5 And when Haman saw that Mordecai
bowed not, nor did him reverence, then was Haman full of wrath. 6
And he thought scorn to lay hands on Mordecai alone; for they had shewed him
the people of Mordecai: wherefore Haman sought to destroy all the Jews that were throughout the whole kingdom of
Ahasuerus, even the people of
Mordecai. 7 In the first month, that is, the month Nisan, in the twelfth
year of king Ahasuerus, they cast Pur, that is, the lot, before Haman from day to day, and from month to
month, to the twelfth month, that is, the month Adar. 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. 11 And the king said unto Haman, The
silver is given to thee, the
people also, to do with them as it seemeth good to thee. Esther 3:5-11
Have you ever been angry? I mean really really angry?
Well, Haman was so angry that he was ready to burst!! He was full of wrath. His
anger was taking complete control of him. He was so angry he didn’t just want
to kill Mordecai, for his act of disobedience, but destroy all of his people,
the Jews.
Haman had a plan, to kill all the Jews. He needed to pick
a time when this would happen. Haman and his cronies got together to “cast pur”
today we would call it “throwing dice.” They decided which day and month would
be the best to kill the Jews by casting pur. Albert Barnes says, “A lot seems
to have been cast, or a throw of some kind made, for each day of the month and
each month of the year. The day and month which obtained the best throws were
then selected.”
Once the decision was made which day would be best, Haman
goes to the king and presents his plan. Basically he said, “O King there is a
certain people who are not like us, they have strange laws and they certainly
don’t keep the king’s law. I really don’t see much profit for the kingdom in
having them around. So king, I have a plan. What a deal! Let me kill all these
people and I’ll give the kingdom 10,000 talents”. After looking at various commentaries and
authors many had different amounts that would have equaled 10,000 talents, but
all agreed that it was a considerable amount of money.
If there was any doubt in Ahasuerus’ mind, it was
dissolved with the discussion of money. It did not take the king any time to
make his decision as a matter of fact; he didn’t even ask who the people were.
Whatever you say Haman, do what you want with these people. The king seems so
wishy washy to me, no problem just do whatever you want. I’ll get the money.
Everything Haman did was anger driven. Anger was in every
pore of his being.
Let’s take a
minute to see what the Bible says about anger.
Anger hinders
Cease from anger,
and forsake wrath: fret not thyself in any wise to do evil. Psalm 37:8
There
is no soundness in my flesh because of thine anger; neither
is there any rest in my bones
because of my sin. Psalm 38:3
Watch your words
A soft answer turneth away wrath: but
grievous words stir up anger. Proverbs
15:1
Pick friends carefully
Make no friendship with an angry man;
and with a furious man thou shalt not go: Proverbs 22:24
Self control
He that
is slow to anger is
better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a
city. Proverbs 16:32
Be not hasty in thy spirit to be
angry: for anger resteth in the bosom of fools. Ecclesiastes 7:9
Let all bitterness,
and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you,
with all malice: Ephesians 4:31
Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the
sun go down upon your wrath: Ephesians 4:26
Does anger control you or do you control your anger?
Pray and ask God for help. We need to “hid God’s word in
our heart” by memorizing anger verses to help us conquer the problem.
Have a blessed day,
Donna
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