Mordecai As A Type Of Christ In Esther

Mordecai
A Type Of Christ In The Book Of Esther

Do you know any parents who do not enjoy pictures of their children and delight to show them to their friends? In still greater measure God delights in His beloved Son and loves to show Him to us from every angle and on every occasion. We have Christ’s perfect life, death on the cross and resurrection in the Gospels. We have Him working through His servants in the Acts, glorified in the Epistles, and as ultimate Victor and Judge in the Revelation. The Old Testament abounds with prophecies that point forward to Him. It gives us many types and shadows too, setting Him before the eyes of our heart again and again. Indeed, it’s hard for the attentive reader to find a page where there’s not some reference to Him, whether obvious or obscure.

The Book of Esther, where God has not permitted His name nor any reference to prayer to appear, is not an exception to this. As we consider this book, our first thought is of the beautiful Jewish girl who became Queen of Persia and heroically pled for her people’s lives. But there is also another hero in this short story. And this hero, like most Bible heroes, in some small measure reflects our Lord Jesus Christ. Let’s look at Mordecai as a picture of Christ in His rejection here upon earth and His soon-coming exaltation.

We meet Mordecai in chapter two. Chronologically, this book fits into the 40 year gap between Ezra 6 and 7. While Ezra and Nehemiah deal with the history of the Jewish remnant that returned from Babylonian captivity, the Book of Esther is a fascinating story of some of those who did not return. God does not openly identify with them – He called them “Lo-Ammi” (Not My People) in Hosea 1:9 – yet His eye is ever on them, and Paul says “they are beloved for the sake of the fathers” (Rom. 11:28 NKJV).

Kind
Once Mordecai is introduced to us as a Benjamite of the captivity, we immediately see his kindness. He has brought up Esther (Hadassah), his orphaned cousin, as his own daughter. Their relationship is a loving one, for when she is taken to be presented to the king, Mordecai daily comes as close as he is allowed, to learn of her welfare. Esther reciprocates by obeying Mordecai’s instruction not to reveal her nationality and family background, just as she did when she was still at home with him.

As we read the Gospels we see our blessed Lord marked by wonderful compassion and kindness. He met whatever needs He encountered. He touched lepers, held children, allowed a known sinner to wash His feet with her tears, took time to touch the heart and conscience of a Samaritan woman, looked out for His mother’s needs while on the cross, and in every way showed love to the poor and the needy.

Faithful
In Esther 2:21-23 we see Mordecai’s faithfulness with respect to the king. Never mind that the king was a Persian monarch. Never mind his immoral character. He was the king whom God had placed on the throne. When Mordecai became aware that the king was in danger of being assassinated, he informed him through Queen Esther. The matter was investigated and justice was executed on the guilty. Mordecai’s loyal service to the king was duly chronicled but not rewarded. Instead, Haman the Agagite, of the royal family of Israel’s hereditary enemies, the Amalekites, is promoted to be the king’s chief minister.

Our blessed Lord, too, was exemplary in His relationship to the ruling authorities during His lifetime on earth. When accused of perverting and stirring up the nation and forbidding to pay taxes to Caesar, He was found to be without fault both by Pilate, the Roman governor, and Herod, the Jewish-Idumean puppet king. He submitted Himself to the injustices done to Him, neither reviling nor threatening in return, but committing Himself to Him who judges righteously (1 Pet. 2:23). God has recorded His faithfulness in wonderful detail. Though the enemies of God and His people are in positions of power now, and the Man of Sin will rule with highest authority during the Tribulation, God will publicly reward the Lord Jesus in a day to come.

Sympathetic
The threatened destruction of the Jewish people throughout the Persian Empire was a direct consequence of Mordecai’s acting in accord with the mind of God in refusing to bow to Haman. God had sworn to have war with Amalek perpetually, and had instructed His people not to forget this (Dt. 25:17-19). Mordecai’s faithfulness to God brought Haman’s hatred and enmity upon him. In Revelation 12 we see that Satan’s inveterate animosity against Israel, the woman who bore the male Child, is motivated by his hatred of Christ, who is destined to rule the world.

