The Life of Mordecai: A model for believers
People like Mordecai are in every generation. They are not known and celebrated as VIPs (Very Important Personalities) but they are people who occupy a special place in the heart of God.
Not much was said about Mordecai in the bible. However, the little we could garner from the book of Esther says much about him.
Briefly speaking, Mordecai was one of the Jews brought by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, into exile. He was a Benjamin from the household of Kish, the father of Saul (Esther 2:5,6). He lived in Susa (Shushan), the metropolis of Persia (now Iran). He was the adoptive father of Esther, an orphan. Esther was the daughter of Mordecai’s uncle. As a member of the king’s court, Mordecai worked at the palace gate. The Jewish nation owes him much gratitude for the role he played for their preservation during his lifetime.
The following eleven things are worthy of note about Mordecai :
1. HE WAS A LOVING AND CARING GUARDIAN (FOSTER FATHER).
Mordecai brought Esther up, not as an orphan that she was but as his own daughter.
‘And Mordecai had brought up Hadassah, that is, Esther, his uncle's daughter, for she had neither father nor mother. The young woman was lovely and beautiful. When her father and mother died, MORDECAI TOOK HER AS HIS OWN DAUGHTER’ - Esther 2:7 (NKJV)
He did not leave Esther to herself in the king’s harem. He checked on her EVERYDAY.
‘EVERY DAY MORDECAI WOULD TAKE A WALK near the courtyard of the harem TO FIND OUT ABOUT ESTHER and what was happening to her’ - Esther 2:11 (NLT)
If Esther were to be his daughter, would he have done more than this?
All parents and guardians should learn from Mordecai. We must take every child living with us as our own. This happens when the welfare of every child under our roof is of utmost concern to us on daily basis. As Mordecai did not leave Esther to her fate in the king’s harem, we, too, must not put a child in a school or a vocational training centre and abandon him there.
2. MORDECAI WAS A MAN WITH AN ENDURING POSITIVE INFLUENCE
It is not every parent, guardian and leader that can be obeyed. The fact is that the type of life a parent or leader lives is one major factor that will determine whether or not his children /followers can obey him and the extent they can obey.
Long after she had left Mordecai’s house, Esther was still obeying his instructions. The bible says, ‘She was still following Mordecai's directions, JUST AS SHE DID WHEN SHE LIVED IN HIS HOME’ (Esther 2:20 NLT). It was indeed a great honour for Mordecai. It is only great leaders that have such rare influence on people.
No one makes himself. Mordecai was the one God used to mentor Esther. He affected her in no small way. Every virtue we see in Esther in the palace could be directly or indirectly traced to him. The maker is superior to his product. Hence, the person who raised a submissive wife deserves more praise.
3. MORDECAI WAS A JEW AND WAS ALWAYS CONSCIOUS THAT HE WAS A JEW .
Knowing who you are as a child of God and walking in that consciousness help in no small way in our battle against sins.
**IT IS THOSE WHO KNOW WHO THEY ARE THAT KNOW WHO THEY ARE NOT. **
What will put a clear difference in the life of a child of God who finds himself in the midst of the ungodly is his understanding of the fact that he is a child of God.
It is not something difficult to forget who we are. Two things can make us forget:
One, WHERE WE ARE.
To still remember that one is a Jew in a place where all except one are non-Jews is a difficult task. Mordecai must have made up his mind to still know that he was a Jew in a palace that was dominated by non-Jews.
Two, WHAT WE ARE PASSING THROUGH.
Problems don’t give people a chance to remember who they are. This is why most people deep their hands in iniquities in the course of looking for solutions to their problems.
Knowing that you are a child of God is not automatic.
**One, you have to set your mind to know that you are a child of God. **
Two, you must constantly remind yourself that you are a child of God.
The Apostle John knew what it means for believers to know who they are in God. Hence, what he repeatedly calls our attention to in his epistles is the fact that WE ARE OF GOD AND NOT OF THE WORLD.
*‘YOU ARE OF GOD, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. THEY ARE OF THE WORLD. Therefore they speak as of the world, and the world hears them’ - 1 John 4:4-5 (NKJV)
‘We know that WE ARE OF GOD, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one’ - 1 John 5:19 (NKJV)
4. MORDECAI WAS A JEW, NOT ONLY IN THE LAND OF HIS NATIVITY BUT ALSO IN HIS WORKPLACE IN THE LAND OF THEIR CAPTIVITY.
The life Mordecai lived in the palace where he worked shows that he carried his identity as a Jew (that is, his Jewish culture) along with him when he was leaving his homeland. Both at home and in abroad, he was who he was – A JEW.
How many Christians carry their Christian identity to their places of work, study centres etc? Is it a child that is already lost to all manners of ungodly acts right under his parents’ noses that God can depend upon on campus? God asked Jeremiah, ‘If racing against mere men makes you tired, how will you race against horses? If you stumble and fall on open ground, what will you do in the thickets near the Jordan?’(Jer. 12:5 NLT).
