Esther 3 - Introduction
_HAMAN, KING ADVANCED BY THE KING, AND DESPISED BY MORDECAI, MEDITATES THE DESTRUCTION OF ALL THE JEWS._ _Before Christ 474._... [ Continue Reading ]
_HAMAN, KING ADVANCED BY THE KING, AND DESPISED BY MORDECAI, MEDITATES THE DESTRUCTION OF ALL THE JEWS._ _Before Christ 474._... [ Continue Reading ]
HAMAN—THE AGAGITE— This man was descended in a direct line from Agag, whom Samuel hewed in pieces in Gilgal. Calmet.... [ Continue Reading ]
MORDECAI BOWED NOT, NOR DID HIM REVERENCE— Josephus tells us, that Haman, taking notice of this singularity in Mordecai, asked him what countryman he was; and, finding him to be a Jew, broke out into a violent exclamation at his insolence; and in his rage formed the desperate resolution, not only to... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY CAST PUR, THAT IS, THE LOT— Haman, being determined to destroy Mordecai and the Jews, called together his diviners, to find out what day would be most lucky for his putting this design in execution. The way of divination then in use among the eastern people was, by casting _lots;_ and therefore... [ Continue Reading ]
AND I WILL PAY TEN THOUSAND TALENTS OF SILVER— The sum which Haman here offers the king in lieu of the damage that his revenues might sustain by the destruction of so many of his subjects, is prodigious for any private man, and shows how outrageously he was bent against the Jews. We read, however, o... [ Continue Reading ]
LETTERS WERE SENT BY POSTS— The first institution of _posts_ is generally ascribed to the Persians; for the kings of Persia, as Diodorus Siculus observes, lib. 19: in order that they might have intelligence of what passed in all the provinces of their vast dominions, placed centinels on _eminences,_... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT THE CITY SHUSHAN WAS PERPLEXED— Not only the Jews, but a great many others in Shushan, might be concerned at this horrid decree, either because they were engaged with them in worldly concerns, or perhaps out of mere humanity and compassion to such a number of innocent people, now appointed as sh... [ Continue Reading ]