When the decree to exterminate the Jews was promulgated, it brought great distress to them. We see Mordecai with clothes torn, in sackcloth and ashes, weeping bitterly, sharing their distress. Of our Lord, too, we read, “In all their affliction He was afflicted” (Isa. 63:9). We see Him weeping over Jerusalem in the Gospels, knowing what tremendous destruction would befall this people. He did not gloat over them even though this would happen because they were rejecting Him. And still today, from the glory, He keenly feels all that is done to His own in man’s hatred for Him. This is seen in Acts 9:4 when He cried from heaven, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?”

In these extremely unfavorable circumstances, Mordecai encouraged and counseled Esther to do that which ultimately brought deliverance to the Jews. He fasted for Esther, and probably also prayed (although prayer is not mentioned). Our Lord does even more. He is our Great High Priest who strengthens us and grants mercy and grace to help in time of need. We look to Him as we run life’s race, for He has completed the race Himself. He has given us His Word to guide us and promises wisdom if we ask for it in faith (Heb. 4:14-16; 12:1-2; Jn. 17:14; Jas. 1:5). What a Savior we have!

Persecuted
In his malicious hatred against Mordecai, Haman had a 75 foot high gallows built on which he planned to hang Mordecai once he secured the king’s permission. In His marvelous way, God frustrated Haman’s plans, causing him to reveal the wickedness of his heart’s desires. Thinking himself to be the one the king delighted to honor, he asked to be paraded through the city square mounted on the king’s horse, arrayed in the king’s robes and heralded by one of the king’s most noble princes. The man of sin yet to come will do even more, for he “opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God” (2 Th. 2:4).

Through Esther’s courage and strategy and God’s marvelous way of working little details together for good, Haman’s villainous scheme was defeated and Mordecai and the Jews were delivered from destruction. But our Lord did not escape the death arranged for Him by wicked men. Unlike Haman, He did not grasp after glory for Himself. Instead, He “made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men ... humbled Himself and became obedient to ... death, even the death of the cross” (Phil. 2:7-8). That “cup” could not pass from Him if God was going to save us on a righteous basis.

Honored
Mordecai now was brought to great honor and power. The Lord Jesus will be given an even greater place. Esther made known their relationship. God’s earthly people will one day recognize and make known their relationship to the Savior, the One they once rejected. Mordecai was made chief minister and entrusted with the king’s signet ring. He was then able to effectively overcome the decree Haman had issued against the Jews, turning it against their enemies instead. He “went out from the presence of the king in royal apparel of blue and white, with a great crown of gold and a garment of fine linen and purple” (Est. 8:15). He exercised full judgment over the house of Haman. Ultimately he and Esther instituted a memorial feast to commemorate this great deliverance given by God.

While our Lord has been raised from the dead and exalted to God’s right hand in heaven, the public display of His glory is still to come. His coming for His own (the Rapture) is secret and will not be witnessed by the unbelieving world. But when He returns “traveling in the greatness of His strength” (Isa. 63:1), “every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him” (Rev. 1:7). Psalm 110 tells us of that day when God will make His enemies His footstool, when His people will be volunteers in the day of His power, when He shall execute kings in the day of His wrath. His people will rejoice. While Purim, the feast established in Esther 9:20-26, is not strictly a picture of the Lord’s Supper, Christians today have the privilege of showing forth His death in this Supper until He comes for us.

Exalted
The last chapter of Esther shows us Mordecai’s greatness after the excitement was past. The man – who had tenderly brought up an orphaned relative as his own daughter, who had loyally served the king, who had faithfully obeyed his God, who had sorrowfully shared in the apprehensions of his race, who had wisely counseled Queen Esther, and who had righteously triumphed over his enemies and delivered his people – is advanced to a position of greatness by the king. He rules wisely and well, “seeking the good of his people and speaking peace to his countrymen.” He is not only honored by the king, but is “great among the Jews and well received by the multitude of his brethren” (Est. 10:3).

And has not our blessed Lord likewise proven Himself worthy of every honor God can bestow? As Isaiah 11 points out, in the coming Millennium He will be honored and exalted by God and accepted by His Jewish brethren. He will rule in righteousness. Evil will be suppressed. The environment will be cleaned up. All will be peace. Even carnivorous and poisonous beasts will no longer do harm. And ultimately He will deliver this “kingdom which shall never be destroyed” (Dan. 2:44) “to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power" (1 Cor. 15:24). What a day that will be! What glorious things these foreshadowings in the Book of Esther bring before us!

By Eugene P. Vedder, Jr.