Chapter Three

1–2. The elevation of Haman. 3–7. His plan to destroy the Jews because of Mordecai’s opposition. 8–15. The obtaining of the king’s decree for this—(After verse 13)—Second addition to the book: the text of Haman’s decree against the Jews.

Esther 3:1. After this the king Artaxerxes elevated Haman, son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, and promoted him, and set his seat above all the princes who were with him; Regarding Haman, see above, under Addition 1.

Esther 3:4. And when they spoke to him day after day and he would not listen to them, they reported to Haman, to see whether Mordecai’s words would stand, for he had told them that he was a Jew. Mordecai’s statement that he was a Jew (obligated to render divine worship to God alone) not only explained why he did not bow down before Haman, but also meant the strongest firmness that he would not act otherwise. This naturally inflamed the informers, who wanted “to see whether Mordecai’s words would stand,” or whether the power of Haman would prevail.

Esther 3:5. And when Haman saw that Mordecai did not bow down and did not prostrate himself before him, Haman was filled with rage. Esther 3:6. And it seemed to him to lay his hand only on Mordecai; but since they told him of what people Mordecai was, Haman planned to destroy all the Jews who were in the whole kingdom of Artaxerxes, as the people of Mordecai. Haman’s intention to destroy not only Mordecai alone but the entire people of his nation was born not simply from the force of anger, contempt, and malice against Mordecai’s deed; that alone would have been too unnatural even for Haman’s inhumanity. The latter apparently had in the people marked for destruction its own independent justifications separate from Mordecai, in the words of Haman. Among such justifications, the first place, justly, is given to the ancient tribal hatred of the Amalekites toward the Jews, if Haman is indeed to be considered an Amalekite as a descendant of Agag (1 Sam 15:8).

Esther 3:7. [And he held a council] in the first month, which is the month of Nisan, in the twelfth year of the reign of King Artaxerxes, and they cast Pur, that is, the lot, before Haman from day to day and from month to month, [to determine the day on which they would destroy the people of Mordecai, and the lot fell] on the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar. There is another translation of this verse, which is not entirely clear—translating more literally the expression of the original: “from the first month (this is the month of Nisan) of the twelfth year of the reign of Ahasuerus, they cast the lot before Haman on each day, that is, the lot, from month to month, until the twelfth month (this is the month of Adar).”

Esther 3:8. And Haman said to King Artaxerxes: There is a certain people scattered and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom; and their laws are different from the laws of all peoples, and they do not keep the laws of the king; and it is not suitable for the king to tolerate them. “And it is not suitable for the king to tolerate them”—a more correct understanding of the original is given by other translations of this passage: “and they are not afraid to change against the king.”

Esther 3:9. If it please the king, let a decree be issued to destroy them, and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver to the treasurers, to bring it into the king’s treasury. “Ten thousand talents of silver”—an enormous sum of millions of rubles in our money. Such a promise was not impossible for Haman: the promised sum could be amply paid for through the confiscation of the property of those killed (Esth 3:13).

Esther 3:12. And the king’s scribes were summoned on the thirteenth day of the first month, and it was written, according to all that Haman commanded, to the satraps of the king and to the governors of every province [from India to Ethiopia, over one hundred twenty-seven provinces], and to the princes of each people, in each province in its own script and to each people in its own language: all was written from the name of King Artaxerxes and sealed with the king’s signet ring. The distinction in this verse between different ranks of rulers is worthy of note; such are the “satraps”—royal governors of larger administrative units, who reviewed their provinces from time to time to inspect the administration; then “the governors of each province,” that is, the pashas—the direct rulers, and finally—“the princes of each people,” these are—the tribal chiefs of predominantly nomadic peoples scattered throughout the different provinces of the realm.

