Sermon: To Bow or Not To Bow? (Esther 3:1-6)

To Bow or Not To Bow Sunday, January 26th, 2025 Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WA

Esther 3:1–6 1After these things did king Ahasuerus promote Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, and advanced him, and set his seat above all the princes that were with him. 2And all the king’s servants, that were in the king’s gate, bowed, and reverenced Haman: for the king had so commanded concerning him. But Mordecai bowed not, nor did him reverence. 3Then the king’s servants, which were in the king’s gate, said unto Mordecai, Why transgressest thou the king’s commandment? 4Now it came to pass, when they spake daily unto him, and he hearkened not unto them, that they told Haman, to see whether Mordecai’s matters would stand: for he had told them that he was a Jew. 5And when Haman saw that Mordecai bowed not, nor did him reverence, then was Haman full of wrath. 6And he thought scorn to lay hands on Mordecai alone; for they had shewed him the people of Mordecai: wherefore Haman sought to destroy all the Jews that were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus, even the people of Mordecai.

Prayer

O Father, Your Word says that “great peace have they which love thy law, and nothing shall offend them.” We ask now for such peace, for such delight in your commandments, that nothing may cause us to stumble. We ask for your Holy Spirit in Jesus’ name, Amen.

Introduction

The title of our sermon this morning is “To Bow or Not To Bow.” And here in our text we are confronted with the question, “Should Mordecai bow to Haman?” We know that he refuses to bow, and we know that Haman’s reaction is an evil and unjust over-reaction, but was Mordecai right in the eyes of God to not bow and give reverence to Haman? That is the question we will take up in this sermon.

• Now before we search the Scriptures to try to answer that question, let us begin with a brief survey of our text, and gather all the facts.
• We might think of ourselves in this sermon as judges sitting in the gate, and we want to give Mordecai a fair hearing. So that means hearing his testimony as described in this text, and then judging it by the law of God (as we did with Vashti), comparing Scripture with Scripture.
• And it is always good in matters of judgment to recall some important proverbs.
  • For example, Proverbs 18:17 reminds us, “The first one to plead his cause seems right, Until his neighbor comes and examines him.”
  • And against rushing to judgment before hearing both sides it says in Proverbs 18:13, “He who answers a matter before he hears it, It is folly and shame to him.”
  • So before we attempt to render any judgment on what Mordecai should or should not have done, and by extension what we ought to do in similar circumstances, let us hear the facts of the case.

Verse 1

1After these things did king Ahasuerus promote Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, and advanced him, and set his seat above all the princes that were with him.

• So recall that Mordecai has just saved the king’s life, Bigthan and Teresh have been executed, but instead of Mordecai getting promoted, we are told that Haman is promoted, the king “set his seat above all the princes that were with him.”
  • We said last week that the temptation for Haman will be to let this newfound status and power go to his head, and the temptation for Mordecai will be to get bitter and/or to envy Haman. So how does Mordecai respond?

Verses 2-3

2And all the king’s servants, that were in the king’s gate, bowed, and reverenced Haman: for the king had so commanded conc