Week 9
February 24 – Mordecai – Esther 3:1-15; 5:9 thru 6:14; 10:1-3
What do we know about Mordecai? The first description of Mordecai was that he was a Jew. When one describes us, the first trait that should stand out is that we are a Christian. Another of Mordecai’s character traits was his courage to report evil to the proper channels (2:21-23). We know he fasted and prayed. We see him as a leader among the Jews. He helped Esther reach her potential as he encouraged her, and pushed her to do more than she thought she could. Mordecai adopted Esther as she was an orphan. Mordecai was a good parent instilling good character traits into Esther. One of the traits that he successfully instilled was obedience as we see in 2:20. Not only is it vitally important to instill obedience to parents in our children’s character, but also obedience to God in our own character.
Here is a question that can only be answered by Mordecai. Why didn’t Mordecai bow down to Haman? Mordecai must have given reverence to the king and other officials. It was not forbidden by Scriptures or cultural customs for a Jew to bow down to a person in authority. Aside from refusing to feed Haman’s ego, a possible answer may be found in their family histories. While Mordecai was possibly from the line of King Saul, Haman the Agagite was a descendant of King Agag the leader of the Amalekites. Saul’s incomplete obedience of not killing King Agag resulted in Samuel’s announcement that Saul would lose his kingdom. Possibly this ancient enmity explains Mordecai’s refusal to bow to Haman, and Haman’s hatred of the Jews.
