Ester 3:1

Afrikaans Bible

Ná hierdie dinge het koning Ahasvéros Haman, die seun van Hammedáta, die Agagiet, groot gemaak en hom verhoog en sy setel hoër gestel as dié van al die vorste wat by hom was.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

am 3551, bc 453

promote Haman: Esther 7:6, Psalms 12:8, Proverbs 29:2

Agagite: Numbers 24:7, 1 Samuel 15:8, 1 Samuel 15:33

above all the princes: Esther 1:14, Genesis 41:40, Genesis 41:55, Ezra 7:14, Daniel 6:2

Reciprocal: Numbers 24:20 - his latter end Deuteronomy 25:19 - thou shalt Esther 3:2 - bowed not Esther 5:11 - and how he had Esther 9:10 - enemy Psalms 49:16 - Be not Psalms 73:6 - Therefore Proverbs 26:1 - so Ecclesiastes 10:6 - Folly Daniel 5:7 - the third

Gill's Notes on the Bible

After these things,.... After the marriage of Esther, and the discovery of the conspiracy to take away the king's life, five years after, as Aben Ezra observe, at least more than four years, for so it appears from Esther 3:7

did King Ahasuerus promote Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite; whom both the Targums make to descend from Amalek, and to be of the stock or family of Agag, the common name of the kings of Amalek; and so Josephus g; but this is not clear and certain; in the apocryphal Esther he is said to be a Macedonian; and Sulpitius the historian says h he was a Persian, which is not improbable; and Agag might be the name of a family or city in Persia, of which he was; and Aben Ezra observes, that some say he is the same with Memucan, see Esther 1:14,

and advanced him, and set his seat above all the princes that were with him; erected a throne for him, higher than the rest, either of his own princes and nobles, or such as were his captives, see 2 Kings 25:28. It was the custom of the kings of Persia, which it is probable was derived from Cyrus, to advance those to the highest seats they thought best deserved it: says he to his nobles, let there be seats with you as with me, and let the best be honoured before others;--and again, let all the best of those present be honoured with seats above others i.

g Ut supra, (Antiqu. l. 11. c. 6.) sect. 5. h Hist. Sacr. l. 2. p. 78. i Xenophon, Cyropaedia, l. 8. c. 41.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The name, Haman, is probably the same as the Classical Omanes, and in ancient Persian, “Umana”, an exact equivalent of the Greek “Eumenes.” Hammedatha is perhaps the same as “Madata” or “Mahadata”, an old Persian name signifying “given by (or to) the moon.”

The Agagite - The Jews generally understand by this expression “the descendant of Agag,” the Amalekite monarch of 1 Samuel 15:0. Haman, however, by his own name, and the names of his sons Esther 9:7-9 and his father, would seem to have been a genuine Persian.

The Classical writers make no mention of Haman’s advancement; but their notices of the reign of Xerxes after 479 B.C. are exceedingly scanty.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

CHAPTER III

Ahasuerus exalts Haman the Agagite, and commands all his

officers to do him reverence, which Mordecai refuses, 1-3.

Haman, informed of Mordecai's refusal, plots his destruction,

and that of the Jews, 4-6.

Lots are cast to find out the proper time, 7.

Haman accuses the Jews to Ahasuerus, counsels him to destroy

them, and offers ten thousand talents of silver for the damage

which the revenue might sustain by their destruction, 8, 9.

The king refuses the money, but gives Haman full authority to

destroy them, 10, 11.

Letters are written to this effect, and sent to the king's

lieutenants throughout the empire, and the thirteenth day of

the month Adar is appointed for the massacre, 12-15.

NOTES ON CHAP. III

Verse Esther 3:1. Haman - the Agagite — Perhaps he was some descendant of that Agag, king of the Amalekites, spared by Saul, but destroyed by Samuel; and on this ground might have an antipathy to the Jews.

Set his seat above all the princes — Made him his prime minister, and put all the officers of state under his direction.