“Then the king’s servants who were at the king’s gate said to Mordecai, ‘Why are you transgressing the king’s command?’ Now it was when they had spoken daily to him and he would not listen to them, that they told Haman to see whether Mordecai’s reason would stand; for he had told them that he was a Jew.” (Esther 3:3-4).
Key to understanding the theology of the book of Esther are its many unexpected reversals. In Esther 2:21-23, Mordecai saves the king by reporting the assassination plot of two of the king’s officials. The officials who plotted against the king are hung on a tree, but Mordecai’s good deed goes completely forgotten. The similarities in vocabulary and sequences of events to the story of Joseph’s forgotten good deed in prison and the hanging of one of the officials on a tree are transparent (see Gen 40:2, 6-8, 14-15, 23).
Ironic Contrast
But in Genesis, the story of Joseph’s forgotten good deed is immediately followed by Joseph’s exaltation to the highest chair in Pharaoh’s kingdom (Gen 41:40), Pharaoh’s command for everyone to bow down to Joseph (Gen 41:43), and the placing of Pharaoh’s signet ring upon Joseph’s hand (Gen 41:42). We fully expect, therefore, the same will be true of Mordecai. Completely contrary to our expectations, it is Haman who is exalted to the highest seat among the king’s servants, all people are commanded to bow down to him (Esth 3:1-2), and the king’s signet ring is placed upon the enemy of the Jews’ hand (Esth 3:10). What in the world just happened? Something in this story is completely wrong!
But in the midst of this terribly ironic story about Haman’s unjust promotion, parallels to the Joseph story shift unexpectedly again, and the author offers us a clue that all will turn out well in the end.
The author borrows a phrase from the story of Joseph’s refusal to lie with Potiphar’s wife (Gen 39:10) to describe Mordecai’s refusal to bow down to Haman (Esth 3:4). More parallels follow. When Haman sees Mordecai’s refusal to bow down to him, he plots to destroy the Jews (Esth 3:5-6). So too, when Potiphar’s wife saw Joseph’s refusal to lie with her she plots to destroy Joseph (Gen 39:13-18). Haman slanders the Jews to the king (Esth 3:8). So too, Potiphar’s wife slandered Joseph to her husband (Gen 39:14-15). The king believe’s Haman’s lies and signs a decree against the Jews (Esth 3:11-15). So too, Potiphar had believed his wife’s lies and threw Joseph into prison (Gen 39:19-20). But in the end, Joseph triumphed and saved his people (see Gen 50:19-20)! Perhaps things with Mordecai and the Jewish people will turn out okay after all!
Victorious Resolution
These reversals are part of the author’s overall strategy to remind us God is in control no matter how many curve balls life throws at us. And this point is driven home most forcefully at the end of the book with more parallels to the story of Joseph. In the most ironic twist of the book, Haman is falsely accused of attempting to commit adultery with the queen (Esth 7:8), a reminder of the false accusations made against Joseph (Gen 39:17). But because we know Haman is guilty of a far greater crime, Haman is immediately hung (Esth 7:9) and the signet ring is taken from him and placed upon Mordecai’s hand (Esth 8:2). Mordecai is indeed another Joseph, and all is right with the world again.
Although there are scary twists in the plot of the story of redemption, the book of Esther offers us great hope. The Hamans of this world can mutter threats and curse us all they want. But because the Master Screenwriter is completely in charge of the script, he will get the last laugh and give victory to his people.
“Now in the twelfth month (that is, the month Adar), on the thirteenth day when the king’s command and edict were about to be executed, on the day when the enemies of the Jews hoped to gain the mastery over them, it was turned to the contrary so that the Jews themselves gained the mastery over those who hated them…. [B]ecause on those days the Jews rid themselves of their enemies, and it was a month which was turned for them from sorrow into gladness and from mourning into a holiday; that they should make them days of feasting and rejoicing and sending portions of food to one another and gifts to the poor” (Esth 9:1, 22).
