Reading chapter seven I cannot help but think of this law: “If a malicious witness takes the stand to accuse a man of a crime, the two men involved in the dispute must stand in the presence of the Lord before the priests and the judges who are in office at the time. The judges must make a thorough investigation, and if the witness proves to be a liar, giving false testimony against his brother, then do to him as he intended to do to his brother” (Deuteronomy 19:16ff).
Persia, of course, was under no such obligation to follow this law since it was Jewish law. But God’s law is not arbitrary. It exhibits a sense of justice and fair play. And in this case, it was only just that the unjust attempt against Mordecai and God’s people should be met with this kind of punishment.
My mother used to say: “What goes around, comes around.” If you set out to mistreat others, you will be mistreated.
In a Bible class recently, a student related the story of an employee being horribly treated for no other reason than a boss took a dislike to her. His ill-treatment infected others until soon, everyone was mistreating this person. The employee became ill and needed to go to the hospital. The boss forbade anyone to take off from work to take her and she had to find another way. But, perhaps coincidentally (but perhaps not), the boss ended up spending his weekend in the hospital caring for a seriously ill relative.
We might be reluctant to say this was a punishment from God. But after all, our text does not attribute Haman’s punishment to the Lord either. It’s just “What goes around, comes around” and Bible students realize that God often is the one who makes it happen.