Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom, and their laws are different from other people’s. They don’t keep the king’s laws. Therefore it is not for the king’s profit to allow them to remain.
Parallel Translations
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Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom, and their laws are different from other people’s. They don’t keep the king’s laws. Therefore it is not for the king’s profit to allow them to remain.
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And Haman said unto king Ahasuerus, There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the people in all the provinces of thy kingdom; and their laws are diverse from all people; neither keep they the king’s laws: therefore it is not for the king’s profit to suffer them.
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And Haman said unto king Ahasuerus: 'There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of thy kingdom; and their laws are diverse from those of every people; neither keep they the king's laws; therefore it profiteth not the king to suffer them.
Cross-references (17)
Passages linked to Esther 3:8 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Ezra 4:12-15 Be it known to the king that the Jews who came up from you have come to us to Jerusalem. They are building the rebellious and bad city, and have finished the walls, and repaired the foundations. Be it known now to the king that if this city is built and the walls finished, they will not pay tribute, custom, or toll, and in the end it will be hurtful to the kings. Now because we eat the salt of the palace, and it is not appropriate for us to see the king’s dishonor, therefore we have sent and informed the king, that search may be made in the book of the records of your fathers. You will see in the book of the records, and know that this city is a rebellious city, and hurtful to kings and provinces, and that they have started rebellions within it in the past. That is why this city was destroyed.
- Acts 16:20-21 When they had brought them to the magistrates, they said, “These men, being Jews, are agitating our city and advocate customs which it is not lawful for us to accept or to observe, being Romans.”
- Leviticus 26:33 I will scatter you among the nations, and I will draw out the sword after you. Your land will be a desolation, and your cities shall be a waste.
- Deuteronomy 4:27 Yahweh will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where Yahweh will lead you away.
- Jeremiah 50:17 “Israel is a hunted sheep. The lions have driven him away. First, the king of Assyria devoured him, and now at last Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has broken his bones.”
- Zechariah 7:14 “but I will scatter them with a whirlwind among all the nations which they have not known. Thus the land was desolate after them, so that no man passed through nor returned: for they made the pleasant land desolate.”
- John 7:35 The Jews therefore said among themselves, “Where will this man go that we won’t find him? Will he go to the Dispersion among the Greeks, and teach the Greeks?
- Deuteronomy 30:3 that then Yahweh your God will release you from captivity, have compassion on you, and will return and gather you from all the peoples where Yahweh your God has scattered you.
- Deuteronomy 32:26 I said that I would scatter them afar. I would make their memory to cease from among men;
- Nehemiah 1:8 “Remember, I beg you, the word that you commanded your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you trespass, I will scatter you among the peoples;
- Ezekiel 6:8 “ ‘ “Yet I will leave a remnant, in that you will have some that escape the sword among the nations, when you are scattered through the countries.
- Ezekiel 11:16 “Therefore say, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “Whereas I have removed them far off among the nations, and whereas I have scattered them among the countries, yet I will be to them a sanctuary for a little while in the countries where they have come.” ’
- Acts 17:6-7 When they didn’t find them, they dragged Jason and certain brothers before the rulers of the city, crying, “These who have turned the world upside down have come here also, whom Jason has received. These all act contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus!”
- Acts 24:5 For we have found this man to be a plague, an instigator of insurrections among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes.
- Acts 28:22 But we desire to hear from you what you think. For, as concerning this sect, it is known to us that everywhere it is spoken against.”
- James 1:1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are in the Dispersion: Greetings.
- 1 Peter 1:1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the chosen ones who are living as foreigners in the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain These be the two arguments which commonly the worldlings…
These be the two arguments which commonly the worldlings and the wicked use toward princes against the godly, that is, the contempt of their laws, and diminishing of their profit: without respect how God is either pleased or displeased.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Est 3:8 And Haman said unto king Ahasuerus, There…
Est 3:8 And Haman said unto king Ahasuerus, There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the people in all the provinces of thy kingdom; and their laws [are] diverse from all people; neither keep they the king’s laws: therefore it [is] not for the king’s profit to suffer them.
Ver. 8. And Haman said unto king Ahasuerus] After that, by sortilegy (or sorcery, for it is no better, as the very name showeth, and Varro affirmeth), he had light upon a lucky day, wherein to speak to the king, and a black day, wherein to do execution, he taketh the boldness to move the king in it. Now Mr Perkins affirmeth, that, as men do put confidence in lot sorcery, or the like diabolical divinations, or else they cannot attain to any foreknowledge by them; so therein, explicitly or implicitly, they have confederacy with the devil. Oh that this were well considered!
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There is a certain people] Not worth the naming.
Scattered abroad] But was that their fault? was it not their misery rather, that God had threatened them, Deu 3:2, and were they not, therefore, to be pitied, and not preyed upon? It is said of Queen Elizabeth, that she hated, no less than did Mithridates, such as maliciously persecuted virtue forsaken of fortune (Camd. Eliz. 531).
And dispersed among the people] And, therefore, the more dangerous, since every sect strives to spread their opinions, and these, being antimagistratical, may do much harm, and draw many from their obedience, prove seedsmen of sedition. It may very well be that the sect of the Essenes were now beginning among the Jews, who taught that God alone, and no mortal man, was to be acknowledged for Lord and Prince (Joseph. l. 18, c. 2). Hence they were called Esseni, or Hashoni, that is, rebels, and for their sakes the whole nation might be the worse thought of (as if they were all such), like as the Protestants were in France, for the Anabaptists’ sake, in the reign of King Francis (Scultet. An. 454).
In all the provinces of thy kingdom] Quarum proventu gaudet, alitur, insolescit. Where they do no good, but devour grain, as vermin, as excrements in human society, and deserve to be knocked on the head, which may easily be done, because they are dejected, and not able to make headway against an adversary.
And their laws are diverse from all people] So they were, and better, their enemies themselves being judges, Deu 4:6-8. Prosper’s conceit was, that they were called Iudaei , because they received Ius Dei, their laws from God, who might say to them, as once Joseph did to his brethren, Gen 45:12, Behold, your eyes see, that it is my mouth that speaketh unto you. And, therefore, if Demosthenes could say of laws in general, that they were the invention of Almighty God (ευρημα του θεου); and if Cicero could say of the laws of the twelve tables in Rome, that they far exceeded and excelled all the libraries of all the philosophers, how much more true was all this of the laws of the Jews, given by God, and ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator, Moses! Seneca, though he jeered the Jews for their weekly Sabbath as those that lost the seventh part of their time, yet he could not but say that, being the basest people, they had the best laws, and gave laws unto all the world. Those holy Levites, Neh 9:13, acknowledge, with all thankfulness, that God had given them right judgments, true laws, good statutes and commandments, whereby he severed them from all other people, as his own peculiar, and this was their glory wherever they came, though the sycophant in the text turneth their glory into shame, as one that loved vanity, and sought after leasing, Psa 4:2.
Neither keep they the king’s laws] Mordecai indeed would not do him reverence, because it went against his conscience; no move would others of them keep the king’s laws in like case, but obey God rather than man, where they could not do both. Otherwise they were charged, Jer 29:7, to seek the peace of the cities where they abode, and to submit to their civil and municipal laws; and so they did, doubtless, for the generality of them. But this impudent liar represents them to the king as refractories and rebels, &c. The devil began his kingdom by a lie, and by lies he upholdeth it. He was a liar and a murderer from the beginning; but first a liar, and thereby a murderer. He cannot handsomely murder, except he slander first, Son 5:6; the credit of the Church must first be taken away, and then she is wounded; traduced she must be, and thence persecuted. Thus David is believed to seek Saul’s life; Elijah is the troubler of Israel; Jeremiah, the trumpet of rebellion; the Baptist, a stirrer up of sedition; Christ, an enemy to Caesar; Paul, a pestilent incendiary; the primitive Christians, a public mischief; the Reformed Churches, antimagistratical; this colour of right, yea, of piety, was laid upon the French Massacre, and by edicts a fair cloak sought to cover that impious fraud, as if there had been some horrid treason hatched by the Huguenots (Camd. Eliz.). The primitive persecutors used to put Christians into bears’ and dogs’ skins, or other ugly creatures, and then bait them; so wicked men put religion and its professors into ugly conceits and reports, and then speak and act against them.
