Haman cast the lot--puris the Persian word for "lot"--to determine the day most propitious to wipe out the Jews. In the pagan ancient Near East it was unthinkable to make plans of this nature without astrological guidance. The lot supposedly revealed the day most propitious for this act.59The official casting of lots happened during the first month of each year to determine the most opportune days for important events.60This may explain why Haman cast lots in the first month and chose a date so much later to annihilate the Jews. However, God controlled the lot-casting (Prov. 16:33) and gave the Jews almost a year to prepare for the conflict with their enemies. Archaeologists have found quadrangular prism type dice at Susa, and perhaps it was this kind of device that Haman used to make his decision on this occasion.61
"Though determined by lot, the day chosen seems maliciously ironical. The number 13 was considered unlucky by the Persians and the Babylonians, while the thirteenth day of the first month, the day on which the edict decreeing the Jews' destruction was dispatched (v 12), is the day preceding Passover, the commemoration of the deliverance from slavery in Egypt."62
Perhaps Haman did not mention the Jews by name since Ahasuerus' predecessors, Cyrus and Darius I (Hystaspes), had issued proclamations favorable to them (Ezra 1:1-4; 6:3-5, 8-12). In any case his failure to mention them by name set him up for Esther's revelation that it was her people whom Haman purposed to destroy (7:4). The Jews did indeed live a separated life, as Haman said (cf. Num. 23:9), but they were not a dangerous, rebellious element within the empire, which he claimed (cf. Jer. 29:7).
The 10,000 talents of silver Haman offered to pay into the king's treasury amounted to about two-thirds of the entire empire's income.63Probably Haman could have afforded to do this because he had plans to confiscate the Jews' possessions (v. 13). Undoubtedly he planned to make a large profit personally as well.
"The planned massacre, gruesome though it was, was not without precedents. In 522 BC, at the time of King Cambyses' death, Smerdis the Magus usurped the throne. When he was put to death in a conspiracy every Persian in the capital took up his weapons and killed every Magus he could find.64If darkness had not put an end to the slaughter, the whole caste would have been exterminated."65
The imprint of an official's signet ring (v. 10) was the equivalent of his signature in ancient times (cf. Gen. 41:42; Esth. 8:2, 8, 10). Ahasuerus gave permission to Haman to confiscate the Jews' wealth and to put them to death (v. 11). The words "to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate"(v. 13) probably translate the legal formula used in the decree that would have been as specific as possible. Probably the government officials and army were those who were to seize the Jews' property (v. 13) and then send some of it up the line to Haman.
"There is a skillful use of contrast in the last sentence of the chapter. While the collaborators celebrate, the city of Susa is aghast. The author is sensitive to popular reactions and notes that the ordinary citizen asked himself what lay behind such a drastic scene."66
