Esther 3:8, commentary and pictures

The words are the false statements of Haman the Agagite, an unscrupulous man high in authority, to Xerxes the Great, Ahasuerus the successor of Darius Hystaspes, concerning the Jews scattered abroad and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of the Medo-Persian kingdom. He falsely portrayed them as a certain scattered people whose laws and customs are diverse from all people and different from surrounding nations, claiming they do not keep the king's laws, are disloyal and harmful, threaten the kingdom's interests, and are not profitable for the king to tolerate. By that accusation he persuaded the king that destroying them served the kingdom's interests and secured an edict for their massacre on an appointed day with confiscation of their property.

The plot was driven by Haman's hatred, malice and anger toward Mordecai the Jew because Mordecai refused to give him reverence belonging to God alone, and scorning to attack Mordecai alone, Haman plotted to destroy all the Jews throughout the kingdom. Behind the human agents Satan himself was the hidden instigator, seeking through them to counterwork the purposes of God and to rid the earth of those who preserved the knowledge of the true God. The king was misled and blinded by Haman's words to the consequences and was induced to authorize suffering and oppression upon God's people.

The crisis brought face to face with death those Jews who had remained in the Persian realm rather than leave when escape was offered and who had failed to heed the warning to flee from Babylon, and because the decrees of the Medes and Persians could not be revoked there appeared to be no hope. Despite the scheme, the enemy's purpose was thwarted and defeated, showing that God's power can defeat such schemes as it did in Mordecai's time. The account teaches that God's people must remain true to Him even at personal cost.

The decree serves as a pattern and example of a future decree against God's people, whose Sabbath observance and loyalty to God's law will become a test and provoke opposition, since their obedience rebukes those who disregard it and they are treated as a threat to be removed. In that future time opponents will use misrepresentation and false charges to condemn those who refuse to worship the false and idol sabbath.