Therefore it is not for the king’s profit] Heb. It is not meet, equal, or profitable to the king to suffer them, ut insolescat per licentiam, so the Vulgate Latin rendereth it, but without warrant from the Orig. See how this sycophant fills his mouth with arguments, the better to achieve his desire. An elaborate set speech he maketh, neither is there a word in it but what might seem to have weight. He pretends the king’s profit and the public good, concealing and dissembling his ambition, avarice, envy, malignity, that set him awork. Politicians, when they soar highest, are like the eagle, which, while aloft, hath her eye still upon the prey, which by this means she spies sooner, and seizes upon better. In parabola ovis capras suas quaerunt, as the proverb hath it. Haman holds it not fit there should be more religions than one in a kingdom, for preventing of troubles. Nebuchadnezzar was of the same mind when he commanded all men to worship his golden image. But must all, therefore, die that will not do it? and is it for the king’s profit that the righteous be rooted out? Is not semen sanctum statumen terrae? the holy seed the stay of the State? Isa 6:13, the beauty and bulwark of the nation? See Jer 5:1 Eze 2:2-10, Absque stationibus non staret mundus.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain There is a certain people, mean and contemptible, not…
There is a certain people, mean and contemptible, not worthy to be named.
Dispersed among the people; who therefore, if tolerated, may poison all thy subjects with their pernicious principles; and whom thou mayst easily crush without any great noise or difficulty.
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In all the provinces of thy kingdom; for though many of their brethren were returned to their own land, yet great numbers of them staid behind, either because they preferred their ease and worldly commodities before their spiritual advantages, or because they wanted conveniency or opportunity for a remove, which might happen from divers causes.
Their laws are diverse from all people; they have peculiar and fantastical rites, and customs, and religion; and therefore are justly offensive to all thy people, and may either infect them with their conceits, or occasion great dissensions and distractions among them.
Neither keep they the kings laws; as is manifest by Mordecai’s bold contempt of thy late edict concerning me, which being done by him as a Jew, the whole nation are involved in his crime, and are prepared to do so when they have occasion.
It is not for the king’s profit to suffer them to live in his kingdom. I do not seek herein so much my own revenge as thy service.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And Haman said unto King Ahasuerus, Or "had said"…
And Haman said unto King Ahasuerus, Or "had said" (r), as some choose to render it; nor indeed is it likely that Haman should cast lots to know when would be a proper time to destroy the Jews, until he had got leave of the king to do it:
there is a certain people scattered abroad, and dispersed among the people in all the provinces of thy kingdom; for, though many of the Jews returned to their own land, on the proclamation of Cyrus, yet others remained, being well settled as to worldly things, and not having that zeal for God and his worship as became them, and not caring to be at the trouble and expense of such a journey, and especially those of the ten tribes; now Haman, through contempt of them, mentions them not by name, only describes them as a scattered insignificant people:
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and their laws are different from all people; concerning their diet and observation of days, and other things; so Empedocles, an Heathen, observes (s) of the Jews, that they were a separate people from all others in those things; for he says,"they separated not only from the Romans, but even from all men; for, having found out an unmixed way of living, they have nothing common with men, neither table nor libations, nor prayers, nor sacrifices, but are more separate from us than the Susians or Bactrians, or the more remote Indians:"
neither keep they the king's laws; and, no doubt, he had a special respect to the non-observance of the king's command to give him reverence; and in like manner the Jews are represented by Heathen writers, as by Tacitus (t), Juvenal (u), and others:
therefore it is not for the king's profit to suffer them; that is, to dwell in his dominions; he got nothing by them, and they might be prejudicial to his subjects, and poison them with their notions; and since they were not obedient to the laws of the kingdom, it was not fit and equitable that they should be continued in it.
(r) "dixerat enim", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Drusius, so Patrick. (s) Apud Philostrat. Vit. Apollon. l. 5. c. 11. (t) Hist. l. 5. c. 4. (u) "Romanas antem soliti", &c. Satyr. 14. ver. 99.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 8. Their laws are diverse from all people]…
Verse 8. Their laws are diverse from all people] Such they certainly were; for they worshipped the true God according to his own laws; and this was not done by any other people then on the face of the earth.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Est 3:8. And Haman said unto King Ahasuerus —…
Est 3:8. And Haman said unto King Ahasuerus — After he had found which would be a lucky day for putting his design into execution; There is a certain people scattered abroad — Mean and contemptible, not worthy to be named; and dispersed among the people — Who therefore, if tolerated, may poison all thy subjects with their pernicious principles, and whom thou mayest easily crush, without any great noise or difficulty; in all the provinces of thy kingdom — For though many of their brethren were returned to their own land, yet great numbers of them stayed behind, either because they preferred their ease and worldly advantages before their spiritual profit, or they wanted conveniences or opportunity for removing; and their laws are diverse from all people — They have rites, and customs, and a religion peculiar to themselves; and therefore are justly offensive to all thy subjects, and may either infect them with their notions, or occasion great dissensions and distractions among them; neither keep they the king’s laws — As is manifest by Mordecai’s bold contempt of thy late edict concerning me, which contempt being shown by him as a Jew, the whole nation are involved in his crime, and are prepared to do the same when they have occasion; therefore it is not for the king’s profit to suffer them — To wit, to live in this kingdom. I do not seek herein so much my own revenge as thy service.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Another, as the ten tribes were from Juda, or…
Another, as the ten tribes were from Juda, or rather (Haydock) they were scattered about the empire. (Calmet) --- Hebrew, "and dispersed; and their laws are different from all other people’s; neither do they observe the king’s laws: therefore it is not for the king’s profit to tolerate them." (Haydock) --- These are the old calumnies repeated by Tacitus, (Hist. v.) and ably refuted by Josephus. (contra Apion) Almost all Israel still continued about Media. Few had taken advantage of the decree of Cyrus.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 8. A certain people scattered abroad — Emphatically such…
8. A certain people scattered abroad — Emphatically such were the Jews at this time. From the fall of Samaria, (2Ki_17:6,) the tribes of Israel had become more and more dispersed among the people in all the provinces of the East, until their tribe divisions could be now but faintly recognised. Many had returned to Jerusalem, as the Book of Ezra shows, and others returned afterwards, but thousands more continued to dwell in the various countries whither they had become dispersed.
Their laws are diverse from all people — The Jews were, unquestionably, “a peculiar people,” and adherence to their customs brought Mordecai and Haman into conflict.
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Neither keep they the king’s laws — Mordecai’s offence was not the first instance of a Jew’s refusal, from religions scruples, to keep the laws of the heathen kings. Instance the case of Daniel and his companions, (Dan_1:8; Dan_3:16-18; Dan_6:10,) and compare the charge of the Samaritan chiefs, Ezr_4:12-16.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 8. scattered abroad] better, as marg., separated.
8. scattered abroad] better, as marg., separated.
peoples] See on Est_1:11.
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in all the provinces of thy kingdom] The Jews who availed themselves of Cyrus’s decree permitting their return to Jerusalem (b.c. 538) may have formed only that portion which had no very close ties, commercial or otherwise, with the locality in which they had grown up. Many had acted to the full upon the advice given them by Jeremiah (Jer_29:5 ff.) to make homes for themselves in exile. This passage in Esther points out that they were widely scattered through the Persian dominions, and therefore although, as the tone of Haman’s speech intends to convey, despicable in themselves, nevertheless capable of much mischief. The Book of Tobit (the date of which, though it cannot be fixed with certainty, may at any rate be taken as pre-Maccabean) speaks of settlements of Jews at Rages (in Media) and at Ecbatana (Est_1:14, Est_7:1).
their laws are diverse from those of every people] The author of the Book may have had in mind Deu_4:6-8, where this diversity is claimed as a witness to the wisdom of the people.[68] With Haman’s charge here, implying, as it does, an almost necessary disloyalty on the part of the Jews towards the king, we may compare that addressed to the Persian court by Rehum and Shimshai (Ezr_4:12-16) against the Jews of the Return. In neither case was there any substantial basis for the charge. If we were to accept the historical character of the narrative, we might say that dissatisfaction arising from the Persian reverses in the late war smoothed the way for a popular agitation, though altogether unreasonable, of the kind which Haman desired.
[68] For the expansion of this verse in the hands of a Jewish commentator, see Additional Note III, p. 72, Targum Shçnî (2nd extract).
for the king’s profit] rather, as marg., meet for the king.
to suffer them] to let them alone.
