Esther 3:7

HAMAN RECEIVES THE KING'S PERMISSION TO DESTROY ISRAEL

"In the first month, which is the month Nisan, in the twelfth year of king Ahashuerus, they cast Put, that is, the lot, from day to day, and from month to month, to the twelfth month, which is the month Adar. And Haman said unto king Ahashuerus, There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of thy kingdom; and their laws are diverse from the laws of every people; neither keep they the king's laws: therefore it is not for the king's profit to suffer them. If it please the king, let it be written that they be destroyed: and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver into the hands of those that have charge of the king's business, to bring it into the king's treasuries. And the king took his ring from his hand, and gave it unto Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the Jews' enemy. And the king said unto Haman, the silver is given thee, and the people also, to do with them as seemeth good to thee."

Critical enemies of the Bible, having no other grounds upon which they may deny or object to the text, sometimes must fall back upon their subjective imaginations that this or that Biblical statement is "unrealistic, unreasonable, or unlikely to have occurred." One may find plenty of such subjective objections to what is written here.

Some ask, "Would any king have given blanket permission to anyone to destroy a considerable percentage of the people in his whole kingdom"? The answer to that is that, "Xerxes certainly did so." And even that was not any more unreasonable or stupid than some other actions of that evil king as reported by Herodotus.

Others have pointed out that it was a terribly foolish thing for Haman to have published a whole year in advance his intention of exterminating the Jews. Archaeology, however, has uncovered dramatic information on how this happened. "Haman's method for fixing the date for the destruction of the Jews has been revealed by excavations at Susa (Shushan) by M. Dieulafoy, who actually recovered one of those quadrangular prisms engraved with the Numbers 1,2, 5,6. The word `pur' is derived from the Persian puru, that is, `lot'; and it is now known that `they cast Pur' (Esther 3:7) means that they cast lots."[3] This fully explains why almost a year elapsed between Haman's decision to massacre the Jews, which he published at once, and the date set for the execution of his ruthless plan.

Significantly, Haman was so sure of receiving the king's permission, that he actually cast lots for the day he would do it before mentioning the matter to the king. Also, that tremendous promise of ten thousand talents of silver, which was well over $10,000,000.00, which Haman promised to pay into the king's treasury, was also most likely based upon the presumption by Haman that the king would not accept it.