POETIC JUSTICE
For nearly a year, a former publishing colleague lived under a cloud of
fear that he would be fired. A new boss in the department, for reasons unknown,
began filling his personnel file with negative comments. Then, on the day my
friend expected to lose his job, the new boss was fired instead.
When the Israelites were taken as captives to Babylon, a Jew named Mordecai
found himself in this kind of situation. Haman, the highest noble of King
Xerxes, expected every royal official to kneel down and honor him, but Mordecai
refused to bow to anyone but God (Est. 3:1-2). This outraged Haman and he set
out to destroy not only Mordecai but every Jew in the whole Persian empire
(vv.5-6). Haman convinced Xerxes to sign a decree authorizing the destruction
of all Jews and started building a gallows for the execution of Mordecai
(5:14). But, in a startling turn of events, Haman was executed on the gallows
he had built for Mordecai, and the Jewish people were spared (7:9-10; 8).
In literature, this is called poetic justice. Not everyone gets justice
in such dramatic fashion, but Scripture promises that God will one day avenge
all injustice (Rom. 12:19). While we wait, we are to do what we can to work for justice and leave
the results in God’s hands.
The scales of
Divine justice always balance — if not here, then hereafter. (RBC)
