In the story of Esther, Haman is named second in command, and there is an order that everyone is to bow to him. But why wouldn’t Mordecai bow? Esther 3: 2 All the king’s officials would bow down before Haman to show him respect whenever he passed by, for so the king had commanded. But Mordecai refused to bow down or show him respect. [1] The only reason Mordecai gives is that he is a Jew. We can’t prove exactly why Mordecai refused to bow, but there are a couple of possibilities.
Generational Hate
Esther 3:1Some time later King Xerxes promoted Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite over all the other nobles, making him the most powerful official in the empire.[2] It is possible that as an Agagite, Haman was a descendant of King Agag, king of the Amalekites. The Jews and the Amalekites had been enemies since the exodus (Exodus 17:8-16).
God had told King Saul to kill this king, but Saul only captured him. (1 Sam. 15) Later, Samuel had to complete God’s orders. Saul would eventually lose the kingship because of this decision. His disobedience also allowed the threat of destruction for the Jews during the time of Esther.
Even though there were 500 years between the story of Saul and the story of Esther, there was still animosity between the Jews and the descendants of King Agag. Mordecai may have simply refused to honor an enemy by refusing to bow to Haman.
Idolatry
We know that King Xerxes had commanded people to bow before Haman, but we don’t know the exact words of that decree. It was not wrong for a Jew to bow in respect to another human; we see this happen in the Old Testament. Abraham bowed when he negotiated the price for Sarah’s grave (Gen. 23:7). Joseph’s brothers bowed before Joseph as an Egyptian official (Gen. 42:6), and Jacob bowed before Esau (Gen. 33:3).
The Hebrew words used in Esther 3:2 for “bow down” and “show respect” can mean the same as the English translation or have connotations of worship. They can mean to kneel in reverence as before a god in worship.[3] It may be possible that Haman, in his pride, inferred some kind of godlike persona. So, Mordecai, as a Jew, would not bow before anyone but the one true God.
Civil Disobedience
Mordecai’s co-workers questioned why he wouldn’t bow down. Sometimes in our lives, we must respond to government authorities as Peter did. Acts 5:29 But Peter and the apostles replied, “We must obey God rather than any human authority.[4] Mordecai knew God’s law, Exodus 20: 3 You must not have any other god but me.[5] Even though it meant disobeying the king’s decree, Mordecai refused to bow to Haman. As followers of Jesus, we must do the same, even, as in our story, if there are consequences.
Why wouldn’t Mordecai bow? To learn more, listen here:
https://podpoint.com/light-of-christ-church-podcast/dastardly-plots
[1,2,4,5] Tyndale House Publishers. (2015). Holy Bible: New Living Translation. Tyndale House Publishers.
[3] Strong, J. (1995). In Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon. [H3766, H7812] Woodside Bible Fellowship.