SCRIPTURE: ESTHER 3
HAMAN’S PLOT TO DESTROY THE JEWS (vs. 1-15)
King Xerxes provided Haman giving him a seat of honor higher than that of the other nobles. All the royal officials at the king’s palace knelt down and paid honor to Haman per the king’s command. But Mordecai would not kneel down or pay him honor. The royal officials at the king’s gate asked Mordecai why he would not obey the king’s command. Mordecai refused to comply because he was a Jew. When Haman saw that Mordecai would not kneel down or pay him honor, he was enraged. He looked for a way not only to destroy Mordecai but to destroy all the Jews in Xerxes’ kingdom.
Haman said to king Xerxes: “There is a certain people dispersed and scattered among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom whose customs are different from those of all other people and who do not obey the king’s laws; it is not in the king’s best interest to tolerate them,. If it pleases the king, let a decree be issued to destroy them, and I will put ten thousand talents of silver into the royal treasury for the men who carry out this business” (vs. 8-9). The king agreed and took his signet ring from his finger and gave it to Haman to do with the people as he pleased.
An order to destroy, kill and annihilate all the Jews, young and old, women and little children and to plunder their goods on the 13th day of the 12th month were written in the name of King Xerxes himself and sealed with his own ring. Dispatches were sent by couriers to all the king’s provinces. The city of Susa was bewildered with the edict.
THOUGHTS:
As a faithful Jew, Mordecai would not bow down to Haman. This made the proud Haman extremely angry. His anger was not directed just toward Mordecai but towards what he stood for – the Jew’s dedication to God as the only authority worthy of reverence. Do you have the courage to stand alone by obeying God rather than men?