| Esther 3 | |
|---|---|
 An intricately illustrated early 18th-century manuscript scroll of the Book of Esther. | |
| Book | Book of Esther |
| Category | Ketuvim |
| Christian Bible part | Old Testament |
| Order in the Christian part | 17 |
Esther 3 is the third chapter of the Book of Esther in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible.[1] The author of the book is unknown and modern scholars have established that the final stage of the Hebrew text would have been formed by the second century BCE.[2] Chapters 3 to 8 contain the nine scenes that form the complication in the book.[3] This chapter introduces Haman the Agagite, who is linked by his genealogy to King Agag, the enemy of Israel's King Saul, from whose father, Kish, Mordecai was descended (Esther 2:5–6).[4] The king Ahasuerus elevated Haman to a high position in the court, and ordered everyone to bow down to him, but Mordecai refuses to do so to Haman (3:2), which is connected to Mordecai's Jewish identity (as Jews would only bow down to worship their own God (cf. Daniel 3); this indirectly introduced the religious dimension of the story.[4] Haman reacted by a vast plan to destroy not simply Mordecai, but his entire people (3:8), getting the approval from the king to arrange for a particular date of genocide, selected by casting a lot, or pur (one reason for the festival of Purim; Esther 9:24–26) to fall on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, Adar (3:7, 13).[4] The chapter ends with the confused reaction of the whole city of Susa due to the decree (verse 15).[4]
- ^ Halley 1965, p. 238.
- ^ Meyers 2007, p. 324.
- ^ Clines 1988, pp. 387–388.
- ^ a b c d Meyers 2007, p. 327.