Intro: When I wrote my PhD dissertation, it was based largely on the Book of Esther. This historical account served as the biblical anthropology I explored in the fiction of American writer Cormac McCarthy. The reason I have been drawn to the Book of Esther so often is because in it we discover the utter darkness and folly of sin and the ultimate triumph of truth and justice. In the novels and plays of McCarthy, you also discover the utter darkness and folly of sin and the possibility of truth and justice, but McCarthy is no Pollyanna. McCarthy’s writings explore the sundry levels of moral depravity but I argued that in each of his writings, there is the possibility of moral goodness and redemption in at least some of his characters.

Connection: What does that have to do with the indestructible truth and the Book of Esther? A great deal. Follow me: Haman is one of the most wicked men in all of the Bible. He plotted to have Mordecai, Esther, and all of the Jews annihilated (Esther 7:4). Haman plotted to have himself honored by King Ahasuerus (Esther 6:6). Haman hated Mordecai’s honor and integrity and especially the fact that Mordecai saw right through Haman. Mordecai was a master of pattern recognition (Esther 4:12-14).

Haman plotted to have himself be like the most high. He loved nothing and no one nearly as much as he loved himself. He was the consummate narcissist. He didn’t love the people; he didn’t love the king; he loved himself–fatally. And he eventually got what was coming to him. But in the interim, he wrought massive destruction. That’s the way it goes with Hamans. Because they make themselves the center of everything, other people are only useful insofar as they served his purposes of self-promotion. Do you really think that people have changed? Of course not. Human nature is a constant.

Encouragement: The Book of Esther is a master story because of its use of irony. What we expect to happen, doesn’t. We expect Haman’s evil will prevail. He is sneaky, crafty, and cunning–just like Satan, the one who disguises himself as an angel of light. But God was with Mordecai and Esther. More accurately stated, Mordecai and Esther were with God, and that made all the difference. Haman was eventually hanged on the gallows he had constructed for hanging Mordecai. But God was in it all, you see, and Mordecai and Esther, and all those they represented, were saved. Sounds a lot like the gospel, doesn’t it? That’s because it is. Evil is real, very real. There’s no paucity of Hamans in the world. But God is greater than Satan, you see. And God is truth. And the truth is indestructible.