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1–2. The Rise of Haman. 3–7. His decision to exterminate the Jews for opposing Mordecai, 8–15. Intercession of the royal decree for this - (After the 13th verse). – 2nd addition to the book: the text of Haman’s decree against the Jews. Esther 3:1. After this, King Artaxerxes exalted Haman, the son of Hamadath, the Boogite, and exalted him, and placed his seat above all the princes that he had; About Haman, see above, to the 1st addition. Esther 3:4. And as they told him every day, but he did not listen to them, they told Haman to see if Mordecai would stand in his word, for he told them that he was a Judah. Mordecai's announcement that he was a Jew (obliged to pay divine honor to Jehovah alone) not only provided an explanation for why he did not prostrate himself before Haman, but also signified his strongest inflexibility to do anything differently. This, naturally, set fire to the informers, who wanted to “see whether Mordecai would stand in his word,” or whether Haman’s power would prevail. Esther 3:5. And when Haman saw that Mordecai did not bow down and prostrate himself before him, Haman was filled with anger. Esther 3:6. And it seemed insignificant to him to lay his hand on Mordecai alone; but since they told him what kind of people Mordecai was from, Haman planned to destroy all the Jews who were in the entire kingdom of Artaxerxes, like the people of Mordecai. Haman’s intention to destroy not only Mordecai, but also the entire people of his tribe, was generated not just by the strength of his anger, contempt and malice at Mordecai’s act; This alone would be too unnatural even for Aman’s inhumanity. The latter, obviously, had its own justifications in the words of Haman, independent of Mordecai, among the people doomed to destruction. Among such justifications, the first place, rightly, is given to the original racial hatred of the Amalekites towards the Jews, if indeed Haman should be considered an Amalekite, as a descendant of Agag (1 Samuel 15.8). Esther 3:7. [And he made a council] in the first month, which is the month of Nisan, in the twelfth year of King Artaxerxes, and they cast pur, that is, lots, before Haman from day to day and from month to month, [to destroy the people of Mordecai in one day, and the lot fell] on the twelfth month, that is, on the month of Adar. There is another translation of this not entirely clear verse, which more literally conveys the expression of the original: “from the first month (this is the month of Nisan) of the twelfth year of the reign of Agasber, they threw pur before Haman every day, i.e. lot, from the month to the twelfth month (this is the month of Adar).” Esther 3:8. And Haman said to King Artaxerxes: There is one people, scattered and scattered among the nations throughout all the regions of your kingdom; and their laws are different from the laws of all nations, and they do not fulfill the king’s laws; and the king should not leave them like that. “And the king should not leave them like that” - a more correct understanding of the original is represented by other translations of this place: “and they are not afraid to betray the king.” Esther 3:9. If it pleases the king, then let it be ordered that they be exterminated, and I will weigh ten thousand talents of silver into the hands of the bailiffs to bring into the king’s treasury. “10,000 talents of silver” is a huge sum of several million rubles in our money. The promise of such a sum was not impossible for Haman: what was promised could be sufficiently repaid through the confiscation of the property of the murdered (Esth. 3:13). Esther 3:12. And the king's scribes were called in the first month, on the thirteenth day thereof, and it was written, as Haman commanded, to the king's satraps and to the rulers of every province [from the region of India to Ethiopia, over one hundred and twenty-seven provinces], and to the princes of every nation, to every province in its writing, and to every nation in its language: everything was written in the name of King Artaxerxes and sealed with the king's ring. It is worthy of note in this verse to distinguish between the different degrees of popular rulers; these are the “satraps” - the royal governors of larger administrative units, who from time to time surveyed their areas to verify management; then “those in charge of each region,” i.e. Pashas are the immediate rulers, and finally, “princes of every people,” these are their own tribal leaders of predominantly nomadic tribes scattered throughout various regions of the monarchy. Esther 3:13. And letters were sent through messengers to all the regions of the king to kill, destroy and destroy all the Jews, small and old, children and women, in one day, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, that is, the month of Adar, and to plunder their property. Esther 3_13ä) [Here is a list from this letter: the great king Artaxerxes commanded from India to Ethiopia over one hundred and twenty-seven regions and