As this story unfolds, there is this guy in the Persian kingdom of king Xerxes who gets promoted with the framework of this government, his name being Haman.
Haman's lineage goes back to the Amalekites, who at one time were bitter enemies of Israel, particularly during King Saul's reign.
Mordecai's lineage goes back to Kish, which happened to be the name of King Saul's father, which is from the nation of Israel.
To say their was "bad blood" between these two guys might be an understatement.....
Gleanings from Esther 3
"A while later, king Xerxes promoted Haman, son of Hammedatha, who were Agagites, from the Amalekite nation. Haman was made the highest ranking official in the entire Persian government.
Daily, everyone in the capital of Susa would meet at the Royal Gate to conduct various matters of business affairs, and with Haman's high ranking promotion, it was customary and a sign of respect to bow before Haman when he came to the Gate and participate in these business matters. So, all the citizens attending would bow before Haman...except for Mordecai...he simply refused to bow.
Because Mordecai would not give Haman the customary respect by bowing in his presence, the king's own servants approached Mordecai to question him as to why he refused to do so. The king's servants would ask: "Why do you not honor the king's promotion of Haman and bow before him in respect to his new office?"
The servants of the king addressed this matter to Mordecai for quite some time, but Mordecai refused to give Haman the type of respect a high ranking official would normally receive...by bowing to Haman.
So, the king's servants went to Haman himself and inquired with him concerning Mordecai's behavior, knowing Mordecai was Jewish and Haman was not.
When Haman was made aware of this and then saw for himself Mordecai's refusal to bow down when Haman walked by...Haman became filled with rage!
Haman was quite aware Mordecai was Jewish, and his hatred toward the Jewish people was already in his heart. Therefore, Haman did not only want to vent this rage he had toward Mordecai alone, he wanted, at that point, to have every Jew throughout the entire Persian kingdom be eliminated.
In the first month of Nisan (April) during the 12th year of Xerxes reign, Haman cast the purims (something like dice), to determine the best day and month to take action against Mordecai and the entire Jewish population. The purims indicated the 12th month of Adar on the 13th day, which would be March 7th of the next year.
Haman then approached king Xerxes and said:" Your Majesty, there is a certain race of people scattered throughout your kingdom including all the provinces of Persia who choose to separate themselves from the rest of the people of your kingdom. Their customs and laws are quite different from all those who have the luxury of being here. Now, here then lies the problem. These people refuse to honor and obey your very laws O king.
I therefore suggest it is not in your best interest to let these people even live in our great land. I advise you O king, that is if it would please you, to generate orders to gather all these "strange" people of the Jewish faith and have them destroyed...all of them! In fact, to show my loyalty to you my king, I will pay for this myself in having this accomplished. I will donate to the king's treasury 10,000 large sacks of silver (375 tons) to finance this whole affair.
King Xerxes agreed to Haman's request, and gave to Haman the king's signet ring, allowing Haman to have all authority to seal letters of approval for this matter.
So, on April 17th, all the king's secretaries were summoned, and a decree was written exactly as Haman dictated it. Haman then had all the letters stating this decree sealed with the king's own signet ring, and these letters were sent to every province within the kingdom of Persia. King Xerxes himself ordered these letters to be sent by the swiftest messengers they had.
The letters decreed the following:" All Jews, whether young or old, including all women and children must be killed and annihilated...all in one day! The date for this execution to take place is March 7th of the next year. All property belonging to any member of the Jewish race will be given to those who slaughter them."
To ensure all this would be done correctly, copies of the decree were issued to each province who in turn would make it a law throughout the land and make known to all peoples living in Persia, who would follow the plan to completion on the day allotted.
And so it was. The swift messengers were sent out, and it was proclaimed as well in the capital city of Persia, Susa.
Then, the king and Haman sat down to drink......
but there arose a problem,,,for the city of Susa was in shock...totally confused by this
and the alarming new decree....."
Haman's lineage goes back to the Amalekites, who at one time were bitter enemies of Israel, particularly during King Saul's reign.
Mordecai's lineage goes back to Kish, which happened to be the name of King Saul's father, which is from the nation of Israel.
To say their was "bad blood" between these two guys might be an understatement.....
Gleanings from Esther 3
"A while later, king Xerxes promoted Haman, son of Hammedatha, who were Agagites, from the Amalekite nation. Haman was made the highest ranking official in the entire Persian government.
Daily, everyone in the capital of Susa would meet at the Royal Gate to conduct various matters of business affairs, and with Haman's high ranking promotion, it was customary and a sign of respect to bow before Haman when he came to the Gate and participate in these business matters. So, all the citizens attending would bow before Haman...except for Mordecai...he simply refused to bow.
Because Mordecai would not give Haman the customary respect by bowing in his presence, the king's own servants approached Mordecai to question him as to why he refused to do so. The king's servants would ask: "Why do you not honor the king's promotion of Haman and bow before him in respect to his new office?"
The servants of the king addressed this matter to Mordecai for quite some time, but Mordecai refused to give Haman the type of respect a high ranking official would normally receive...by bowing to Haman.
So, the king's servants went to Haman himself and inquired with him concerning Mordecai's behavior, knowing Mordecai was Jewish and Haman was not.
When Haman was made aware of this and then saw for himself Mordecai's refusal to bow down when Haman walked by...Haman became filled with rage!
Haman was quite aware Mordecai was Jewish, and his hatred toward the Jewish people was already in his heart. Therefore, Haman did not only want to vent this rage he had toward Mordecai alone, he wanted, at that point, to have every Jew throughout the entire Persian kingdom be eliminated.
In the first month of Nisan (April) during the 12th year of Xerxes reign, Haman cast the purims (something like dice), to determine the best day and month to take action against Mordecai and the entire Jewish population. The purims indicated the 12th month of Adar on the 13th day, which would be March 7th of the next year.
Haman then approached king Xerxes and said:" Your Majesty, there is a certain race of people scattered throughout your kingdom including all the provinces of Persia who choose to separate themselves from the rest of the people of your kingdom. Their customs and laws are quite different from all those who have the luxury of being here. Now, here then lies the problem. These people refuse to honor and obey your very laws O king.
I therefore suggest it is not in your best interest to let these people even live in our great land. I advise you O king, that is if it would please you, to generate orders to gather all these "strange" people of the Jewish faith and have them destroyed...all of them! In fact, to show my loyalty to you my king, I will pay for this myself in having this accomplished. I will donate to the king's treasury 10,000 large sacks of silver (375 tons) to finance this whole affair.
King Xerxes agreed to Haman's request, and gave to Haman the king's signet ring, allowing Haman to have all authority to seal letters of approval for this matter.
So, on April 17th, all the king's secretaries were summoned, and a decree was written exactly as Haman dictated it. Haman then had all the letters stating this decree sealed with the king's own signet ring, and these letters were sent to every province within the kingdom of Persia. King Xerxes himself ordered these letters to be sent by the swiftest messengers they had.
The letters decreed the following:" All Jews, whether young or old, including all women and children must be killed and annihilated...all in one day! The date for this execution to take place is March 7th of the next year. All property belonging to any member of the Jewish race will be given to those who slaughter them."
To ensure all this would be done correctly, copies of the decree were issued to each province who in turn would make it a law throughout the land and make known to all peoples living in Persia, who would follow the plan to completion on the day allotted.
And so it was. The swift messengers were sent out, and it was proclaimed as well in the capital city of Persia, Susa.
Then, the king and Haman sat down to drink......
but there arose a problem,,,for the city of Susa was in shock...totally confused by this
and the alarming new decree....."
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