Fingerprints of God: In Deepening Darkness

In our cultural war, the enemy of God’s Word and our faith is not people, policies, or politicians but the evil one who is constantly weaving a web of lies and deception to corrupt people. The only solution to the problem of evil is the proclamation of the gospel.

Esther 3:1-15 - 1 After these things King Ahasuerus promoted Haman the Agagite, the son of Hammedatha,  and advanced him and set his throne above all the officials who were with him. 2 And all the king's servants who were at the king's gate bowed down and paid homage to Haman, for the king had so commanded concerning him. But Mordecai did not bow down or pay homage. 3 Then the king's servants who were at the king's gate said to Mordecai, “Why do you transgress the king's command?” 4 And when they spoke to him day after day and he would not listen to them, they told Haman, in order to see whether Mordecai's words would stand, for he had told them that he was a Jew. 5 And when Haman saw that Mordecai did not bow down or pay homage to him, Haman was filled with fury. 6 But he disdained to lay hands on Mordecai alone. So, as they had made known to him the people of Mordecai, Haman sought to destroy all the Jews, the people of Mordecai, throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus.

7 In the first month, which is the month of Nisan, in the twelfth year of King Ahasuerus, they cast Pur (that is, they cast lots) before Haman day after day; and they cast it month after month till the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar. 8 Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom. Their laws are different from those of every other people, and they do not keep the king's laws, so that it is not to the king's profit to tolerate them. 9 If it please the king, let it be decreed that they be destroyed, and I will pay 10,000 talents of silver into the hands of those who have charge of the king's business, that they may put it into the king's treasuries.” 10 So the king took his signet ring from his hand and gave it to Haman the Agagite, the son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews. 11 And the king said to Haman, “The money is given to you, the people also, to do with them as it seems good to you.”

12 Then the king's scribes were summoned on the thirteenth day of the first month, and an edict, according to all that Haman commanded, was written to the king's satraps and to the governors over all the provinces and to the officials of all the peoples, to every province in its own script and every people in its own language. It was written in the name of King Ahasuerus and sealed with the king's signet ring. 13 Letters were sent by couriers to all the king's provinces with instruction to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate all Jews, young and old, women and children, in one day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar, and to plunder their goods. 14 A copy of the document was to be issued as a decree in every province by proclamation to all the peoples to be ready for that day. 15 The couriers went out hurriedly by order of the king, and the decree was issued in Susa the citadel. And the king and Haman sat down to drink, but the city of Susa was thrown into confusion.

Do you ever question why the wicked prosper while the righteous suffer? Growing up in Pakistan as a Christian, that question was often on my mind. From everyday challenges like food, family, finances, and health issues to attacks on the Christian community, I often wondered why the wicked prosper and the righteous suffer. If you wonder about that too, I want you to know that many in the Bible also raised that question as they faced deepening darkness around them; yet, they trusted God’s faithfulness and providence, which is also a theme of the book of Esther.

The problem is that the question of why the wicked prosper while the righteous suffer is one of the most complex questions in human history with no single answer. People need to know that the Bible gives us hope that, ultimately, divine justice will prevail, and the wicked will suffer for eternity.

While that is true, sometimes God does allow suffering to strengthen the saints and separate the wicked and even uses the wicked as a divine instrument of judgment. We saw that last time in Jeremiah 27:6, where God called the pagan King Nebuchadnezzar, His servant, who took the Jews into exile for 70 years. Esther is the story of these exiles who are now under a new king, Ahasuerus, aka Xerxes.

This tells us that nothing is ever out of God’s control. Even when God seems silent and darkness seems lasting and when the wicked prosper and the righteous suffer, nothing is random. We saw that in Esther 1-2, King Ahasuerus’ display of power was not random, Queen Vashti’s defiance was not random, and the declaration of a Jewish orphan girl, Esther, as the Queen of the Persian Empire, the superpower of that time, was not random.

If none of those events were random, then the events in Esther 3 were not random either. Esther 3 describes the rise of a wicked man who secured an irreversible decree to annihilate God’s chosen people, the Jews.

The big idea is, if nothing is random and God is in control, then the wicked may prosper and evil may rise, but they cannot last forever. If we don’t doubt divine deliverance in deepening darkness, then even in the deafening divine silence, we can trace God’s fingerprints in our story, too, by trusting God. Even though God is never mentioned in the book of Esther, Mordecai trusted God as he faced the promotion, pride, and plot of the wicked.

The Promotion of the Wicked (Esther 3:1-2)

Esther 3:1-2 says, “¹ After these things King Ahasuerus promoted Haman the Agagite, the son of Hammedatha, and advanced him and set his throne above all the officials who were with him. 2 And all the king's servants who were at the king's gate bowed down and paid homage to Haman, for the king had so commanded concerning him. But Mordecai did not bow down or pay homage.”

