1 After these events, King Aha suerus promoted Haman, son of Hammedatha the
Agagite, to a rank higher than that of all the other officials.
2 On orders of the king, all the royal officials at the king¡¯s gate would
kneel and bow down to Ha man. This Mordecai refused to do.
3 The royal officials at the king¡¯s gate asked Mordecai, ¡°Why do you disobey
the king¡¯s order?¡±
4 They spoke to him day after day, but he refused to comply, explaining that
he was a Jew. To find out if this explanation was acceptable, they reported
the matter to Haman.
5 Haman was enraged when he saw that Mordecai would not kneel down or pay
him honor.
6 Having learned who Mordecai¡¯s people were, he thought it would not be
enough to lay hands on him alone, but sought to destroy all the Jews
throughout the kingdom of Ahasu erus.
7 In the first month, the month of Nisan, in the twelfth year of King
Ahasuerus, the pur or lot was cast in Haman¡¯s presence to determine the day
and the month for the destruction of Mordecai¡¯s people. The lot fell on the
thirteenth day of the twelfth month, Adar.
8 Haman talked to King Aha suerus, ¡°Scattered throughout the pro vinces of
your kingdom is a certain peo ple, whose customs differ from those of other
people. Since they do not obey our laws, it is not in the king¡¯s best
interests to tolerate them.
9 If it pleases the king, let a decree be issued to destroy them. I will
deposit in the royal treasury ten thousand silver talents for the men who
carry out the king¡¯s business.¡±
10 The king took the signet ring off his finger, handed it to Haman, son of
Hammedatha the Agagite, enemy of the Jews, and said,
11 ¡°Keep the money, and do with these peo ple as you please.¡±
12 On the thirteenth day of the first month, the royal scribes were
summoned. As Haman dictated, they wrote orders in the script of each
province and in the language of each people to the king¡¯s satraps, the
governors of every province, and the officials of every people. Written in
the name of King Ahasuerus himself and sealed with his own ring,
13 these dispatches were sent by couriers to all the royal provinces with
the order to kill, destroy and wipe out all the Jews ¨C young and old, women
and children ¨C on a single day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month of
Adar, and to plunder their goods.
14 A copy of the edict to be pro mulgated as law in every province was
published for all the people to know so that they would be ready for that
day.
15 The couriers, spurred on by the king¡¯s command, set out in haste, and the
edict was first promulgated in Susa. As the king and Haman sat down to
drink, the city of Susa was in bewilderment.
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Comments Esther, Chapter 3
• 3.14 This ¡°letter of Ahasuerus,¡± together with the other in chapter 15, is
one of the best pages of the book.
One way of reading it is to see in it a model of what the totalitarian
regimes and military dictators in all places and in all times think, say and
write. Whoever for conscience reasons opposes those in power is a traitor to
his country or to his people. The book shows how such totalitarianism turns
into idolatry of rulers who are considered infallible. It must always be
remembered that nations and their armies are only means of serving the
international community and peace which requires that people and consciences
be free. This letter targets the liberty of conscience of the Jewish people,
a liberty which should not be less in Christians. It shows us why societies
in the past with small regard for the rights of the human person ¨C even when
claiming to be Christian ¨C could not tolerate Jews. For the same reasons
Christians are persecuted or suffer many constraints to day in countries
where the majority are of another religion.
This letter can also be read in another way: we can see the tensions
existing at that time between the Jews and the non-Jews. They made much of
their solidarity with other Jews; the Law kept them apart and did not allow
them a real companionship with their neighbor. And the end of the book will
reveal the violence hidden under the humble trust of believers in their God.