Friday, May 11, 2007

HAMAN GALLOWS AND THE WORLD TODAY

Oyenda ndi lupanga, lupanga lomwero ndilo lizamuphe

BY: Peter Qeko Jere


The one Old Testament characters that every Malawian cannot afford to ignore reading is the account of a man called Haman in the book of Esther. Haman’s account gives a picture of what the world and Malawi is today. It also reveals that laws that are biasely made to satisfy and address the needs of few individuals will one day be very tool of their pain.

In the book of Esther we have an account of Jews living in exile in Susa under King Xerxes. In chapter 3, we meet Haman whom the King promoted to be the second in command in the entire kingdom. He was infact the Vice President with all executive power. This meant that all people to knelt down and pay respect to him each time he passed by. However a certain Jew by the name of Mordecai defiled all orders and couldn’t kneel down to someone who was not a Jew and yet alone Haman. Because of Mordecai’s behaviour, Haman became angry and enraged and looked for means and ways of how he could eliminate all the Jews living in their kingdom. He later convinced King Xerxes who agreed to the elimination of all Jews. However the king had no idea that his very wife, Queen Esther was a Jew.

Upon hearing the King’s declaration, Mordecai and all Jews went on a three days fasting for their miracle. Even Queen Esther in the palace fasted for three days. On the third day, the King saw that Esther looked depressed and sad and demanded to know what was going on with her. In response, Queen Esther asked King Xerxes to invite Haman to a banquet at the palace so that she reveals what was troubling her.

Upon receiving the invitation from the King, Haman was the happiest man and he called his wife and all his friends and boasted about his vast wealth, his many sons and how the King elevated him above all the other nobles and officials in the land. In Esther 5:11-12, Haman boasted and said, “ I am the only person Queen Esther invited to accompany the King to the banquet”. However the King’s invitation didn’t mean a thing to Haman as long as he continue to see Mordecai alive as he said it himself, “All this gives me no satisfaction as long as I see that Jew Mordecai sitting at the Kings gate (Esther 5:13). There then in Esther 5:14, his friends advised him and said, “ Have a gallows built seventy-five feet high and ask the King in the morning to have Mordecai hanged on it. This suggestion delighted Haman and he had the gallows built.

While Haman was celebrating that finally Mordecai will be destroyed, God intervened by making King Xerxes seriously consider rewarding Mordecai for exposing Bigthana and Teresh who wanted to assassinate the King (the King had no idea that Haman planned to kill Mordecai). While the King was considering this, Haman arrived in the King’s court and asked him what should be done to someone the King would want to honour? Haman was delighted and thought that this man was himself. Therefore he told the king that such a man be given a royal robe and the royal horse used by the King and parade him throughout the city and the country. Haman was shocked to hear the King commanding him to do all what he said to Mordecai.

This was a turning point and the very beginning of Haman’s downfall. The man he planned to kill was the one he was ordered by the king to parade and dress with royal robe. Esther 6:11 says that, “ So Haman got the role and the horse (as commanded by the king). He robed Mordecai and led him on horseback through the city streets proclaiming before him, that this is what the king do to anyone he delights to honour”. After this bizarre, Haman went home to his wife with his head covered in shame because the King honoured Mordecai. Before Haman finished narrating the whole saga to his wife, King’s eunuchs arrived and hurried Haman away to the banquet Esther had prepared.

At the banquet table, the king finally asked Queen Esther to reveal to him why she was so depressed. In brief Queen Esther told the king that she was sad and in deep sorrow because her people (Jews) and herself had been sold for destruction and she asked the King to spare her people. When the King asked regarding who was responsible for all this, Queen Esther was quick to point out that Haman was the master planner and the very architect of the Jews destruction. Upon hearing this, King Xerxes was angry and ordered that Haman be hanged. Fortunately enough, Haman himself had already made a gallows on which to hang Mordecai. Therefore, Haman was finally hanged on the same gallows that he made for Mordecia.

The Haman account is significant to law and policy makers of today. Sometimes laws made with an intention of dealing with particular individuals or situations, which is regrettable. Also laws should not be made to address the needs and aspirations of particular individuals or group of people. Laws need to be made for the common good of all people, rich or poor, black, white or yellow. Like Haman’s gallows, laws and policy that are made to target and satisfy particular individuals backfires.

Also laws that are made purposely to harm fellow citizens become the very instrument of pain, destruction and anarchy in future. This means that people need to be extra careful to always consider the welfare of all people and not only few individuals. This is because no one plans evils against a fellow being and goes away with it free. Also Haman had no idea that the gallows he made could be his own death sentence.

Therefore, in all we do, let seriously consider what consequences our actions and plans have on our own lives in future. Our present actions and decisions shall determine how together with our children and grandchildren shall live in future. If we are not careful enough, we shall end up like Haman, to be crucified by the same rules we set up.

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