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Esther 3:8-10

King James Version (KJV)

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— D.L. Moody

Scripture focus

8. And Haman said unto king Ahasuerus, There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the people in all the provinces of thy kingdom; and their laws [are] diverse from all people; neither keep they the king’s laws: therefore it [is] not for the king’s profit to suffer them. 9. If it please the king, let it be written that they may be destroyed: and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver to the hands of those that have the charge of the business, to bring [it] into the king’s treasuries. 10. And the king took his ring from his hand, and gave it unto Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the Jews’ enemy.

Esther 3:8-10 — KJV

Commentary

Commentary on Esther 3:8

Theological / Devotional

A certain people. A large proportion of the Jewish exiles had elected to remain in the lands to which they had been carried away captive. Josephus notes that the more well-to-do and influential Babylonian Jews were little inclined to leave their adopted home. By now, there was evidently a large Jewish colony at Shushan also (see eh. 9:12-15).

Their laws are diverse. A true charge, but a weak argument for their destruction, more especially since the Persians allowed all subject nations to retain their own religions, laws, and customs.

Neither keep they. This charge was not true with respect to laws in general. It was only when a royal edict required a Jew to violate his religious beliefs that such a situation could arise. But the laws of the Medes and Persians were in the main fair and just, and the Jews no doubt readily obeyed them. Had it been otherwise they would not have enjoyed the favor that was often shown them. Through the prophet Jeremiah, God strictly enjoined them to be law-abiding, peaceful subjects wherever they might be (Jer. 29:7).

By SdaBc