Dan Olinger

"If the Bible is true, then none of our fears are legitimate, none of our frustrations are permanent, and none of our opposition is significant."

Dan Olinger

Chair, Division of Biblical Studies & Theology,

Bob Jones University

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Outside the Camp, Part 1: The Background

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11 For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy places by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin are burned outside the camp. 12 So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood (He 13).

There’s a book in the Christian Scriptures that is written specifically to a Jewish audience; it’s even named “Hebrews.” We don’t know who wrote it (I’m pretty sure Paul didn’t), and we don’t know exactly when it was written (though it appears to have been while the Temple was still in operation [He 10.11], and thus before AD 70) or where (though it was apparently written either from Rome or to Rome [He 13.24]). Even the name “To the Hebrews” was perhaps not original.

But it’s pretty obvious to any reader that it’s a thoroughly Jewish book. By one count there are 229 citations of or allusions to the Hebrew Scriptures in the book’s 13 chapters (that’s an average of 17 per chapter, if you’re counting), beginning in the book’s second verse, which alludes to Ps 2.8, and ending in the final paragraph (specifically He 13.20), which alludes to the eternal covenant mentioned in Ezk 37.26.

It’s a very Jewish book.

We shouldn’t be surprised, then, that if we want to understand the book, we need to understand the Hebrew Scriptures—what Christians call the Old Testament. The passage cited above is a clear example.

Jesus, the author tells us, “suffered outside the gate” in order to set us apart to God through his blood.

What does that mean?

Well, in the previous sentence the writer notes that in the Old Testament sacrificial system, the bodies of animals were “burned outside the camp”—and that Jesus’ death was a designed parallel to that practice.

There are important lessons for us in that parallel. We need to probe this passage by considering the OT practice.

The Hebrew sacrificial system is laid out for us in the book of Leviticus, the third book of the Law of Moses. We find there that the system included several types of sacrifices, which can be categorized in various ways. I like the following structure, which follows the organization of Leviticus itself:

  • Voluntary Sacrifices
    • Burnt offerings (Le 1)
    • Grain / drink offerings (Le 2)
    • Peace offerings (Le 3)
  • Mandatory Sacrifices
    • Sin offerings (Le 4-5.13)
    • Trespass offerings (Le 5.14-7.38)

Each type of offering had different requirements—a different “recipe,” if you will. Two of these types are relevant to our passage in Hebrews:

  • The burnt offering, which the priests offered twice every day (Ex 29.38-43), was burned completely on the altar; every part of the animal was completely consumed (Le 1.9, 13, 17). Then the ashes were dumped “outside the camp” (Le 6.11).
  • The sin offering, which our passage specifically mentions (He 13.11), was handled differently; just the fat and the kidneys were burned on the altar (Le 4.8-10), while the rest of the carcass was burned “outside the camp” (Le 4.11-12).

Occasionally these two types of offerings were executed together; for example, at the priests’ consecration ceremony (Ex 29.10-14; Le 8-9) and on the annual Day of Atonement (Le 16).

Now, this is a lot of work. While Israel was in the wilderness, every single day for 40 years the priests had to cart the ashes of these sacrifices “outside the camp” and dump them—and, for sin offerings, burn them and ensure that they were completely consumed.

How far did they have to drag those carcasses?

Well, if there were 600,000 men in the army at both the beginning (Nu 1.46) and the end (Nu 26.51) of the 40 years in the wilderness, then it seems reasonable that the total number of people was around 2 million. How much area would tents for 2 million people cover? It’s hard to say; how far apart were the tents? Were there latrine facilities throughout the camp, and if so, how far from the tents did they need to be? Lots of variables. But it seems to me that such a group would need at least an area a mile in diameter—which means that from the center of the camp, where the Tabernacle was (Nu 2.2), it would be half a mile or more to the periphery, plus, undoubtedly, further distance to separate the “dump” from the residential tents.

Various animals could be sacrificed, including “herd” animals (Le 1.3, 4.3)—and a bull would weigh hundreds of pounds.

Half a mile. Twice a day.

This action must have considerable significance.

We’ll look at that next time.

Photo by Bakhrom Tursunov on Unsplash

On Korah … and His Sons, Part 2: Grace

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Part 1: Judgment

Our story so far is riddled with judgment; it seems like fodder for the old allegation that the God of the Old Testament is a God of impatience, fury, judgment, and violence.

But there’s a reason that allegation has been long and thoroughly discredited.

Even in the telling of this story, there is grace.

