The Dice of Wickedness and the Sovereignty of God Text: Esther 3:7-11
Introduction: The Unseen Hand in a Godless Court
The book of Esther is a peculiar book. It is one of two books in the canon where the name of God is not mentioned once. And yet, there is perhaps no other book where the hand of God is more palpably, more obviously, more gloriously present. His providence is the central character. God is not named, but He is everywhere. This is a profound lesson for us. We often live in circumstances that feel godless. We work in secular environments, we navigate pagan political structures, we live in a culture that has officially requested that God vacate the premises. And in such times, it is easy to think that God has, in fact, left.
But Esther teaches us the opposite. God's hiddenness is not His absence. His silence is not His indifference. The Lord is governing all things, at all times, for the good of His people and the glory of His name, even when the machinery of government is in the hands of fools and wicked men. He is the author of the story, and He writes straight with crooked lines. He is the master chess player, and He is playing both sides of the board. All the frantic, malevolent scheming of men like Haman serves only to advance the plot that God has already written.
In our text today, we see the anatomy of a genocide. We see how racial hatred, fueled by pride and empowered by a lazy, decadent state, can concoct a plan for mass murder. Haman is the archetypal anti-Semite, the forerunner of Pharaoh, Antiochus, Hitler, and every other tinpot tyrant who has ever imagined he could successfully fight against the apple of God's eye. What we see in these verses is the collision of two worldviews: the pagan worldview of fate, luck, and superstition, and the biblical worldview of absolute, meticulous, sovereign providence. Haman rolls the dice, but the Lord determines where they fall.
This passage is a stark reminder that the world hates the people of God. It hates them because their laws are different, because they serve a different King, and because their very existence is a testimony against the rebellion of the nations. And we must be prepared for this hatred. But we must also be utterly confident that the most intricate, well-funded, and officially sanctioned plots of the wicked are nothing more than the stagecraft God uses to display His power to save.
The Text
In the first month, which is the month Nisan, in the twelfth year of King Ahasuerus, Pur, that is the lot, was cast before Haman from day to day and from month to month, until the twelfth month, that is the month Adar.
Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, "There is a certain people scattered and separated among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom; their laws are different from those of all other people, and they do not do the king’s laws, so it is not worth it for the king to let them remain.
If it seems good to the king, let it be written down that they should perish, and I will pay 10,000 talents of silver into the hands of those who do this work, to bring into the king’s treasuries."
Then the king removed his signet ring from his hand and gave it to Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the adversary of the Jews.
And the king said to Haman, "The silver is yours, and the people also, to do with them according to what is good in your eyes."
(Esther 3:7-11 LSB)
The Pagan's Gamble (v. 7)
We begin with Haman's superstitious attempt to find a lucky day for his massacre.
"In the first month, which is the month Nisan, in the twelfth year of King Ahasuerus, Pur, that is the lot, was cast before Haman from day to day and from month to month, until the twelfth month, that is the month Adar." (Esther 3:7)
Haman, his heart filled with a murderous rage against Mordecai and all his people, does not simply act. He consults his gods. He turns to divination. The word "Pur" is a Persian word for "lot." This is the pagan equivalent of rolling the dice to determine the will of the cosmos. Haman is a man who believes in luck, in auspicious days, in fate. He is trying to align his wicked intentions with the impersonal forces he believes govern the universe.
And here we see the first great irony, the first quiet intervention of the God who is not named. The lot is cast. And what is the result? The lots fall in such a way as to postpone the planned extermination for nearly a year. They start in Nisan, the first month, and the "lucky day" they land on is in Adar, the twelfth month. God, in His hidden providence, uses Haman's own pagan superstition to buy His people eleven months of time. This is not an accident. This is the Author of the story giving His heroes time to act. He is rigging the pagan's dice.
The Bible tells us, "The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD" (Proverbs 16:33). Haman thinks he is consulting the fates, but he is actually petitioning the God he hates. And God answers, but not in the way Haman understands. God answers by setting a long fuse on Haman's bomb. This delay is crucial. It allows time for Esther to approach the king, for Mordecai to be honored, and for the entire plot to be gloriously unraveled. God's providence is never rushed. He is not putting out fires; He is building one for His enemies.
