Haman’s Plot

Each year on the Feast of Purim, the Book of Esther is read publicly in the synagogue; and whenever the reader mentions Haman’s name, the people stamp their feet and exclaim, “May his name be blotted out!”

To Jews everywhere, Haman personifies everybody who has tried to exterminate the people of Israel.

Read Esther 3:1-6.

Haman, The Agagite

There are two ways which we can understand this title:

He was from a district in the empire known as Agag

He is descended from Agag, king of the Amalekites (cf. 1 Samuel 15:8)

Given his extreme hatred for the Jews, it is more likely that Haman was descended from Agag.

God had declared war on the Amalekites and wanted their name and memory blotted off the face of the earth

This would percolate a hatred toward God’s chosen people

It was Saul, the first king of Israel, whom God commanded to destroy the Amalekites (1 Sam. 15); and he failed in his commission and lost his own crown. (It was an Amalekite who claimed he put Saul to death on the battlefield. See 2 Sam. 1:1–10.) Because Saul didn’t fully obey the Lord, some Amalekites lived; and one of their descendants, Haman, determined to annihilate his people’s ancient enemy, the Jews.