Esther 3:7-11

B. Subterfuge of Haman

TEXT: Esther 3:7-11

7

In the first month, which is the month Nisan, in the twelfth year of king Ahasuerus, they cast Pur, that is, the lot, before Haman from day to day, and from month to month, to the twelfth month, which is the month Adar.

8

And Haman said unto king Ahasuerus, There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of thy kingdom; and their laws are diverse from those of every people; neither keep they the king's laws: therefore it is not for the king's profit to suffer them.

9

If it please the king, let it be written that they be destroyed: and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver into the hands of those that have the charge of the king's business, to bring it into the king's treasuries.

10

And the king took his ring from his hand, and gave it unto Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the Jews-' enemy.

11

And the king said unto Haman, The silver is given to thee, the people also, to do with them as it seemeth good to thee.

Today's English Version, Esther 3:7-11

In the twelfth year of King Xerxes-' rule in the first month, the month of Nisan, Haman ordered the lots to be cast (purim they were called) to find out the right day and month to carry out his plot. The thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar, was decided on.
So Haman told the king, There is a certain race of people scattered all over your empire and found in every province. They observe customs that are not like those of any other people. Moreover, they do not obey the laws of the empire, so it is not in your best interests to tolerate them. If it please Your Majesty, issue a decree that they are to be put to death. If you do, I guarantee that I will be able to put 375 tons of silver into the royal treasury for the administration of the empire.
The king took off his ring, which was used to stamp proclamations and make them official, and gave it to the enemy of the Jewish people, Haman son of Hammedatha, the descendant of Agag. The king told him, The people and their money are yours; do as you like with them.

COMMENTS

Esther 3:7-8 Perjury: In the first month which is called Nisan, Haman made his genocidal plans for the Jewish people. Nisan was the first month of the Jewish religious calendar. The word Nisan (meaning, the month of flowers) was the word the Jews of the Babylonian exile substituted for the old Mosaic name of the first month, Abib. Nisan is comparable to March-April of the Gregorian calendar. The twelfth year of Xerxes is 474 B.C. The word Pur in Hebrew is probably a word borrowed from the Assyrian word puru which means stone. It came to mean a lot for casting to determine an issue. The casting of lots was a familiar practice of ancient Eastern civilizations, even of the Hebrews (cf. Proverbs 16:33; Numbers 26:55; Ezekiel 48:29; Proverbs 18:18; Jonah 1:7; Acts 1:26, etc.). Lots were drawn or thrown in various ways; sometimes by means of stone or ivory dice; sometimes by sets of intricately carved wooden sticks; by strips of parchment and other means. Haman's lots were probably some type of numbered or figured stones.

Haman cast lots to decide the day of the month and the month of the year. The lots fell upon the thirteenth day of the twelfth month (according to the Jewish calendar) Adar. Adar is the same as February-March (Esther 3:13). It appears that Haman tried the lot over and over until it finally signaled the above date. We are not to suppose that Haman took a whole year to cast the lots. In approximately 365 throws of the lots a decision would have to be reached. That would take no more than an hour or two. Casting the lots was, according to pagan superstition, leaving the decisive choice up to the gods of Fortune or Fate. This was to give divine sanction to the choice. Little did Haman know that the God of Mordecai and the Jews and of all menthe only real and true Godwas taking a divine hand in the affairs of the Persian-Jewish confrontation. Having religiously decided which day he should kill the Jews, Haman proceeds with the next phase of his planned mass murder. He will go to the emperor with his lies about the Jewish people.

