Esther had a servant named Hathach, who had been given to her by the king. So she called him in and said, "Find out what's wrong with Mordecai and why he's acting this way." Hathach went to Mordecai in the city square in front of the palace gate, and Mordecai told him everything that had happened. He also told him how much money Haman had promised to add to the king's treasury, if all the Jews were killed. Mordecai gave Hathach a copy of the orders for the murder of the Jews and told him that these had been read in Susa. He said, "Show this to Esther and explain what it means. Ask her to go to the king and beg him to have pity on her people, the Jews!"
(Esther 4:5-8, CEV)
I just love how I can read a part of scripture over and over, and I still gain new insight. As I meditated on today’s passage, I realized something I hadn’t before: Haman is going to pay the king for allowing him to kill all the Jews.
For some reason I thought the “tons of silver” mentioned in an earlier verse was going to come from the businesses and households of the Jews. Yes, they were captives, but it was likely they brought some of their wealth with them and set up shop.
But no, Haman actually puts a bounty on the heads of each Jew—man, woman, and child. Haman so hates these people—who have probably done nothing wrong to him personally—that he’s willing to pay what has to be a huge amount of silver to see them wiped out.
I can’t fathom that kind of hatred. And I know about hatred. I’ve mentioned in previous devotionals that I spend 20 years in rebellion against God, mostly because I’d allowed anger and hatred of the men who’d abused me to fill my heart. But I can honestly say I never wished or hoped for their destruction. I may have wanted them to own up to what they did, but I total annihilation? Never. And these were men who really did harm me.
The only “harm” Haman experienced was Mordecai’s refusing to bow down to him. And for that slight to his fragile ego, he would pay to kill an entire people.
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