Ester 3:7 In the first month, which is the month of Nisan, in the twelfth year of King Ahasuerus, they cast Pur (that is, the lot), before Haman to determine the day and the month, until it fell on the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar.
Purim - In Hebrew �im� is placed at the end of word to make it plural. So the holiday that we celebrate to commemorate Ester is �Lots� or Purim.
Haman�s advisors made decisions by casting lots.
This happened in the month of Nisan. Because the month of Adar was selected there was an eleven-month time period before the Jewish people were to be killed.
Ester 3:8 Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, "There is a certain people scattered and dispersed among the people in all the provinces of your kingdom; their laws are different from all other people's, and they do not keep the king's laws. Therefore it is not fitting for the king to let them remain.
Haman never stated that it was the Jewish people that he was referring to; he just refers to them as �a certain people�.
Ester 3:9 If it pleases the king, let a decree be written that they be destroyed, and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver into the hands of those who do the work, to bring it into the king's treasuries."
ten thousand talents of silver - This is about 740,000 pounds of silver. This was a huge sum of money, which Haman had planned to plunder from the dead Jewish people.
During the tribulation period, it may be the case that the anti-messiah will take the possessions of those beheaded for refusing to bow down and worship him.
Ester 3:10 So the king took his signet ring from his hand and gave it to Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews.
his signet ring - This was the kings official signature. He did not realize his queen was Jewish and that he had just signed her death warrant too.
Ester 3:11 And the king said to Haman, "The money and the people are given to you, to do with them as seems good to you."
The king did not seem to be interested in the money. He appeared to only care about eliminating the alleged rebellion.
Ester 3:12 Then the king's scribes were called on the thirteenth day of the first month, and a decree was written according to all that Haman commanded--to the king's satraps, to the governors who were over each province, to the officials of all people, to every province according to its script, and to every people in their language. In the name of King Ahasuerus it was written, and sealed with the king's signet ring.
The thirteenth day of the first month - historians record this day as April 7, 474 BCE.
Ester 3:13 And the letters were sent by couriers into all the king's provinces, to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate all the Jews, both young and old, little children and women, in one day, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar, and to plunder their possessions.
The thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar - historians record this day as March 7, 473 BCE.
Ester 3:14 A copy of the document was to be issued as law in every province, being published for all people, that they should be ready for that day.
as law - it could not be revoked.
Ester 3:15 The couriers went out, hastened by the king's command; and the decree was proclaimed in Shushan the citadel. So the king and Haman sat down to drink, but the city of Shushan was perplexed.
The city of Shushan was perplexed - no reason was given why the children of Israel were to be killed off, and the people were naturally puzzled.