Where Is God? - The Book of Esther
Lanse Evangelical Free Church
November 2, 2025 :: Esther 3:1-15
I’ll be right up front with you. This chapter ends on a cliffhanger.
You know, one of those moments where the hero of the story and their friends are in danger, hanging from a cliff, and you don’t know what’s going happen to them.
“Tune in next time to find out!”
That’s this chapter. Because we are slowing down and studying this story instead of just retelling it, at times, we have to leave things unresolved along the way.
In fact, the last word of this chapter in the NIV is, “bewildered.” The King James Version has “perplexed.” Many other translations say, “in confusion.” We’re only going to get to the part where nearly everybody in the story is agitated, perplexed, confused, and bewildered.
Have you been there? Are you living there right now?
Bewildered. What a terrible feeling that is! You don’t understand what is going on around you. Not only are you not in control of your story, you don’t even comprehend what’s going on in the story in which you are living. It’s painful and scary and disorienting. Bewildered.
In chapter 3, this story–which has been filled with twists and turn–takes another turn, and this time, it’s a downturn.
There have been hints of a grave danger looming over this story in the first two chapters. And now, the true threat is revealed and made real.
Chapter 3 tells the story of an existential crisis for the people of God. A crisis, a plot, a conspiracy that affected and endangered all of the Jews and even potentially endangered our salvation. Your salvation and mine!
And it all swirled around a character that we have not yet met in this story, a villain named “Haman.” Esther does not show up in chapter 3, but this enemy does. His name is Haman, and he is called in verse 10, “the enemy of the Jews.”
When the Jews have retold this story throughout the years, they have taken great delight in making a monstrous racket every time Haman’s name is mentioned in the story. They will put on a play that re-enacts the story of Esther. And when Haman is mentioned, the kids in the audience, especially will set off noisemakers like rattles and stuff like that. I once watched a play like that and every time Haman was named, we went “Boo, Hiss” like an old-time melodrama. Where the bad guy had a curly mustache and is always rubbing his scheming hands together.
We’re not going to do that every time that Haman is mentioned in the next several weeks, but let’s do it at least once a week the first time I read his name. We’ll go, “BOO” or “HISS” to remember that this man was an enemy and drown out his name.
There have been a lot of twists and turns to get to this point in the story. It all started at a royal banquet in the citadel of Susa where King Xerxes was drinking it up with all of his buddies and foolishly demanded his queen, Vashti, appear before them to show herself off. She refused! And Xerxes (also known as Ahasuerus) allowed himself to be talked into banishing her and looking for a replacement queen. (That was chapter 1.)
Xerxes did this cruelly by taking pretty girls from all over his kingdom and subjecting them to a beauty and sex contest. The losers get life in a harem. The winner became queen. (This was not a great kingdom for women.) But (plot twist!) the lovely woman who won the contest and the favor of everyone turned out to be a beautiful orphan girl whose family was in exile from Israel. Her Hebrew name was Hadassah, and her Persian name was Esther. The Star Queen.
We know that she is a Jew, but nobody else does. Her cousin Mordecai had been raising her and told her to keep her Jewish identity secret. He was apparently doing the same as he worked as a lowly civil servant at the king’s gate, probably doing some kind of administration.
At the very end of chapter 2 we learned that Mordecai, in that position, “just so happened” to hear that two of the king’s security guards had gotten angry and planned to assassinate the king. And Mordecai told Esther, and Esther told the king, and the two security guards were left impaled in the front yard as a warning for all to see.
And do you remember how Mordecai was rewarded for this? (Plot twist!) He was NOT rewarded for this. They wrote it down, but then nothing happened. Which was really weird in Persian culture.
And you know what? If that happened to me, you know how I would feel?
Bewildered.
“Why? Why did that happen? My cousin is the queen. I stopped a plot against the king of kings in this era, and all I got was this lousy t-shirt? My name got written down in a book. Thanks a lot.”
And it’s worse than that. Somebody else did get a promotion. Let’s read verse 1 of chapter 3 again and get ready to boo and hiss.
“After these events, King Xerxes honored Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, elevating him and giving him a seat of honor higher than that of all the other nobles.”
What?! Not only is Mordecai not promoted, but this guy is?! And it’s not even Memucan or any of the other 7 dummies from the council of advisers in chapter 1! We don’t even know if this guy was around back then, but all of a sudden here he is, and he’s the top guy. V.2
“All the royal officials at the king's gate knelt down and paid honor to Haman, for the king had commanded this concerning him. But Mordecai would not kneel down or pay him honor.”
