“There is a certain people scattered and dispersed among the people in all the provinces of your kingdom: their laws are different from all other people’s and they do not keep the King’s laws.” Esther 3:8a

Haman spoke these words to Xerxes as a deceptive means to destroy the Jews. He hated the Jews. The hatred is not explained other than the detail given of Haman’s pedigree: he was “the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite.” Haman is somehow connected to Agag, King of the Amalekites. Bad blood existed between Israel and the Amalekites. And so, Haman wants all God’s chosen “…to be destroyed, to be killed, to be annihilated.” And so it has always been and always will be in the city of man.

Haman’s words were intended to deceive; they weren’t honest. But, they were true…mostly. The laws of God’s people have always been distinct from those of other people. They have always been marked by a concern for the downtrodden, the weak, the vulnerable. They have always placed an emphasis on the importance of self-control and personal holiness. They demand that husbands love their wives, that wives respect their husbands, that children humbly obey, that leaders serve in humility, that the governed pray for and honor those in authority over them. They command God’s people to love Him with all their hearts, souls, strength, and minds; and their neighbors as themselves.

The Hamans of the world always think that they are more clever than God. The Hamans of the world seek to create knavish laws designed to further their own personal agendas and then squawk when those who can see through them dare to question.

Think about it, Haman. What if everyone followed the summary of biblical law—the one you call “unlawful”? What if everyone loved God, acknowledging Him as the true King and, from that understanding of the proper order of things, then truly loved others as they loved themselves? Right. You and Xerxes would be unemployed and, deep down inside, you know that’s true.

The only hope for Persia, for Greece, for Rome, for America is for the numbers of those who have a higher law to increase. There is a people scattered and dispersed throughout every nation: their laws are different from all other people’s, and they DO keep the King’s laws.

Haman learned this lesson the hard way as do all the Hamans of the world. And so it has always been in the city of man.