URC Daily Devotion Saturday, 10 August 2024
Esther 6: 1 – 13
That night the king could not sleep, and he gave orders to bring the book of records, the annals, and they were read to the king. It was found written how Mordecai had told about Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s eunuchs, who guarded the threshold, and who had conspired to assassinate King Ahasuerus. Then the king said, ‘What honour or distinction has been bestowed on Mordecai for this?’ The king’s servants who attended him said, ‘Nothing has been done for him.’ The king said, ‘Who is in the court?’ Now Haman had just entered the outer court of the king’s palace to speak to the king about having Mordecai hanged on the gallows that he had prepared for him. So the king’s servants told him, ‘Haman is there, standing in the court.’ The king said, ‘Let him come in.’ So Haman came in, and the king said to him, ‘What shall be done for the man whom the king wishes to honour?’ Haman said to himself, ‘Whom would the king wish to honour more than me?’ So Haman said to the king, ‘For the man whom the king wishes to honour, let royal robes be brought, which the king has worn, and a horse that the king has ridden, with a royal crown on its head. Let the robes and the horse be handed over to one of the king’s most noble officials; let him robe the man whom the king wishes to honour, and let him conduct the man on horseback through the open square of the city, proclaiming before him: “Thus shall it be done for the man whom the king wishes to honour.”’ Then the king said to Haman, ‘Quickly, take the robes and the horse, as you have said, and do so to the Jew Mordecai who sits at the king’s gate. Leave out nothing that you have mentioned.’ So Haman took the robes and the horse and robed Mordecai and led him riding through the open square of the city, proclaiming, ‘Thus shall it be done for the man whom the king wishes to honour.’
Then Mordecai returned to the king’s gate, but Haman hurried to his house, mourning and with his head covered. When Haman told his wife Zeresh and all his friends everything that had happened to him, his advisers and his wife Zeresh said to him, ‘If Mordecai, before whom your downfall has begun, is of the Jewish people, you will not prevail against him, but will surely fall before him.’
Reflection
Karma – a word most often used by many of us when a despised person is brought low, but in Hindu tradition describing the acts of rewarding good deeds while offering fitting repayment for bad ones. This is the point in the story of Esther when you might feel sorry for Haman. He has belatedly become acquainted with the law of unintended consequences, and it hurts.
The king realised that Mordecai who had previously saved his life was a Jew who had never received the customary award. So the king called in Haman to suggest a fitting prize for his rescuer. The puffed up vizier, believing he was the one about to be publicly lauded, shared his own dream of a victory parade – then was comprehensively humiliated.
At a Purim performance, this is a signal for the audience to boo enthusiastically. It’s like a pantomime. You have two “goodies”, Mordecai and Esther, with Haman as the ultimate “baddie”. The only opportunity for nuance lies with the bit players who are permitted to be a mixture, as most of us are.
Public humiliation, while unattractive, should have offered Haman an opportunity at least to repent and clear his conscience. After all his plan to kill all Jews never came to fruition. But he was hanged anyway. The king, who gave his permission for Haman to go ahead with plans to kill all Jews, was untouched by regret or in any way punished for his part in the crime.
As a Christian and having read the bloody climax of this book of the bible, I cannot take joy in what happened – the bit the Purim re-enactments, especially for children, tend to skim over. It was ultimately the Jews who killed hundreds of people they regarded as enemies.
Fitting Karma, or just crude and cruel revenge?
Prayer
Lord God,
Many events and people in life hurt and distress us,
sometimes intentionally,
at other times without appreciating the damage caused.
Help us to learn the art of forgiveness,
however difficult,
so that we do not prolong any feud,
but instead repair our own hearts
and in doing so heal those who may have caused us harm.
Amen