Haman's casual statement, There is a certain people scattered abroad. does not immediately impress us with the enormity of what he is about to propose. He is about to call for the extermination of the whole world-wide Jewish community. All the provinces of thy kingdom would include the vast territory from India in the east, to Asia Minor in the west, Ethiopia in the south and the Caucasus Mountains (of southern Russia) in the north. It would include the Jews who had returned to Palestine a hundred years earlier. How many Jews would this include? We can only conjectureperhaps two or three million. The first captivity of the Jewish nation took place in 721 B.C. (at the hands of the Assyrians); the second captivity took place in 606-586 B.C. (at the hands of the Babylonians.) Esther, Mordecai, and Haman are one hundred years and perhaps three generations later. This allows plenty of time for wide dispersion and extensive multiplication of the Jewish people. Josephus records that a million Jews were slain in the seige of Jerusalem alone in 66-70 A.D. There may have been even more than 3,000,000 Jews dispersed throughout the Persian empire in Esther's day. The Sibylline Oracles (250 B.C.) said, Every land and every sea is full of thee. (see lSBE, art., Dispersion, Vol. II, pg. 855-859 for detailed information on world-wide Judaism). The magnitude of the atrocity is almost incredible when it is realized that Haman is planning to eradicate a whole race of peopleall because his pride has been wounded by one man! Haman's first assault upon the Jewish people is that they are all over the place.
Next, he brings up their cultural peculiarities. Their laws are diverse from those of every people. That is a true statement but it should be qualified. Of course, the Jews had religious doctrines and practices quite different from the heathen peoples among whom they lived. Because the Jews worshipped the One, True God, and had His Divine revelation in human language, their ethics were much higher and their human relationships much more benevolent than that of the heathen. Their laws of diet and dress were directly connected to their religion. Sometimes the religious scruples of the Jews were in conflict with the political ideologies of pagan nations because pagan emperors claimed divinity and required worship from all subjects. When Jews were left free to worship according to the dictates of their torah, they were otherwise good and loyal citizens of any land in which they might dwell (e.g. Daniel, Nehemiah, Ezra, etc.). The Jewish Talmud represents Haman as saying, They do not eat with us, nor drink with us, nor intermarry with us. Since the Persians allowed all conquered nations to retain their own religious and cultural practices so long as they did not constitute sedition, Haman's information poses no real threat to the security of Xerxes-' empire. Haman's next accusation, They do not keep the king's laws is, if true, a serious threat to Xerxes and Persia. This was not true (except for cases mentioned earlier having to do with Jewish scruples against any form of idolatry). The Jews were law abiding citizens. Many Jews made great contributions in politics, science, the arts and finance in every country where they dwelt. Jeremiah the prophet instructed his countrymen who were about to be exiled into the Mesopotamian area, Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare (Jeremiah 29:5-7). Rabbinic principle was established from Jeremiah's instructions, The law of the country in which you live is binding. The Jews were faithful and loyal subjects of the Persian emperors from Cyrus the Great to Darius Codomannus.

Esther 3:9-11 Payoff: Haman's rage is so consuming he is willing to pay a tremendous bribe to the emperor. Haman's offer is ten thousand talents of silver. This is a sum equivalent to approximately $10,000,000 U.S. currency. Herodotus estimated the sum equal to the annual revenue in silver of the whole Persian empire. Haman's offer was probably tempting since Xerxes-' recent military fiasco in Greece had drained the Persian royal treasury. When Xerxes gave his signet ring to Haman he was allowing Haman to do what he asked with full sanction and authority of the emperial crown. The immediate response of Xerxes to the request of Haman, without any royal questions or investigations into the ethics or practicality of such genocide, reinforces the characterization of Xerxes as an immature, quick-tempered, vacillating despot.

Xerxes-' reply, The silver is given to thee., makes it appear that he refused the offer of Haman's ten thousand talents. But Mordecai's report of the incident to Hathach, Esther's attendant, implies that Xerxes did, after all, accept the money (cf. Esther 4:7). What is apparently meant by Xerxes-' reply is that Haman is authorized to destroy the Jews and plunder their possessions. The silver of Esther 3:11 is the silver of the Jews that shall belong to Haman. Haman's bribe of ten thousand talents may be nearly recouped in his royal mandate to pillage the property of the whole Jewish citizenry of Persia.

Massacre of an entire race shocks the modern western mind. However, the Persian emperor just before Xerxes, Darius Hystaspis, ordered the extermination of the Magi (a whole race of Medes who had rebelled under Cambyses). This great massacre was commemorated annually in Persia. About 100 years before that a massacre of the Scythians had occurred. Recent modern totalitarian tyrants have also attempted genocide on various races and cultures.