To begin with, the fact that there can even be a rebellion is evidence of grace. God has pronounced judgment on this generation of Israelites because of their unbelief at Kadesh-barnea, but he hasn’t withdrawn from them either his presence or the promises he has made. They are still a nation, with laws and order and stable leadership. If they had gotten what they deserved, there would have been nothing to rebel against.

And that leadership, who have been directly attacked, do not lash out against the threat; they leave the decision to God (Nu 16.5)—even though they’re furious (Nu 16.15). Even the Lord, to whom belongs judgment, doesn’t lash out; his glory appears, giving all who see time to avert the judgment (Nu 16.19). And with judgment impending, Moses—of all people—intercedes for the lives of those in peril (Nu 16.22), and then tells everyone the way of escape (Nu 16.26).

After the outbreak of judgment against the rebels, God orders memorial in the altar plates, so that the people will be reminded of the danger that lurks down the road of rebellion (Nu 16.38).

And when the rebellion continues in spite of everything, Moses and Aaron intercede to stop the plague that is now raging.

Grace at every turn.

But still there’s more.

There’s a little line later in the book, one that seems like a throwaway—

“Notwithstanding the children of Korah died not” (Nu 26.11).

God allowed Korah’s line to continue.

And 500 years later, we hear from them again.

When Solomon instituted the Temple ceremonies, he retained the Levite orders; the descendants of Korah who had not died served in the temple. And what a service they had.

(I should say here that some scholars believe that these Temple workers were descended from a different Levite named Korah, based on 1Ch 9.19. I’m inclined to disagree, because 1) 1Ch 9.19 doesn’t require that this be a different Korah—in fact, “both” Korahs have a son named Ebiasaph [1Ch 6.37-38]); 2) The rebel Korah’s people were in fact Levites engaged to serve in the Tabernacle complex; and 3) There seems to be no reason for the Spirit to inspire the “throwaway line” about Korah’s children not dying if they’re just going to disappear from history at that point.)

The Korahites served as porters, bakers, and musicians—and the musicians wrote eleven of the Psalms: 42-49, 84-85, and 87-88.

And if you’ll look through these Psalms, you’ll find that they contain some of the most lyrical lines in the whole hymnbook—

Psalm 42:

1 As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. 2 My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God? … 11 Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.

Psalm 45:

6 Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: the sceptre of thy kingdom is a right sceptre. 7 Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. 8 All thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, out of the ivory palaces, whereby they have made thee glad.

Psalm 46:

1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. 2 Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; 3 Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. 4 There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High. 5 God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early.

Psalm 48:

1 Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of his holiness. 2 Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King.

Psalm 84:

1 How amiable are thy tabernacles, O LORD of hosts! 2 My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the LORD: my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God. 3 Yea, the sparrow hath found an house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, even thine altars, O LORD of hosts, my King, and my God.

Psalm 85:

10 Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.

Psalm 87:

3 Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God.

The rebels learned. And a gracious God restored to them a heritage.

We’re all rebels. But rebels can repent, and repentant rebels can thrive.

Photo credit: publishers of the 1890 Holman Bible, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

On Korah … and His Sons, Part 1: Judgment

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The Old Testament book of Numbers is the story of the 40 years that the Israelites wandered in the Wilderness of Sinai. (I’ve written on the book’s larger significance here.) This whole period is of course a judgment for the nation’s unbelief at Kadesh-barnea; because Israel did not believe that God would give them the land he had promised to Abraham and his descendants, that unbelieving generation would die in the Wilderness, and their children, for whose lives they had feared, would take the land instead (Nu 13.26-14.35).

It’s no surprise, then, that we find individual acts of judgment popping up throughout the book. One of the most remarkable of those is what we call Korah’s rebellion; it’s notable for both the starkness of the judgment and the extravagance of the mercy that God extended.

We find the account in Numbers 16, a longer-than-usual chapter. We meet two relatively small groups of Israelites who believe that Moses and Aaron have taken more authority on themselves than they should have. The leader of one group is Korah, a Levite, and in fact a first cousin of Moses and Aaron (Ex 6.18, 20; Nu 16.1). The two leaders of the other group are Dathan and Abiram, members of the tribe of Reuben (Nu 16.1)—who, incidentally, was Jacob’s firstborn and rightful heir, but who lost the primogeniture for sleeping with his father’s concubine (Gn 35.22; 49.3-4). It’s easy to see how all three of those men would have been jealous of Moses’ authority— “why him and not us?”

