Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Esther 3:11

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.

11. In the East, confiscation of goods is the invariable accompaniment of capital punishment, and they are forfeited to the crown. At first sight the words seem to mean that the king declines Haman’s offer, and gives him free leave to massacre the Jews, and plunder them for his own benefit. But probably it is implied that the promised payment to the king was to be made out of the spoils. It is clear that the information which Mordecai obtained assured him that the king’s treasuries were to receive the booty (Est 4:7).

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

The silver is given to thee – Some understand this to mean that Xerxes refused the silver which Haman had offered to him; but the passage is better explained as a grant to him of all the property of such Jews as should be executed Est 3:13.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Est 3:11

To do with them as it seemeth good to thee.

The danger of an easy temper

Ahasuerus appears to have been a man of an easy temper, and ready to confer the greatest obligations, without deliberation, on those whom he loved. But there is no true wisdom without judgment and steadiness. A thoughtless man, of an easy temper, is more likely to turn out a vicious than a virtuous character, because in a world where so many more bad than good men are to be met with, he is likely to give up himself to the guidance of those who will lead him out of the way of understanding; or if he should be led in the right path by some of his friends, there are others that will lead him out of it. Ahasuerus would have heaped favours upon the Jews, if Mordecai had been to him at this time what Haman was.

I. Many have not duly distinguished between an easy and a good temper. An easy temper is a very dangerous one, when it is not under the powerful restraints of wisdom. It is vain to boast of a ready compliance with every good motion suggested to us if we are equally ready to comply with bad motions. If we surrender our selves to the direction of our friends, we may soon find that we have given up ourselves to our enemies. He is not our friend who desires to be oar lord.

II. Please men for their good to edification. Be always ready to grant reasonable requests, and to follow good counsels. But you must judge for your selves, by the light which God has given you, what requests are lawful to be granted, and what counsels are worthy to be followed. (G. Lawson.)

The terrors of despotism

I. This history is an illustration of the danger of a one-man power–of an absolute despotism. The liberty that rests on the selfishness, or the inclination of one man, or of a hundred men, is suspended despotism, and if we must choose between the rule of one man, or of thirty, without a written constitution and laws, we should greatly prefer the one. In either case, our property and personal liberty are at the will of human caprice or passion.

II. We see how greatly we are blest, in having a government, not of men, but of just, mild, enlightened and equitable written and published laws, guaranteeing to us liberty in the worship of God, and in the pursuits of life and the enjoyment of our institutions. The King of Persia, in some instances, seems to have been surrounded by the restraints of precedents, yet, in other cases, he could do what he pleased with the lives and property of his subjects. There was no written constitution.

III. We are never to despair of the ark, even when it fall into the hands of the philistines. God will never forsake His people. It is no new thing for the godly to have to suffer persecution. The Jews were misrepresented. Even what Haman said of them that was true was so said as to give a fresh colouring to the whole picture. There is no proof that the Jews were factious under the Persian rule. On the contrary, from the lives of Daniel, Ezra, and Nehemiah we should infer just the opposite. It is an old aspersion of Gods people, to charge them with singularity. Would to God there was more cause for the imputation than there is t The very thing, therefore, that constituted their glory was made their offence. But it is better always to fall into the hands of God than of men. This was Davids choice, and observation approves of it. The very reasons Haman gave for destroying the Hebrews are among the very reasons why God will not let them perish out of the earth. That which whets the sword of men moves the pity of the Almighty. God sometimes leaves His people to come into the greatest peril, that His power may be the more easily seen in their deliverance. Pharaoh was raised up to show His power, and so was Haman. God taketh the wise in their own craftiness, and ensnares the wicked in the works of their own hands. In the darkest hour it is our duty and our highest happiness still to trust in God. (W. A. Scott, D. D.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

The silver is given to thee; keep it to thy own use, I do not desire it, I accept thy offer for the deed.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

