Fundamentals of Human Nature

As a teacher for many decades and someone that’s been around the block, I’m somewhat of a student of human nature. If you need to work with, live, or communicate with others, you have to understand what makes people tick. So, let me share some basics of human behavior.

Repeat, Repeat, and Repeat Again

Repetition is a key principle to teaching. People don’t absorb things the first time they hear them. If you want to get a message through, you often have to express it several times—and in several different ways. As a former college instructor, I can tell you that students don’t read the syllabus. The information is there, but unless you find ways to put it in front of people and make them pay attention to it, your message won’t get across.

People Hear What They Want

People often don’t hear what you say. They often hear what they want to hear. Much of this is due to the bifurcated nature of American society. We’re conditioned to either drink Coke or Pepsi, drive a Chevy or a Ford, or vote for a Republican or Democrat. So, people often live in an echo chamber that reinforces their own values, beliefs, and preferences. When confronted with an opposing viewpoint, people don’t listen. Oh, they’ll listen to a point—and, that point is until they recognize an opposing viewpoint. Then, the ears are off and they begin to formulate their response, which is often more just a repetition of talking points bouncing off the walls of their echo chamber than a fully reasoned response. Instead of hearing the other party out, they want to argue—and, the arguing begins in their mind even before they fully understand what the other party has to say.

Hearing what one wants to hear is particularly true of those who vehemently hold to political viewpoints. They often believe more in the marketing of their chosen party or candidate than what that person does—or, the true impact of their policies. 

People are Driven by Emotions

Most people believe they are logical. And, most aren’t. They pick a certain brand of cookie, because it brings up memories of their childhood—even if that particularly cookie is a conglomerate of trans fat, chemicals, and artificial sweeteners. They’ll pick a vehicle that makes them feel safe—even if that vehicle has a well known safety flaw that can cause issues. They’ll pick a political candidates that feels friendly and reminds them of a relative—even if that candidate is pushing policies that directly harms them.

So, why do most people think they are logical? Well, they do use their logic for one primary purpose.

People Use Logic to Justify Their Emotional Wants

People will find a logical way to justify what their heart wants. Now, that logic may be riddled with illogical assumptions, falsehoods, and half-truths; but, and this is important to understand, the logic seems perfectly logical to them. And, they’ll instinctively  gravitate towards things that reinforce their logic even if it’s not logical. 

Ever wonder why you can’t have a real discussion with people on issues involving politics, religion, or deep seated beliefs? They’re not listening—particularly if you appeal to logic, even if your logic is impeccable. So, how do you convince them? You need to connect to them on an emotional level. As they open up to you, you can share opposing viewpoints. But, this must be done in small doses. You only share until they start to resist (and begin using their logic to justify their emotions). Once you hit that wall, just back off and table things until they are again open to another small dose. Don’t think one argument will pivot them 180 like a Top Gun pilot doing a high speed maneuver. People change their opinions in long arcs—more like a huge ocean liner being turned by a small rudder. This is particularly true for people in cults; or, people who hold cult-like loyalty to something. But, why is that?

People Would Rather Believe a Lie Than Admit They Were Duped

As ridiculous as that statement sounds, it’s true. It’s particularly true of people that tend to view things in terms of black and white. When someone cannot see things in terms of grey, then their viewpoints become the gospel and opposing viewpoints are the enemy. This can quickly develop into a bunker mentality—particularly to people who are somehow vulnerable (under economic hardship, in bad relationships, or under a great deal of stress). Under stress, people become less logical and more driven by their emotions. This leads them to grasping for hope—and, not thinking through if that hope is true or not. 

Conclusions

This is just a short article on some truths of human nature. You may think I’m being judgmental and condescending, but truth be told, I’ve seen these characteristics in myself from time to time. If we’re honest, we’re less logical than we claim to be. We don’t listen to others as we should. We want to defend ourselves and our fragile egos more than show understanding to others. It’s the human condition.

Getting Things Out of Order

The Biblical story of queen Esther unfolds likes a cosmic chess match—between an ancient enemy of the Jewish people and God’s unseen hand, which piece by piece moves people and events until checkmate. Haman, the defeated enemy, is a descendent of the Amalekites, a people group that God had cursed centuries before because of their nefarious deeds.

The story is the fulfillment of an ancient prophecy. Let’s briefly look at that ancient prophecy, found in Genesis 49:27, “Benjamin shall ravin as a wolf: in the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil.”

Both queen Esther and Mordecai, the heroine and hero of the story of Esther, are descendants of Benjamin—one of the sons of Jacob and father of one of the tribes of Israel. As Benjamites, they fulfilled the noblest character traits of a prophesied ravening wolf—they devoured the prey God has placed before them. But, there’s a little mystery in the prophecy. And, that mystery connects events that are centuries apart.