the governors subordinate to them. Esther 3_13b Reigning over many nations and ruling over the entire universe, I wanted, not exalting myself with the pride of power, but always ruling meekly and quietly, to make the life of my subjects constantly serene and, keeping my kingdom peaceful and easily accessible to its limits, to restore the peace desired for all people. Esther 3_13c When I asked the advisers how to carry this out, Haman, who was distinguished among us for wisdom and enjoyed constant favor, and proved firm loyalty, and received second honor as king Esther 3_13d explained to us that in all the tribes of the universe one hostile people was mixed up, according to its laws it is contrary to every nation, constantly neglecting the royal commands, so that the co-government we impeccably carried out would not be prosperous. Esph.3_13e) So, having learned that this only people always opposes every person, leads a way of life alien to the laws, and, opposing our actions, commits the greatest atrocities so that our kingdom does not achieve prosperity, Esther 3_13f We commanded those indicated to you in the letters of Haman, who was placed in charge of affairs and our second father, to completely destroy all of them with their wives and children with enemy swords, without any regret or mercy, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month of Adar of this year, Esther 3_13g so that these previously and now hostile people, having been forcibly cast into hell one day, would not prevent us from subsequently leading our lives peacefully and serenely to the end.] Addendum 2 - contains the text of Haman's decree against the Jews, in addition to simply mentioning the original decree in this and subsequent verses. The name of the people condemned to extermination is not directly named in the decree: however, it is easy to guess about it already from its description in the decree (it is directly named in Esther 3:6, 10, 4:3). For those who received this decree for information and execution, the name of the people - one must assume - was mentioned directly, in some additional instructions, and perhaps in the decree itself, the real, genuine one. “Co-management” – (συναρχίαν) – i.e. king with Haman. The king allows his relationship to Haman to be defined in this way to please him and not to the detriment of his self-sufficient and unlimited power, just as he further assigns him the honorary title of “our second father,” speaking in relation to what, according to the will of the king, Haman should be for his subjects. The Greek text of the decree names the 14th of Adar as the day of the massacre of the Jews, while the Hebrew original of the book everywhere indicates the 13th (Esth 3.13, 8.12, 9.1). This uncertainty could arise either from insufficient knowledge of the tradition itself, or from the lack of a genuine edition of the decree. According to the usual tradition of the Jews, the 13th is remembered as the day of the massacre; the 14th and 15th are celebrated as holidays of liberation from the 13th, although it could also be that the 14th, intended for the massacre of the Jews, became a holiday as the day of salvation from this massacre. Esther 3:14. The list from the decree is to be given to each region as a law, announced to all nations, so that they are prepared for that day. Esther 3:15. The messengers set off quickly with the royal command. A decree was also announced in Susa, the capital city; and the king and Haman sat and drank, and the city of Susa was in turmoil. The extreme cruelty and bloodthirstiness of the decree do not represent anything completely incredible at that time. If in later, even Christian times, Sicilian Vespers and St. Bartholomew's Nights were possible, and now the horrors of Jewish pogroms are still sometimes resurrected, then for those times and for those kings, even more so, such bloody hecatombs were an absolutely impeccable phenomenon. History knows another completely similar case of the repetition of a decree on the extermination of an entire people: this was under King Mithridates, who, by a secret decree, once ordered to kill in one day all the Romans (up to 150,000 people) living in Asia Minor. The decree on the beating of the Jews was accompanied by a decree on general mobilization, in pursuance of which the entire military-capable male population of the country (with the exception of the Jews) was ordered to be ready to march under arms by the appointed day (“for all nations, so that they are ready for that day”). The alarm caused by this mobilization was not just limited to the Jews of the capital city (“the city of Susa was in turmoil”), but was universal and understandable, since - in the absence, probably, of a direct indication of the purpose of such a grandiose mobilization, ignorance of the essence of the matter prompted many to think: “why convene the soldiers? Isn’t some unfortunate war resuming again, won’t new military exactions follow, won’t new burdens weigh down the country?” You might be interested in: