Esther 3:1-15
1 After these things King Ahasuerus promoted Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, and advanced him and set his seat above all the princes who were with him. 2 And all the king's servants who were within the king's gate bowed and paid homage to Haman, for so the king had commanded concerning him. But Mordecai would not bow or pay homage. 3 Then the king's servants who were within the king's gate said to Mordecai, "Why do you transgress the king's command?" 4 Now it happened, when they spoke to him daily and he would not listen to them, that they told it to Haman, to see whether Mordecai's words would stand; for Mordecai had told them that he was a Jew. 5 When Haman saw that Mordecai did not bow or pay him homage, Haman was filled with wrath. 6 But he disdained to lay hands on Mordecai alone, for they had told him of the people of Mordecai. Instead, Haman sought to destroy all the Jews who were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus—the people of Mordecai.
7 In the first month, which is the month of Nisan, in the twelfth year of King Ahasuerus, they cast Pur (that is, the lot), before Haman to determine the day and the month, until it fell on the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar.
8 Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, "There is a certain people scattered and dispersed among the people in all the provinces of your kingdom; their laws are different from all other people's, and they do not keep the king's laws. Therefore it is not fitting for the king to let them remain. 9 If it pleases the king, let a decree be written that they be destroyed, and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver into the hands of those who do the work, to bring it into the king's treasuries."
10 So 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 And the king said to Haman, "The money and the people are given to you, to do with them as seems good to you."
12 Then the king's scribes were called on the thirteenth day of the first month, and a decree was written according to all that Haman commanded—to the king's satraps, to the governors who were over each province, to the officials of all people, to every province according to its script, and to every people in their language. In the name of King Ahasuerus it was written, and sealed with the king's signet ring. 13 And the letters were sent by couriers into all the king's provinces, to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate all the Jews, both young and old, little children and women, in one day, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar, and to plunder their possessions. 14 A copy of the document was to be issued as law in every province, being published for all people, that they should be ready for that day. 15 The couriers went out, hastened by the king's command; and the decree was proclaimed in Shushan the citadel. So the king and Haman sat down to drink, but the city of Shushan was perplexed.
Haman's conspiracy against God’s people was driven by hatred and vengeance. The perplexity was by God’s people in not understanding how a benign government could order their extinction by royal edict. They did not realize the cunning of their adversary in applying lies and subterfuge to pass this evil law, nor did they realize the old feud (1 Samuel 15:7-8, Exodus 17:14-16) from the ancestors of Haman which he let smolder in extreme hate to the boiling point of such inhumane actions. Mordecai refused to bow or pay homage in honor to Haman when he was honored by the king, and Haman was infuriated even more with this refusal when he discovered that Mordecai was a Jew and an old enemy. He therefore set out to destroy him and all of his people in retribution. The sly lie was told the king that the laws of the Jews were so different from all other people's, that they do not even keep the king's laws, and should be wiped out in a genocide approach by decree. The king agreed after hearing the slanderous report, and wrote the unbreakable law to make this so. Haman even sweetened the deal by offering to pay ten thousand talents of his own silver to finance the assassins, and put the money in the king’s treasury. This money seems to have been almost two-thirds of the annual income of the empire, and most likely would have come from the plundered wealth of the Jews, much like the Nazis had done in the Holocaust in taking the wealth of those they hated and killed because they were of God. The king bought into the lie and issued the edict to annihilate all the Jews, sparing none of them, and to support legally plundering their wealth in the process. Then Haman sat down to celebrate with the king as those of the city of Shushan (Susa) sat perplexed at this law. We see then through history how our adversary the devil attacks God’s chosen people, first the Jew and then the followers of their Messiah, the Christ named Jesus. We are hated for being His, and this roaring lion is after those who have the Testimony of Jesus Christ, the Son of God (Revelation 12:17, 1 Peter 5:8). There is a conspiracy to eliminate us, but we should not be perplexed when we read and understand the scriptures. We have a Deliverer in the end, however, no matter what slander and attack attempt to exterminate the followers of Jesus Christ, we who are His chosen people as those who have gone before us by faith. That is the lesson for us from Esther today. Our lot has been cast in Christ for eternity! We celebrate the Purim of His calling us out of the darkness into His marvelous light forever.
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