Esther 3 KJV
Haman's Plot
Esther Chapter 3: Haman's Plot
Haman's identification as an Agagite invokes the unresolved Amalekite conflict from 1 Samuel 15, positioning the chapter's antagonism as a continuation of Yahweh's ancient command to blot out Amalek rather than a merely personal vendetta.
1fter these things did king Ahasuerus promote Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, and advanced him, and set his seat above all the princes that were with him.
2 And all the kingโs servants, that were in the kingโs gate, bowed, and reverenced Haman: for the king had so commanded concerning him. But Mordecai bowed not, nor did him reverence.
3 Then the kingโs servants, which were in the kingโs gate, said unto Mordecai, Why transgressest thou the kingโs commandment?
4 Now it came to pass, when they spake daily unto him, and he hearkened not unto them, that they told Haman, to see whether Mordecaiโs matters would stand: for he had told them that he was a Jew.
5 And when Haman saw that Mordecai bowed not, nor did him reverence, then was Haman full of wrath.
6 And he thought scorn to lay hands on Mordecai alone; for they had shewed him the people of Mordecai: wherefore Haman sought to destroy all the Jews that were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus, even the people of Mordecai.
7 In the first month, that 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, that is, the month Adar.
8 And Haman said unto king Ahasuerus, There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the people in all the provinces of thy kingdom; and their laws are diverse from all people; neither keep they the kingโs laws: therefore it is not for the kingโs profit to suffer them.
9 If it please the king, let it be written that they may be destroyed: and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver to the hands of those that have the charge of the business, to bring it into the kingโs treasuries.
10 And the king took his ring from his hand, and gave it unto Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the Jewsโ 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.
12 Then were the kingโs scribes called on the thirteenth day of the first month, and there was written according to all that Haman had commanded unto the kingโs lieutenants, and to the governors that were over every province, and to the rulers of every people of every province according to the writing thereof, and to every people after their language; in the name of king Ahasuerus was it written, and sealed with the kingโs ring.
13 And the letters were sent by posts into all the kingโs provinces, to destroy, to kill, and to cause to perish, all Jews, both young and old, little children and women, in one day, even upon the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar, and to take the spoil of them for a prey.
14 The copy of the writing for a commandment to be given in every province was published unto all people, that they should be ready against that day.
15 The posts went out, being hastened by the kingโs commandment, and the decree was given in Shushan the palace. And the king and Haman sat down to drink; but the city Shushan was perplexed.
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Did You Know?
Haman's identification as an Agagite invokes the unresolved Amalekite conflict from 1 Samuel 15, positioning the chapter's antagonism as a continuation of Yahweh's ancient command to blot out Amalek rather than a merely personal vendetta.
The single-day destruction decree, issued in Nisan but scheduled for Adar, creates a deliberate narrative window that allows the hidden divine reversal to unfold, contrasting with Pharaoh's incremental plagues in Exodus.
Haman's offer of ten thousand talents of silver to fund the genocide echoes the temple tax valuation in Exodus 30 yet inverts it into an instrument of extermination, highlighting the perversion of sacred economic motifs.
The public posting of Mordecai's Jewish identity through his refusal to bow marks a reversal from his earlier concealed ethnicity in chapter 2, forcing the diaspora community's hiddenness into open confrontation with imperial power.
The term 'Pur' for the lot cast before Haman etymologically grounds the later festival of Purim in a pagan divination practice, demonstrating how the narrative reclaims chance as a vehicle for providential deliverance.