Biblical Leaders: Esther

This post is going to be a tag team post. I think there are a few lessons we can learn from Esther, her uncle, Mordecai, and even our villain, Haman. It’s a story of bold leadership but it’s also one of who did the work verses who got the credit.

If you’re familiar with the story, then you know that Esther and Mordecai are among others that are an ethnic minority living in Persia in a conquered and captive state. The Persian king was Ahasuerus but probably better known as Xerxes. I’m personally not sure if he looked more like the Xerxes from the 300 movie or the Xerxes from the One Night With The King movie but either way, that’s the king. There’s one more character in the story that plays and important role, Haman.

Every story has a villain, in this one Haman is that guy. Haman got his feelings, and probably his ego, bruised when Mordecai refused to bow to him and decided genocide was the way to go (Esther 3). After all, Mordecai can’t challenge him if he, along with all of his people are gone. For us as leaders, what’s the takeaway? What can we learn from this story? I think there are a few things we can take away from each of these characters. Let’s start with our resident bad guy, Haman.

As leaders, there are times where people will brag and boast on us. It’s natural. After all, we were the one that led the way through whatever it was we had to lead through. When Xerxes elevated Haman, Haman allowed his ego to get the better of himself. Don’t get me wrong, it’s nice to have the old ego stroked but we have a choice to make of what we’re going to do with that. If we buy into our ego we’ll eventually expect people to bow to us, metaphorically of course, and when they don’t our ego has to do something about it. This is dangerous place to live and lead from. Proverbs 16:18 says,

“Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.”

Haman demanded everyone bow to him, literally, and as we know his plan eventually backfired on him and he ended up and the wrong end of a rope.

That leads me to Mordecai. This is going from one extreme to the other. Mordecai, a jew, was serving a clerk of sorts and didn’t exactly go around announcing his heritage to all he passed. He was promoted because he help foil a plot to assassinate the king (Esther 2:21-22). He was also the one who stood when all others bowed to Haman. Upon hearing of Haman’s plot to kill all of the Jews, he took action.

Robert Yates said,

“It is amazing what can be accomplished when nobody cares about who gets the credit.”

Mordecai was the real hero in this story, Esther just got the magazine cover deal. Leaders have to care about the good of the organization, even if they don’t get the credit for the idea or the plan. Mordecai did the right thing because it was the right thing, not because people would give him the credit. Again, the opposite extreme of Haman.

That leads us to our beauty queen. Esther, even though she was now queen, had kept her true identity hidden. Not only that, she knew she couldn’t just approach the king whenever she wanted. Esther 4:11 says,

“All the king's servants and the people of the king's provinces know that if any man or woman goes to the king inside the inner court without being called, there is but one law—to be put to death, except the one to whom the king holds out the golden scepter so that he may live. But as for me, I have not been called to come in to the king these thirty days.”

Leaders will come across tough situations in their lives. Many times, these situations may cost them something. Being a leader requires boldness. Esther had to choose boldness in order to save her people, even though it may have cost her life. We know the story. She went to the king and saved her people.

Which of these ideas do you most resonate with? We always have opportunities to learn from all sorts of people and all types of leaders and grow.

Photo by Jared Subia on Unsplash