“The couriers went out impelled by the king’s command while the decree was issued at the citadel in Susa; and while the king and Haman sat down to drink, the city of Susa was in confusion. When Mordecai learned all that had been done, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the midst of the city and wailed loudly and bitterly” (Esth 3:15; 4:1).

In his brilliant book on Esther (Esther: The Outer Narrative and the Hidden Reading), Jonathan Grossman calls attention to a rather horrific allusion in Esther 4:1 to Genesis 27:34. Mordecai’s response to the decree against the Jews (“he wailed loudly and bitterly”) is taken nearly word-for-word from Esau’s response when he realized his blessing had been stolen by Jacob.

“When Esau heard the words of his father, HE CRIED OUT WITH AN EXCEEDINGLY GREAT AND BITTER CRY, and said to his father, ‘Bless me, even me also, O my father!'” In Grossman’s words, “This surprising allusion links Mordecai to Esau and Haman to Jacob, both of the former reacting similarly to defeat at the hands of both of the latter” (p. 219).

But wait. The bitter irony of this comparison gets worse when we consider the fact that Haman is a descendant of Esau (Gen 36:1, 12; 1 Sam 15:8; Esth 3:1), and Mordecai of Jacob (Gen 35:18, 24; Esth 2:5). This is clearly not what the world is supposed to be like!

The “beauty” of this analogy is its ability to capture the horrible feeling we get when we see things happening in our world which go completely contrary to all our biblical expectations. To borrow the words of Isaiah: We look “for justice, but behold, bloodshed; for righteousness, but behold, a cry of distress” (Isa 5:7). But the biblical authors refuse to whitewash or censor the tragic experiences of the past. Quite the opposite: the Bible describes how faith works in the real world:

Faith is holding onto a fundamental belief in the goodness of God and in the certainty of his promises in the total absence of evidence in our current circumstances.

From Bitter to Sweet

But when we consider Mordecai as a Messianic figure, we can be equally assured of a truly happy (biblically speaking) ending no matter how bad things seem to be. Humiliation and crucifixion led to resurrection and exaltation! God providentially worked against all hope to exchange our Savior’s sackcloth (Esth 4:1) for “a garment of fine linen and purple” (Esth 8:15), and the ashes of mourning on his head (Esth 4:1) for “a large crown of gold” (Esth 8:15). And the shouts of wailing in the midst of the city (Esth 4:1) will one day be exchanged for shouts of joy in all of creation (Esh 8:15).

“But now we do not yet see all things subjected to him. But we do see Him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone. For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings” (Heb 2:8b-10).