The plot thickens! The king had commanded that everybody bow before Haman. That’s interesting because it’s what was normal in that culture anyway. Lots of bowing to each other, especially to those who are in authority. But the king felt that he hand to tell everybody to do this Haman. It doesn’t say why. Perhaps it was just a formality. Or perhaps this was like what he demanded all of the wives do for their husbands in chapter 1. He demanded respect instead of earning it. And he demanded honor for this Haman whether or not Haman was honorable. Perhaps nobody would have honored Haman if it wasn’t the rule!
Well, one person decided that he was not going to honor Haman in this way. Our man Mordecai.
It doesn’t say why. Why do you think? It’s not that the Jews refused to honor those in authority. They will even do this kind of bowing towards others. This is not the same thing as what Nebuchadnezzar wanted Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego to do in Daniel chapter 3.
Some interpreters assumed that it must have been like that and that maybe Haman was carrying around an idol in his pocket. So that Mordecai was faced with the same ethical choice about worship. Or that Haman was claiming some kind of divine status. But it doesn’t say that here at all. Mordecai just refused to honor Haman.
Some have thought that he must be jealous of Haman, and that’s why he did it. It’s pride. That’s possible. It doesn’t come out and say.
I think that at least, partially, it comes from a very old family feud. Two words make me think that. One is the word “Agagite” from verse 1 of this chapter and the other is one that I told you last week to tuck into your brain from chapter 2, verse 5. The word, “Kish.” Kish was either Mordecai’s great-grandfather or his ancestor even further back.
Haman was related to Agag in some way. And Mordecai was apparently related to King Saul whose dad was named Kish.
That’s a deep cut. Do you remember those names from your Old Testament history?
It’s been more than 500 years, but these memories are long. Agag was an Amalekite. The Amalekites were the first nation to attack Israel without mercy when they came out of Egypt on their way to the Promised Land. You can read about it in Exodus chapter 17. The Lord did not forget what they had done and told Israel to not forget and promised in Deuteronomy chapter 25 that the Amalekites would be judged for it.
Fast forward to 1 Samuel chapter 15, and King Saul (whose dad’s name was Kish) was sent to bring that judgment on the Amelekites and their king who name was Agag. And Saul (being partially obedient, which means he was disobedient) did not execute King Agag as he was supposed to. And Saul lost the kingdom over that, which then went to King David.
So these two families have some unsettled business. Both have found their way far away from the boundaries of Israel, and they are locked into their conflict hundreds of miles away in the Persian citadel of Susa.
I think that’s at least part of why Mordecai won’t bow. Not just because of a basic family feud (like the Hatfields and the McCoys), but because the Agagites have been trained through years and years of enmity passed down from generation to generation to hate all of the Jews and want to see them wiped off the planet.
It’s not just jealousy that someone is grand vizier and Mordecai is not. It is that HAMAN is grand vizier and he doesn’t deserve honor and must, in fact, be dishonored. At least, I think that might be what is going in Mordecai’s mind. The narrator doesn’t come out and say. All it says is, “Mordecai would not kneel or pay him honor.”
This bewildered Mordecai’s co-workers. They try to get him to go along with the crowd. Verse 4.
“Then the royal officials at the king's gate asked Mordecai, ‘Why do you disobey the king's command?’ Day after day they spoke to him but he refused to comply. Therefore they told Haman about it to see whether Mordecai's behavior would be tolerated, for he had told them he was a Jew.”
(The plot thickens. This plot is getting really thick!)
It’s out! Mordecai has outed himself as a Jew. When his co-workers couldn’t convince him to comply, they ran to Haman to get him into trouble. (What a great workplace!) They wanted to know if they really had to do this, too. And if anything was going to happen to Mordecai because he had told them he was a Jew. It’s no longer a secret.
Mordecai has decided that now is the time for him to go public with his identity, and that must have taken courage. Because now the gloves come off. The danger really begins. Haman suddenly becomes aware of Mordecai. Verse 5.
“When Haman saw that Mordecai would not kneel down or pay him honor, he was enraged.”
I don’t know how he’d missed it. Perhaps he was so full of himself, that he wasn’t looking at who didn’t bow. He was just assuming that everybody did every time he went by. And he was so high, he didn’t even look down there at those peasants to see if they were bowing or not.
“But now that you point him out, I can’t miss it! “Every time I see him, he just stands there when I go by.”
It’s also possible that he knew Mordecai was doing this but he was hoping that Mordecai would get into line without him having to actually do anything about it. He’s cowardly like that. But once it was pointed out, Haman had to do something.
