Skip to main content

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.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Right Road

          Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. (Psalm 139:7-12)                  For years before GPSes existed, I told people I wanted something in my car that would tell me, “Turn left in half a mile…turn left in a quarter mile…turn left in 500 feet… turn left in 100 feet…turn left now …You missed the turn, Dummy!” The problem isn’t necessarily that I get lost so much as I’m afraid I’ll get lost. I don’t want to have to spend my whole trip stressing over the next turn. I have the same problem with my spiritual journey.   
Post a Comment
Read more

Died as a Ransom

                 For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant. (Hebrews 9:15)                  This is something I’d really rather not think about but here it is and it’s important. I was reading in Bold Love about seeking revenge.  The author wrote of seeking justice when a supposed Christian does something sinful, harmful, and/or horrific, like sexually abusing a daughter.  And the thought that came to mind was of God asking if Jesus’ death was sufficient payment to me for the sin committed against me.                I have no specific longing for revenge, vengeance, or justice. I’m sure there are some lurking somewhere in my heart, but this wasn’t a response to one. It was more a question of principle. Jesus’ death was sufficient payment for to God for our sins.  That’s the standard Sunday Schoo
1 comment
Read more

Hearts

                    Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it . (Proverbs 4:23) The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? (Jeremiah 17:9) “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. (Matthew 23:27)           We all like to see ourselves as pretty good folks. We’re not perfect. We may even admit that we are sinners saved by grace, but we’re not murderers, rapists, or abusers of children, women, or animals. Some of us alternate this view with the conviction that we are miserable, worthless worms who can’t do anything right, but at least we’re not murderers, rapists, or abusers of children, women, or animals. You can add whatever horrible thing that you don’t do to the list. It always proves that we aren’t as bad as we could be.  At the very least, our int
Post a Comment
Read more