Esther 3

This next chapter starts out with the introduction of a NEW CHARACTER. His name is Haman, and he is a descendant of the wicked Amalekite king, Agag. The Amalekite’s were some of Israel’s greatest enemies in history, and we are about to see an altercation between HAMAN and our Jewish friend MORDECAI.

Haman earned a high and respected position in the courts of the king, and the servants in the gate would bow reverentially to him as he passed by… all of them except Mordecai. Haman found out that Mordecai refused to bow, and it caused him to be FILLED with WRATH. Stop and think about that for a minute… it didn’t just make Haman mad… it completely filled him with a desire to not only destroy Mordecai, but all of the Jews as well! The word used for wrath here can literally mean “poison” in Hebrew. As Haman allowed this to get under his skin and boil within him, it was as if he was completely filled with poison… we will see that the desire to destroy Mordecai would eventually destroy him!

Haman realizes that if he wants revenge on this level, he can’t do it alone; so he devises a plan that I would describe as nothing short of demonic. Haman’s plan looked something like this: He went to the king and told him that living all throughout his kingdom were a people called the JEWS. They were unlike ANYONE else in the kingdom, and lived by their own rules, disregarding the laws of the land. (We know Haman’s problem is really ONE JEW who wont HONOR HIM; but hey, why tell the king about that???) Haman tells the king that these people should no longer be allowed to live in his kingdom; and the solution he proposes is GENOCIDE. Haman says that a decree should be written that all Jews be destroyed. The king says; “that sounds good to me, I’ll provide the men and the money” and he gives Haman his signet.

Letters are written and sent out, and the message is loud and clear… “The Jews are going down”. The date is set for the 13^th day of the 12^th month, and preparations are made… there can be no reversal now. As a result, the capital city of Shushan was PERPLEXED. This word perplexed means that the message put them in a CONFUSED state, and as a result they didn’t know what to do about it.

They may not have known what to do about it, but God did… keep reading to find out just what it is that God had in mind!