14 Adar 5778 / March 1, 2018
Special for Purim 5778

by Ari Gradus. For Gradus’ work, see <http://rogallery.com/gradus_ari/gradus_hm.htm

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If Mordecai, before whom you have begun to fall, is of the Jewish people, you will not overcome him but will surely fall before him. (Esther 6:13)

One of my favorite moments in the Purim story is when the wicked Haman returns home after his humiliating task of parading Mordecai through the streets of the Persian capital. Seeing his thoroughly despondent state, his wife says to him these insightful words: “If Mordecai, before whom you have begun to fall, is of the Jewish people, you will not overcome him but will surely fall before him” (Esther 6:13). But it’s not how prophetically accurate this was that is so striking. What gets me is why didn’t she say this earlier. “If Mordecai is of the Jewish people…” Not long before, right after another one of Haman’s “I can’t stand Mordecai” pity parties, she came up with the brilliant idea of having a 75-foot-high gallows made to hang Mordecai on. In fact, it was Haman’s being in the royal court waiting to ask the king’s permission for this murderous deed that ended up with him publicly honoring Mordecai for rescuing the king some time earlier.

Obviously, it was this unusual turn of events that tweaked Haman’s wife’s thinking, resulting in her somber prediction. But again, if she already had enough of a grasp of the grand narrative of the Jewish people enabling her to predict her husband’s imminent demise, then why did she think they could get away with her spectacular hang-Mordecai-plan?

It’s because she thought, despite the truth, that they could get away with it. She wasn’t stupid. She and her husband knew how to play the political game to suit their selfish purposes, not caring one bit about who got hurt along the way. She was even able to risk fighting the forces of the universe to succeed. She knew God’s favor was on the Jews. Yet, perhaps she deceived herself long enough to think they could succeed. Weren’t things going their way until now?

Do we always have to wait until heaven pushes back against the forces of evil before we come to our senses? Can we not learn from history that the forces of good will always eventually prevail? Can we not learn from the story of Purim that standing against God, his people, and his plans will inevitably come to naught?

Like Haman’s wife, it’s not as if we don’t know better.

Scriptures taken from the English Standard Version