Esther 5:9 - Meaning and Application

This account of Haman explains Solomon’s words, “A proud and arrogant scoffer is his name, who acts with proud anger” (Proverbs 21:24). No one fit that description better than Haman, in whom pride and anger had such control. We see him first lifted up by the honor of being invited to Esther’s feast. He was full of joy and gladness because of it (Esther 5:9).

Notice how proudly he talks about it later (Esther 5:12). He thinks the invitation proves how important he is, and he believes he has almost reached perfect happiness. Because Queen Esther invited no one except him to come with the king to the banquet, he assumes she must be deeply impressed with his company. He even thinks she wants him there again the next day because no one is better suited to keep the king company. People who admire and flatter themselves are really deceiving themselves. Haman thought Esther was honoring him, when in fact she was preparing to accuse him. By inviting him to the banquet, she was really summoning him to face judgment. Pride makes people look at themselves through a twisted lens, and their own hearts mislead them (Obadiah 1:3).

Now we see him angry because Mordecai had slighted him, and this made Haman miserable and unpleasant to everyone around him. Mordecai still would not bow, stand up, or move for him (Esther 5:9). He acted from conscience, and because of that he kept steady in what he believed was right. He would not bend to Haman, even though Haman was dangerous and even though Esther had shown him honor. Mordecai knew that God could rescue him and his people from Haman’s rage without any such cowardly attempts to calm him. Those who walk in sincere obedience can also walk with holy confidence, continuing their work without fear of what man can do. The one who walks uprightly walks safely.

Haman, however, could not bear the slight. The higher he rose, the less he could tolerate any disrespect, and the more furious he became. It made his own spirit restless and deeply troubled. He was full of anger (Esther 5:9), yet he restrained himself (Esther 5:10). He would gladly have killed Mordecai on the spot for insulting him, but he hoped to see him destroyed soon with all the Jews. So he forced himself to wait, though with great difficulty. His heart was torn between immediate rage, which wanted Mordecai dead at once, and settled hatred, which wanted to wait for the planned slaughter. Indeed, “thorns and snares are in the path of the crooked” (Proverbs 22:5).

This one insult also spoiled all his comforts. It was like a small dead fly that ruins a jar of fine perfume. He admitted before his wife and friends, to his own lasting shame as a proud and unhappy man, that he could enjoy none of his wealth, rank, or family life while Mordecai was still alive and sitting at the king’s gate (Esther 5:10-13). He counted his riches, his honors, his large family, and his high position. He was the king’s favorite and the court’s idol, yet all of it meant nothing to him while Mordecai remained unhanged. People who are bent on being discontented will always find something to upset them. Proud people may have much they want, but if they do not have everything they want, they count it as nothing. A humble and content person would think Haman had more than enough for a lifetime of happiness. Yet Haman complained as if he had fallen into the deepest poverty and shame.

Then he went on to plot revenge, helped by his wife and friends (Esther 5:14). They saw that he was eager to give up waiting until the time fixed by the lot, so they advised him to seize an earlier chance to satisfy his rage by killing Mordecai quickly. Let him have some immediate relief, they seemed to say. And since he thought the destruction of all the Jews was already secured for later, he would not mind, for the moment, starting with Mordecai alone.

To please him, they suggested having a gallows built right away and set up before his own house, so the execution could happen at once after the king signed the order. There would be no delay, not even for building the gallows. Haman liked this plan very much, and the gallows was made and set up at once. It was to be fifty cubits high, or as near that as possible, to make Mordecai’s death more shameful and to turn him into a public sight for everyone passing by. It was placed before Haman’s door so all would know that Mordecai was being offered up to Haman’s revenge, and so Haman could keep looking at it.

For the rest, they urged him to go early the next morning and ask the king for authority to hang Mordecai. They had no doubt the request would be granted quickly to one who was such a favorite with the king and who had already secured an order for the destruction of the whole Jewish people. No false excuse was needed. It would be enough to tell the king that Mordecai had refused to honor him, even though the king had commanded it. So we leave Haman going to bed pleased with the thought that Mordecai would be hanged the next day, and that he would then go gladly to the banquet, never suspecting that his own gallows had already been prepared for him.