SECOND SPECIMEN OF THE SECOND TARGUM (TARGUM SHENI) ON ESTHER
(on chap. Est_3:8).
[The passage is of interest, as no doubt representing the charges brought against Jews by their Gentile neighbours at the time when the Targum was written.]
And Haman said to king Ahasuerus, There is a certain people of the Jews scattered and dispersed among the peoples of every province of the kingdom; proud and haughty in spirit, collecting melting snows in winter[93], and putting them in summer pitchers[94], and their customs are different from those of every people and their laws from those of every province, and they do not adapt themselves to our laws, and they are not minded to conform to our customs, and they refuse to do service to the king; and when they see us, they spit upon the ground and look upon us as something unclean; and when we go to speak to them and demand of them some service to the king, they climb over walls and break through fences, and disappear into rooms, and make their escape through gaps; and when we run to lay hold of them, they turn round and stand with flashing eyes and gnash with their teeth and stamp with their feet, and they frighten us and we cannot lay hold of them. We do not take wives of their daughters, and they do not take to them wives of our daughters, and any of them who is brought to do work for the king excuses himself on that day, spending it in staring and sauntering about. And on a day when they wish to buy from us they tell us it is a lawful day, but on a day when we wish to buy from them, they close the market against us and tell us that it is an unlawful day. At the first hour of the day they say, We are reciting the Shĕma‘[95]; at the second hour they say, We are occupied by our prayers; at the third they say, We are engaged with our meal; at the fourth they say, We are blessing the God of heaven for having given us food and drink; at the fifth they are going out to walk; and at the sixth they are returning; and at the seventh their wives go to meet them and say, Bring some soup of bruised beans, for ye are wearied by your service of the tyrannical king. One day in the week they keep as a day of rest. They go up to their synagogue and read in their books and expound their prophets and curse our king and utter imprecations against our rulers and say, This is the seventh day on which our great God rested.
[93] lit. of Tebeth, corresponding to the latter part of December and the first part of January. See note on Est_2:16.
[94] lit. ‘pitchers of Tammuz,’ corresponding to the latter part of June and the first part of July. The above is Jastrow’s rendering (Dict. of the Targumim etc. s.v. חַצְבָּא), but it seems incompatible with ויתיבין. If we do not amend this to ויהיבין, we must explain it as, sitting in bathing vessels.
[95] The title of the passage Deu_6:4-9, as commencing with the word שמע, Shĕma‘, hear. It was recited twice a day by every adult male Israelite (see Schürer, The Jewish People in the time of Jesus Christ, Eng. trans. 11. ii. 84).
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (8) A certain people scattered abroad . . .—A…
(8) A certain people scattered abroad . . .—A certain part of the nation had returned with Zerub-babel, but (Ezr_2:64) these only amounted to 42,360, so that the great majority of the nation had preferred to stay comfortably where they were in the various districts of the Persian Empire.
Neither keep they . . .—The charge of disloyalty has been a favourite weapon in the hands of persecutors. Haman was not the first who had brought this charge against the Jews (see Ezr_4:13; Ezr_4:16). Our Lord’s accusers were those who knew no king but Cæsar. The early Christians found to their cost how deadly was the accusation of disloyalty to the Empire.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain HAMAN PERSUADES AHASUERUS TO PUBLISH A DECREE COMMANDING THE…
HAMAN PERSUADES AHASUERUS TO PUBLISH A DECREE COMMANDING THE DESTRUCTION OF ALL THE JEWS IN HIS KINGDOM ON THE ENSUING THIRTEENTH DAY OF ADAR. (Est_3:8-15) Having formed his own resolve, it remained for Haman to bring his proposal before Ahasuerus in such a shape as should secure his acquiescence in it. For this purpose he thought it best, first, to raise a prejudice against the Jews by representing them as bad subjects, causing trouble through the peculiarity of their own laws, and still more through their unwillingness to render obedience to the Persian laws (ver. 8). In support of this last statement he would no doubt, if questioned, have adduced the conduct of Mordecai, who persisted in "transgressing the king"s commandment," and gave as his only reason that he was a Jew, and therefore could not obey it (ver. 4). As, however, he doubted the effect of this reasoning on his royal master, he held in reserve an argument of another kind, an appeal to the king"s cupidity, which constituted his main reliance. If the king gave his consent to the destruction of the Jewish nation, Haman undertook to pay into the royal treasuries, out of his private means, a sum which cannot be estimated at much less than two millions and a quarter of pounds sterling, and which may have amounted to a much higher figure (ver. 9). The effect of this argument upon Ahasuerus was decisive; he at once took his signet-ring from his finger, and made it over to his minister (ver. 10), thus enabling him to promulgate any decree that he pleased, and he openly declared that he gave over the Jewish nation, their lives and properties, into Haman"s hands (ver. 11). Haman "struck while the iron was hot." The king"s scribes were put in requisition a decree was composed, numerous copies of it made, the royal seal am,ca to each (ver. 12), and a copy despatched forthwith to each governor of a province by the royal post, ordering the complete destruction of the Jews within his province, young and old, men, women, and children, on the thirteenth day of the month Adar, and the confiscation of their property (ver. 13). The posts started off with all speed, "being hastened by the king"s commandment" (ver. 15); and the two men who had plotted a nation"s extermination, as if they had done a good day"s work, and deserved refreshment, "sat down to drink." But the Persians generally were less satisfied with the decree than their monarch and his minister; it surprised and startled them; "the city Shushan was perplexed.
There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed. It is not always borne in mind how large a part of the Jewish nation remained in the lands to which they had been carried away captive, after the permission had been given to return. Josephus notes that the richer and more influential of the Babylonian Jews were very little inclined to quit Babylon. ("Ant. Jud:," 11:1) There was evidently a large Jewish colony at Susa. (infra, Est_9:12-15) The Book of Tobit shows that Israelites, scarcely to be distinguished from Jews, were settled in Rhages and Ecbatana. The present passage is important as showing the early wide dispersion of the Jewish people. Their laws are diverse. A true charge, but a weak argument for their destruction, more especially as the Persians allowed all the conquered nations to retain their own laws and usages. Neither keep they the king"s laws. Important, if true. But it was not true in any broad and general sense. There might be an occasional royal edict which a Jew could not obey; but the laws of the Medes and Persians were in the main righteous laws, and the Jews readily observed them. They were faithful and loyal subjects of the Achaemenian monarchs from first to last from Cyrus to Darius Codomannus. For the king"s profit. Rather, as in the margin, "meet" or "fitting for the king." To suffer them. Or, "to let them alone.
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HOMILETICS.
A people scattered and apart.
This very remarkable language shows us that the Jews have been one and the same people for thousands of years. This description of the Jews is from the lips of an enemy; still, except in the last clause, it is just and true. In their captivity in the East, in their dispersion, in their present condition throughout Christendom, the Jews are a people by themselves, scattered and apart.
I THE FACT OF ISRAEL"S ISOLATION. The descendants of Jacob are like no other people, and wherever their lot is cast, they do not intermingle with the population.
1. They are distinguished by their peculiar physiognomy.
2. By their homelessness and dispersion.
3. By the national customs and observances practised among them.
II THE TREATMENT OF WHICH THIS ISOLATION IS THE OCCASION.
1. They have been looked upon as opposed to the interests and welfare ofstates. How often have ministers of state and prelates of the Church aroused the hatred of princes against the Hebrew race. "It is not for the king"s profit to suffer them!
2. They have consequently met with scorn, oppression, and persecution.What a disgraceful history is that of the Jews scattered throughout Christendom! That the nation has survived such persecutions is a proof of the inherent vitality of the race, and a proof of the superintending providence of the God of all the nations of the earth.
III THE TRUE EXPLANATION AND PURPOSE OF THIS ISOLATION. It is an evidence of a special purpose of God. It is a fulfilment of prophecy. It is a witness to the truth of Christianity.
1. We should regard the Jewish people with deep interest.
2. We should use all feasible means to bring the Jews to the Messiah. "Hethat scattereth will gather them.
HOMILIES BY P.C. BARKER Ver. 8.
The true Church described by untruthful lips.
