Haman's error in judgement

I have to confess to a darker side to my personality. My wife and children know this of me but others think I am a nice positive type of guy. My darker side surfaces in my sense of humor. As the Word of God teaches we should not laugh at or enjoy the calamity of an enemy and I have tried to keep this somewhat surreptitious side of my personality in check.

Having said this the recorded falling of an enemy of a good person thousands of years ago may be grist for enjoyment. I am speaking of the account in the book of Esther.
To set the stage we should see the cast of characters involved:
1. Esther
2. Mordecai
3. Haman
4. King Ahasuerus

You may wonder what is “funny” concerning this sad affair. Please bear with me for a bit.

Mordecai and Esther had done courageous things. Mordecai had saved the King and collected the hatred of the king’s good friend, Haman. Esther had become the beloved queen and wife of the King.

Haman tricked the king into allowing him to kill all the Jews including Mordecai. He did not know Esther was his cousin. Haman was giddy with the prospect of killing Mordecai. He even had special gallows made for it. Mordecai would not bow to Haman and so Mordecai and the thousands of Jews in the land must die for that offence.

Haman is much like the liberals of today. He cared only for his personal power and as Jews did not add to his power they were worthy of death. He was really full of himself. He was a friend of the king and had been to a special banquet at the request of the new beautiful queen and he was invited to another feast.

God kept King Ahasuerus awake that night and the king had history read to him. He found out about Mordecai’s act in saving his life and wanted to honor him. The next day he saw Haman and asked him, “What shall be done unto the man whom the king delighteth to honour? Haman was sure it would be himself and he was excited about asking for permission to kill Mordecai. He told the king what he would enjoy, riding on the kings horse, wearing the kings clothes, wearing the kings crown and being proclaimed as an important person.

Imagine how he felt when the king told him to do that for Mordecai and to walk before that horse telling the people how wonderful Mordecai was.

He would be diagnosed as profoundly depressed today. While he was suffering in his house he was brought before the queen and king for the next banquet. At this time he found out his new queen was a Jew.

The pleased king asked what she wanted. She said, “If I have found favour in thy sight, O king, and if it please the king, let my life be given me at my petition, and my people at my request: For we are sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be slain, and to perish.

The king responded, “Who is he, and where is he, that durst presume in his heart to do so?”

And Esther sealed Haman’s doom with, “The adversary and enemy is this wicked Haman.”

The Bible is wonderful in understatements, such as “Then Haman was afraid before the king and the queen.”

Haman may have still had a chance to live if not for the next misunderstanding. The king went into the garden to cool off and Haman went to plead with Esther for his life. As he went toward Esther he tripped and fell upon the bed whereon she was. The king took it for an assault and Haman was finished.

So what is funny about this? There are different kinds of funny. This is not funny as a good joke but it is ironically humorous to watch someone so evil and full of himself find out the truth of how tenuous power really is.

Forgive my darker side.