17 Nov Recap | Esther | Pride: The Soul of a King

In chapter 5, Esther has now grasped the eventual inevitability of her own death, a prospect which moves her, not to fear, but to freedom and action. Having resolved to go to the king’s hall in order to prevent Haman’s plot to kill the Jews, she fasts for three days. She then goes to the king.

Upon seeing Esther enter, the king holds out his scepter, preserving her life. He then offers to grant her a request – any request. At this, Esther invites the king and Haman to a banquet that very day.

The king accepts, and soon after finds himself drinking wine with Esther and Haman. Seeing through Esther’s pretenses in part, he tells her, “Now tell me what you really want.”

Esther, unruffled, replies by inviting both the king and Haman to yet another banquet the following night, where she will “explain what this is all about.” What is she doing? We can’t see it just yet. However, Esther, working in a culture of honor, is shrewd and determined. While it’s not clear what the details of her plan are, we can be sure that she does have one.

As all of this takes place between Esther and the king, Haman’s pride swells to outrageous levels by the invitations that he receives. His pride is expressed in an internalized rage toward Mordecai and irrational boasting to his friends and wife.

Haman, we see, is chronically, cancerously prideful. And here is where many of us can immediately find ourselves within this story – many of us having pride like Haman’s. Here are some ways that our pride manifests itself:

• A recurring pattern of hurt feelings at the hands of other people. When we don’t get the affirmation that we expect, or we receive criticism that we think we do not deserve, it causes a strong emotional reaction in us. We are fragile.
• A demand for honor or gratefulness from others. When we are constantly measuring and judging how thankful others are toward us.
• We are in conflict often, critiquing other things or pushing back on critique aimed at us.
• Being wrong is not an option. We can’t let go of our point and allow the other person in an argument to have the upper hand. This doesn’t mean that those who are humble never argue a point, but rather that they are able to recognize the truth when they are on the other side from it and admit defeat.

Haman, still in the throes of his pride, then tells his company about the banquet that he has been invited to. However, after all of the great things he has told them, he sours in an instant: “But this is all worth nothing as long as I see Mordecai the Jew just sitting there at the palace gate.” Despite all of his prosperity, just this one thing is able to thwart his enjoyment of it.

Haman has the soul of a king. In his pride, he rules over everything he encounters, and he demands utter submission from his kingdom. Any lack thereof is a challenge to his sovereignty, making peace and enjoyment impossible. Such, again, is often the condition of our hearts. The Bible paints a colorful picture of our pride and God’s disposition towards it – see Proverbs 16:5,18, 32, and 1 Peter 5:6-7.

The chapter ends with Haman’s wife, Zaresh, enabling his pride. To deal with the irreverent Mordecai, she urges Haman to set up a tall pole and have the king impale Mordecai on it in the morning. Haman eagerly complies.

That night, the king, unable to sleep, has his attendants read him the records of his reign. He hears about how Mordecai had exposed the plot to assassinate him (see Esther 2:21-23), and realizes that he has never recognized Mordecai for his loyalty.

At this moment, Haman arrives at the king’s court intending to ask him to impale Mordecai in the morning. The king, thinking to recognize Mordecai, asks Haman, “What should I do to honor a man who truly pleases me?”

At this, Haman only thinks of himself, and he urges the king to elevate the man in question to a king-like level. The king, Haman says, should adorn this man in the king’s own robes, set him upon the king’s horse, and parade him through the city for all to see. The king excitedly sends Haman to do these things for Mordecai. After doing so, Haman hurries home in absolute dejection and humiliation.

Haman finds himself in this dejection and humiliation because of his own pride. It has taken him on a veritable rollercoaster of emotions: up to the honors of dining and drinking with the king, down to enragement at Mordecai’s unwillingness to tremble at even the sight of him, back up to the fleeting pleasures of boasting in his accomplishments, plotting to impale the lone challenger to his reign on a 75-foot pole, and seemingly dictating his own ceremony of honor to the king. Here the rollercoaster plummets to the depths as he is relegated to serving his adversary.

All of this is evidence. It shows us that Haman is clamoring and struggling to have what he lacks. He is clamoring after control, and validation, and worth. And we are very much like him. Though we may acquiesce to the idea that Jesus is sufficient for us, in our pride we often expose our real belief that He is not. At some point, we will likely find in ourselves the soul of a king.

But God offers two gifts to prideful Christians. He offers us the eyes to see our pride and the freedom to acknowledge it to ourselves, others, and God Himself. In Christ, we are free to associate ourselves with the guilt of our pride that makes the very atonement He has accomplished necessary.

And then, God offers us the freedom to turn from this pride. He beckons us to a new and better way of living, grafted into the perfect life of love and service lived by Jesus, and He sends the Holy Spirit to live inside us and enable us to live in humility. No longer are we slaves, gripped and oppressed by pride and other sins; we have died to this sin and been raised to eternal life. This world, where we used to clamor and scramble over others to build our own kingdoms, is revealed to be a surprisingly small and brief place.

-Brian Barbee

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Worship Songs from the Weekend

• Look and See: Revelation 1:4-8, Psalm 66:1-5, Revelation 4:11
• Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing: Ephesians 2:7-8, 1 Peter 2:9-10, Colossians 1:21-22, 1 Corinthians 1:22
• Worthy of It All: Psalm 51:16-17, Psalm 139:23-24, Amos 5:21-24, Psalm 19:12-14
• God You Are My God: Zechariah 14:9, Isaiah 2:2, 1 Peter 1:18-20
• Lamb of God: John 1:29, Hebrews 4:14-16, Romans 6:5-11
• O God of Our Salvation: 1 Chronicles 16:29