Their charge is that Moses and Aaron haven taken this authority upon themselves illegitimately (Nu 16.3, 13). Evidently, they see as evidence of that the fact that Israel has not entered the Promised Land (Nu 16.14)—which seems weak evidence, given that the people themselves had refused to go in.

Moses’ response to the challenge is straightforward. Do Korah and his followers want to be priests alongside his cousin Aaron? Well, then, they should bring censers before the Lord alongside Aaron, and we’ll see what the Lord has to say about that (Nu 16.16-19).

And so they do. There are 250 men, each with a smoking censer, standing next to Moses and Aaron.

The glory of the Lord appears (Nu 16.19), and, remarkably, Moses begins to intercede for those facing judgment (Nu 16.22). And at the Lord’s command, Moses warns the whole congregation to get away from the rebels to avoid their fate (Nu 16.24-26).

As always, some believe the prophet, and others don’t. They act—or don’t act—in accordance with their belief, and unbelief brings consequences. In this case, the earth opens and swallows the rebels (Nu 16.31-33).

God orders the survivors to make metal plates from the rebels’ censers and to cover the altar with them (Nu 16.38). There will be a permanent reminder of the sin that brings judgment (Nu 16.40).

But this is not the end of the story.

Incredibly, rebellion continues. “All the congregation” accuses Moses of having killed good people (Nu 16.41).

Isn’t this ludicrous?! The earth opened up, for crying out loud. Shouldn’t that be an indication that Moses had supernatural backing? And “all the congregation” is unable to see what’s plainly before their eyes?!

Yikes.

And here comes the glory of the Lord, for the second time (Nu 16.42). A plague begins to spread among the people (Nu 16.46), and Moses sends Aaron out through the camp with a burning censer—a legitimate one (Nu 16.47).

“And he stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was stopped” (Nu 16.48).

This is not a pleasant episode in Israel’s history. I’m confident that none of us would want to have been there to see it.

But, as always, there is grace throughout this account, and even more grace to follow. We’ll consider that aspect of the story next time.

Photo credit: publishers of the 1890 Holman Bible, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

On Jumping

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Every so often here I just tell a story, something I’ve lived through that I think is entertaining. I’ve written on the almost-plane-crash, and on the time when my Dad threw bullets in a wood stove. There are other stories to tell, and today I’d like to talk about jumping off a bridge.

In God’s kind providence, I’ve had the opportunity to take ten different teams of university students to Africa. The experiences have been instructive, exciting, and joyous; I have fond memories of each team and each team member.

We went to several different countries: initially Kenya and South Africa, then Zambia, and eventually several teams went to Ghana and Tanzania. Ministering in countries in three different regions—East Africa, West Africa, and Southern Africa—taught us a lot about the cultural diversity of the continent, dispelling several myths common among Americans—but that’s for another post.

On one of the trips (the second, in 2010), we went to Zambia, working in several churches, an orphanage, and a Christian school in the Copperbelt, the northern part of the country. It was a delightful experience with a really talented and focused team.

I’m sensitive about tourism on these trips; we don’t go to be tourists, and I try to weed out those students early in the planning process. But on most trips there’s been time and opportunity to do a little touristy thing. We visited Amboseli in Kenya, Serengeti in Tanzania, Mole in Ghana, and even an amusement park in Johannesburg (in winter!), where we had the place pretty much to ourselves and rode the roller coasters until we could hardly see.

Zambia has one of the Seven Wonders of the natural world, Victoria Falls, and the missionaries we were working with thought it would be worthwhile to take 3 days to drive to Livingstone and back, with a day at the Falls. I was inclined to trust their judgment. : – )

The Falls are spectacular. They’re as wide as three Niagara / Horseshoe Falls, and you can hike right up to the very edge of the precipice on the Zambia side; I bent down and put my finger in the first inch of the cataract. You can hike around to the front of the falls, and I very much recommend the raincoat rentals.

There are associated activities, among which we gave the team members options. Several opted for the whitewater rafting, while others chose the bridge package. Just downriver from the Falls there’s a bridge between Zambia and Zimbabwe, from which you can bungee jump or ride a giant swing, and nearby there’s a zipline. At the time, you could do all three for $100.

When I showed up with ten customers, the guy comped me.

All three, for free. Cool.

The bridge is about 150 meters above the Zambezi River, with class 6 rapids in the gorge, and crocodiles just downstream.

Any number of ways to die.

I had posted on the team blog, which is typically read by parents and other interested parties, that we were going to have this opportunity, so that parents could interact with their progeny if they had concerns. When we got there, I watched the staff very closely, and they were professional, methodical, careful, with frequent checks and doublechecks.

