Esther 3:13

_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 Esther 3:13. _TO DESTROY, SO KILL, AND TO CAUSE TO PERISH_] To put the whole of them to death in _any manner_, or by _every way_ and _means_. TAKE _THE SPOIL OF THEM FOR A PREY._] Thus, whoever killed a Jew had his property for his trouble! And thus the hand of every man was armed against this miserable people. Both in the _Greek_ version and in the _Latin_ the copy of this order is introduced at length, expressing "the king's desire to have all his dominions in quiet and prosperity; but that he is informed that this cannot be expected, while a certain detestable people are disseminated through all his provinces, who not only are not subject to the laws, but endeavour to change them; and that nothing less than their utter _extermination_ will secure the peace and prosperity of the empire; and therefore he orders that

Present, the Jews keep three days - the 13th, the 14th, and the 15th of Adar - as connected with “the Feast of Purim;” but they make the 13th a fast, commemorative of the fast of Esther Esther 4:16, and keep the feast itself on the 14th and 15th of Adar....

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 LETTERS WERE SENT BY POST INTO ALL THE KING'S PROVINCES,.... Or by the runners x; by which it seems as if these letters were carried by running footmen, men swift of foot; or rather they were running horses, on which men rode post with letters, and which the Persians called Angari; a scheme invented by Cyrus, for the quick dispatch of letters from place to place, by fixing horses and men to ride them at a proper distance, to receive letters one from another, and who rode night and day y, as our mail men do now; and nothing could be swifter, or done with greater speed; neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor night, could stop their course, we are told z: the purport of these letters was, 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; see...

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...

POSTS. the hand of the runners. Compare Esther 8:10. DESTROY... KILL... CAUSE TO PERISH. Note the Figure of speech _Synonymia_, to emphasize the utter destruction contemplated. PERISH. Hebrew. _'abad._ Here and Esther 4:16; Esther 7:4; Esther 8:11, not Esther 9:28. TAKE THE SPOIL. See note on Esther 9:10....

_And letters were sent by posts_ Xenophon tells us (_Cyr._viii. 6. 17) that these were carefully organised by Cyrus in the Persian Empire, and continued after his time. Stations were established at convenient distances apart, and supplied relays of horses and men, that the transmission of letters might be as rapid as possible, the forwarding of correspondence being often continued by night. [71] The Heb. for -posts" here is literally _the runners_. The Greek word is _angaros_(ἄγγαρος), which, as denoting compulsory service, supplies a verb used three times in the N.T. (Matthew 5:41; Matthew 27:32; Mark 15:21) in the sense -to compel." [71] "Along the whole line of road there are men (they say) stationed wi