Esther 3:10

10 ¹So the king took his signet ring from his hand and gave it to Haman ²the Agagite, the son of Hammedatha, ³the enemy of the Jews.

Esther 3:10 Meaning and Commentary

Esther 3:10

And the king took his ring from his hand, and gave it unto
Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the Jews' enemy.
] As a token of his affection for him, and a mark of honour to him; with the Persians ^F23 for a king to give a ring to anyone was a token and bond of the greatest love and friendship imaginable; and it may be this was given to Haman, to seal with it the letters that were or should be written, giving order for the destruction of the Jews. It seems as if as yet Esther had not acquainted the king who her kindred and people were; or it can hardly be thought he would have so easily come into such a scheme, or so highly favoured an enemy of her people.

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FOOTNOTES:

F23 Alex. ab. Alex. Genial. Dier. l. 1. c. 26. & l. 2. c. 19.

Esther 3:10 In-Context

8 Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, "There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom. Their laws are different from those of every other people, and they do not keep the king's laws, so that it is not to the king's profit to tolerate them.

9 If it please the king, let it be decreed that they be destroyed, and I will pay 10,000 talents of silver into the hands of those who have charge of the king's business, that they may put it into the king's treasuries."

10 So the king took his signet ring from his hand and gave it to Haman the Agagite, the son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews.

11 And the king said to Haman, "The money is given to you, the people also, to do with them as it seems good to you."

12 Then the king's scribes were summoned on the thirteenth day of the first month, and an edict, according to all that Haman commanded, was written to the king's satraps and to the governors over all the provinces and to the officials of all the peoples, to every province in its own script and every people in its own language. It was written in the name of King Ahasuerus and sealed with the king's signet ring.

Cross References

• 1. Esther 8:2; Genesis 41:42
• 2. ver. 1
• 3. Esther 7:6; Esther 8:1; Esther 9:10, 24