Esther 3:2 - Exposition

All the king's servants . Literally, "the king's slaves"—the lower officers of the court, porters and others, of about the same rank as Mordecai. Bowed and reverenced Haman . i.e. prostrated themselves before him in the usual Oriental fashion. For the king had so commanded . No reason is assigned for this order, which was certainly unusual, since the prostration of an inferior before a superior was a general rule (Herod; 1.134). Perhaps Haman had been elevated from a very low position, and the king therefore thought a special order requisite. Mordecai bowed not . Greeks occasionally refused to prostrate themselves before the Great King himself, saying that it was not their custom to worship men (Herod; 7.136; Plut; 'Vit. Artax.,' § 22; Arrian; 'Exp. Alex.,' 4.10-12, etc.). Mordecai seems to have had the same feeling. Prostration was, he thought, an act of worship, and it was not proper to worship any one excepting God (see Revelation 22:9 ).