Esther 3:9

_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 KING'S TREASURIES._ I will pay ten thousand talents of silver ... into the king's treasuries. This sum, reckoning by the Babylonian talent, will be about 2,119,000 British pounds sterling; but estimated according to the Jewish talent, it will considerably exceed 3,000,000 British pounds sterling-an immense contribution to be made out of a private fortune. But classic history makes mention of several persons whose resources seem almost incredible; especially of a Lydian who, in the days of Xerxes, possessed upwards of 4,000,000 British pounds sterling, besides ample estates and slaves. In modern times, similarly large fortunes have been possessed by individuals in the East. The prime minister o...

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 3:9. _LET IT BE WRITTEN THAT THEY MAY BE DESTROYED_] Let it be _enacted_ that they may all be put to death. By this he would throw all the odium off himself, and put it on the king and his counsellors; for he wished the thing to pass into a law, in which _he_ could have but a small share of the blame. _I WILL PAY TEN THOUSAND TALENTS OF SILVER_] He had said before that _it was not for the king's profit to suffer them_; but here he is obliged to acknowledge that there will be a _loss_ to the revenue, but that loss he is willing to make up out of his own property. Ten thousand _talents of silver_ is an immense sum indeed; which, counted by the _Babylonish_ talent, amounts to _two millions one_ _hundred and nineteen thousand pounds sterling_; but, reckoned by the _Jewish_ talent, it makes mor

TEN THOUSAND TALENTS OF SILVER - According to Herodotus, the regular revenue of the Persian king consisted of 14,560 silver talents; so that, if the same talent is intended, Haman’s offer would have exceeded two-thirds of one year’s revenue (or two and one-half million British pound sterling). Another Persian subject, Pythius, once offered to present Xerxes with four millions of gold darics, or about four and one-half pounds....

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

IF IT PLEASE THE KING, LET IT BE WRITTEN, THAT THEY MAY BE DESTROYED,.... That is, a law made, signed and sealed, for their destruction, and letters written and sent everywhere, ordering it to be put in execution: AND I WILL PAY TEN THOUSAND TALENTS OF SILVER TO THE HANDS OF THOSE WHO HAVE THE CHARGE OF THE BUSINESS, TO BRING IT INTO THE KING'S TREASURY; this he proposed, to prevent any objection that might be made from the loss of tribute paid by this people to the king; and this was a very large sum for him to pay out of his own estate, it being near four millions of our money; it is computed by Brerewood x at 3,750,000 pounds; for as to what is suggested by some, that he intended to repay himself out of the spoil of the Jews, it may be observed, that, according to the king's letter, they that were employed in destroying the Jews were to have the spoil for a prey or booty to themselve...

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...

_that they be destroyed_ lit. _to destroy them_. Let an edict be issued for their destruction. _I will pay ten thousand talents of silver_ about £3,750,000 sterling. Xerxes, unscrupulous though we know him to have been, might well be staggered by the request that he should direct this wholesale massacre on such slender grounds as had hitherto been adduced. Hence Haman at once supports his petition by the offer of enormous pecuniary gains to follow, meaning apparently that he will pay the amount, if he has leave to plunder the Jews. The king at an earlier period of his reign had declined a gift from a subject, the value of which was much beyond four and a half million pounds of our money [69] (Herod. vii. 28). His resources, however, had not then been exhausted by the war with Greece. The condition of the imperial treasury was doubtless now very different, and if any such offer as Haman's...

DISCOURSE: 447 HAMAN’S MURDEROUS PROPOSAL Esther 3:8. _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 king’s laws: therefore it is not for the king’s profit to suffer them. If it please the king, let it be written that they may be destroyed_. REVENGE is cruel: but never more cruel than when it has its foundation in mortified pride. In the passage before us, it is carried to an almost incredible extent. Haman occupied the highest post of honour, next to the royal family, in the Assyrian empire. All the subjects in the kingdom bowed down to him. But there was a poor man, one Mordecai, who sat at the king’s gate, and consequently was often passed by Haman, who refused to pay him this homage. At this neglect, Haman w