We cannot know who is a real child of God while at home and in our worship centers until when we see our conducts in our schools, offices, among our friends, colleagues and business associates. It is where some people know they are known as Christians or deacons that they don’t take alcohol or manifest as womanizers . The moment they are far away where nobody knows them as people of God, they will show who and whose they are.
5. MORDECAI DID NOT HIDE HIS IDENTITY AS A JEW.
One thing is to know that, as a child of God, you are not permitted by the word of God to deep your hands into iniquities, another thing is to be courageous enough to make this known wherever you are. The bible says, ‘for Mordecai had told them that he was a Jew’ (Esther 3:4).
We must note here that it is not in every place we find ourselves that it is easy to tell people that we are children of God and to insist to remain so no matter what.
The time Mordecai made his Jewish identity known in the palace of the king was a time in his life when he could hide the fact that he was a Jew.
Making ourselves known as people of God means so much to God. Not doing so also means so much to God. Jesus says, ‘Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven’ - Matthew 10:32-33 (NKJV)
A child of God that hides his identity where he is is up to something. Unfortunately for us, there is no time such a thing happens that we will not pay for it sooner or later.
6. MORDECAI KNEW WHAT WHO HE WAS REQUIRED FROM HIM.
Mordecai walked with God, not with ignorance but with spiritual knowledge and understanding. He knew what he could do as a Jew and what he must not do. He did not bow to pay homage to Haman because he knew how a Jew should conduct himself wherever he is. The kings and their chiefs where the Jews were exiled regarded themselves as gods that must be worshipped. Mordecai had a clear understanding of what the bowing they wanted from them meant and the spiritual implications it would have on their relationship with God.
There are several ungodly things that those who call themselves people of God do because of the fact that they do not know what their being children of God permits them to do and what it does not permit them to do. We cannot find the holiness of God wherever there is a lack of the knowledge of the will of God.
‘Jesus answered, "You're off base on two counts: You don't know your Bibles, and you don't know how God works’ - Matthew 22:29 (MSG)
7. MORDECAI DID NOT FEAR THE COMMAND OF THE KING
He knew that the instruction to bow to pay Haman homage was from the king and yet he remained unbending in his refusal to bow. The question from the mouths of other palace officials at the gate – ‘WHY DO YOU TRANSGRESS THE KING’S COMMAND?’ – was enough to make him realize the implications of his action but he would still not bow.
‘ . . . But Mordecai would not bow or pay homage. Then the king's servants who were within the king's gate said to Mordecai, "WHY DO YOU TRANGRESS THE KING’S COMMAND? . . . ’ - Esther 3:2-4 (NKJV)
This doggedness in Mordecai had only one source – THE FEAR OF THE GOD OF ISRAEL HAD ALREADY FILLED HIS HEART TO THE POINT THAT THE FEAR OF MAN HAD NOWHERE TO OCCUPY IN HIM. He simply operated in the class of Moses, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego that we already know as fearless heroes of faith.
‘By faith he (Moses) forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible’ - Hebrews 11:27 (NKJV)
‘Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego answered and said to the king, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up’ - Daniel 3:16-18 (NKJV)
It is only when the fear of God is not reigning in us that the fear of what man will do unto us will prevail over our lives.
Christ’s command - ‘DO NOT FEAR THEREFORE’ in Matthew 10:31-33 - comes before ‘WHOEVER CONFESSES ME BEFORE MEN’. The fact is that the fearful cannot walk in the will of God; they cannot stand for God. Like the seeds on a rocky soil, they will fade out when difficulties and troubles arise for believing the word (Matt 13:20,21).
8. MORDECAI’S ENVIRONMENT HAD NO INFLUENCE ON HIS LIFE AS A JEW.
He was not a follower of multitudes. All the king’s servants bowed to Haman except Mordecai.
‘And all the king's servants who were within the king's gate bowed and paid homage to Haman, for so the king had commanded concerning him. BUT MORDECAI WOULD NOT BOW OR PAY HOMAGE’ - Esther 3:2 (NKJV)
People around us and the pressures from them are major forces we must fight and conquer if we would be able to walk in the holiness of God. One thing is for Mordecai not to bow to Haman and another thing is for him not to bow to pressure. If Mordecai bowed, it was pressures he bowed to, not Haman. Many a thing we do or accept, not because we desire it but because we lack the inner strength to withstand people’s influence and pressure. Mordecai was able to hold on to his Jewish belief because his environment and pressure had no power on him. The bible says the people around him ‘ . . . SPOKE TO HIM DAILY AND HE WOULD NOT LISTEN TO THEM’ (Esther 3:4).
A situation like this will test two things in us – THE DEPTH OF OUR LOVE FOR GOD AND THE STRENGTH OF OUR FAITH IN HIM.
