Esther 3:9
If it please the king, let it be written that they may be destroyed: and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver to the hands of those that have the charge of the business, to bring it into the king’s treasuries. If it please the king, let it be written that they may be destroyed: and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver to the hands of those that have the charge of the business, to bring it into the king’s treasuries.
The verse records Haman asking the king to authorize a written decree for the destruction of the Jews. To advance the plan he offered ten thousand talents of silver, a vast sum to be paid through those in charge of the business into the royal treasuries. The offer thus joined public revenue to a destructive policy against a people. The plot sprang from Haman's malice toward Mordecai, who had done him no harm but had refused to give him the worshipful reverence belonging only to God.
Haman secured the decree through false claims, false pretenses, and misrepresentation of the Jews. Behind the human scheme Satan was working through wicked agents to bring suffering and oppression and to remove those who preserved the knowledge of the true God. The king's blindness nearly allowed the plan to succeed, but God's protecting power defeated it, thwarted the enemy's purpose, and turned its consequences back on the adversaries. The decree illustrates how hostility toward God's people leads to oppressive measures based on misrepresentation. It serves as an ancient example of a future decree against God's people over Sabbath observance. It shows that God's people may face efforts to destroy them and must remain true to Him at any cost.