The Mystery of the Prophecy

When you think of a wolf, what comes to mind? Do you think cunning? Do you think dangerous? Do you think animalistic? Now, think about a wolf that is described as ravening or ravenous? Would it be fair to say that such an animal often acts before it thinks?

This flaw in the ravening wolf personality ended up leading to disastrous consequences to another Benjamite, King Saul, who lived centuries before Esther and Mordecai. He got things out of order. 

The prophecy places morning before evening. To a contemporary viewer, this wouldn’t seem odd, but to an ancient Hebrew this would seem out of order.

Why Shouldn’t the Morning Come First?

We find the order of evening to morning in the first chapter of the Bible. There is a repeated phrase for each day of creation of evening and morning. You can find that in Genesis 1. The day starts in the evening and progresses to morning. 

In creation there was darkness first. Then, God brought light to the darkness. God does not bring darkness to the rising light of morning. Instead, he brings the rising light of morning to break the darkness of night. God moves from evening to morning, from darkness to light, and from the wilderness to the promised land.

Is that our mindset? Do we want to go through the wilderness before we get to the promised land? Do we want to face the harsh darknesses of life before God brings the morning? Do we want to go through the darkness of battle before we gain the light of the spoils? In our sinful nature, we want things in a different order, but God wants to make us a new creature. And, becoming a new creature means he’s going to have to move in a creative way—starting with darkness and bringing light.

The Spoil and the Prey

It’s helpful to think of spoil and prey as the bounty and the battle before the bounty. Do we want to go through the battle? Or, do we just want the bounty of the spoils? In our Western mindset, we often think in terms of ends justifying the means. In our businesses, the overarching tenet is a wolf-like ravening for short-term profit, even if that means giving into a process that hurts people, the economy, or the environment. We want the spoils first. We don’t want the battle.

Benjamin is supposed to handle the prey first. Dividing the spoils comes second. But, at times Benjamin gets things reversed—and he gets into trouble. This is evident with King Saul.

King Saul and the Spoils

Saul displayed some of the noblest traits of a ravening wolf. The early part of his reign was one in which he went to battle and kept things in proper order. He devoured the prey (the enemies of God’s people) as he was supposed to. However, he didn’t always follow this impulse.

He faced a battle with the Amalekites. God had cursed the Amalekites centuries before. King Saul was supposed to utterly destroy them. But, he didn’t. He allowed the people to take of the spoils and instead of killing their king, Agag, he took him alive. Samuel confronted Saul and as God’s spokesman gave him the bad news. He had been disobedient and God was going to remove him from being king. Samuel also took it upon himself to kill king Agag.

The Stories Connect

The enemy of the Jews in the story of Esther is Haman, who is a descendent of Agag. Because king Saul had gotten things out of order, centuries later the Jews faced possible destruction. Had Saul utterly destroyed the Amalekites, a descendent of king Agag wouldn’t have existed.

The two stories taken together unfold the mystery of the prophecy of Benjamin. Things were out of order. With king Saul, he went after spoil first. And, that shortcoming wasn’t corrected until Mordecai and Esther devoured the prey. So, the two stories show things out of order—spoil placed first with king Saul and then the prey devoured with Mordecai and Esther.

When Haman and the enemies of the Jews were given into the hands of Mordecai, the Jewish people were careful to keep things in proper order. Notice what it says in Esther 9:10, “The ten sons of Haman the son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews, slew they; but on the spoil laid they not their hand.” It later says in Esther 9:15 and 16:

For the Jews that were in Shushan gathered themselves together on the fourteenth day also of the month Adar, and slew three hundred men at Shushan; but on the prey they laid not their hand. But the other Jews that were in the king's provinces gathered themselves together, and stood for their lives, and had rest from their enemies, and slew of their foes seventy and five thousand, but they laid not their hands on the prey.

Notice the parts I’ve highlighted. The Jews were careful not to repeat the errors of king Saul. The story of queen Esther isn’t just a tale of victory from their enemies. It’s a book end of how an ancient enemy was eventually defeated because the Benjamites eventually got things into the right order. They took care of the enemy first and then celebrated—prey came first and spoil came second.

The same is true in our lives. We often have enemies to defeat and battles that must be fought, but what we want is the spoil. We will justify the ends based on the means—and, we may get some short term spoils, but things will eventually go awry if we live by that philosophy. And, down the road someone else may have to fight our battles for us. God’s economy is not our economy. While we live in the world, we’re no longer of the world. We are now moving out of darkness as God brings light.

Conclusion

There’s certainly much more to investigate in this story. It actually begins with the tale of two brothers. And, it’s no surprise they also got things out of order and faced a great deal of conflict. It’s also clear that the story of Benjamin as a ravenous wolf didn’t end with Haman’s defeat, but has future fulfillments yet to unfold. When Jacob called his sons together to give them final words, he says in Genesis 49:1b, “Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last day.” We will be unfolding these revelations in future chapters.