First of all, we do not know what led to the appointment of Haman as the second in command, the prime minister of Persia. However, what do we know from verse 1 is that it may appear to be a political move, but in reality, it was a spiritual move because “Haman the Agagite” is a reference to King Agag, the king of the Amalekites, the ancient enemy of Israel. They were the descendants of Esau, the brother of Jacob, later named Israel.

Genesis 25:23 says their struggle began in the womb of their mother, Rebekah, the wife of Isaac, the son of Abraham and Sarah.

A few hundred years later, when Moses led Israel out of slavery in Egypt, shortly after they crossed the Red Sea, in Deuteronomy 25, we learn that the Amalekites attacked Israel.

Numbers 24:20 says they were first among the nations that attacked Israel, provoking the God of Israel, whom all surrounding nations feared.

In Exodus 17, we learn that when the trained army of the Amalekites attacked the untrained men of Israel, God brought forth victory. This is the account where Aaron and Hur held up Moses' hands because whenever his hands were up, Israel prevailed, and when they were not, the Amalekites prevailed. By the end of that day, Israel had destroyed the army of the Amalekites. Exodus 17:14 says, “Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write this as a memorial in a book and recite it in the ears of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.”” God wanted to end them because their wickedness had reached an end— they were sacrificing babies to idols. The verse was a reminder of divine intervention, promise, and providence.

A few centuries later, the first king of Israel, King Saul, led Israel in a decisive victory against the Amalekites. God in 1 Samuel 15 told Saul to exterminate all the Amalekites, including livestock, but Saul disobeyed God and 1 Samuel 15:9 says, “But Saul and the people spared Agag…”

Haman, the villain of our story in Esther 3:1 is the descendant of Agag, an Amalekite, and later verses will tell us that he is intended to do to the Jews what Saul failed to do to the Amalekites. Interestingly, Mordecai was of the tribe of Saul, a Benjaminite. Is this random? No, it is not. So, Mordecai’s defiance to the king’s command to bow to Haman was in obedience to God’s Word.

The character of Haman can be illustrated by Jafar from the movie Aladdin. Just as Aladdin was not about Jafar, this story is not about Haman. As a matter of fact, every year in Jewish homes at Purim, when this story is read, children boo Haman when he’s mentioned.

Application

In this fallen world, the wicked may prosper, get promoted, and be put in charge over you, but know that God may allow wickedness for a time, but not forever. Trust His unseen hand.

The Pride of the Wicked (Esther 3:3-6)

The story continues with Esther 3:3-6 “³ Then the king's servants who were at the king's gate said to Mordecai, “Why do you transgress the king's command?” ⁴ And when they spoke to him day after day and he would not listen to them, they told Haman, in order to see whether Mordecai's words would stand, for he had told them that he was a Jew.” So they are testing his faith and integrity as a Jew. 5 And when Haman saw that Mordecai did not bow down or pay homage to him, Haman was filled with fury. ⁶ But he disdained to lay hands on Mordecai alone. So, as they had made known to him the people of Mordecai, Haman sought to destroy all the Jews, the people of Mordecai, throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus.”

Haman didn’t just want Mordecai dead— he wanted Mordecai’s whole race eradicated. The pride of the wicked often leads to their demise because pride blinds them and all they can see is their ego. Haman was so prideful that he could not let go of one single man’s actions.

His obsession led to rage that escalated from offense to ethnic genocide. This is not just human hate against humans; this is demonic,  Satanic hate against God’s covenant people. The devil has always sought to destroy the line through which the Messiah would come. He tried to kill Him through the action of King Herod when He was a baby and he is doing so even today as we anticipate the second coming of the Messiah, who will set His literal 1000-year reign on earth and rule from the throne of King David in Jerusalem.

Among Jews, Agagite was synonymous with the enemy of the Jews. A good illustration is of Hitler, because antisemitism was the foundation of Nazi ideology. Today, when you call someone Hitler, they get offended and even enraged, even when they spew hate against Jews. Hitler didn’t kill 6 million Jews alone; it was a collaborative work, including those who chose to remain silent. The book of Esther is a reminder of God’s deliverance in deepening darkness.