Infant lips sometimes utter greatest truths. Shallowest brain sometimes originates most politic scheming. Swine root out and tread underfoot pearls of unpriced value. Bad men often preach good doctrine, Now "the Jews" enemy" (ver. 10) volunteers the highest description, the most complimentary characterisation, of the Jew. And this passage proffers for notice a contrast not only full as remarkable in the depth of it as any of these, but far more remarkable when its subject matter is also taken into account. It might be stated thus: A PEOPLE"S RELIGION RIGHTLY DESCRIBED, WRONGLY CONSTRUED, by one who was "none of them," and who had none of it. The case is that of a man bearing witness against a people and their religion; he is at the same time a willing and an unwilling witness; his words are true; the meaning he wishes to be drawn out of them is untrue. His indictment is verbally correct; the charge he launches out by means of it has no foundation of fact. His description is good for what it says, bad for what it means. And by chance it happens to be so good for what it says that it tempts the thoughtful reader to pause, to ask whether he cannot learn a lesson of value from it. Haman dares a description of the nominal people of God; is he not in truth unconsciously throwing off a telling description of the real people of God, of God"s real Church in the world? For this plain, brief description of the people to whom Mordecai belonged, which Haman now offers to the credulity of Ahasuerus, happens to seize three leading facts distinctive of the Church of God. Nor is it altogether to be assigned to the realm of chance. The fact was that, shaded though their race was now, dimmed though their glorious history, the people of Mordecai were the separate people of God, and that Haman had noticed and scrutinised their essential peculiarities. These peculiarities, false as is the gloss he puts upon them, he has in some degree correctly caught. These are the shadows of answering realities in the economy of the Church, the kingdom of God. They remind us of
I THE FOOTHOLD THE KINGDOM OF GOD HAS IN THE WORLD. For whatever may be its exact position at any given hour of the world"s clock
1. Its genius is towards ubiquity. "There is a certain, people in all, the provinces of thy kingdom.
2. Its genius is towards being "scattered abroad," "dispersed," intermingled"among the people." Once for a short time, and for the special need of preparatory education, it is true that God"s elect people were locally as well as morally separate from others, i.e. when they sojourned in the wilderness. But this was only a phase, and a transient one, of their national existence. Again, for a longer time, and with fender prospect, they dwelt in comparative seclusion in their own land. But this also was quite as transient a phase of their national life, taking into consideration the settlement there. What a business it was! And the true place of the people of God is not merely to find a settlement and found a colony everywhere, but to mix among men, and to seek health of every sort in work and fidelity, rather than in retirement and the infolding of self. And this actual contact with all the varieties of human character, position, life, is in order to two ends: .first, for the proof and the growth of individual goodness; secondly, for the gradual leavening with a little leaven of the whole lump.
3. Its genius is towards working its way among men, day and night, andgrowing into their affection and confidence, rather than summoning them to capitulate either to fear or to admiration.
II THE OUTSIDE APPEAL WHICH THE SUBJECTS OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD EVER CLAIM AND EVER HOLD IN RESERVE. Their special laws are, and are to be, "diverse from all people" who are not of themselves. And when these clash with any other, they are not to "keep the king"s laws," but to keep their own distinguishing and esoteric laws. (Act_4:19 Act_5:29) To know well, to do well, these "diverse laws" is the sustained aspiration of the Church of God. There is such a thing as unity in variety, and there is, and is to be, on the part of the Church of God, the close union of all its own members, by one common fellowship, by obedience to one common code of laws, by acknowledgment of one standard Bible authority, amid all their intermixture, in every conceivable relationship, with all the rest of the world and "the kingdoms of the world." The genuine, hearty, living obedience of a thousand, of a hundred persons to "laws diverse from all people" is an enormously strong link of connection among themselves, and an enormously significant testimony to the outside world of something special at work. If we as Christian people rose to this conception, to the eager veneration of it, to the hearty practice of it, what a witness ours would be! Meantime Haman"s allegation against the certain people scattered abroad that while their own laws were diverse from all people, they did not keep the king"s laws was untrue. Mordecai had indeed withheld obedience to the law which "the king had commanded" (ver. 2), that "all the king"s servants in the king"s gate should bow and reverence Haman," and his non-obedience was no doubt covered, by his fealty to the "diverse laws;" but this was by no means enough to cover a charge against all the Jews, or even against Mordecai in his general conduct and life. The kingdom of God then does glory to follow the lead and command of "laws diverse from all people," to claim the ultimate appeal as lying always to these; and in any conceivable case of option to decide in one moment for obedience to God rather than to men.
III THE FORESEEN DESTINY OF THE CHURCH OF GOD, Haman"s apprehension was perhaps not very genuine, and any way was premature, but his instinct in the real matter at issue was only too unerring and correct. The Church of God certain people scattered abroad among the people," with their diverse laws, and their first heed given to them beyond a doubt has its eye on all other kingdoms, is not what those other kingdoms would now think "for their profit," is destined to absorb them, gives evidence of that destiny as a very intention in those same manifestations of its genius, and in its appeal to the unseen, and in its first obedience thereto. Oh for the time when the chorus shall indeed open, "The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ, and he shall reign for ever and ever. B.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain And Haman said unto king Ahasuerus.
Est_3:8
And Haman said unto king Ahasuerus.
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Listening to scandal
If we blame Ahasuerus for too readily listening to the invective of Haman, and condemning the Jews untried and unheard, we should be on our guard against committing the same sin, by giving heed to scandal in regard to others, without careful personal inquiry and observation, lest we should be only crediting the creations of the worst passions and distempers of our fallen nature. (T. McEwan.)
Half the truth dangerous
There is no notice taken of Mordecai. Not a syllable about his own injured pride. No reference made to the enmity of the Amalekites to the Jews. The real merits of the proposal are all kept back, and only those things are mentioned which were fitted to arouse the indignation of the king against the Jewish people. They were a certain people--a nondescript race, scattered abroad, like so many rebels against the government, and yet preserving their own unity; having their own laws, and despising constituted authority; contemning the kings laws, and setting the example of insubordination; and sowing dissension and strife throughout all the provinces of the empire. For these reasons it was clearly not expedient that they should be tolerated any longer. How skilfully does the crafty conspirator conceal his malice and revenge under cover of the kings profit. He did not ask for the destruction of this disaffected people as a favour to himself, but in making the proposal he artfully insinuated that he was doing the king a service. (T. McEwan.)
There is a certain people scattered abroad.
The destruction of the Jews
He stood high in the favour of his prince, but did he not risk the total loss of that favour by a proposal so evidently unjust and inhumane? Why did he not dread the wrath of the king, which is as messengers of death? Might he not have heard such words as these in answer to his proposal: Audacious wretch! what hast thou seen in me that thou shouldst hope to make me the murderer of my people? Man of blood! thou scruplest not to seek the destruction, at one blow, of thousands of my subjects, upon a vague, unsupported charge which thou bringest against them! Wilt thou not another day follow the example of Bigthan and Teresh? Wilt thou be more afraid to lay thy hand upon one man, though a king, than upon many thousands of my subjects who have done thee no wrong? (G. Lawson.)
Hamans proposition
contained truth enough to make it plausible, and error enough to make it cruel, and enough personally agreeable to the king to make it popular with him. (W. A. Scott, D. D.)
Cunning malice
But observe the cunning malice of his address to the king. He does not say, There is an old Jew that has offended me, and, through me, offered an affront to your sacred majesty; therefore let me execute vengeance upon him. No, not a word of this sort. He feared to show his real character for rancour to the king, or courtiers. He professes to have no personal motives, but to be moved altogether by a desire for the public good. (W. A. Scott, D. D.)
True and false accusations
Having formed so thorough-going a purpose, Haman took steps to execute it. We need not wonder at his lying about the character of the Jews; for it is often possible to use nothing but the language of truth, and yet to utter only the greater falsehood. It was quite true of Gods people, that their laws were diverse from all people: it is true of them to-day, and was equally true then, that, being bought with a price, they cannot be slaves of men; that, if any human law interferes with the will of their Saviour, they can give only the one answer, We ought to obey God rather than men. But it was false to say, Neither keep they the kings laws; for, in respect of everything that man has a right to command, Gods people are the best subjects. To the fathers of these exiles the God of Israel had given this commandment: Seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the Lord for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace; and Haman could scarcely be ignorant that both the former empire and this one had profited by the private virtue and public faithfulness of pious Jews. God will answer Haman in His own way. But we ought to be fully prepared for the calumny, seeing it arises from two causes which remain always in force. The world cannot understand what it is that we owe to the love of God and to the blood of Christ, and how He must, therefore, reign supreme in the believing heart; and the world extremely dislikes to hear a claim advanced for liberty of conscience which reminds it of a power higher than its own. (A. M. Symington, B. A.)