Esther 3:13. And letters were sent by couriers to all the provinces of the king, to destroy, kill, and annihilate all the Jews, small and great, children and women, on one day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, that is, the month of Adar, and to plunder their property. “Est.3_13a) [A copy of the letter, to be issued as a law in every province: to the rulers from India to Ethiopia over one hundred twenty-seven provinces and to the governors subordinate to them.” “Est.3_13b. Reigning over many nations and having dominion over all the world, I wished, not being elated by pride of power but always governing gently and quietly, to make the life of my subjects perpetually peaceful and, maintaining my kingdom in tranquility and passable to its borders, to restore the peace desired by all men.” “Est.3_13c. When I asked my counselors how this might be accomplished, he who was distinguished among us for wisdom and enjoyed unchanging favor and proved firm in loyalty and obtained the second honor after the king, Haman,” “Est.3_13d. explained to us that among all the peoples of the world there is mingled one hostile nation, by its laws contrary to every people, constantly disregarding the royal commandments, so that the blameless government we conduct together might not be established.” “Est.3_13e. So, knowing that this one people alone always opposes every man, conducts a way of life foreign to the laws, and, opposing our actions, commits the greatest crimes so that our kingdom might not attain prosperity,” “Est.3_13f. we have commanded that all those designated to you in the letters of Haman, who is placed over our affairs and is a second father to us, together with their wives and children, be utterly destroyed by the sword of enemies, without any mercy and compassion, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, Adar, of this year,” “Est.3_13g. so that these hostile men, whether of old or of now, being violently cast down to the depths in a single day, may not hinder us in the future from living life peacefully and serenely until the end.]” Addition 2—contains the text of Haman’s decree against the Jews, supplementing the mere mention of the original regarding this decree in this and the following verses. The name of the people condemned for destruction is not directly mentioned in the decree; however, it can be easily guessed from the description given in the decree (it is directly mentioned in Esth 3:6). For those who received this decree to know and execute, the name of the people must be presumed to have been directly named in some additional instructions or perhaps in the actual original decree itself. “Co-reign”—(συναρχίαν)—that is, the king with Haman. The king allows his relationship with Haman to be characterized in this way to please him and not to the detriment of his own supreme and unlimited power, just as he later grants him the honorable title “second father to us,” expressed in accordance with what Haman should be, by the king’s will, to his subjects. The Greek text of the decree names the day of slaughter of the Jews as the 14th of Adar, whereas the Hebrew original of the book everywhere indicates the 13th (Esth 3:13). This uncertainty could have arisen either from insufficient knowledge of the tradition itself or from the absence of an authentic version of the decree. According to the usual tradition of the Jews, the 13th is remembered as the day of slaughter, and the 14th and 15th are celebrated as festivals of deliverance from the 13th, although it was possible that the 14th, appointed for the slaughter of the Jews, became a festival as a day of salvation from that slaughter.

Esther 3:14. A copy of the decree is to be issued as a law in each province, made known to all the peoples, so that they might be ready for that day. Esther 3:15. The couriers went out speedily with the king’s command. The decree was proclaimed also in Susa, the capital city; and the king and Haman sat down to drink, but the city of Susa was in confusion. The extreme cruelty and bloodthirstiness of the decree is nothing completely incredible for the time. If in later, even Christian, times the Sicilian Vespers and Bartholomew’s Night were possible, and even now the horrors of Jewish pogroms sometimes recur, then for those times and for those kings such bloody hecatombs were completely a usual phenomenon. History knows of another similar case of the repetition of a decree for the destruction of an entire people: this occurred under King Mithridates, who in a secret decree once commanded the murder in a single day of all the Romans (up to 150,000 people) living in Asia Minor. The decree for the slaughter of the Jews was accompanied by a decree of universal mobilization, in execution of which all the male population capable of bearing arms (except the Jews) was commanded to be ready by the appointed day to take up arms (“that they might be ready for that day”). The alarm caused by this mobilization was not simply limited to the Jews of the capital city (“the city of Susa was in confusion”), but was general and understandable, because—in the absence, apparently, of a direct indication of the purpose of such a grand mobilization, the ignorance of the actual situation of many caused reflection: “why the summons of soldiers? Is a new unfortunate war not renewing itself? Will not new military levies follow from this, will not new burdens not be imposed upon the country?”