Esther 5:9 Then went Haman forth that day joyful and with a glad heart: but when Haman saw Mordecai in the king’s gate, that he stood not up, nor moved for him, he was full of indignation against Mordecai.
Just Enough Rope to Hang Himself
What are the five dumbest things you have ever done? Of all the dumb things you’ve done, it may well be that most of them were motivated by pride. Here is a ten-year-old who is playing a game of dare with his friends. His friend says, “I dare you to…” Just fill in the blank. Well, no self-respecting, ten-year-old is going to let someone dare him to do something he cannot do!
Haman was a man totally governed by his pride. Haman had been promoted right to the top by King Ahasuerus, and because of his pride he was angry that Mordecai the Jew would not bow to him. He essentially paid money into the king’s coffers so that the king would exterminate all the Jewish people.
Mordecai, Queen Esther’s father figure, told Esther, “Esther, you need to appeal to the king for the lives of your people.” The king did not even know that Esther was a Jew. Esther began her appeal by inviting both Haman and the king to a banquet. The king was pleased to attend, and Haman was flattered that he was the only other person to be invited.
Once there, the queen’s request was that they come for a second banquet. Verse 9 tells us, “Then went Haman forth that day joyful and with a glad heart: but when Haman saw Mordecai in the king’s gate, that he stood not up, nor moved for him, he was full of indignation against Mordecai.” This man had everything, but wasn’t happy because of this one Jewish man who refused to bow down to him. It was pride that made Haman miserable.
When Haman got home, he told his household of “the glory of his riches, and the multitude of his children, and all the things wherein the king had promoted him, and how he had advanced him above the princes and servants of the king.” He went on to tell them how he was the only one that had been invited to the banquet of the queen. He was full of himself. Then he said, “Yet all this availeth me nothing, so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king’s gate.” Haman could not be happy because of one man who wouldn’t give him what he wanted.
Haman’s answer was to build a gallows upon which Mordecai would be hung. They made it fifty cubits high, absurdly tall. It was built as a monument to the pride of Haman, and it was the gallows upon which Haman himself would be hung when the story was all said and done. Why? The answer is God will give the proud just enough rope with which to hang himself.
Proverbs 16:18 says, “Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.” Haman fell through the trap door precisely because he was on the pinnacle of his own pride. A proud person can’t tolerate being around anyone more intelligent, wealthy, or charming than he is himself because it is a threat to him.
But it is a wonderful thing to rest in who God has made you and to be a good steward of that. This seems to be what Mordecai did. He was a man who lived in the fear of God, in humility, and in honor. Proverbs 15:33 says, “The fear of the LORD is the instruction of wisdom; and before honour is humility.”
When you see other people proud of their accomplishments and walking over everyone else, remember that God gives honor to those who see themselves as God does. Those who are climbing over other people are getting just high enough that they can fall.