Therefore it is not for the kings profit to suffer them.--
Profit
Worldly hearts are not led by good or evil, but by profit and loss; neither have they grace to know that nothing is profitable but what is honest; they must needs offend by rule, that measure all things by profit and measure profit by their imagination. How easy it is to suggest strange untruths when there is nobody to make answer! False Haman, how is it not for the kings profit to suffer the Jews? If thou construe this profit for honour, the kings honour is in the multitude of his subjects; and what people more numerous than they? If for gain, the kings profit is in the largeness of his tributes; and what people are more deep in their payments? If for service, what people are more officious? No name under heaven hath made so many fools, so many villains, as this of profit. (Bp. Hall.)
No true profit in sin
It is, then, a question of profit or loss, not of right and justice. Never was there a scheme of villainy that was not gilded over with the plausible pretence of public utility. Nothing under heaven has made so many fools and so many heartless villains as supposed profit. The greatest good to the greatest number is indeed desirable, but such an object was never yet reached by a disregard of justice and right. Expediency is a fallacy. It is never allowed us to try the experiment of doing evil that good may come. How did it turn out in the case before us? The king is to get ten thousand talents for this execution. But instead of that his only profit was the blood and mangled bodies of thousands of his faithful subjects. Ah, cruel Haman! Are these the tender mercies of the wicked? Are these the profits of sin? What if thou couldst have swum in a whole sea of Jewish blood, if thou couldst have raised mountains of their carcasses? What if thou couldst have made all Persia thy shambles, who would have given thee one farthing for all those piles of flesh, for all those streams of blood?--Hall. (W. A. Scott, D. D.)
Hamans murderous proposal
I. The commonness of it. In every age Gods people have been hated for the very reasons that are here assigned. They worship the one true and living God. David tells of confederacies formed to cut off the Jews from being a nation. The ten persecutions in the early ages of Christianity. At the present day private animosity is indulged as far as the laws of the land will allow. All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
II. The impiety of it.
III. The folly of it. Haman with all his power could not prevail against the Jews, who yet in appearance were altogether in his hands. (C. Simeon.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain Est_3:8.] The Jews were at this time a people…
CRITICAL NOTES.]
Est_3:8.] The Jews were at this time a people scattered abroad. From the fall of Samaria the tribes of Israel had become more and more dispersed among the people in all the provinces of the East, until their tribe divisions could be now but faintly recognized. Seneca says, “Such power have the customs of this detestable people already gained, that they are introduced into all lands; they the conquered have given laws to their conquerors.”
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Est_3:9.] Ten thousand talents of silver, reckoned according to the Mosaic shekel, are £3,750,000; according to the civil shekel, £1,876,000.—Keil.
Est_3:10.] The signets of Persian monarchs were sometimes rings, sometimes cylinders, the latter probably suspended by a string round the wrist. The expression here used might apply to either kind of signet.—Rawlinson. The signet cylinder of Darius Hystaspes bears a trilingual inscription which reads, “Darius the great king,” and also a picture of the king hunting lions in a palm grove.
Est_3:11.] Some understand this to mean that Ahasuerus refused the silver which Haman had offered to him; but the passage is better explained as a grant to him of all the property of such Jews as should be executed. In the East confiscation follows necessarily upon public execution, the goods of criminals escheating to the crown, which does with them as it chooses.—Rawlinson.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH. Est_3:8-11
A FALSE ASPECT OF THE TRUTH
Success begets confidence. It was so in this case. Haman had been successful, and consequently became confident. He knew his present power with the king, and therefore takes his steps accordingly. He lays his plans before he makes his wicked request unto the monarch. But a man may be blindly confident, and his over-confidence may lead to his destruction, as it did in the case of Haman. There may be too much caution. A man may be afraid to take a bold step when boldness is required and is safety. But there may be too little caution. A man, for the want of caution, may take a leap in the dark, and plunge into the abyss of ruin. Here Haman displayed a want of wise caution. He is now taking the dangerous leap. Soon we shall see him plunging in the abyss.
I. A true description. Haman had accurately studied the condition of the Jewish people, and was acquainted with their internal regulations, and he describes them correctly. Our enemies tell us the truth. In one aspect Haman was a truthful delineator. Josephus himself could not have done better than Haman. He describes them—(a) As a scattered people. Throughout the extensive kingdom of Ahasuerus these Jews were scattered, mixing with the people and yet distinct. Wherever they were they preserved their nationality. Wonderful race these Jews! Wonderful in Haman’s time, wonderful still in Disraeli’s time. A people scattered and peeled through all time, but a people never stripped of that marvellous quality by which they are unique. (b) As a peculiar people. They had laws diverse from all people. These laws were God-given. These laws were the fountain from which has flowed the best judicial streams this world has seen. The ancient Jewish legislator, in the very childhood of the world’s history, promulgated a legal code which nineteenth century legislators may still study with profit. No wonder that these laws were diverse from all people. These laws were Divine; other laws are human. These laws, in their leading principles, were cosmopolitan; other laws are local. These laws were intended for the formation of a glorious Divine society. Other laws are for the formation of human societies. These laws are eternal; but other laws, in so far as they are divergent, are temporary. Haman was right, and yet Haman was wrong.
II. A false implication and declaration. It is sometimes said that the tailor makes the man, and so we may say that the speaker makes or unmakes the truth. Truth may be so dressed as to look like and to do the work of falsehood. Haman makes two false implications, and one false declaration. (a) A scattered people, and therefore influential for evil. These Jews are amongst all the people in the provinces of thy kingdom, and therefore consider how much evil they may do. What power for sowing in all directions the seeds of rebellion! (b) A peculiar people, and therefore dangerous. They have laws and opinions of their own. They are likely to think for themselves. A race of thinkers is not promising soil for despots. These Jews were not molluscous animals. Despotism cannot long flourish where backboned and strong-muscled men are permitted. Haman was nearer the truth than he imagined. Here is a false declaration—“neither keep they the king’s laws.” The laws of God are never opposed to any laws that are for the welfare of a nation. These Jews, in so far as they were God-fearing people, would not refuse to keep any law that was for the good of the kingdom of Ahasuerus. Mordecai was a better keeper of the law than Haman.
III. An unjust inference. “Therefore it is not for the king’s profit to suffer them.” Haman’s logic would not meet with the approval of Aristotle. His premises did not warrant his conclusion. Defective logic more often arises from badness of heart than from weakness of intellect. The pure in heart will come to right conclusions, though they may not have the power of putting their reasoning into syllogistic form. Oh, if the king had only then turned to the book of the chronicles, and read the record of Mordecai’s faithfulness, he would have seen that it was for his profit to suffer this despised race.
IV. An artful petition. Haman artfully keeps his wily and wicked project in the background. Here is—(a) Lying obsequiousness. “If it please the king.” Haman is seeking to please himself. Little he cares about the king’s pleasure, so that his own revenge is satisfied. (b) Feigned liberality. How wonderfully generous malice can be! A little forgiveness to Mordecai, even if Mordecai had sinned, would have been truer liberality than this magnificent offer of wealth to be poured into the king’s treasury. (c) Ostentatious zeal. How zealous people are when there is a wicked motive working. Haman pretends a great deal of zeal for the king, but he has zeal for himself. Oh, how often self creeps in when we pretend to be zealous for the Lord of hosts. Yes, when we have no pretence, when we are trying to be sincere, how much of self in our best works.
V. A weak compliance. The king at once, without inquiry, without exercising his intelligence, gave the needful power into the hands of this wicked Haman. Weak and self-indulgent people do great harm because they will not be at the trouble to think. The ring of royal authority was given to the revengeful favourite. The king was undermining his own power. The nation has indeed reason to mourn when wicked men are exalted. What a satire is the king’s declaration to Haman—unconscious it may be, but none the less biting when observed—“The silver is given unto thee, the people also, to do with them as it seemeth good to thee.” Little good would Haman do unto the people.
In our utterances let us put the truth in its proper relations, so that a correct impression may be produced, and that no misrepresentation may be the consequence of our declarations. In our hearing of statements let us have no ear for the mere slanderer, let us properly weigh and measure the charges brought forward. Let us see to it that our motives are pure, and then our vision will be clear, our reasoning valid, and our actions honourable.
