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Esther 5 · a question people ask

Why didn't Mordecai stand up for Haman?

In the text

This chapter gives no reason. It says only that Haman "saw Mordecai in the king’s gate, that he didn’t stand up nor move for him" (5:9). Chapter 3 told something like it: "Mordecai didn’t bow down or pay him homage" (Esther 3:2). When the king's servants asked him, "Why do you disobey the king’s commandment?" (Esther 3:3), he "didn’t listen to them", and they told Haman "to see whether Mordecai’s reason would stand; for he had told them that he was a Jew" (Esther 3:4). The book doesn't say more than that, and these notes don't either (see the introduction and Esther 3).

The verses

“Then Haman went out that day joyful and glad of heart, but when Haman saw Mordecai in the king’s gate, that he didn’t stand up nor move for him, he was filled with wrath against Mordecai.”
Esther 5:9 · World English Bible
“All the king’s servants who were in the king’s gate bowed down and paid homage to Haman, for the king had so commanded concerning him. But Mordecai didn’t bow down or pay him homage. Then the king’s servants who were in the king’s gate said to Mordecai, “Why do you disobey the king’s commandment?” Now it came to pass, when they spoke daily to him, and he didn’t listen to them, that they told Haman, to see whether Mordecai’s reason would stand; for he had told them that he was a Jew.”
Esther 3:2-4 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Esther 5

Esther 5: All this avails me nothing

Offered "even to the half of the kingdom" (5:3), Esther asked for a banquet. Haman left it "joyful and glad of heart" (5:9), counted up his glory, told in the words of his promotion (3:1, 5:11), and said "all this avails me nothing" (5:13) so long as one man sat at the king's gate. The gallows was his wife's and friends' idea (5:14).

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions