Immerse: Chronicles Full Volume - Flipbook - Page 160
148
IMMERSE
•
CHRONICLES
2:23–3:13
for the report. When an investigation was made and Mordecai’s story was
found to be true, the two men were impaled on a sharpened pole. This was
all recorded in The Book of the History of King Xerxes’ Reign.
Some time later King Xerxes promoted Haman son of Hammedatha the
Agagite over all the other nobles, making him the most powerful official in
the empire. All the king’s officials would bow down before Haman to show
him respect whenever he passed by, for so the king had commanded. But
Mordecai refused to bow down or show him respect.
Then the palace officials at the king’s gate asked Mordecai, “Why are
you disobeying the king’s command?” They spoke to him day after day,
but still he refused to comply with the order. So they spoke to Haman
about this to see if he would tolerate Mordecai’s conduct, since Mordecai
had told them he was a Jew.
When Haman saw that Mordecai would not bow down or show him
respect, he was filled with rage. He had learned of Mordecai’s nationality,
so he decided it was not enough to lay hands on Mordecai alone. Instead,
he looked for a way to destroy all the Jews throughout the entire empire
of Xerxes.
So in the month of April, during the twelfth year of King Xerxes’ reign,
lots were cast in Haman’s presence (the lots were called purim) to determine the best day and month to take action. And the day selected was
March 7, nearly a year later.
Then Haman approached King Xerxes and said, “There is a certain race
of people scattered through all the provinces of your empire who keep
themselves separate from everyone else. Their laws are different from
those of any other people, and they refuse to obey the laws of the king. So
it is not in the king’s interest to let them live. If it please the king, issue a
decree that they be destroyed, and I will give 10,000 large sacks of silver
to the government administrators to be deposited in the royal treasury.”
The king agreed, confirming his decision by removing his signet ring
from his finger and giving it to Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite,
the enemy of the Jews. The king said, “The money and the people are both
yours to do with as you see fit.”
So on April 17 the king’s secretaries were summoned, and a decree was
written exactly as Haman dictated. It was sent to the king’s highest officers,
the governors of the respective provinces, and the nobles of each province
in their own scripts and languages. The decree was written in the name of
King Xerxes and sealed with the king’s signet ring. Dispatches were sent
by swift messengers into all the provinces of the empire, giving the order
ImmerseChronicles_NLT.indd 148
6/21/2017 10:01:39 AM
