The Book of
Esther 3
15 verses≈ 4 min1 personBSB
Images are artistic interpretations.
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In this chapter
Where we are
- 1–2A new queenVashti out, Esther crowned
- 3The plotHaman buys a decreeChapter 3
- 4–5The riskEsther goes to the king
- 6–7The turnA sleepless night, a gallows
- 8–9OverturnedA second decree, and Purim
- 10MordecaiSecond to the king
Haman’s Plot against the Jews
After these events, King Xerxes honored Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, elevating him to a position above all the princes who were with him.
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All the royal servants at the king’s gate bowed down and paid homage to Haman, because the king had commanded that this be done for him.
But Mordecai would not bow down or pay homage.
Esther 3:2
Reflect
Would not
Mordecai paid a price for one quiet no. He “would not comply,” day after day, with everyone watching. Is there a place where following God means not going along with everyone else? What would it cost you?
And when he learned the identity of Mordecai’s people, he scorned the notion of laying hands on Mordecai alone. Instead, he sought to destroy all of Mordecai’s people, the Jews, throughout the kingdom of Xerxes.
In the twelfth year of King Xerxes, in the first month, the month of Nisan, the Pur (that is, the lot) was cast before Haman to determine a day and month. And the lot fell on the twelfth month, the month of Adar.
Haman
Then Haman informed King Xerxes, “There is a certain people scattered and dispersed among the peoples of every province of your kingdom. Their laws are different from everyone else’s, and they do not obey the king’s laws. So it is not in the king’s best interest to tolerate them.
Haman
If it pleases the king, let a decree be issued to destroy them, and I will deposit ten thousand talents of silver into the royal treasury to pay those who carry it out.”
So the king removed the signet ring from his finger and gave it to Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews.
King Xerxes
“Keep your money,” said the king to Haman. “These people are given to you to do with them as you please.”
These people are given to you to do with them as you please.
Esther 3:11
Pray
For those who pay
Pray for believers and for Jewish people who are threatened today simply for who they are. Ask God to keep them. Pray for those in power, who can sign away lives without asking who will pay, that He would turn their hearts to justice. And ask Him to guard you from ever saying of anyone, “These people are given to you.”
On the thirteenth day of the first month, the royal scribes were summoned and the order was written exactly as Haman commanded the royal satraps, the governors of each province, and the officials of each people, in the script of each province and the language of every people. It was written in the name of King Xerxes and sealed with the royal signet ring.
And the letters were sent by couriers to each of the royal provinces with the order to destroy, kill, and annihilate all the Jews—young and old, women and children—and to plunder their possessions on a single day, the thirteenth day of Adar, the twelfth month.
A copy of the text of the edict was to be issued in every province and published to all the people, so that they would be ready on that day.
Esther 3:13–14
The couriers left, spurred on by the king’s command, and the edict was issued in the citadel of Susa.
0:12
Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain
Then the king and Haman sat down to drink, but the city of Susa was in confusion.
Question
Quick question
The word in 3:7 will one day give a feast its name.
What is the Pur?
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Esther 3
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A verse to carry with you
But Mordecai would not bow down or pay homage.
Esther 3:2
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