And it wasn’t go to Mordecai and confront him and work this out. It was punish him. Punish Mordecai. And punishing just Mordecai, only Mordecai, wasn’t going to be enough. Verse 6.
“Yet having learned who Mordecai's people were, he scorned the idea of killing only Mordecai. Instead Haman looked for a way to destroy all Mordecai's people, the Jews, throughout the whole kingdom of Xerxes.”
Where is God???
Where is God when you are not recognized for your hard work?
Where is God when you are overlooked for a promotion?
Where is God when your enemy gets the promotion you deserve?
Where is God when someone is out to get you?
I’m sure that Mordecai was feeling those questions.
What is God doing in this chapter? He has not been mentioned. He has not been named. He is never named in this entire tale.
Is He here?
Because Haman is fixing to destroy all of Mordecai’s people, the Jews. And up to this point, they were not just Mordecai’s people, they were God’s people. Where is God?
Do you feel how personal it is? The evil in chapters 1 and 2 was more general evil and foolishness. That kind of evil hurts people, too. Selfish rulers and their foolish choices can bring a lot of pain to the people around them. Just ask the families of all of those pretty girls who were in Xerxes’ contest.
But this is a lot more personal. This is not just foolishness. This is hate. And it’s hate on a grand scale. Haman wants to (v.6), “destroy all Mordecai’s people, the Jews, throughout the whole kingdom of Xerxes.” And that kingdom includes Israel. It stretches from Pakistan to Northern Sudan. From India to Ethiopia. And remember what’s in the middle. And Haman is going to come up with the plan and the power do it. Look verse 7.
“In the twelfth year of King Xerxes, in the first month, the month of Nisan, they cast the pur (that is, the lot) in the presence of Haman to select a day and month. And the lot fell on the twelfth month, the month of Adar.”
Do you get the picture? This is the 12th year that Xerxes is king. That would probably make it 474 BC. How long has Esther been the queen? Did anybody do the math? About 5 years!
Has Haman been angry at Mordecai for five years? Has Mordecai been refusing to honor him for five years?
It doesn’t say. Maybe all of this happened in the same year, including Haman’s rise to power.
But now Haman tries to figure out a good time and day to kill all the Jews.
He uses what you and I would consider a randomizer. He “casts the pur” which is a Persian thing kind of like a set of dice which the Persians thought would reveal by divination the most propitious day for some action. We use these dice for our Yahtzee game at home. Are these magical? No, they are not. But the Persians had something they thought was. The pur. [Plural: Purim.]
We don’t know the system they used, but they use their system, rolled the dice, they cast the pur, the lot, and it “fell on the twelfth month, the month of Adar” which would have been in the late winter, early spring–March of 473BC about 11 months in the future.
Interestingly, these months were named by the Jews while they were in captivity. They were just called first, second, third month, etc, in the Torah, but they gave them these proper names when they were in exile. Nisan (first month) and Adar (twelfth month).
So Haman has his date for this massacre, and now he goes for the authority to do it. Verse 8. And, boy, is he sly.
“Then Haman said to King Xerxes, ‘There is a certain people dispersed and scattered among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom whose customs are different from those of all other people and who do not obey the king's laws; it is not in the king's best interest to tolerate them.
If it pleases the king, let a decree be issued to destroy them, and I will put ten thousand talents of silver into the royal treasury for the men who carry out this business” (vv.8-9).
Do you see what I mean about “sly?”
He doesn’t mention Mordecai at all! He doesn’t mention their grudge. He doesn’t talk about himself at all except as the man with the plan to rid the king of this pesky problem that he probably hasn’t even noticed.
He starts with truth. “There is a certain people dispersed and scattered [true] among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom [true] whose customs are different from those of all other people [also true. They are supposed to be different. They are holy.] and who do not obey the king's laws [Maybe not the ones where the king says you have to honor Haman, but I don’t think there are a bunch of other Persian laws that we’ve seen the Jews disobey. They even went along with the queen contest!]; it is not in the king's best interest to tolerate them.”
Never mind that Mordecai once saved your life!
This is a good reminder to check on people’s stories about others. To check sources. To not believe every bad report you hear about somebody. Some of that is going to turn out to be gossip and slander. Especially if it they benefit from the bad story in some way.
Haman says that these people contaminate the kingdom and should be exterminated from it. And he’s got a plan. Just leave it to him.
“And don’t worry about money, O King. Money will not be a problem. I’ll make sure this initiative is fully funded.”