“A lie which is half a truth is ever the blackest of lies;
For a lie which is all a lie may be met and fought with outright,
But a lie which is part a truth is a harder matter to fight.”
HAMAN’S MURDEROUS PROPOSAL (Est_3:8)
Revenge is cruel, but never more cruel than when it has its foundation in mortified pride. In the passage before us it is carried to an almost incredible extent. Haman occupied the highest post of honour, next to the royal family, in the Persian empire. All the subjects in the kingdom bowed down to him. But there was a poor man, one Mordecai, who sat at the king’s gate, and consequently was often passed by Haman, who refused to pay him this homage. At this neglect Haman was grievously offended. He deemed it an insufferable insult, which could be expiated only by the death of the offender. On inquiring into Mordecai’s habits and connections, Haman found that he was a Jew; and conceiving probably that this contemptuous spirit pervaded that whole nation, and accounting it a small matter to sacrifice the life of one single individual, he determined if possible to destroy the whole nation at once; and accordingly he made this proposal to King Ahasuerus, engaging from his own resources to make up to the king’s treasury whatever loss might arise to the revenue from the proposed measure. Now this proposal appearing at first sight so very extraordinary, I will endeavour to set before you—
I. The commonness of it. In every age of the world have God’s people been hated, for the very reasons that are here assigned—“Their laws are-diverse from those of all other people, neither keep they the laws of the kingdoms where they dwell.” They worship the one true and living God. Of course, whatever laws are inconsistent with the laws of God they disobey. On this account they are hated, reviled, and persecuted. David tells us of confederacies formed to “cut off the Jews from being a nation.” So, in the early ages of Christianity, there were not less than ten strenuous efforts made to attain this object. And at different periods since that time has persecution raged to the utmost extent to destroy, if possible, all real piety from the face of the earth. But we need not go back to former ages for an elucidation of this truth. True, the cruelties of martyrdom are stayed; but private animosity is indulged as far as the laws of the land wherein we live will admit, and every person who thoroughly devotes himself to God is made to feel its baneful influence. “All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” Passing over the inhumanity of this proposal, as being too obvious to be insisted on, I proceed to notice—
II. The impiety of it. The very accusation brought against the Jews by Haman shows what is the real ground of enmity against the Lord’s people; it is that they serve God, whilst the rest of the world bow down to idols; and that in this determination of theirs they inflexibly adhere to the dictates of their own conscience. This is universal amongst all the people of the Lord. But this preference of God to man is the very thing which gives offence. Look at the prophets and apostles, and see what was the ground of the world’s opposition to them. And this leads me to show—
III. The folly of it. Can it, be thought that such feeble worms as we should be able to prevail against Almighty God? Haman, with all his power, could not prevail against the Jews, who yet, in appearance, were altogether in his hands. The whole power of the Roman empire, by whomsoever wielded, could not root out the disciples of the Christian Church, “nor shall the gates of hell ever prevail” against the weakest of God’s faithful people.
Address—(a) Those who are the objects of the world’s hatred. Realize the promises which God has given, and then say, Shall I be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man that shall be as grass, and forget the Lord my maker? (b) Those who are unhappily prejudiced against the Lord’s people. If you cannot see with their eyes, do not endeavour to make them see with yours, unless in a way of sober argumentation and of candid reference to the word of God. To have recourse to derision or persecution of any kind will only involve your own souls in yet deeper guilt than you already lie under for rejecting the gospel of Christ. Beware how you imitate the unbelievers of former ages in opposing the work of God in others; for if you do not succeed you only fight against God for nought; and if you do succeed you will perish under the accumulated guilt of destroying the souls of others, for assuredly “their blood will be required at your hands.”—Abridged from Simeon’s ‘Horæ Homileticæ.’
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON Est_3:8-11
Therefore it is not for the king’s profit.—See how this sycophant fills his mouth with arguments, the better to achieve his desire. An elaborate set speech he maketh, neither is there a word in it but what might seem to have weight He pretends the king’s profit and the public good, concealing and dissembling his ambition, avarice, envy, malignity, that set him a-work. Politicians when they soar highest are like the eagle, which, whiles aloft, hath her eye still upon the prey, which by this means she spies sooner, and seizes upon better. Haman holds it not fit there should be more religions than one in a kingdom, for preventing of troubles. Nebuchadnezzar was of the same mind when he commanded all men to worship his golden image. But must all, therefore, die that will not do it? and is it for the king’s profit that the righteous be rooted out? Is not the holy seed the stay of the state, the beauty and bulwark of the nation?—Trapp.
It is not for the king’s profit to suffer them.—Worldly hearts are not led by good or evil, but by profit or loss; neither have they grace to know that nothing is profitable but what is honest, nothing so desperately incommodious as wickedness; they must needs offend by rule, that measure all things by profit, and measure profit by their imagination. How easy is it to suggest strange untruths when there is nobody to make answer! False Haman! how is it not for the king’s profit to suffer the Jews? If thou construe this profit for honour, the king’s honour is in the multitude of subjects; and what people more numerous than they? if for gain, the king’s profit is in the largeness of his tributes; and what people are more deep in their payments? if for service, what people are more officious? How can it stand with the king’s profit to bereave himself of subjects, his subjects of their lives, his exchequer of their tributes, his state of their defence? He is a weak politician that knows not to gild over the worst project with a pretence of public utility. No name under heaven hath made so many fools, so many villains, as this of profit.—Bishop Hall.
Along the banks of the Euphrates and Tigris, already renowned for their schools of learning; high up in the mountains of Kurdistan, where perchance their descendants linger still; all the dispersed settlers were included in those words, which might stand as the motto of the larger part of the Jewish race ever since—which might have been said of them by Tacitus in the Roman empire, or by the Arabian or English chroniclers of the middle ages. “The line of beacon-lights kindled from hill to hill along the whole route from Jerusalem to Babylon, from Olivet to Sartaba, from Sartaba to Grophniah, from Grophniah to Haveran, from Haveran to Both-Baltin,—waving the torches upwards and downwards, till the whole country of the captivity appeared a blazing fire,”—was an apt emblem of the sympathetic links Which bound all these settlements together. Of this vast race, for whom so great a destiny was reserved, the Book of Esther recognized as by a prophetic instinct the future importance.—Stanley.
I will pay ten thousand talents of silver.—This was above two millions of our money, which Haman offered to pay into the treasury to indemnify the king for the loss of revenue which he would sustain by the destruction of the Jews. That a foreigner, and probably a captive, was enabled at the Persian court to acquire such wealth as the offer of so enormous a sum implies, makes it less wonderful that Nehemiah was in a condition to sustain the charges of his government from his own resources. It will be recollected that Haman appears to have been the chief minister of the king, and that functionary enjoys peculiar opportunities for the acquisition of wealth. On New Year’s Day the king receives the offerings of his princes and nobles. On one such occasion, when Mr. Morier was present, the offering of the person holding this office surpassed every other in value, amounting to about £30,000 in gold coin. Other statements are extant concerning the extraordinary wealth possessed by some of the subjects of the ancient Persian empire. In the reign of Xerxes a noble Lydian named Pythius entertained the whole Persian army—the largest ever assembled—on its march towards Greece; and then freely offered to contribute all his property in gold and silver to the support of the war. It amounted altogether to 2000 talents of silver and four millions (wanting 7000) of gold darics—more than four millions of our money; besides which he had, as he said, estates and slaves which would still afford him a suitable maintenance. This noble offer was declined by the king, as that of Haman was by Ahasuerus.
Sealed with the king’s ring.—In the British museum are preserved specimens of Egyptian seals of the ring class. Some of them are finger-seal rings; but the larger are scarabæus or beetle seals. These are all mounted in handles, or rings of metal, in which they revolve on pivots. This was doubtless to render them more portable, while it enabled the face to be turned outward, so as to increase their effect as ornaments, and to enable them to be worn with more convenience—attached, as they probably were, to some part of the person.—Illustrated Family Bible.
So do injured pride, envy, malice, hatred still seek to blast the fairest reputation by baseless calumny. The word of a friend is trusted, and the slander is believed and repeated, and acquires strength from its currency. If we blame Ahasuerus for too readily listening to the invective of Haman, and condemning the Jews unheard and untried, we should be on our guard against committing the same sin, by giving heed to scandal in regard to others without careful personal inquiry and observation, lest we should be only crediting the creations of the worst passions and distempers of our fallen natures. The Saviour was calumniated by his adversaries because he spake the truth. They hated him, and therefore spake against him. And the whole history of the Church of Christ upon earth bears evidence that the policy of our great adversary is to traduce and vilify those whom he desires to ruin. By this means he would break their influence and tare-sow all their good. Let as be on our guard against aiding and abetting him in this matter.
