okay to approach him as he sat on his royal throne. Esther put on her royal robes, went to the palace’s inner court that was in front of the king’s hall and waited until King Xerxes saw her. When King Xerxes saw Esther, King Xerxes held out his gold scepter for Esther to come to him – which she did. After Esther touched the tip of King Xerxes’ gold scepter, King Xerxes told Esther – who he had come to really like as his wife, that she could have anything that she wanted including half of his kingdom. Esther then told King Xerxes – her husband, that what she wanted was for him to come to a banquet that she had prepared and that she wanted him to ask Haman to join them. When the banquet ended that Esther had with her husband and Haman, Esther invited both guys to again join her for another banquet – which she was planning for the next day. Verse 9 follows Haman as he left the place where he had just eaten alone with King Xerxes and Queen Esther, “Haman went out that day happy and in high spirits. But when he saw Mordecai at the king’s gate and observed that he neither rose nor showed fear in his presence, he was filled with rage against Mordecai.” Haman’s good mood radically changed after he had had his self-aggrandizing ego stroked from being the only guest who Queen Esther had invited to a banquet that she had prepared for King Xerxes that day and for being invited to another banquet that she was planning for King Xerxes the next day. Mordecai’s disrespect of Haman had Haman’s wife – Zeresh, his 10 boys and his friends tell Haman to get King Xerxes’ okay the next morning to hang Mordecai on a 75’ high gallows.
What do you think that a narcissistic, an egocentric or a sociopathic guy, gal or kid will do if he or she does not get his or her way? Some of the most notorious world leaders – despots like Hitler, Stalin, Castro, Idi Amin, Pot Pol, Saddam, etc., jailed and/or murdered their rivals as well as hardworking guys and gals as a way to maintain a strong stranglehold on being a country’s kingpin. Your grandpaa has a very real concern these days that a well-meaning coalition of guys and gals here in the United States are being manipulated by a small group of power seeking guys and gals who are doing everything that they can do to strip away the United States Constitution’s liberties – liberties that include freedoms of speech and worship. Your grandpaa is especially preoccupied with the proactive role that the President of the United States is doing at this time to foment demagoguery and to foster dictatorship. It would not surprise your grandpaa that God has a Mordecai or an Esther out there someplace today and that the gallows that are being built to hang ‘In God We Trust’ conservative mainstreamers will soon be used to hang liberal idealogues.
Esther 5 (1020)