The Greek historian Herodotus said that about this time the entire income for the Persian king in a year was around 15,000 talents of silver. Haman promises 10,000 talents of silver. 375 tons of silver! That’s like 2/3 of the entire kingdom budget for 474BC!
He might be exaggerating, but maybe not. He was probably planning to get that money from all of those Jews that they were going to kill. That was the plunder. And Xerxes who keeps losing all these battles with the Greeks sure needs money to keep up his wars. Follow the money. Verse 10.
“So the king took his signet ring from his finger and gave it to Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews. ‘Keep the money,’ the king said to Haman, ‘and do with the people as you please.’”
That is one of the most chilling sentences in the whole Bible.
It’s like Pilate washing his hands. King Ahasuerus gives Haman, the enemy of the Jews, the executive authority to do whatever he wants with all of the Jews.
By the way, the phrase the NIV translated, “Keep the money” might not mean “keep the money.” It’s literally something like, “the silver to you.” and it could be translated something like, “Well, it’s your money, so okay!” “Deal!” “Use as much of it as you need to effect your plan. And of course, I’ll take the rest.”
How terrible that the king didn’t even ask Haman the name of the people that he was going to exterminate.
He’s not curious in the slightest. He just delegates this authority to do mass murder! He’s so careless.
There’s a negative lesson here about how to wield the authority that we are given in our own domains. Whether we are parents or managers or leaders in church, home, work, government.
This week, if you are a voter, go out and vote for those whom you think will do the best job with the authority they are granted.
Ahasuerus couldn’t be bothered to even ask about the details. He just hands over his ring. And Haman takes the ring and runs! Verse 12.
“Then on the thirteenth day of the first month [which is probably April 17, 474BC] the royal secretaries were summoned. They wrote out in the script of each province and in the language of each people all Haman's orders to the king's satraps, the governors of the various provinces and the nobles of the various peoples. These were written in the name of King Xerxes himself and sealed with his own ring.
Dispatches were sent by couriers to all the king's provinces with the order to destroy, kill and annihilate all the Jews–young and old, women and little children–on a single day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar, and to plunder their goods.
A copy of the text of the edict was to be issued as law in every province and made known to the people of every nationality so they would be ready for that day. Spurred on by the king's command, the couriers went out, and the edict was issued in the citadel of Susa. The king and Haman sat down to drink, but the city of Susa was bewildered” (vv.12-15).
That happened fast. As soon as Haman had the authorization, he put everything in place for the massacre. Just like the Vashti order in chapter 1 and the contest order in chapter 2, this order is translated into language and sent out as law, binding irrevocable Persian law, to every province in the kingdom.
And the instructions are simple. “Destroy, kill, and annihilate all the Jews on March 7th. It’s almost a year away.
What a terrible thing to anticipate. The holocaust of holocausts. A genocide of Jews. In one day.
And the architect of this evil and the willing dupe behind it sit down for more drinking to celebrate each other.
“Good job, Grand Vizier Haman! Drink up!”
“Good job, O King Xerxes! I toast you!”
V.15 “But the city of Susa was bewildered.”
“What is going on? What does all of this mean? Who all is affected? How are we really going to pay for this?"
“Does this mean I need to kill my neighbor? Does this mean I get his stuff?
“Does this mean we’re going to die? In eleven months? Our whole family? Even grandma? Even the baby? Even...Hadassah?”
Where is God?
That’s where we’re going to stop today. I told you it was going to be a cliffhanger. Mordecai and his people are in danger, and that’s where we’re going to leave them, in danger. We’re going to leave them bewildered.
And that’s probably helpful for our hearts because that’s where we often live as Christians today. Sometimes we are going to be bewildered. We will feel confused, lost, disoriented, perplexed. Feeling, if not asking, the question, “Where is God?” If you haven’t had that feeling yet, just wait. It’s coming.
And stories like this in the Bible are helpful for teaching us that we’re not necessarily doing something wrong if we feel like that.
Where is God when life is unfair? Christians will face this. We live in an broken and unjust world.
Where is God when people hate us? Christians will face this. Not just Jews.
Where is God when we live under a threat? So many Christians around the world face persecution for their beliefs. And though Christians in America have mostly experienced a somewhat privileged status in our national history and almost no violent persecution, that could always change, and there are still plenty who hate us with malice in their hearts.
Where is God when evil abounds? Christians will face this.
We have an enemy. The same enemy that Haman was (unwittingly) working for.
