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Chiasm


                 The king said, “Who is in the court?” Now Haman had just entered the outer court of the palace to speak to the king about hanging Mordecai on the gallows he had erected for him. 
          His attendants answered, “Haman is standing in the court.” 
          “Bring him in,” the king ordered. 
            When Haman entered, the king asked him, “What should be done for the man the king delights to honor?” 
          Now Haman thought to himself, “Who is there that the king would rather honor than me?” So he answered the king, “For the man the king delights to honor,  have them bring a royal robe the king has worn and a horse the king has ridden, one with a royal crest placed on its head. Then let the robe and horse be entrusted to one of the king’s most noble princes. Let them robe the man the king delights to honor, and lead him on the horse through the city streets, proclaiming before him, ‘This is what is done for the man the king delights to honor!’ ” 
         “Go at once,” the king commanded Haman. “Get the robe and the horse and do just as you have suggested for Mordecai the Jew, who sits at the king’s gate. Do not neglect anything you have recommended.” 
               So Haman got the robe and the horse. He robed Mordecai, and led him on horseback through the city streets, proclaiming before him, “This is what is done for the man the king delights to honor!” 
         Afterward Mordecai returned to the king’s gate. But Haman rushed home, with his head covered in grief, (Esther 6:4-12)

          Remember Karate Kid? Rocky? Even to some extent, Princess Bride? Each of those, and many other stories we’ve loved involve a literary device known as a chaism. Chiastic structure involves a reversal. What was good, rich, powerful, victorious. etc., becomes bad, poor, weak, defeated, etc., and what was bad, poor, weak, defeated becomes good, right, powerful, victorious. It’s represented by the Greek letter chi, pronounced Ki which looks like an X. 
          Esther is full of chiastic structure. The queen loses her place, Little Miss Nobody is made queen, Haman is elevated for having done (as far as we know) nothing while Mordecai, who saved the king’s life, has been ignored. In today’s passage, the reversal takes place in an emotionally enjoyable manner. 
          I wonder what Haman was doing at the palace in the middle of the night. Did he think someone would wake the king? I can just imagine how that would go over. Did he know that the king often couldn’t sleep at night and might be awake? Was he planning to be first in line? What’s almost stranger is the king’s expectation that there might be someone in the outer court just waiting to speak with him, and not just any someone, but someone from whom he thought he could get advice. Interesting how things sometimes work out just that way.     
          I also wonder two other things. First, how do thy know what Haman thought? There’s no answer to that one. The second is why he would think what he did. Yes, arrogance is the answer, but think about it… here is a guy showing up in the middle of the night to ask a favor of the king, and it never crosses his mind that doing that might make the king slightly less inclined to think highly of him? 
         But Haman, sure that the king is talking about him, answers the king’s question. Effectively, the king should honor someone best by making him king for the hour. “The greatest honor you could do, oh king, is let someone cosplay as you for an hour.” That brings us to the thoughts that are probably the most important today. How do you honor others? What makes you feel honored? I don’t know what my answers to those questions are, except that Haman’s suggestion is not it.

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