Esther 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.”

November 18th, 2023 by Pastor Ed in devotional

Mordecai was a Jew and the cousin of Queen Esther. When he refused to bow to Haman the king’s advisor, Haman became so angered that he convinced the king to issue a decree that on a specific day all the king’s people were “to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate all Jews, young and old, women and children” (vs. 13). This decree was sent throughout all of Ahasuerus’s kingdom, which included Jerusalem and the surrounding cities where the exiles had returned. If successful, this attack would have destroyed all the Jews.

This event took place at least 500 years after the death of Agag the king of the Amalekites, who was killed by the prophet Samuel during the reign of Saul of the tribe of Benjamin (1 Sam. 15:1–33). Haman was an Agagite and Mordecai a Benjamite, and they probably hadn’t forgotten their shared history, which may have added to their tension: Mordecai’s refusal to bow to Haman, and Haman’s desire to exterminate the Jews. Verse 15 says that the “city of Shushan was perplexed.” Even the pagan population of Shushan was puzzled at the extreme racism of both the king and Haman. But we are not puzzled at all because we can see the fingerprints of hell all over this affair.

Satan has been trying to stop the redemption of the world from the opening chapters of Genesis down to this very day. And that was exactly what he was attempting to do here by using Haman to target the entire Jewish race. It is a battle that will continue to rage until the final great battle between the Messiah and Satan. Until that time, as God patiently waits for more to come to salvation, Satan will continue to bring accusations against the Jewish race and the nation of Israel, and Jerusalem will continue to be highly contested real estate.

“LORD, we pray for the peace of Jerusalem and for you to use us to lead others to Your salvation today.”