Esther 3:2 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

Mordecai bowed not, nor did him reverence— Josephus tells us, that Haman, taking notice of this singularity in Mordecai, asked him what countryman he was; and, finding him to be a Jew, broke out into a violent exclamation at his insolence; and in his rage formed the desperate resolution, not only to be revenged of Mordecai, but to destroy the whole race of the Jews; well remembering, that his ancestors the Amalekites had been formerly driven out of their country, and almost exterminated, by the Jews. That Mordecai should refuse to pay such obeisance as all others paid to Haman at this time, will appear the less strange, if we consider that, Haman being of that nation against which God pronounced a curse, Exodus 17:14. Mordecai might think himself on this account not obliged to pay him the reverence which he expected; and if the rest of the Jews had the like notion of him, this might be a reason sufficient for his extending his resentment against the whole nation. But there seems to be, in the reverence which the people were commanded to pay him, something more than what proceeds from mere civil respect: the king of Persia, we know, required a kind of divine adoration from all who approached his presence; and, as the kings of Persia arrogated this to themselves, so they sometimes imparted it to their chief friends and favourites, which seems to have been the case with Haman at this time; for we can hardly conceive why the king should give a particular command that all his servants should reverence him, if by this reverence no more was intended than that they should show him a respect suitable to his station: but if we suppose that the homage expected from them was such as came near to idolatry, we need not wonder that a righteous Jew should deny that honour, or the outward expressions of it, to any man; since the wise and sober Grecians positively refused to give it to their very kings themselves; the people of Athens once passing sentence of death upon a citizen of theirs for prostrating himself before Darius, though he was then one of the greater monarchs upon earth. The author of the apocryphal additions to the book of Esther seems to intimate that this was the case with Mordecai, whom he introduces praying thus, chap. 13:12, &c. "Thou knowest, O Lord, that it is not in contempt or pride, nor for any desire of glory, that I did not bow down to proud Haman; for I would willingly kiss his feet for the salvation of Israel; but I did this, that I might not prefer the glory of man to the glory of God, nor adore any one but thee my Lord alone." See Valer. Max. lib. 6: cap. 3 and Poole.