Esther 3:12

_THEN WERE THE KING'S SCRIBES CALLED ON THE THIRTEENTH DAY OF THE FIRST MONTH, AND THERE WAS WRITTEN ACCORDING TO ALL THAT HAMAN HAD COMMANDED UNTO THE KING'S 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 KING'S RING._ Then were the king's scribes called ... and there was written. The government secretaries were employed in making out the proclamation authorizing a universal massacre of the Jews on one day. It was translated into the dialects of all the people throughout the vast empire, and swift messengers sent to carry it into all the provinces, and, on the day appointed, all Jews were to be put to death, and their property confiscated-doubtless the means by which Haman hope...

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 12. _UNTO THE KING'S LIEUTENANTS_] אחשדרפני _achashdarpeney_. This is in all probability another _Persian_ word, for there is nothing like it in the _Hebrew_ language, nor can it be fairly deduced from any _roots_ in that tongue. The _Vulgate_ translates _ad_ _omnes satrapas regis_, to all the _satraps_ of the king. It is very likely that this is the true sense of the word, and that the אחשדרפני _achsadrapani_, as it may be pronounced, is the Chaldee or Hebrew corruption of the _Persian word_ [Persian] _satraban_, the plural of [Persian] _satrab_, a Persian peer, though the word is now nearly obsolete in the Persian language; for since the conquest of Persia by Mohammedanism, the names of officers are materially changed, as something of _Islamism_ is generally connected with the titles of officers both civil and military, as well as religious....

ON THE THIRTEENTH DAY - Haman had, apparently (compare Esther 3:7 with Esther 3:13), obtained by his use of the lot the 13th day of Adar as the lucky day for destroying the Jews. This may have caused him to fix on the 13th day of another month for the commencement of his enterprise. So, the Jews throughout the empire had from 9 to 11 months of warning of the peril which threatened them....

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

THEN WERE THE KING'S SCRIBES CALLED, ON THE THIRTEENTH DAY OF THE FIRST MONTH,.... The month Nisan, Esther 3:7, after Haman had leave and power from the king to destroy the Jews, and his ring given him in token of it; the king's scribes or secretaries of state were called together on that day, to write the letters for that purpose: AND THERE WAS WRITTEN ACCORDING TO ALL THAT HAMAN HAD COMMANDED; whatever he would have done; he had an unlimited power to do what he pleased, and he made use of it, and directed the scribes what they should write: UNTO THE KING'S LIEUTENANTS, AND TO THE GOVERNORS THAT WERE OVER EVERY PROVINCE; the deputy governors of the one hundred and twenty seven provinces, Esther 1:1 AND TO THE RULERS OF EVERY PEOPLE OF EVERY PROVINCE; it seems

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 THIRTEENTH DAY. Ominous number. See App-10. Note the three thirteens: Esther 3:12; Esther 3:13; Esther 8:12....

_scribes secretaries_, such as attended Xerxes in his expedition against Greece. [70] [70] Herodotus says that "seated beneath a golden awning [in a Sidonian galley] he sailed along the prows of all his vessels … while he made enquiries again, as he had done when he reviewed the land-force, and caused the answers to be recorded by his scribes" (Herod. vii. 100). Again, "During the whole time of the battle [of Salamis] Xerxes sat at the base of the hill called Aegaleos, over against Salamis, and whenever he saw any of his own captains perform any worthy exploit, he enquired concerning him, and the man's name was taken down by his scribes, together with the names of his father and his city" (viii. 90). _in the first month, on the thirteenth day thereof_ The thirteenth having been found to be a lucky day for the massacre itself, Haman may have thought it advisable to choose the same day o...