Another artifice of the enemy, which Was also illustrated by Haman, is to assume the air and attitude of apparent disinterestedness. Judas concealed his real feelings and motives when betraying our Lord under the symbol of affection. And Haman sought to insinuate his love of the empire and the stability of the throne as his only motives for the destruction of several millions of unoffending persons, by offering to pay down ten thousand talents of silver. It reminds one of the many specious schemes which are constantly being thrust before the public by designing worldlings—who offer large bonnses with nothing to sustain their magnificent prospects. The projectors of these schemes affect only the public good—the rapid and certain enrichment of those who will give them their confidence and their money; and not until the babble bursts do the poor victims of their deceit apprehend the real motives by which they were influenced. In like manner do early temptations to evil all hold out the promise of present good. Some pleasure to be attained, or advancement reached, or laurel wreath worn. What a piece of disguised disinterestedness was it on the part of Satan when he proposed to give to Christ all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them! Men are not so wise and quick as was our Lord in discovering the real motive of the tempter, and resisting him by a reference to the word of God. They are captivated by the show of disinterestedness, and only come to a knowledge of their mistake in the reaping of its fruits. Meanwhile, it serves the purpose of the enemy by inciting trust, and preventing religious reflection and inquiry, just as Haman’s silver talents blinded Ahasuerus to the dark-hearted malignity of their promiser. Let us bring every temptation to the test of an enlightened conscience, and the penetrating, exposing power of God’s word; and under the mask of disinterestedness we shall discover the poisoned sting secreted in the suggested sin. “Do as I bid thee, O king; and thou shalt rid the empire of a mighty burden, and secure greater stability and peace for thy throne and government.” No; the policy of the arch-fiend, through his agents, is not changed from that which he followed in the garden of Eden. “Am not I your disinterested benefactor?” “Ye shall not surely die: for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.”—McEwan.
There is a false halo of grandeur shed around the path of the conqueror, and there is not so palpable a connection between his exploits and absolute revolting ferocity, as there is between the decree of Artaxerxes and Haman, and the execution of it But looking from the cruelty which is glossed over by the name of military glory, we even find cool, unmitigated atrocities in the records of civilized nations, which are as disgraceful to humanity as Haman’s—yea, which surpass them. Haman was a heathen, a stranger, therefore, to the softening power of religion, and we see in him only an illustration of what human nature is when left to itself, without the control of any pure and heavenly influence. But what shall we say of the indiscriminate massacre of the Protestants (1572) in Paris, and other parts of France, wherein at least 70,000 persons in brief space fell victims to the bigotry and cruelty of the king and his advisers? That was a tragedy contrived in cold blood, and advised by favourites, to glut the revenge of Papal Home. Day and hour were fixed here, as they were by Haman. But, unhappily, day and hour were kept, and the true worshippers of God, the lovers of his truth, the best friends of religion and morality, the excellent of the earth, were massacred because they would pay homage to Christ himself, and not to the Roman Antichrist. And what shall we say of the cruelties,—that is too tame a word,—what shall we say of the horrible barbarities which, by the command of the Romish tyrant, whose hands are red with the blood of the saints, were perpetrated in the valleys of the Waldenses, when not only men, but feeble women and helpless children, were savagely tortured and slain by a brutal soldiery for no other reason than that they would worship God as his word commands? And are not scenes of equal atrocity set before us in the history of our own country, when wholesale murder was authorized by royal edict because our forefathers would not take their religion and forms of worship from the enactments of the civil powers, but would serve God as they believed the Bible required, and as their consciences approved? Haman’s character is one of the blackest in history. But on a calm review, and with full allowance for the time and circumstances in which he lived, he is pure as compared with the infamous King of France, who looked from his palace window and enjoyed the scene of slaughter in his capital; with the savages who shed the blood of the noble martyrs in the valleys of the Alps; and with the last monarchs of the Stuart line and their wretched accomplices, who persecuted to the death the resolute defenders of civil and religious freedom. But will not God visit for these things? Nay, should we not rather say, Hath he not visited already? The visitation of Haman we shall soon have before us. Deeply has France already paid for the innocent blood which her rulers shed long ago, and her soil, it is to be feared, is not yet cleansed from the pollution. Other persecutors have had their award also. And the great central persecuting power, Rome herself, will in due time have her foretold destiny fully accomplished. As she hath done it will be done to her. Even if the word of God were silent on the subject, we could not but anticipate that that anti-Christian power, to whose direct influence may be traced persecution and bloodshed such as heathenism never was stained with, will have the measure meted to her which she has meted out to others. But we need not speak doubtfully here. The Divine word has fixed the doom of Papal Rome. And if she seems to be raising herself in our day, it is assuredly only to give the greater impulse to her final ruin, that she may fall from the greater height, when, like the great millstone cast by the angel into the sea, she shall be engulfed in the abyss of the wrath of God.—Davidson.
That believers obey not the laws of the king has always been the chief complaint among the anti-Christian rabble, of which Haman furnishes a copy. The children of God, in their eyes, must ever be insurrectionists, disturbers of the peace, persons subject to no law or order, and by whom the public weal is endangered.—Berlenburg Bible.
Satan, as Christ says, is a liar and a murderer. Hence he is ever busy in persecuting the Church with his lying and murderous designs. You have heard before his lie: The people are using new laws and ceremonies, and they despise the edicts of the king. Now hear his murderous words: If it please thee, decree that this people be destroyed.—Brenz.
A man resigned to the will of God will disregard the laws of man whenever these stand opposed to the will and laws of God, however much he may suffer thereby. When men disobey the laws of man and violate them, it is very soon taken notice of; but if they violate the law of God, then no one seems to observe the fact. We should not make man our idol, nor make flesh our arm. Immoderate ambition generally breaks out into cruelty. The anger of great men is fierce; hence one should have a care not to arouse the same against one’s self.—Starke.
When wicked men cannot otherwise persecute the righteous, then his religion and laws must furnish them with a cause and a covering for their evil intentions. In important matters it is not good to render a hasty judgment, it is better to reflect. God permits the wicked to have success beyond their own expectation at times, but afterward destruction will come all the more unexpectedly.—Starke.
The sorrowful condition of the Jews becomes very apparent and plain as here revealed; likewise the just judgment of God is here fulfilled. He says, They would not obey God in their own land, where they enjoyed such great freedom; but now they groan under the severe service that presses upon them, and they are brought into the risk of life itself. They refused to assemble in the sanctuaries of Jerusalem under their own kings; they ran after the golden calves the sacred groves, and idols, and superstitions of the heathen. Now they are placed and scattered under the most tyrannical form of government. They neither can nor dare congregate to offer a service of praise to God.—Fenardent.
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 3
Est_3:8. The laws of the Jews. Prosper’s conceit was, that they were called Judæi because they received their laws from God. And, therefore, if Demosthenes could say of laws in general that they were the invention of Almighty God; and if Cicero could say of the laws of the twelve tables in Rome that they far exceeded and excelled all the libraries of all the philosophers, how much more true was all this of the laws of the Jews, given by God, and ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator, Moses! Seneca, though he jeered the Jews for their weekly Sabbath as those that lost the seventh part of their time, yet he could not but say that, being the basest people, they had the best laws, and gave laws unto all the world. Those holy Levites acknowledge, with all thankfulness, that God had given them right judgments, true laws, good statutes and commandments, whereby he severed them from all other people, as his own peculiar; and this was their glory wherever they came, though the sycophant Haman turneth their glory into shame, as one that loveth vanity, and sought after leasing.—Trapp.
Est_3:9. Rage. Rage is essentially vulgar, and never vulgarer than when it proceeds from mortified pride, disappointed ambition, or thwarted wilfulness. A baffled despot is the vulgarest of dirty wretches, no matter whether he be the despot of a nation vindicating its rights, or of a donkey sinking under its load.—Hartley Coleridge.