Application

Don’t compromise your convictions even when it costs; have the courage to stand for Christ and Christian values in a culture that is aggressively against the gospel. Next, we see,

The Plot of the Wicked (Esther 3:7-15)

Esther 3 continues with, “⁷ In the first month, which is the month of Nisan, in the twelfth year of King Ahasuerus, they cast Pur (that is, they cast lots) before Haman day after day; and they cast it month after month till the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar. Pur is the casting of lots, and it was a common method to determine chance or the will of the gods. Even today, many cultures continue to practice that. In many cases, it symbolizes chance; however, Proverbs 16:22 says, “The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord.” As the story unfolds, we will see God’s fingerprints even in deepening darkness; He is in complete control even in prevailing darkness. Listen to the plot of the wicked in v.8, 8 Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom. Their laws are different from those of every other people, and they do not keep the king's laws, so that it is not to the king's profit to tolerate them. Today in our culture while we are expected to tolerate everybody, yet no one is willing to tolerate our Christian views.  ⁹ If it please the king, let it be decreed that they be destroyed, and I will pay 10,000 talents of silver into the hands of those who have charge of the king's business, that they may put it into the king's treasuries.” ¹⁰ So the king took his signet ring from his hand and gave it to Haman the Agagite, the son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews. ¹¹ And the king said to Haman, “The money is given to you, the people also, to do with them as it seems good to you. ¹² Then the king's scribes were summoned on the thirteenth day of the first month, and an edict, according to all that Haman commanded, was written to the king's satraps and to the governors over all the provinces and to the officials of all the peoples, to every province in its own script and every people in its own language. It was written in the name of King Ahasuerus and sealed with the king's signet ring. ¹³ Letters were sent by couriers to all the king's provinces with instruction to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate all Jews, young and old, women and children, in one day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar, and to plunder their goods. ¹⁴ A copy of the document was to be issued as a decree in every province by proclamation to all the peoples to be ready for that day.”

Haman deceives the king and manipulates the law to unleash genocide, the same technique Hitler used to annihilate Jews. 

Last week, I was watching a movie that talked about the Nazi death camps. It showed the inside of the gas chambers at the Auschwitz camp, where 1.1 million people, mostly Jews, were exterminated. Did you know the whole murder system of the gas chambers depended on keeping it secret from its victims? The men, women, and children were told to get completely naked, then they were sent into a large room which looked like a shower room with fake shower heads on the walls, and then the doors were shut, and poison pellets were thrown from the roof window that would turn into poison gas upon contact with the air. Historians say, by and large, common Germans and others under the Nazi regime were not aware of it.

Esther 3 ends with verse 15, “The couriers went out hurriedly by order of the king, and the decree was issued in Susa the citadel. And the king and Haman sat down to drink, but the city of Susa was thrown into confusion.”

The tone of this chapter has been a cry for justice and lamentation. This is why the scripture reading today was taken from the last few verses of chapter 2, because the expectation was an exaltation of Esther’s adopted father, Uncle Mordecai, because he saved the king’s life by exposing an assassination plot against the king.

Yet, chapter 3 opened with the promotion of his ancestral enemy, with the plot to kill him and his people. Even though this chapter talked so much about evil, the story is about the hero and his conviction, courage, and confidence in the sovereignty of God, intervention of God, and promises of God, even when darkness deepens. 

Application

When evil plots advance, when darkness deepens, anchor yourself in God’s sovereignty and not your situation. God’s providence sees what you cannot see. 

Closing Thought

As I close, I want you to imagine if you were living in Susa when this edict went out. What would you have done? Imagine if you were in the place of Mordecai, what would you have done? Esther 3 is not a fallout of the ego of two men, one demanding homage and the other refusing it, but rather a battle between good and evil that challenges us to trust God in deepening darkness as we face the promotion, pride, and plot of the wicked in our own lives. 

Action Step

Stand with conviction, courage, and confidence in God just as Mordecai did.

Mordecai was convicted of doing right by God’s Word and not bowing to the mortal enemy of the Jews. In what way are you bowing to something that stands against God’s Word?

Mordecai was courageous enough to take a stand against the madman, Haman. Are you willing to take a stand against the madness of our culture and its advocates, even if it costs you your life?

Mordecai was confident enough in God that he didn’t back down even in the deepening darkness.

What are your convictions based on the Word of God? Do you have the courage to stand against social pressures and cultural trends? Do you have confidence in God?

Friends, the wicked may prosper and evil may rise, but they will not last forever. If we don’t doubt divine deliverance in deepening darkness, in the divine silence, we can trace God’s fingerprints in our story, too.

Appeal

Don’t let darkness cause you to doubt divine deliverance in divine silence. In our cultural war, the enemy of God’s Word and our faith is not people, policies, or politicians but the evil one who is constantly weaving a web of lies and deception to corrupt people. The only solution to the problem of evil is the proclamation of the gospel.

Take a stand for the gospel, proclaim the gospel, and be the gospel to those around you.

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