OK then.

You could jump solo or in tandem. I opted to go alone.

You stand on the edge of the platform, raise your arms to the side, look at the horizon, and the crew member says, “1, 2, 3, bungee!” and gives you a slight nudge in the back.

Down you go.

It’s sensory overload—the peripheral landmarks speed by, the wind is rushing in your face, the water is roaring louder as you approach, and you’re upside down for the additional joy of utter disorientation.

It’s a 110-meter freefall before you max out the cord (essentially a 6-inch-thick rubber band), and then oscillate to equilibrium. There’s no discomfort to the maximum extension—it’s a rubber band, not a rope—but I found the extended time upside down, with blood rushing to my head, mildly uncomfortable.

When you’ve stopped boinging, a crew member comes down on a cable and ties into you, and they haul you back up.

At the time, this was the second highest bungee jump in the world. (The highest was in South Africa.) A few months after we jumped, an Australian woman had the cord break and dump her into the Zambezi—and she survived.

Knowing that, I don’t know if I’d do it again.

But it sure was fun.

Photo by Jeremy Bezanger on Unsplash

Second King, Part 10: The Missing Piece

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Part 1: Introduction | Part 2: We’ll See Who’s Boss | Part 3: Selfish Aims | Part 4: The King Gets What He Wants | Part 5: A Roll of the Dice | Part 6: The Tease | Part 7: Any Old Tablet | Part 8: Mental Explosion | Part 9: What Goes Around

With Haman out of the picture, we all know the rest of the story. There’s still the problem of the unalterable date for the extermination of the Jews. Xerxes promotes Mordecai to Haman’s place (Es 8.2) and assigns him to solve the problem (Es 8.8). Mordecai’s solution is both simple and just: authorize the Jews to use deadly force if necessary to defend themselves (Es 8.11). With that decree, the earlier one largely loses its force, since government sanction of murder kind of loses its appeal if you’re not protected from the consequences.

There are apparently a good number who don’t use discretion on the matter, and they face the consequences of their actions. And the long-range consequence is that today the Jews have a holiday, Purim (“lots”), so-called for the casting of lots by which Haman determined on what day the genocide of the Jews would occur.

This is the story in broad strokes. But there’s something missing.

We’ve seen an awful lot of coincidences in this story.

  • Mordecai hears of the assassination plot.
  • One night the king can’t sleep.
  • His servant picks a random clay tablet from the archives.
  • Haman is standing outside as the tablet is read.
  • Haman assumes the king’s question is about him.
  • Haman doesn’t know Esther’s ethnicity.
  • The king completely misconstrues Haman’s actions toward Esther.

Are these all just coincidences? Are the Jews the luckiest people ever?

That’s just not reasonable.

It really seems as though someone is directing the progress of this plot. There’s intelligence behind it.

Whose intelligence? Esther’s? Mordecai’s?

That’s ridiculous. Esther couldn’t have predicted that she would be queen, and neither of them could have directed the servant to choose that particular tablet from the archives, or could have misdirected the king to interpret Haman’s motives completely inaccurately.

No, this intelligence is bigger than either of them, or both of them put together.

This is a divine providence.

But—and I don’t know if you’ve noticed this—there’s no God in this book. That is, he’s never mentioned.

Mordecai gets close when he tells Esther that she may have come to the kingdom for such a time as this (Es 4.14), but that’s an implication, not a specification.

God’s not mentioned. Anywhere.

But if you don’t see him in this story, you’re not paying attention.

And that means that this story has significance even for people who don’t celebrate Purim.

We all face difficulties of various kinds, even threats. And when we do, we want a visible—and powerful, and loud—Deliverer. We want intervention. We want action. We want a beatdown.

But God doesn’t need to do all that. He can deliver us in any way he chooses, and these days those ways don’t include voices from heaven or angelic armies. Sometimes he just keeps somebody awake. Sometimes he just lets somebody overhear something. Sometimes somebody just picks out exactly the right random thing.

Even when God is silent, he is there, and he is at work, including caring for his people.

He’s the real King.

Photo credit: Xerxes’ tomb; dynamosquito from France, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Second King, Part 9: What Goes Around 

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Part 1: Introduction | Part 2: We’ll See Who’s Boss | Part 3: Selfish Aims | Part 4: The King Gets What He Wants | Part 5: A Roll of the Dice | Part 6: The Tease | Part 7: Any Old Tablet | Part 8: Mental Explosion 

Haman’s confidence at last night’s banquet has disappeared. Now he knows that one of the Jews he has convinced the king to execute—Mordecai—is an honored court official, and that as his wife has so helpfully pointed out, at some point in the next eleven months before the determined day of genocide, he’s going to be in a very difficult situation.

