Charles Ellicott Commentary Esther 3:2

"And all the king`s servants, that were in the king`s gate, bowed down, and did reverence to Haman; for the king had so commanded concerning him. But Mordecai bowed not down, nor did him reverence." — Esther 3:2 (ASV)

Bowed not. —Perhaps, rather, did not prostrate himself, for this was the ordinary Eastern practice (see Herodotus iii. 86, vii. 7, 34, 136, viii. 118). The objection on Mordecai’s part was evidently mainly on religious grounds, as giving to a man Divine honours (Josephus, in the place cited), for it elicits from him the fact that he was a Jew (Esther 3:4), to whom such an act of obeisance would be abhorrent. Whether Mordecai also rebelled against the ignominious character of the obeisance, we cannot say.