So it’s probably good that we end on a cliffhanger and feel the dark clouds of threat and danger that hang over the city of Susa and the kingdom of Persia, especially in Israel.
This is real. This is where we often live.
The main application of Esther chapter 3 is that God’s people will often have to face injustice and malice. We shouldn’t be surprised.
The New Testament tells us how followers of Jesus are supposed to actually respond to this. Jesus taught us in the Sermon on the Mount and Peter taught us in his first letter about loving our enemies and blessing those who persecute us. We’ve studied both of those things in the last few years.
But the key idea here is just to not be surprised when we are bewildered.
At the same time, there are also little hints of hope even in chapter 3. And they provide wisdom for us, too.
I thought of three points to keep in mind from the little hints in this chapter, and here’s number. I think this chapter hints that:
#1. GOD IS NEAR.
The very fact that God is never named in Esther makes me think about Him all the more. Is that how it works for you? As soon as I found out that fact, I have always then looked for Him in the story. Because this is in the Bible! The Bible is about God! So if there is a story about God that doesn’t talk about God, it just about yells His name!
And this story is about evil. Raw evil. Well, how do we know it’s evil? What makes something evil? It’s evil over against what is righteous, right? What is holy. The reason why these words are so shocking is because of God. “Destroy, kill, and annihilate all the Jews...”
Where is God when great evil happens? He’s near. None of this evil takes Him by surprise. He may even have a plan for it. This world is not out spiraling out of control. God is not absent. He’s just telling a story with some awful things in it. Some bewildering things. But we know that they are not outside of his control.
Here’s one of the hints of that. In verse 7, when they cast the pur (that is, the lot), what does every Hebrew child who has memorized the Proverbs of Solomon know about the lot?
Proverbs 16:33, “The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD.”
There’s no such thing as a coincidence, and there is no such thing as chance. For all of our intents and purposes the lot is random. But there is no such thing as luck. We don’t understand it all, but we know that God controls all the twists and turns of our stories. He might not be named in Esther 3:7, but we know that every decision of the lot is from the LORD. He’s near.
Second, I think that Esther chapter 3 hints that:
#2. THERE ARE WORSE THINGS THAN BEING HATED.
I wouldn’t want to be in Mordecai’s shoes. But there are shoes in chapter 3 that I would want to be in less. I’d hate to be in Xerxes’ shoes. And I’d really hate to be in Haman’s.
Chapter 3 presents these two guys as examples of how not to live. Negative examples.
Xerxes is clueless, careless, and callous. He’s irresponsible with his power and authority. He’s greedy and thoughtless about the people under his authority. He’s selfish and unjust. I would rather be Mordecai than Xerxes even if it means being bewildered. Even if it means being murdered.
And Haman? Haman is malicious. He’s full of bitterness and pettiness. He’s sly and slanderous. He’s out for revenge. He’s on a power trip. He’s full of diabolical rage. I’d rather be Mordecai than Haman even if I didn’t know the rest of this story. Drinking it up while the world burns! There are worse things than being hated.
Followers of Jesus Christ are supposed to be different than the world. We, like the Jews, are dispersed and scattered all over the world. We live “in” the world, but we are not supposed to be “of” it. We live among the Hamans of this world, but we are not supposed to become like them. Not even so that they like us! There are worse things than being hated. There are even worse things than being killed.
Last hint of hope from chapter 3, and this will take us to the Table. I think that Esther chapter 3 hints that:
#3. GOD WILL SAVE HIS PEOPLE.
He has before.
Here’s one last hint from chapter 3. In verse 12, did you notice what day it was when the royal secretaries wrote out the order to exterminate the Jews?
Of course you didn’t! And neither did I. We don’t know what is “the thirteenth day of the first month.” But the Jews did. That was the day before Passover. That was Passover Eve. The fourteenth day of the first month (see Exodus 12.) April 18 that year of 474BC.
Now, one level, it’s terrible that they are being threatened again on the very day that they are supposed to celebrate their great rescue.
But I’ll bet that when they saw the order come across from King Xerxes and that was the date on the order, there were a lot of Jewish heads nodding at each other from across the room.
“He rescued us before. He can do it again.”
And more than that, God has promised to send them a Messiah to save them once and for all. And if God lets Haman kill all of the Jews, that Messiah will never come. And you and I will never be saved.
Yet here we are at His Table again.
So I don’t think we have to stay bewildered.
***
Messages in this Series:
01. The King Gave a Banquet - Esther 1:1-22
02. “Hadassah” - Esther 2:1-23