But for tonight, at least, he’s a guest of the king and queen, and there will be feasting. Might as well eat, drink, and be merry, even if at some point we die. Everybody dies eventually, right?

I’m speculating here. The writer has ended chapter 6 with a sense of foreboding; in the movie version there would be ominous music over that last sentence of the chapter. Whether Haman shares that sense of foreboding isn’t stated.

At this feast, as at the previous one, the king demonstrates that he knows this whole thing isn’t about eating or social interaction. He asks his queen again, “What is it that you want? I am willing, eager to give you whatever you might ask” (Es 7.2).

When he had asked her that question the previous night, she had simply put him off for a day, most likely to build anticipation and thus to heighten the shock of what she was going to reveal.

Now it’s time.

She asks the king to deliver her and her people from extinction (Es 7.3-4).

I note that even at this point, she does not mention the word “Jews.” It’s likely that Haman still doesn’t know her ethnicity; he may still have no idea how much trouble he’s in at this moment.

Xerxes is puzzled. Who in his right mind would seek to exterminate the Queen—and all her people? What madness is this? Don’t these morons know who they’re dealing with?

So he asks (Es 7.5). Whoever the criminals are, they will be neutralized.

And now, in one brief sentence (Es 7.6) it all comes crashing down.

It’s Haman.

This has to be the fastest transition from Clueless to Uh-Oh in the history of ever.

The king, realizing that he has been betrayed by his highest-ranking official, and likely not knowing that Haman had no idea he was endangering the Queen, storms in a rage out into the garden, likely in an effort to compose himself. Haman, now able to smell the aroma of cooked goose, moves to the Queen to beg for his life.

We know that it was customary in biblical times to eat at a low table or off a mat on the floor. The diners would recline on one side, propped up on an elbow. This was the procedure at the Last Supper, for example, when John the apostle reclined on Jesus’ breast (Jn 13.23). With that in mind, I suspect that Haman jumped to his feet, walked over to where the Queen was reclining (KJV calls it a “bed”; most modern versions call it a “couch”), and then threw himself down into a position of supplication. Angry because a Jew would not bow to him, he now ironically bows willingly at the feet of another Jew.

The king, presumably having composed himself, returns to the room to find Haman and the Queen both reclined in proximity to one another, and Haman clearly highly agitated and active, and he assumes that he’s witnessing a sexual assault (Es 7.8).

Yikes.

The king is now completely wrong twice over about Haman’s intentions. Haman had no intention of endangering the Queen in his attack on Mordecai, and of course he has no intention of assaulting the Queen with anything more than appeals for his life.

But the very act of pleading for his life has now ensured that it is forfeit.

What rotten luck.

A court official helpfully informs the king that there’s an instrument of execution ready—in Haman’s back yard, in fact. Apparently Haman had colleagues at court who were not his friends.

Off—and up—he goes.

Justice.

But we recall that even with Haman dead, the genocide proclamation is still in force and unalterable. We have a loose end to tie up.

Next time.

Part 10: The Missing Piece

Photo credit: Xerxes’ tomb; dynamosquito from France, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Second King, Part 8: Mental Explosion

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Part 1: Introduction | Part 2: We’ll See Who’s Boss | Part 3: Selfish Aims | Part 4: The King Gets What He Wants | Part 5: A Roll of the Dice | Part 6: The Tease | Part 7: Any Old Tablet

So the sleepy servant begins to read the cuneiform to the unsleepy king. And as he reads, the king gets un- and unsleepier. : – )

He’s hearing the story of how two of his court officials had been plotting to assassinate him, and someone named Mordecai had saved his life by reporting them.

As I’ve noted before, plots against Xerxes’ life were apparently common enough that now the king doesn’t even remember this specific event, even though he had ordered the execution of the conspirators (Es 2.23). In any case, he (probably) sits up in bed and asks what has been done to reward Mordecai for saving his life. The servants attending the king tell him that no reward has been given (Es 6.3).

Well. That’s just not right. He saved my life; we ought to do something for him. Since it was my life—the most important life in the kingdom, obviously—that he saved, we ought to do something really cool.

I need some creative ideas. Who’s got some ideas? Is there anybody in the courtyard?

Well, your Persianness, it’s the middle of the night; but surprisingly, there’s actually somebody out there—Haman, your highest court official (Es 3.1, 6.4).

