Esther 3:15

And the king and Haman sat down to drink; but the city Shushan was perplexed.

Society broken into sections

Alas! how society is broken up into sections--one part caring little for another that is closest to it, and at the very moment pressing upon it for sympathy and succour. Stone walls were all that separated these two men from an agonising population, and yet they were as insensible to the sufferings which were without as though they had been hundreds of miles removed from that scene of perplexity and dismay. How many are in suffering in every great city! How many tears are being shed, groans of distress uttered, pangs of anguish, and remorse endured! But the world takes no notice of them--enjoys its ease, and dulls all sensibility to the pain of others by sensual delights. “What is that to us? see thou to that,” is still the reply of the world to those who have been its slaves. Happy shall be the time when the gospel shall have rectified this state of things; when each shall regard himself, like the Saviour, as a minister to others; when the wide breaches of fashion and caste shall be bridged over and healed; when priest and Levite shall disappear in the compassionate Samaritan; when every man shall look not upon his own things, but also on the things of others, and when society, from the highest to the lowest, shall be a holy, sympathising, loving brotherhood, possessed of the spirit and imitating the example of our Lord Jesus Christ! It was not the Jews only who were distressed and alarmed, but the whole community--some, because in the destruction of the Jews they would themselves suffer in friendship or outward estate--others from feelings of humanity at the prospective slaughter of good citizens and unoffending women and children--some through fear that a deed so cruel and horrible might lead to an insurrection in the provinces, and an indiscriminate plundering and murdering among the inhabitants--and others lest such an unrighteous decree might provoke the judgment of the Almighty. The city was panic-stricken. If the king was to act thus arbitrarily and unreasonably in one instance, might he not do so in many ways? (T. McEwan.)

Self-indulgence

How self-indulgence renders men callous to the distresses and sufferings of their fellow-men. (A. B. Davidson, D. D.)

The irregularities of human conditions

I. The inequalities of human conditions.

1. The most striking instance of inequality is that which is illustrated between the condition of the oppressor and the oppressed.

2. This is further illustrated by the contrast between the jollity of the palace and the perplexity of the city.

3. The indifference of one class of the community towards another and seemingly less favoured class is brought to view in this passage.

4. This indifference has its root in and is the outcome of selfishness.

II. The mysteries of human conditions. Haman feasting with the king, Mordecai mourning at the king’s gate.

III. The compensating forces of human conditions. The pleasure of Ahasuerus was not a permanent stream. The glory of Haman was soon tarnished. The sorrow of Mordecai was turned into laughter.

IV. The sympathetic element in human conditions. Sorrow draws men and women more closely together than joy. When one part of a city suffers, the whole of the city should be perplexed.

V. The harmonising principle for human conditions. What principle is there that is to adjust in fit proportions the various parts and members of human society? The gospel rightly understood, broadly interpreted, and fully received. The gospel dethrones selfishness, and teaches the true brotherhood of humanity.

VI. The true sustaining power for all human conditions: “Even our faith.” The true help in life’s difficulties is to go into the sanctuary of God. By faith and prayer the world’s true heroes have ever conquered. Here learn--

1. To keep away from sensuality, which hardens the nature.

2. To cultivate sympathy, which ennobles the nature.

3. To foster firm faith in an overruling power, which brightens life.

4. To have respect unto the harmonies of heaven amid the discords of earth. (W. Burrows, B. A.).