Chapter 3: 10 - 15
The book of Esther: A study of God in action
when nothing appears to be happening!
by Patsy Norwood (c) 2023 - 2024. All Rights
Reserved.
We last left Haman going before the king with his disguised, I
have your best interest at heart, plan to get rid of the Jews. Did the king see through Haman’s rouse, or
did Haman manage to manipulate the king into giving him what he wanted? Let’s see how the king responded to Haman’s
plan …
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.
“So the king took his signet ring from his hand and gave it to
Haman” … this was basically the equivalent
of the king’s signature which made official and gave authority to anything it
was applied to.
The king’s
signet ring held great power and he just handed it over to Haman.
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.”
Why is the king
so willing to finish off a people whose identity he doesn’t even know!
Did you also
notice that the king basically said, feel free to do what you want with the
people and with their money/silver.
According to the Pulpit commentary, “Confiscation always accompanies execution in the East, and the goods of those who are put to death naturally escheat to the crown, which either seizes them or makes a grant of them.”
The
king not only gave Haman the peoples lives, but he also gave him permission to
keep all their silver for himself.
The king is
indifferent! It appears that he simply
does not care and doesn’t want to be bothered!
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.
The decree was
issued in the first month, but it wasn’t to be carried out until the twelfth
month. It seems that Haman wanted to torture the Jews before he had them all
killed.
Typically, a
decree was written on a scroll, the scroll was then rolled up and a bit of clay
mixture was applied.
It was on this clay mixture that the king’s signet ring was used to make
an imprint signifying that it was now an irrevocable law.
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.
Kill all the
Jews everywhere all in one day!
Men
Women
Young and old
Children
Babies
All of them,
everyone. And if that wasn’t enough the
letters also gave permission to take/steal any and all of their possessions!
According to
Josephus this is how the decree read …
“Artaxerxes, the great king, to the rulers of the hundred and
twenty-seven provinces, from India to Ethiopia, sends this writing. Whereas I have governed many nations and
obtained the dominions of all the habitable earth, according to my desire, and
have not been obliged to do anything that is insolent or cruel to my subjects
by such my power, but have showed myself mild and gentle, by taking care of
their peace and good order, and have sought how they might enjoy those
blessings for time to come; and whereas I have been kindly informed by Haman,
who, on account of his prudence and justice, is the first in my esteem, and in
dignity, and only second to myself, for his fidelity and constant good will to
them, that there is an ill-natured nation intermixed with all mankind, that is
averse to our laws, and not subject to kings, and of a different conduct of
life from others, that hateth monarchy, and of a disposition that is pernicious
to our affairs; I give order that these men, of whom Haman, our second father,
hath informed us, be destroyed, with their wives and children, and that none of
them be spared, and that none prefer pity to them before obedience to this
decree; and this I will to be executed on the fourteenth day of the twelfth
month of this present year, that so when all that have enmity to us are
destroyed, and this in one day, we may be allowed to lead the rest of our lives
in peace hereafter.”
Looking at this
decree, Artaxerxes has a high opinion of Haman, doesn’t he? Haman must have done an excellent job of
playing up to the king. I think it’s important
at this point for us to make note of Artaxerxes and Haman’s relationship … they
seem to be best buddies, don’t they!
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.
How does one
get ready for something like that?
This decree
went out to all the areas that the king ruled over, just like the edict for the
young virgin girls did that brought Esther to the palace.
“being published for all people,” in other words it was publicly displayed. Can’t you just image the confusion and the
questions the Jews and non-Jews alike had?
Haman’s evil
plan was finally made clear! Public
violence, murder and plundering were to be unleased to provide vengeance for his
wounded pride and his prejudice.
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.
“So the king and Haman sat down to drink” … What! By their order and execution an unknown number
of people are going to be killed and the king and Haman sat down to have a
drink! The people of the city are
perplexed, they don’t understand and instead of an explanation being given, the
king and Haman sat down to have a drink!
Talk about hard hearts!
Haman has got
to be feeling powerful, full of himself, possibly even gloating, and in control
right about now. Everything is going his
way, he thinks. He has however, underestimated, ignored and overlooked the God of the Jews.
Let’s take a
peek at what God has been doing behind the scenes while Haman has been plotting
and implementing his wicked plans.
Coffman commentary summed it up well …
God used the drunken request of the Xerxes to degrade Vashti the queen,
He elevated an orphan Jewish girl to take Queen Vashti’s place, and
He planted the name of Mordecai in the chronicles of the king, (which He
would remind Xerxes of at just the right time).
Haman might
have felt like he was the victor, but he was about to come face to face with
what it meant to mess with God’s people.
While the king
and Haman sat enjoying their drinks, unbeknownst to them, a member of the
doomed people occupied the prestigious chair of the Queen of Persia.
What are your thoughts?
In our next lesson:
Esther 4: 1 – 9 Mordecai re-enters the picture and things start
happening.
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Until the next class ...
patsy @ From This Heart of Mine; (c) 2023 - 2024 by Patsy
Norwood ~ All Rights Reserved.
Imagine the terror of being a Jew when that decree went out!
ReplyDeleteLana, it had to almost be paralyzing!
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