Excellent! He’s a smart one; he’ll have some ideas. Get him in here.

Now, we can see the comedy coming. The king wants to reward Mordecai in some creative, spectacular way. Haman’s intention is to ask the king to authorize an early execution of, um, that very same Mordecai. The plot is getting downright Shakespearean. Or O. Henryian.

Haman is likely surprised at being ushered into Xerxes’ bedchamber in the middle of the night. This must be a pressing matter of State.

The king asks him a terse question: “What should be done for a man the king wants to honor?”

Now, we already know that Haman is a self-centered person. So we’re not surprised that his revealed motive isn’t “How can I be of service to the king?” but “Ooh! This is about me, isn’t it?!” (Es 6.6).

So Haman assumes that he’s the person the king wants to honor. And since we know that, we have a chance to see deep into his heart.

He offers his counsel—treat the man as if he were the king himself. Adorn the man in the royal robes, and place him on the royal steed, and parade him around the city, proclaiming his greatness.

What does this tell us?

Haman wants to be king.

He’s the very last person the king should want to be advising him. He’s a danger to the king and to the state. He’s no better than those two court officials whom the king had executed.

But the king can’t read Haman’s real motives, and he’s thinking of Mordecai anyway. So the suggestion sounds great to him. He tells Haman to make it so (Es 6.10).

We love imagining the explosion that must have occurred in Haman’s brain when he heard the king’s key words: “Mordecai the Jew.” I wonder what his face looked like.

At this point Haman does the one wise thing recorded of him in the whole Bible. He decides that this probably isn’t a good time to ask for the king’s permission to execute Mordecai.

Smart move.

He has an order from the king, and he obeys it.

Another smart move.

But again, I wonder what his face looked like.

And when Haman’s humiliating obedience is fulfilled, Mordecai returns to his normal life; boy, that was fun, but no big deal. And Haman, unsurprisingly, is humiliated, angry, unbelieving of all that has happened. Of all the rotten luck.

And now he has a second conversation with his household (Es 6.12-13), and the contrast with the earlier one (Es 5.10-14) is dramatic. His wife tells him, “Boy, you’ve done it now. If Mordecai’s a Jew, and the king’s proclamation—at your behest—can’t be altered, then, well, your goose is pretty much cooked.”

And here comes the king’s servant to escort him to dinner.

Stay tuned, my friends. This is going to be fun to watch.

Part 9: What Goes Around | Part 10: The Missing Piece

Photo credit: Xerxes’ tomb; dynamosquito from France, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Second King, Part 7: Any Old Tablet

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Part 1: Introduction | Part 2: We’ll See Who’s Boss | Part 3: Selfish Aims | Part 4: The King Gets What He Wants | Part 5: A Roll of the Dice | Part 6: The Tease

With Queen Esther’s plan in place, and in progress, the storyteller turns his focus to Haman. We already know that he’s proud and arrogant but not confident in his authority; he’s enraged by Mordecai’s simple refusal to bow to him—as if that matters—and his response far outmeasures the offense: he’s going to kill Mordecai, and he’s going to eradicate his entire people group.

The plan for the genocide is already in place, signed by the king and unalterable. Haman now turns to the specific task of getting rid of Mordecai without having to wait 11 months for the genocide date.

His approach has been affected, in ways he doesn’t realize, by Queen Esther, who has already outsmarted him. She knows of his arrogance and has played to it perfectly by inviting only him to join her and the king at a private but lavish feast—for two nights in a row.

His guard is completely down. After the first night, he goes home to his family and brags about the recognition (Es 5.11-12). But on the way home, the mere sight of Mordecai sitting in the gate increases his rage (Es 5.9). A slight has outweighed all the pleasures and privileges he holds in the kingdom.

He’s a petty, petty man.

And Esther knows it.

Haman’s wife and friends suggest that he rid himself of the problem of Mordecai with dispatch. He should build a gallows on which to hang the Jew.

When we hear “gallows,” we think of the hangman’s apparatus. But that’s not this at all.

This is a pointed stake, 75 feet tall (Es 5.14). You erect it, and then you lower the hapless victim onto the pointed top. It pierces his body, first from gravity and then from the writhing. When it gets to his heart—or maybe, mercifully, sooner—he dies.

I’m told that it’s an unpleasant way to go.

Haman likes the idea. He has his servants—he has plenty of servants—put the heinous contraption together.