Those who don’t know whom they believe cannot but ‘bow’ to the god of this world. As people around us know how to speak to us daily for us to change our minds, we too must know how we would hold on to our convictions.
9. MORDECAI’S NOT BOWING WAS NOT ABOUT HIMSELF BUT ABOUT GOD.
His refusal to bow was because he didn’t want to give unto man what he knew belongs to God in his life. His not bowing was therefore not about himself but about God and his belief in God.
We must note that if our not wanting to commit sins is because we don’t want to be caught and sacked or because we don’t want to contact HIV or because we are afraid of unwanted pregnancy, then our holiness is still far from God’s holiness. Our holiness is not yet unto God ; it is unto ourselves.
In one word, there is one holiness that is unto God and there is one unto ourselves. You can be holy to yourself.
The holiness God knows and rewards is the holiness unto Him.
What God commanded Moses to engrave on a plate of pure gold was not just the word HOLINESS but the phrase HOLINESS TO THE LORD (Ex 28:36).
Joseph’s holiness was Holiness to the Lord. The reason he did not want to commit a sexual sin was because he did not want to sin against his God.
‘There is no one greater in this house than I, nor has he kept back anything from me but you, because you are his wife. HOW THEN CAN I DO THIS GREAT WICKEDNESS , AND SIN AGAINST GOD?’ - Genesis 39:9 (NKJV)
10. MORDECAI WAS DEPENDABLE, FAITHFUL AND LOYAL IN HIS SERVICE IN THE PALACE WHERE HE WORKED.
Your loyalty, faithfulness, trustworthiness and uprightness to God must translate to loyalty, faithfulness, trustworthiness and uprightness to those you work for and work with. You cannot say you are faithful and loyal to God while you are unfaithful and disloyal to people. You cannot claim you love God when you are unloving in your relationship with people.
Mordecai was on the side of truth and not evil where he was serving at the palace gate. He saw evil as evil. Rather than being silent when he got wind of the plan to kill the king by two of the king’s eunuchs, he informed Esther whom he knew would inform the king(Esther 2:21-23).
If he had been silent and the plan of these wicked eunuchs still did not materialize for one reason or the other, what would God have used to stir the heart of the king to reward Mordecai for in order to thwart the evil plan of Haman?
Note that this king was a gentile king , a non- Jew and yet Mordecai was loyal and faithful to him. Mordecai loved the soul of the king ; he did not want evil to happen to him. The lesson here is that that our boss is a ‘sinner’ and not a ‘holy man’ as we are is not a reason we will not be faithful, loyal, upright and loving in our service unto him. The reason God has placed us in the midst of ungodly people is for us to expose and conquer unfruitful work of darkness by manifesting the light that is in us and, as such, bring glory to the name of our God.
11. MORDECAI CARRIED THE BURDEN OF ALL THE JEWS IN THE LAND ON HIS NECK.
One, he was not after the deliverance and safety of Esther and his own immediate family only but after the deliverance and safety of all the Jews in the land.
Two, in the heat of their problem, Mordecai refused the fine clothing Esther offered him and chose sackcloth instead. In other words, he deprived himself of material comfort and enjoyment because of the deplorable state of his people in the land.
‘So Esther's maids and eunuchs came and told her, and the queen was deeply distressed. Then she sent garments to clothe Mordecai and take his sackcloth away from him, but he would not accept them’ - Esther 4:4 (NKJV)
Three, he warned Esther against self-complacency and challenged her to use her exalted position for the very purpose for which God had given her.
‘And Mordecai told them to answer Esther: "Do not think in your heart that you will escape in the king's palace any more than all the other Jews. For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father's house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?’ - Esther 4:13-14 (NKJV)
All these portray Mordecai as a selfless and sacrificial child of God. He was indeed a burden bearer. There is no place for self-centredness and self-complacency in God. Because of who Mordecai and Esther were, God was able to use them to secure deliverance for His people.
When we have a right standing in God and right attitudes to our problems, God will manifest in our situations at the right time to turn things around for our good.
**_CONCLUSION :
All the aforementioned qualities in the life of Mordecai are rare to find in the lives of end-time believers. How many children of God know who they are? How many children of God have the understanding of what their being children of God requires from them? How many of us carry our Christian identity to our neighbourhood, our places of work, our schools, our vocational centres, our social gatherings ? How many of us live as children of God that we call ourselves? How many of us can deprive ourselves of material gains and comfort because of the salvation and deliverance of those around us?
Compromise characterizes the lives of many believers today. Many are not really different from their environment. Church people bow to different things. Some bow because they don’t want to be tagged fanatics and some because of material gains.
Our life of compromise, however, has grave consequences. One, God cannot use us. Two, God cannot manifest as of old in and through us. Wherever God sees people like Mordecai, He will manifest Himself as of old. IT IS ONLY WHERE THE JEWS OF GOD ARE THAT WE CAN SEE THE GOD OF THE JEWS._**