Memucan Influence on Leadership? (Part 1)

Scripture — Esther 1:16-20 (NRSV)

Then Memucan said in the presence of the king and the officials, “Queen Vashti has done wrong not only to the king but also to all the officials and all the peoples who are in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus. For this deed of the queen will be made known to all women, causing them to look with contempt on their husbands, since they will say, ‘King Ahasuerus commanded Queen Vashti to be brought before him, and she did not come.’ This very day, the noble ladies of Persia and Media who have heard of the queen’s behavior will rebel against the king’s officials, and there will be no end of contempt and wrath! If it pleases the king, let a royal order go out from him, and let it be written among the laws of the Persians and the Medes so that it may not be altered, that Vashti is never again to come before King Ahasuerus, and let the king give her royal position to another who is better than she. So when the decree made by the king is proclaimed throughout all his kingdom, vast as it is, all women will give honor to their husbands, high and low alike.”

Devotion

What do you do with advice? It takes an intensely self-sufficient person who needs no advice from anyone. As the psalmist said, it’s inherently dangerous to the soul to sit in the seat of scoffers. But hearing and adherence are not the same thing.

King Ahasuerus has a dilemma that he created. A six-month celebration of extravagant privilege in the form of extravagant golden cups, no restraint, and libation was all it took for the king to learn that he was not as sovereign as he wanted to be. A simple “no” led to a dilemma about what to do with the queen.

Memucan did not advise the king to talk to the queen. He did not consider that her “no” was simply a free and human choice that she should be able to make. Perhaps emotional maturity, empathy, or common sense would have informed him of the context of the queen walking into that space. He did not consider this in his response to the king. His reaction was quite simply an overreaction, an improper reaction to another’s reaction. And then he turns his reaction into advice for someone else.

You can’t get rid of every Memucan because everyone overreacts. If I can say I never overreact, I have proven myself to be Memucan. If I compare Memucan’s actions to myself and conclude I’m not like Memucan, I place a veil of self-righteousness over myself. If I can see it in myself, I can learn to recognize the same thing in others. Remove the propensity of sending others off to pursue other opportunities like Memucan suggested should happen for the queen.

What do you do with advice? By adhering to it, leaders can learn to hear advice in the context of the soul from which it comes. The gospel teaches us that even people who have to be told “Get behind me satan” are redeemable (Matthew 16:23; Mark 8:33). So, in every dilemma, there is the potential for two circumstances: How to address the dilemma and potential for growth from the one giving advice. That’s too much for a leader to handle on one’s own. But Christ stands between the leaders and others and circumstances, calling everyone to follow him. And Jesus never overreacts to anything, not even to odd advice.

Find all Life for Leaders devotions here. Explore what the Bible has to say about work at the unique website of our partners, the Theology of Work Project’s online commentary. Reflection on today’s Life for Leaders theme can be found here: Esther: “For Such a Time as This”.