He’s going to need the king’s permission to execute Mordecai before the appointed time. By now it’s nighttime, and the king isn’t available. But Mordecai clearly wants to get this thing done ASAP, so he takes the most efficient route open to him: he goes to the gate of the king’s court—probably the very place where he had seen Mordecai sitting earlier in the day—and he waits, like an iPhone fan waiting for the next model, or a Marvel fan waiting for the first showing. He’ll wait all night, he thinks, and be the first one in line in the morning. We’ll get this done.

He settles in.

And the whole story—all of it—hinges on what happens next (Es 6.1).

Xerxes can’t sleep.

That’s the hinge? A little thing like that?

Yep.

He can’t sleep.

So he calls a servant and tells him to go get a copy of the Congressional Record to read to him.

That’ll put him to sleep. Works every time.

And the servant, rubbing the sleep from his eyes and likely cursing the king under his breath, stumbles into the archive warehouse, weaves his way down a long aisle, and perhaps without even looking, pulls a nondescript clay tablet from a shelf. Doesn’t care what it is, because what it is doesn’t matter. Just need to get the stupid king back to sleep.

Back in the king’s bedchamber, the servant begins to read. This tablet, this randomly and blindly chosen tablet, is one we’ve seen before. It’s the scribal record of the two would-be assassins, who were executed after Mordecai reported them to the court.

What are the odds?

The hinge begins to move.

To be continued.

Part 8: Mental Explosion | Part 9: What Goes Around | Part 10: The Missing Piece

Photo credit: Xerxes’ tomb; dynamosquito from France, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Second King, Part 6: The Tease

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Part 1: Introduction | Part 2: We’ll See Who’s Boss | Part 3: Selfish Aims | Part 4: The King Gets What He Wants | Part 5: A Roll of the Dice

The previous post ends with all the population of Susa perplexed. What is the king thinking, ordering all Jews to be executed?! This is madness!

Of course, the Jews themselves respond even more energetically. Mordecai stands in sackcloth in front of the king’s gate, crying out at the top of his voice (Es 4.1-2). And the cry extends all across the empire, wherever there are Jews to mourn (Es 4.3).

We’re surprised that Esther doesn’t know about the decree, but we probably shouldn’t be. In that culture—in fact, in pretty much all cultures of that day—this is men’s business. No need to worry her pretty little head about it. The queen is told that her cousin is mourning, and she sends to find out why (Es 4.5).

Mordecai has a copy of the decree—it had been widely circulated (Es 3.14)—which he sends to Esther (Es 4.8). She knows there’s a response that might be effective, even in the instance of an unamendable law: she can try to intervene with the king.

She knows in how high esteem Xerxes holds her. She knows her power.

But there’s a risk.

You can see the king—if he calls for you. You can’t just mosey on in and ask for stuff. Not even if you’re the queen.

The king’s a really big deal, you see.

Mordecai too knows that this is risky. But he too knows the power she wields over the king. It’s worth the risk. Mordecai tells her, “This is why you’re in the position you’re in. This is why you’re the queen” (Es 4.13-14).

Now, those are interesting words. Mordecai thinks that history isn’t random. He thinks there’s a purpose to it. Since he’s a Jew, we know quite a bit about his worldview—but he doesn’t go into all that. He simply says that there’s a reason.

And that implies that Xerxes may not be as big as he thinks he is.

And there’s yet another implication in Esther’s reply. She calls for all the Jews in Susa to fast for three days (Es 4.16). Interestingly, she doesn’t call on them to pray; but again, we know Jewish culture, and we know that fasting and praying go together (1S 7.5-6; 2Ch 20.3; Ne 1.4; Ps 35.13; Da 9.3; Joel 1.14). What does Esther expect nationwide fasting to accomplish?

Like Mordecai, she doesn’t think history is random either.

After the three days of fasting, Esther works her plan. She puts on her royal apparel (Es 5.1)—this will show respect for the king’s presence, but it will also certainly impress on him all the strengths he knows she has—the reasons he chose her as queen in the first place.

She knows he will not dismiss her.

And he doesn’t.

He welcomes her into the throne room, and he asks her request. He knows she must want something; you don’t drop by the throne just to ask how the king’s day is going.

Esther doesn’t pour her troubles all over him. She’s going to give him the story just a bit at a time.

She’s clever, and she’s worked the tactics all out ahead of time.

She says nothing about the Jews, or the decree, or Haman’s manipulation of the mighty king.

She just invites the king to dinner.

Oh, and Haman too (Es 5.4).

The king’s delighted. A beautiful woman, and food too! What could be better?

