Esther 3:10

_AND THE KING TOOK HIS RING FROM HIS HAND, AND GAVE IT UNTO HAMAN THE SON OF HAMMEDATHA THE AGAGITE, THE JEWS' ENEMY._ The king took his ring from his hand, and gave it unto Haman. There was a seal or signet in the ring. Notwithstanding Pliny's denial ('Hist. Nat.' b. 33:6), the fact is undoubted, that in the East the ring was frequently at the same time a seal (cf. Jeremiah 22:24). The bestowment of the ring, with the king's name and that of his kingdom engraven on it, was given with much ceremony, and it was equivalent to putting the sign manual to a royal edict....

7-15 Without some acquaintance with the human heart, and the history of mankind, we should not think that any prince could consent to a dreadful proposal, so hurtful to himself. Let us be thankful for mild and just government. Haman inquires, according to his own superstitions, how to find a lucky day for the designed massacre! God's wisdom serves its own purposes by men's folly. Haman has appealed to the lot, and the lot, by delaying the execution, gives judgment against him. The event explains the doctrine of a particular providence over all the affairs of men, and the care of God over his church. Haman was afraid lest the king's conscience should smite him for what he had done; to prevent which, he kept him drinking. This cursed method many often take to drown convictions, and to harden their own hearts, and the hearts of others, in sin. All appeared in a favourable train to accompli...

Verse Esther 3:10. _THE KING TOOK HIS RING_] In this ring was no doubt included his _privy seal_, and he gave this to Haman, that when he had formed such a _decree_ as he thought fit, he might seal it with this _ring_, which would give it its due force and influence among the rulers of the provinces. The _privy seal_ of many of our sovereigns appears to have been inserted in their _rings_; and the seals of Eastern potentates were worn in rings upon their fingers. One such seal, once the property of the late _Tippoo Sultan_, lies before me; the inscription is deeply cut in _silver_, which is set in a _massy carriage of gold_. This, as fitted to the finger, he probably kept always on his hand, to be ready to seal despatches, c., or it might be carried by a confidential officer for the same purpose, as it seems to refer to one of the chief cutcheri...

EXPOSITION HAMAN CASTS LOTS TO OBTAIN A LUCKY DAY FOR HIS ENTERPRISE, AND OBTAINS A DAY IN THE MONTH ADAR, THE LAST MONTH OF THE YEAR (Esther 3:7). Having determined on a general massacre of the Jews on a given day, as the best mode of ridding the empire of them, Haman thought it of supreme importance, to select for the massacre a propitious and fortunate day. Lucky and unlucky days are recognised generally throughout the East; and it is a wide-spread practice, when any affair of consequence is tak

AND THE KING TOOK HIS RING FROM HIS HAND, AND GAVE IT UNTO HAMAN, THE SON OF HAMMEDATHA THE AGAGITE, THE JEWS' ENEMY. As a token of his affection for him, and a mark of honour to him; with the Persians w for a king to give a ring to anyone was a token and bond of the greatest love and friendship imaginable; and it may be this was given to Haman, to seal with it the letters that were or should be written, giving order for the destruction of the Jews. It seems as if as yet Esther had not acquainted the king who her kindred and people were; or it can hardly be thought he would have so easily come into such a scheme, or so highly favoured an enemy of her people. w Alex. ab. Alex. Genial. Dier. l. 1. c. 26. l. 2. c. 19....

HAMAN AND HIS WICKED PLOT CHAPTER 3 _ 1. The promotion of Haman and Mordecai's faithfulness (Esther 3:1)_ 2. Haman's proposal and the King's assent (Esther 3:7) 3. The proclamation of death (Esther 3:12) Esther 3:1. How long after these things the history of this chapter came to pass is not definitely stated. It probably happened after a short interval. We are now introduced to Haman, the Son of Hammedatha the Agagite. Him the king promoted and set his seat above all the princes. The tracing of this man's name is of interest. Its meaning is “A magnificent one.” Philologists derive it from the Persian god Haoma or

ESTHER 3. HAMAN, TO AVENGE A SLIGHT PUT ON HIM BY MORDECAI, PERSUADES THE KING TO ORDER A MASSACRE OF THE JEWS. The Grand Vizier Haman, Heb. calls a descendant of that mysterious people, the Amalekites, and even of their king Agag (1 Samuel 15). To suppose that the word Agag really means Gog, and to gather that we have here a sting for the memory of the Scythians, is a rather helpless device. The Heb. writer seems to have wished to avoid saying that Haman was a Macedonian, _i.e._ a Syrian. In ch. 8 LXX says he was so. Perhaps that was dangerous politics: those were the nations of the bloodthirsty Alexander and Antiochus. Haman, in his jealousy of Mordecai, would murder every Jewish man, woman, and child. Here is horrible blood-thirst, but it is Gentile blood-thirst. It is not Jewish, and it passes comprehension why this ferocious character of Haman has been so often attributed to the Jew...

THE JEWS' ENEMY. Haman so called four times: Esther 3:10; Esther 8:1; Esther 9:10; Esther 9:24. No one else so called in Scripture....

_his ring_ The possession of the king's signet ring gave the holder full power to issue edicts in his name, since the sealing of them with his signet gave them validity. Alexander the Great is said to have intimated in this way that he desired his general Perdiccas to succeed him. Cp. for the use of a signet ring in this connexion Esther 8:2; Genesis 41:42; 1Ma 6:15; see also Josephus, _Ant._xx. 2. 2. _Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the Jews" enemy_ This full description lays stress upon the terrible plight in which the Jews were placed by the delegation of unlimited powers for their destruction into the hands of their hereditary foe....

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 t