Ap – Haman Plots to Destroy the Jews

Haman Plots to Destroy the Jews

Here the account takes a sudden, threatening turn. The story now has a villain. Haman was promoted above all the other nobles (3:1). But that power went to his head and led him to make a decision he would soon regret. He plotted the death of all the Jews because Mordecai refused to bow down to honor him. The story is similar to Dani’el 3, where Dani’el and his three young Hebrew friends refuse to worship the golden image established by King Nebuchadnezzar; but it is probably even more similar to the story in Dani’el 6, where the magi plotted against Daniel for praying to ADONAI and not praying to Darius. In each of these three accounts, allegiance to the LORD and the Torah proved to be rewarded by God with the gift of life. Here in Esther 3, the plot of the story is intensified with a detailed account of the plot to destroy the Jews in a way that was unparalleled in the book of Dani’el. The author writes in such a way that you can almost smell death approaching.²⁹