And the king said unto Haman, the silver is given unto thee,…. The 10,000 talents of silver Haman proposed to pay into the treasury were returned to him, or the king out of his great munificence refused to take them:

the people also, to do with them as seemeth good unto thee; that is, the people of the Jews; he gave him full power to do with them as he thought fit, and who breathing revenge upon them, would not spare them.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

(11) And the king said . . .With indifference which seems incredible, but which is quite in accordance with what we otherwise know of Xerxes, the king simply hands over to his minister the whole nation and their possessions to do with as he will. The king perhaps was glad to throw the cares of government on his minister, and, too indolent to form an opinion for himself, was content to believe that the Jews were a worthless, disloyal people.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

11. The silver is given to thee Instead of bringing the spoil of silver into the royal treasury, Haman is permitted to keep it for himself. Xerxes was the only Persian despot whose favouritism, vanity, and prodigality would readily allow such a loss from his own treasury.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Est 3:11 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.

Ver. 11. And the king said unto Haman ] Whom he looked upon as an honest, prudent, public spirited man, and therefore so easily empowered him to do what he would.

O vanas hominum mentes! O pectora caeca!

The silver is given unto thee ] i.e. The ten thousand talents that thou hast proffered, and which Haman likely purposed to raise out of the spoil of the Jews; all this is remitted, and returned to Haman as a gift again. Sic ex alieno corie gigantes isti latissimas corrigias secant, saith an interpreter here, Such large thongs cut these giants out of other men’s hides. But what meant they thus to sell the hide before they had taken the beast? He that sat in heaven (and had otherwise determined it) laughed at them, the Lord had them in derision, Psa 2:4 . “With him” (alone) “is strength and wisdom: the deceived and the deceiver are his. He leadeth counsellors away spoiled, and maketh the judges fools. He leadeth princes away spoiled, and overthroweth the mighty,” Job 12:16-17 ; Job 12:19 .

The people also, to do with them ] Here Haman was made, here he had more than heart could wish, as Psa 73:7 , and holdeth himself, therefore, no doubt, the happiest man under heaven. But nihil sane infelicius est felicitate peccantium, saith Jerome, There cannot befall a man a greater misery than to prosper in sin: for such a one is ripening for ruin, as fatting cattle are fitting for the butcher. They prosper and live at ease, saith God, yet I am extremely displeased with them, Zec 1:15 . As they say of the metal they make glass of, it is nearest melting when it shineth brightest; so are the wicked nearest destruction when at greatest lustre. Meanwhile see here what, many times, is the condition of God’s dearest children, viz. to fall into the power and paws of lions, leopards, boars, bears, tigers; of men more savage than any of these, whose tender mercies are mere cruelties. Poor blind men they are that offer violence to the saints, as Samson laid bands upon the pillars, to pluck the house upon their own heads.

To do with them as it seemeth good to thee ] Oh bloody sentence! Such words as these Leniter volant, sed non leniter violant. So Dioclesian gave leave to people to kill up Christians, without more ado, wherever they met them; the like was done by authority in the French Massacre; but though tyrants restrain not their agents, yet God will, Psa 76:10 . And though they bandy together and bend all their forces to root out true religion; yet are they bounded by him, and shall not do what themselves please, but what he hath appointed. My times are in thine hand, saith David; and Pilate had no more power to crucify Christ than what was given him from above, Joh 19:11 .

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

the People also. This was the aim of the great enemy, who was using Haman as he had tried to use Pharaoh in Egypt. See App-23.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

to do: Psa 73:7, Jer 26:14, Jer 40:4, Luk 23:25

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Est 3:11. The silver is given to thee Keep it for thy own use, I do not desire it. I accept thy offer for the deed. So that he gave him power to draw up what decree he pleased, and seal it with the kings ring; but as for the money, he assured him he would have none of it. What inhumanity was this! to give so many people unheard to death to please a favourite!

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments