Esther 3:1

Esther 3:1

After these things did king Ahasuerus promote Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, and advanced him, and set his seat above all the princes that were with him.

a. ASV: After these things did king Ahasuerus promote Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, and advanced him, and set his seat above all the princes that were with him.

b. YLT: After these things hath the king Ahasuerus exalted Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, and lifteth him up, and setteth his throne above all the heads who are with him,

c. Amplified Bible Classic: After these things, King [a]Ahasuerus promoted Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite and advanced him and set his seat above all the princes who were with him.

d. Septuagint: And after this king Artaxerxes highly honoured Aman [son] of Amadathes, the Bugaean, and exalted him, and set his seat above all his friends.

e. Stone Edition Torah/Prophets/Writings: After these things, King Ahasuerus [A-has-ur-er-us] promoted Haman of Hammedatha the Agagite and elevated him; he set his seat above all the officers who were with him.

1. “After these things did king Ahasuerus promote Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite…”

a. After [Strong: 310 ʼachar, akh-ar'; from H309; properly, the hind part; generally used as an adverb or conjunction, after (in various senses):—after (that, -ward), again, at, away from, back (from, -side), behind, beside, by, follow (after, -ing), forasmuch, from, hereafter, hinder end, + out (over) live, + persecute, posterity, pursuing, remnant, seeing, since, thence(-forth), when, with.]

b. these things [Strong: 1697 dâbâr, daw-baw'; from H1696; a word; by implication, a matter (as spoken of) or thing; adverbially, a cause:—act, advice, affair, answer, × any such (thing), because of, book, business, care, case, cause, certain rate, chronicles, commandment, × commune(-ication), concern(-ing), confer, counsel, dearth, decree, deed, × disease, due, duty, effect, eloquent, errand, (evil favoured-) ness, glory, harm, hurt, iniquity, judgment, language, lying, manner, matter, message, (no) thing, oracle, × ought, × parts, pertaining, please, portion, power, promise, provision, purpose, question, rate, reason, report, request, × (as hast) said, sake, saying, sentence, sign, so, some (uncleanness), somewhat to say, song, speech, × spoken, talk, task, that, × there done, thing (concerning), thought, thus, tidings, what(-soever), wherewith, which, word, work.

c. [did] king [Strong: 4428 melek, meh'-lek; from H4427; a king:—king, royal.]

d. Ahasuerus [Strong: 325 ʼĂchashvêrôwsh, akh-ash-vay-rosh'; or (shortened) אַחַשְׁרֹשׁ ʼAchashrôsh (Esther 10:1); of Persian origin; Achashverosh (i.e. Ahasuerus or Artaxerxes, but in this case Xerxes), the title (rather than name) of a Persian king:—Ahasuerus.]

1). Note in Amplified Classic Bible: There seems to be little doubt that King Ahasuerus is to be identified with the well-known Xerxes, who reigned from 486 to 465 b.c. The Zondervan Pictorial Bible Dictionary (Merrill C. Tenney, ed.) gives four close similarities between them which support this identification. Also, “the Ahasuerus of Ezra 4:6, to whom were written accusations against the Jews of Jerusalem, is in all probability the same Xerxes, although sometimes identified with Cambyses son of Cyrus.”

e. promote [Strong: 1431 gâdal, gaw-dal'; a primitive root; properly, to twist (compare H1434), i.e. to be (causatively make) large (in various senses, as in body, mind, estate or honor, also in pride):—advance, boast, bring up, exceed, excellent, be(-come, do, give, make, wax), great(-er, come to... estate, things), grow(up), increase, lift up, magnify(-ifical), be much set by, nourish (up), pass, promote, proudly (spoken), tower.]

f. Haman [Strong: 2001 Hâmân, haw-mawn'; of foreign derivation; Haman, a Persian vizier:—Haman.]

g. [the] son [Strong: 1121 bên, bane; from H1129; a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etc., (like father or brother), etc.):—afflicted, age, (Ahoh-) (Ammon-) (Hachmon-) (Lev-) ite, (anoint-) ed one, appointed to, (+) arrow, (Assyr-) (Babylon-) (Egypt-) (Grec-) ian, one born, bough, branch, breed, + (young) bullock, + (young) calf, × came up in, child, colt, × common, × corn, daughter, × of first, firstborn, foal, + very fruitful, + postage, × in, + kid, + lamb, (+) man, meet, +mighty, + nephew, old, (+) people, rebel, + robber, × servant born, × soldier, son, +spark, steward, + stranger, × surely, them of, + tumultuous one, valiant(-est), whelp, worthy, young (one), youth.]

h. [of] Hammedatha [Strong: 4099 Mᵉdâthâʼ, med-aw-thaw'; of Persian origin; Medatha, the father of Haman:—Hammedatha (including the article).]

i. [the] Agagite [Strong: 91 ʼĂgâgîy, ag-aw-ghee'; patrial or patronymic from H90; an Agagite or descendent (subject) of Agag:—Agagite.]

1). This is the same bunch that Saul was tasked with the task of wiping out (1 Samuel 15:1-3). The same bunch that Joshua went to war with after the crossing of the Red Sea (Exodus 17:8-16).(The Amalakites (are a type of the flesh), and the Lord said that his desire was to wipe out Amalek off the face of the earth Exodus 17:14-16).

2). As a result of his failure to completely destroy the Amalakites, Saul was rejected from being king (1 Samuel 15:18-23), yet he remained king for 15 more years.  

3). In this verse we are introduced to Haman, an Agagite, a descendant of Agag the Amalekite king of the kingdom that Saul was supposed to wipe out (1 Samuel 15). A mistake that ripples down over 500 years to show itself in Persia. Haman is specifically referred to as “the enemy of the Jews” (Esther 3:10).

2. “...and advanced him, and set his seat above all the princes that were with him.”

a. [and] advanced [him] [Strong: 5375 nâsâʼ, naw-saw'; or נָסָה nâçâh; (Psalm 4:6 [7]), a primitive root; to lift, in a great variety of applications, literal and figurative, absolute and relative:—accept, advance, arise, (able to, (armor), suffer to) bear(-er, up), bring (forth), burn, carry (away), cast, contain, desire, ease, exact, exalt (self), extol, fetch, forgive, furnish, further, give, go on, help, high, hold up, honorable ( man), lade, lay, lift (self) up, lofty, marry, magnify, × needs, obtain, pardon, raise (up), receive, regard, respect, set (up), spare, stir up, swear, take (away, up), × utterly, wear, yield.]

b. [and] set [Strong: 7760 sûwm, soom; or שִׂים sîym; a primitive root; to put (used in a great variety of applications, literal, figurative, inferentially, and elliptically):—× any wise, appoint, bring, call (a name), care, cast in, change, charge, commit, consider, convey, determine, disguise, dispose, do, get, give, heap up, hold, impute, lay (down, up), leave, look, make (out), mark, name, × on, ordain, order, paint, place, preserve, purpose, put (on), regard, rehearse, reward, (cause to) set (on, up), shew, stedfastly, take, × tell, tread down, (over-)turn, × wholly, work.]

c. [Strong: 853 'eth ayth apparent contracted from 226 in the demonstrative sense of entity; properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely):--(as such unrepresented in English).]

d. [his] seat [Strong: 3678 kiççêʼ, kis-say'; or כִּסֵּה kiççêh; from H3680; properly, covered, i.e. a throne (as canopied):—seat, stool, throne.]

e. above [Strong: 5921 `al al properly, the same as 5920 used as a preposition (in the singular or plural often with prefix, or as conjunction with a particle following); above, over, upon, or against (yet always in this last relation with a downward aspect) in a great variety of applications (as follow):--above, according to(-ly), after, (as) against, among, and, X as, at, because of, beside (the rest of), between, beyond the time, X both and, by (reason of), X had the charge of, concerning for, in (that), (forth, out) of, (from) (off), (up-)on, over, than, through(-out), to, touching, X with.]

f. all [Strong: 3605 kol kole or (Jer. 33:8) kowl {kole}; from 3634; properly, the whole; hence, all, any or every (in the singular only, but often in a plural sense):--(in) all (manner, (ye)), altogether, any (manner), enough, every (one, place, thing), howsoever, as many as, (no-)thing, ought, whatsoever, (the) whole, whoso(-ever).]

g. [the] princes [Strong: 8269 sar, sar; from H8323; a head person (of any rank or class):—captain (that had rule), chief (captain), general, governor, keeper, lord,(-task-)master, prince(-ipal), ruler, steward.]

h. that [Strong: 834 'aher ash-er' a primitive relative pronoun (of every gender and number); who, which, what, that; also (as an adverb and a conjunction) when, where, how, because, in order that, etc.:--X after, X alike, as (soon as), because, X every, for, + forasmuch, + from whence, + how(-soever), X if, (so) that ((thing) which, wherein), X though, + until, + whatsoever, when, where (+ -as, -in, -of, -on, -soever, -with), which, whilst, + whither(- soever), who(-m, -soever, -se). As it is indeclinable, it is often accompanied by the personal pronoun expletively, used to show the connection.]

i. [were] with him [Strong: 853 'eth ayth probably from 579; properly, nearness (used only as a preposition or an adverb), near; hence, generally, with, by, at, among, etc.:--against, among, before, by, for, from, in(-to), (out) of, with. Often with another prepositional prefix.