“Now when the king returned from the palace garden into the place where they were drinking wine, Haman was falling on the couch where Esther was. Then the king said, ‘Will he even assault the queen with me in the house?’ As the word went out of the king’s mouth, they covered Haman’s face” (Esth 7:8).

Earlier in the book, the author of Esther, borrowing words from the book of Genesis, portrayed Haman like Potiphar’s wife who tried daily to force Mordecai to commit spiritual adultery by “bowing down and worshipping” him (compare Esth 3:4; with Gen 39:10). Like Joseph, Mordecai refused, and things turned completely south (for a season). In a biting use of biblical satire, the author completely turns the tables on Haman by comparing him (surprise surprise) with Joseph, who was falsely accused of trying to conquer someone else’s wife (compare Esth 7:7-8 with Gen 39:13-14). Haman, though innocent of trying to sleep with the queen, was guilty of something far worse (trying to destroy her and her people), and so he dies upon the gallows he had prepared for God’s anointed one (Esth 7:9-10). What is the moral of this story? While it might go against our puritanical sensibilities, Scripture tells us that God has a sense of humor. What makes God laugh? The wicked forces of evil who honestly believe they can defeat the LORD and his Messiah!

“The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers take counsel together against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying, ‘Let us tear their fetters apart and cast away their cords from us!’ He who sits in the heavens laughs, the Lord scoffs at them” (Ps 2:2-4).

We can be confident, dear friends, that not matter what ruler shakes his fist at God (including the anti-Christ), God will have the last laugh!