Chapter 3

Haman rises to power.  No details given.  In this position, the King's orders required that all bow down to Haman.  Mordecai would not, because he was a Jew.  Haman not only gets angry with Mordecai, but this:

6 But he disdained to lay hands on Mordecai alone. So, as they had made known to him the people of Mordecai, Haman sought to destroy all the Jews, the people of Mordecai, throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus. [Est 3:6 ESV]

He wants to wipe them all out.  Satan is behind something like this.  This is a huge over-reaction, even though it is also a public rebuff - just as Vashti's was to Ahasuerus.  The King handled the rebuff wisely, after seeking counsel.  Haman though, reacts with arrogance and seeks to purposely and intentionally reply to a slap with a nuclear bomb.  Very possibly, Haman's heritage played a part in this also.  After all, Samuel, the Jewish judge, had hacked his ancestor Agag into lots of pieces a long time before.

We are now 10 years past the opening of the book, in the 12th year of the reign of Ahasuerus.  Every day, Haman consults some "dice" thrown as oracles, to determine when he should approach the king and try to implement his plan to kill all the Jews.  He waits for the "bones" to prompt him.  Who was behind the timing of the answer?  What was going on between Michael and the "Prince of Persia" during this time?  At any rate, Haman finally gets the right portent and goes to the King.

He tells the King that "a certain people" are not following the Kings laws, and Haman offers to put up a fortune of his own money to have them exterminated.  He is very hateful, and plans to get the money from those he kills.  The King agrees, without even knowing who these people are, but tells Haman he doesn't need to pay, the King will pay.  Given the money Haman expected to loot from the Jews, this sentence makes him an extremely wealthy man when the Jews are killed.  This verse:

10 So the king took his signet ring from his hand and gave it to Haman the Agagite, the son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews. [Est 3:10 ESV]  This signet carried the full authority of the King.  This is also seen in the last verse of Haggai:  23 On that day, declares the LORD of hosts, I will take you, O Zerubbabel my servant, the son of Shealtiel, declares the LORD, and make you like a signet ring, for I have chosen you, declares the LORD of hosts." [Hag 2:23 ESV]

Letters are sent out, to all 127 provinces, for the satraps to prepare a genocide, to take place in a single day all over the Kingdom of Persia.  It was on the 13th day of the 12th month - Adar.  All Jews, men, women, and children, were to be killed on that day, and their goods were to be plundered.  There is no attempt to keep the plan secret from the Jews.  Once the letters go out, Haman and the King sit down for drinks.  But the city of Susa is in confusion.