And when he is well fed, he turns to the queen and asks again what she wants. He may just want to bestow gifts on her as signs of his approval and affection, or he may know that she wouldn’t have come to the throne just to invite him to dinner. He has the good sense to ask again what she would like him to do for her.

And Esther surprises us again.

Again, she doesn’t get down to business about the decree.

She invites the king and Haman to another dinner. Tomorrow (Es 5.8).

Like Sheherazade, she knows the power of anticipation.

Till “tomorrow.”

Part 7: Any Old Tablet | Part 8: Mental Explosion | Part 9: What Goes Around | Part 10: The Missing Piece

Photo credit: Xerxes’ tomb; dynamosquito from France, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Second King, Part 5: A Roll of the Dice

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Part 1: Introduction | Part 2: We’ll See Who’s Boss | Part 3: Selfish Aims | Part 4: The King Gets What He Wants  

After Esther becomes queen, about four years pass before we meet the antagonist of the story, the wicked court official Haman. He is an Agagite (Es 3.1), which may mean that he’s a descendant of Agag the Amalekite, whom King Saul had refused to kill when the Lord told him to (1Sam 15.8, 32-33). Israel and Amalek had a long history of enmity, going back a thousand years from Esther’s time; Balaam’s blessing of Israel included the promise that Israel’s king “would be higher than Agag” (Nu 24.7). It would certainly make sense that Haman would have a deep-seated hatred for the Jews, if this is what “Agagite” means. But that is by no means certain. 

At any rate, Mordecai refuses to bow to Haman (Es 3.2). 

That’s interesting, because the question of bowing to earthly rulers isn’t clearly answered in Scripture. On the one hand, the Law forbade bowing to false gods or idols (Ex 20.5; 23.24; Le 26.1; De 5.9), and we have the example of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refusing to bow to the image of the king (Da 3.12). But God’s people frequently bowed to human rulers, and even to Gentiles. When Abraham was purchasing a burial place for Sarah, he bowed to the Hittites from whom he was purchasing it (Ge 23.7). A woman from Tekoah bowed to King David (2S 14.4), as did a messenger when David was waiting news from the battlefield (2S 18.28). David’s wife Bathsheba bowed to him as well (1K 1.16). 

So exactly why Mordecai refused to bow to Haman is not clear. Maybe it was a religious thing; maybe he just didn’t like the guy. But this single tiny incident sets in motion the motivation for Haman to isolate and execute the Jews—a motivation that will drive the rest of the story. 

Haman is furious (Es 3.5). Modern readers will realize that this kind of response likely indicates weakness and insecurity rather than actual power; a confident leader doesn’t worry about such minor slights, because he has more important things to give his attention to. Haman’s weakness is further demonstrated by his response—we’ll kill Mordecai, and we’ll kill his entire people as well (Es 3.6). Of course, if he carries out his desire, God’s promise to Abraham—of a people, and of a Seed (Ge 15.4-5)—will go unkept. 

On April 7, 474 BC, Haman’s staff casts the lot to determine the day on which the Jews will be exterminated (Es 3.7). The Persians often cast lots, as far as a year in advance, to determine auspicious days to do this or that. The day that comes up this time is March 7, 473 BC—11 months away. The lag time gives the Jews warning and time to prepare. Speaking of “auspicious.” 

Haman figures that if he kills the Jews, he can plunder their stuff. So he bribes Xerxes to grant his horrific request (Es 3.9). He’ll pay the 10,000 talents from the plunder. 

Now, 10,000 talents is a pile of money. Xerxes’ predecessor, Darius I, received about 15,000 talents in revenue for a whole year. This tells us that Haman saw the Jews as a wealthy target; they had apparently done very well in Babylon. 

Xerxes acquiesces to Haman’s absurd request (Es 3.11). And so the decree goes out across the entire empire, in all the requisite languages. The announcement day is the 13th day of the first month (Es 3.12)—the day before Passover (Le 23.5). Happy holidays. 

The despot takes the whole thing lightly. He signs the decree and then calls for a drink with Haman (Es 3.15). Good ol’ boys having a good time. 

“But the city Shushan was perplexed” (Es 3.15). The king’s own people are bewildered by what he has done. The crowds in the city mill about in the streets, shaking their heads, asking one another what this can possibly mean. “What on earth is he thinking?!” 

But he’s the sovereign. He can do what he wants. 

There’s nobody bigger. Right?

Part 6: The Tease | Part 7: Any Old Tablet | Part 8: Mental Explosion | Part 9: What Goes Around | Part 10: The Missing Piece

Photo credit: Xerxes’ tomb; dynamosquito from France, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons