References (5)
After this event, King Ahasuerus (Xerxes) promoted Haman son of Hammedata, the Agagite, and placed him in the place of all the princes who were with him.
[The event referred to is that Mordecai has saved the king’s life, see . The reader senses that all is not right. Shouldn’t Mordecai have received some reward or recognition for saving the king’s life? Instead, a completely different person is introduced, Haman. Whether Haman was actively involved in covering up Mordecai’s role, or whether it was a bureaucratic mistake, this is later discovered by the king () and Mordecai is rewarded. In , four years have passed since Esther became queen (. The events of and occur sometime during this four-year period (479–474 BC).
Haman is introduced as the ”Agagite”, a deliberate reference to the conflict between the Israelites and the Amalekites. The conflict stems from the Exodus when the Israelites fought Amalek, see ; . Balaam predicts that the king of Israel will be greater than ”Agag”, see Numbers 24:1, 7. Saul who was a Benjamite, see , was commissioned to destroy the Amalekites, but fails to do so even though he wins the battle, see . The connection between Mordecai the Benjamite, see Est 2:5, and Haman the Agagite prepares the reader for a future confrontation of some kind. The name Haman means: Magnificent, splendid and awesome. In Aramaic it means: necklace, chain, jewelry; but also ”of foreign origin”. Haman has several allusions to Lucifer, see , and also has a parallel with what happened to his sons, see and .]
The king took his ring from his hand and gave it to Haman, the son of Hammedata the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews,
She said, ”If it pleases the king and I have found favor (undeserved love – Hebr. chen) in his eyes, and if this thing seems right to the king and if I please his eyes, let a letter be written revoking the decision of Haman son of Hammedata the Agagite, which he wrote to destroy the Jews who are in all the king’s provinces,
sons of Haman the son of Hammedata, the enemy of the Jews, they struck. But they did not lay their hand on (touch) the spoil (their possessions) [This shows that they acted in selfdefense, not for material gain, see ; .]
[Interestingly, the names of Haman's sons personify the inner walls that block a meaningful relationship with God. Figuratively speaking, we all need to hang the sons of Haman in our lives on the wooden stake, crucifying them with Jesus. Just as the Jews didn’t put their hand on what was wasted, we shouldn’t touch it or anything related to it once we’ve let it leave our lives. In a traditional Hebrew Torah scroll or Masoretic text of , the names of the ten sons of Haman are written vertically in a stacked column (one name per line) rather than in standard horizontal running text. The names are stacked as bricks without overlap, not as a running bond. This reinforce the idea that they will fall much easier. Compare the similar pattern in ; .]
because Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews, had taken counsel against the Jews to destroy them and cast ”por”, that is, lots, to discourage and destroy them,