Est_3:9. Wrath cured. A valiant knight, named Hildebrand, had been injured and offended by another knight, named Bruno. Anger burned in his heart, and he could hardly wait for the day to take bloody revenge on his enemy. He passed a sleepless night, and at dawn of day he girded on his sword, and sallied forth to meet his antagonist. But as it was early he entered a chapel by the wayside, and sat down and looked on the pictures which were on the walls, lit up by the rays of the morning sun. There were three pictures. The first represented our Saviour in a purple robe of scorn before Pilate and Herod, and bore the inscription, “When he was reviled, he reviled not again.” The second picture showed the scourging of Jesus, and under it was written—“Who threatened not, when he suffered.” And the third was the crucifixion, with these words—“Father, forgive them.” When the knight had seen these words he knelt down and prayed. Then the light of evening was more lovely to the returning knight than the light of morning had been.
Est_3:9. The negro and his enemy. A slave who had by the force of his sterling worth risen high in the confidence of his master, saw one day, trembling in the slave-market, a negro, whose grey head and bent form showed him to be in the last weakness of old age. He implored his master to purchase him. He expressed his surprise, but gave his consent. The old man was bought and conveyed to the estate. When there, he who had pleaded for him took him to his own cabin, placed him on his own bed, fed him at his own board, gave him water from his own cup; when he shivered, he carried him into the sunshine; when he drooped in the heat, bore him safely to the shade. What is the meaning of all this? asked a witness. Is he your father? No. Is he your brother? No. Is he your friend? No. He is mine enemy. Years ago he stole me from my native village, and sold me for a slave; and the good Lord has said, “If thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink; for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.” When put to the test of practice it will be found that very few Christians believe in inspiration. Where is the professed follower of Christ in these days who would think of following the negro’s simple acceptance of an inspired injunction.
Est_3:9. The man who killed his neighbours. The Americans have a tract on this subject. It contains, in the form of a narrative, many useful practical suggestions on the art of overcoming evil with good. It is with kindness—modest, thoughtful, generous, persevering, unwearied kindness—that the benevolent countryman kills his churlish neighbour; and it is only the old evil man that he kills, leaving the new man to lead a very different life in the same village after the dross has been purged away. If any one desires to try this work, he must bring to it at least these two qualifications—modesty and patience. If he proceed ostentatiously, with an air of superiority, and a consciousness of his own virtue, he will never make one step of progress. But even though the successive acts of kindness should be genuine, the operator must lay his account with a tedious process and many disappointments. Many instances of good rendered for evil may seem to have been thrown away, and no symptom of penitence appear in the countenance or conduct of the evil-doer; but be not weary in this well-doing, for in due season you shall reap if you faint not. Although your enemy has resisted your deeds of kindness even unto seventy times seven, it does not follow that all or that any one of these has been lost.—Arnot.
Est_3:9. Clive and his moderation. When our great Eastern conqueror, Clive, was accused in Parliament of having amassed too much during the period of his conquests, he boldly said,” Why, when I think of that treasure, and see the hills of gold and silver here, and the jewels there, I declare I am astonished at my own moderation.” Haman offered a large sum of money to Ahasuerus—a large sum, whether the 10,000 talents be reckoned according to the Mosaic shekel, £3,750,000, or according to the civil shekel, £1,875,000. But the wealth of the prime minister of that vast country must have been great. Doubtless the Jews then, as now, would be a people given to the accumulation of wealth and property, and he would see that he would be no loser by the bargain. He would confiscate the property of the slaughtered Jews, and thus enrich himself by the transaction. It seemed an opportunity most favourable for wreaking his revenge and enriching himself and the state. Haman’s large offer is moderation itself when we think of all the consequences of his proposal. The destruction of a whole people, much trouble in the kingdom, and the confiscation of vast wealth.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain The Plot To Destroy The Jews
The Plot To Destroy The Jews
v. 8. And Haman, still enjoying the king’s favor to the full, said unto King Ahasuerus, There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the people in all the provinces of thy kingdom, skillfully insinuating that the Jews were aliens in manners and habits and enemies to the rest of his subjects; and their laws are diverse from all people, the implication being that they were at variance with the laws of the realm, that the Jews were no good citizens; neither keep they the king’s laws, for Haman falsely generalized from the one instance in which his dignity was offended; therefore it is not for the king’s profit to suffer them, to leave them in peace, unmolested, Haman’s suggestion being that the king’s person and the royal honor were in danger.
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v. 9. If it please the king, let it be written that they may be destroyed, as the Scythians had been massacred about a century before; and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver to the hands of those that have the charge of the business to bring it into the king’s treasuries, this immense sum of some twenty million dollars being intended both to arouse the king’s cupidity and to compensate him for any loss in revenue due to the destruction of so many of his citizens. Haman had planned with great shrewdness.
v. 10. And the king, carried away with pleasure by the clever proposition of Haman,took his ring from his hand, and gave it unto Haman, the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the Jews’ enemy, this being a token not only of intimate friendship, but also of royal authority to issue decrees and to imprint upon them the royal signet.
v. 11. And the king said unto Haman, The silver is given to thee, the people also, to do with them as it seemeth good to thee. He was given a free hand to do as he had planned.
v. 12. Then were the king’s scribes called, the secretaries who were always in attendance upon him, on the thirteenth day of the first month, for Haman lost no time after deciding upon his plans, and there was written according to all that Haman had commanded unto the king’s lieutenants, the satraps of the empire, and to the governors that were over every province, the smaller divisions of the satrapies, and to the rulers of every people of every province, the native-born princes who were still considered the nominal heads, according to the writing thereof, and to every people after their language, for it was the policy of the Persian empire to publish all decrees in all the languages of the conquered nations; in the name of King Ahasuerus was it written, and sealed with the king’s ring.
v. 13. And the letters were sent by posts into all the king’s provinces, for the system of royal posts by means of runners along the military highways was highly developed in Persia, to destroy, to kill, and to cause to perish, all Jews, both young and old, little children and women, in one day, even upon the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar, and to take the spoil of them for a prey, the last being intended for a bait, in order to arouse the covetousness of the people, who may not have been opposed to the Jews. The form of the sentence shows that it was taken from a legal document, a faithful copy of the murderous decree.
v. 14. The copy of the writing for a commandment to be given in every province was published unto all people that they should be ready against that day. The edict was to be proclaimed and posted in public everywhere, in order to work up the people to the proper pitch of deadly hate and to effect the extermination of all Jews.
v. 15. The posts went out, being hastened by the king’s commandment, and the decree was given in Shushan, the palace, issued from this residence of the king. And the king and Haman sat down to drink, to indulge in sensual enjoyments without giving their cruelty a further thought; but the city Shushan was perplexed, the inhabitants being unable to explain to themselves the terrible and cruel decree of the king, which was bound to rend the homes and the hearts of thousands of his subjects. The enemies of the Church have more than once decreed its destruction and laid their plans accordingly, meanwhile living in a false security; but they failed to take into consideration the almighty power of God.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 a certain people
a certain people
"a group of people" This refers to the Jews as an ethnic group.
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scattered and distributed
"who live in many different places"
provinces
A province is a large area into which some countries are divided for the purposes of government. See how you translated this in Esther 1:1.
the king's ... the king
Haman speaks to the king in the third person as a sign of respect. AT: "your ... you" (See: First, Second, or Third Person)
it is not suitable for the king to let them stay
"the king should not let them remain." This can also be stated in positive form. AT: "the king should remove them"
I will weigh out ... into the hands of those
Here "hands" stands for the men. To "weigh out" is an idiom that means to pay them. AT: "I will pay ... to the men" (See: Synecdoche and Idiom)
ten thousand talents of silver
"330 metric tons of silver" (See: Biblical Money and Numbers)
translationWords
king
Ahasuerus
people group
law, laws
command
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 3:8 who keep themselves separate: Jews intermarried within tight-knit…
3:8 who keep themselves separate: Jews intermarried within tight-knit communities and resisted integration into the larger culture. • Their laws are different: They had a unique set of laws (eating and religious customs) and were to be separate from the sinful customs of the people around them (Lev 14:42-45; 15:31; 19:2, 26-37). • they refuse to obey the laws of the king: This accusation, which is false in general, probably refers to Mordecai’s refusal to bow to Haman. • So it is not in the king’s interest to let them live: Haman played on the king’s fears and interests as Memucan had done in Esth 1:16. Intolerance toward any particular group of people ran against the general Persian tendency to be respectful of other people’s cultural and religious differences.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.