Esther 3:1-15
Q.1. What do we know about Haman’s ancestry? Why did Mordecai refuse to worship him? What secret plot did Haman hatch against Jews? – (Est.3:1-6 c.f. 1 Sam.15:2, 32-33)
Haman was an Agagite (see Est.3:1). Agag was the king of the Amalekites that King Saul of Israel was told to destroy – for what he did to Israel, how he set himself against him on the way while he was coming out of Egypt (1 Sam.15:2). Earlier, under Moses, Israel only survived through the intercession of Moses whose hands were held up by Aaron and Hur in their fight against the Amalekites (see Ex.17:8-16). Amalek was the grandson of Esau who despised God when he sold his birthright for a bowl of lentil soup (see Gen.25:29-34 c.f. Gen.36:12, 16, 19). Mordecai refused to do homage to Haman because he was a devout Jew who would only worship God (see Est.3:2-4 c.f. Ex.20:2; Dt.5:6-7; Dan.3:1-30). Haman kept his rage in check and purposed – … to destroy all the Jews, the people of Mordecai, who were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus (Est.3:6). Like modern-day terrorists, he kept his hatred under wraps so that he could inflict maximum damage against his enemies, the Jews.
Q.2. How did Haman plan to exterminate the Jews? What process was put in place? How did the edict impact the people of the city? – (Esth.3:7-15)
Haman was a gambling man and wanted direction from the gambler’s dice (i.e. He cast ‘Pur’) and this gave him the courage to implement his plot – Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “There is a certain people scattered and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom; their laws are different from those of all other people and they do not observe the king’s laws, so it is not in the king’s interest to let them remain (Est.3:8). To make his proposal more attractive (i.e. to exterminate a people group) he promised to pay the king – … ten thousand talents of silver into the hands of those who carry on the king’s business, to put into the king’s treasuries (Est.3:9). The king didn’t need the money and – 10 Then the king took his signet ring from his hand and gave it to Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews. 11 The king said to Haman, “The silver is yours, and the people also, to do with them as you please” (Est.3:10-11). Within a few weeks edicts went out to all the 127 provinces – … to destroy, to kill and to annihilate all the Jews, both young and old, women and children, in one day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar, and to seize their possessions as plunder (Est.3:13). Not surprisingly – … while the king and Haman sat down to drink, the city of Susa was in confusion (Est.3:15).