Mordecai Is Honored

Mordecai Is Honored

Q: Mordecai was honored for

• a. exposing a plot to kill the king.
• b. getting rid of Haman.
• c. being the richest man in the land.

One day Mordecai, an official in the Persian kingdom, was sitting at the king’s gate. He heard two of the king’s guards angrily plotting to kill the king. Mordecai told his cousin Esther, who warned the king. The two guards were killed, but Mordecai was never rewarded.

One night the king was unable to sleep, so he decided to look back at the history of his reign. His servant read to him how Mordecai had uncovered the guards’ plot to kill the king. The king found out Mordecai hadn’t been rewarded. Shortly after that, Haman was on his way to ask the king for permission to kill Mordecai. The king asked Haman, “What should I do to honor a man who truly pleases me?”

Haman assumed it was himself the king wanted to honor. He told the king that the man should wear the king’s robe and be led around on the king’s horse with a person leading the horse and shouting, “This is what the king does for someone he wishes to honor!”

Imagine Haman’s surprise when the king said, “Excellent! Quick! Take the robes and my horse, and do just as you have said for Mordecai the Jew, who sits at the gate of the palace. Leave out nothing you have suggested!”

Haman had no choice but to do what the king had said. Afterward, Mordecai went back to his position, and Haman went home totally humiliated.

For You

It’s okay to be proud of your accomplishments, but it’s also good to have a realistic picture of who you are. Rejoice more in who you are in the Lord—a child of the heavenly Father and a unique creation of his—rather than in what you’ve accomplished.

Answer: a

In those records he discovered an account of how Mordecai had exposed the plot of Bigthana and Teresh, two of the eunuchs who guarded the door to the king’s private quarters. They had plotted to assassinate King Xerxes.   Esther 6:2

(The Whole Story: Esther 6)