The Accusation of the Wicked (v. 8-9)
Having secured what he believes is a favorable date, Haman goes to the king with his proposal, couched in the language of political expediency and slander.
"Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, 'There is a certain people scattered and separated among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom; their laws are different from those of all other people, and they do not do the king’s laws, so it is not worth it for the king to let them remain. If it seems good to the king, let it be written down that they should perish, and I will pay 10,000 talents of silver into the hands of those who do this work, to bring into the king’s treasuries.'" (Esther 3:8-9 LSB)
Notice the classic tactics of the persecutor. First, he dehumanizes the target. He doesn't even name the Jews. They are just "a certain people." They are faceless, nameless, an abstraction. This makes them easier to hate and easier to kill.
Second, he accuses them of separatism and sedition. "Their laws are different... they do not do the king's laws." This is the ancient charge against the people of God. Because we have a higher law, the law of God, we are accused of being disloyal to the laws of men. This was the charge against Daniel, against the early Christians who would not burn incense to Caesar, and it is the charge against faithful Christians today who will not bow to the secular idols of our age. The accusation is a half-truth, which is the most effective kind of lie. Yes, our laws are different. We answer to a higher authority. But this does not make us rebels; it makes us the best citizens, because we obey the magistrate for the Lord's sake, right up until the point where the magistrate commands us to disobey God. For Haman, and for all totalitarians, any allegiance higher than the state is treason.
Third, he frames the persecution in terms of pragmatic benefit to the state. "It is not worth it for the king to let them remain." They are a drain, a liability. And to sweeten the deal, Haman offers a bribe of staggering proportions. Ten thousand talents of silver was an astronomical sum, possibly two-thirds of the entire annual revenue of the Persian empire. Haman is so consumed by his hatred that he is willing to bankrupt himself to see it through. This is not rational political calculus; this is demonic, obsessive hatred. He is offering to pay the king to solve a problem that Haman himself has invented out of his own wounded pride.
The King's Careless Complicity (v. 10)
The king's response to this monstrous proposal is chilling in its casual indifference.
"Then the king removed his signet ring from his hand and gave it to Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the adversary of the Jews." (Esther 3:10 LSB)
Ahasuerus is a picture of the decadent, detached, and foolish ruler. He doesn't ask which people. He doesn't ask for evidence. He doesn't question the logic. He is bored, or perhaps intrigued by the money. The signet ring was the symbol of the king's own authority. To give it to Haman was to give him a blank check. Any decree stamped with that ring had the force of law and was irrevocable. The king, in his laziness and greed, outsources his absolute power to a wicked and vengeful man.
This is a terrifying picture of how evil flourishes. It does not always require active, malicious rulers. It often requires nothing more than passive, self-absorbed, and irresponsible ones. Ahasuerus doesn't seem to hate the Jews; he just doesn't care. Their lives are less important to him than his own ease and comfort. He is the quintessential weak man in power, and his weakness is about to license a holocaust.
And notice how the text identifies Haman here. He is the "Agagite," a descendant of Agag, the king of the Amalekites whom King Saul sinfully spared centuries before (1 Samuel 15). This is not just a genealogical footnote. This is a blood feud. The Amalekites were the first nation to attack Israel after the Exodus, and God had sworn perpetual war with them. Haman's hatred is an ancient, inherited, covenantal hatred. He is simply the latest manifestation of the seed of the serpent, trying to destroy the seed of the woman.
The Blank Check for Genocide (v. 11)
The king's final words to Haman seal the deal with a horrifying nonchalance.
"And the king said to Haman, 'The silver is yours, and the people also, to do with them according to what is good in your eyes.'" (Esther 3:11 LSB)
Ahasuerus is so cavalier that he even refuses the bribe. "Keep the money," he says. "And the people? Do whatever you want with them." He hands over an entire ethnic group within his empire to the whims of a man he barely knows, a man who is clearly driven by a personal vendetta. The king gives Haman the people and the money to be made from plundering them. It is a breathtaking abdication of the first duty of a king, which is to execute justice and protect the innocent.
This is what happens when rulers forget they are ministers of God, appointed to be a terror to bad conduct, not good (Romans 13:3). When the state becomes a tool in the hands of wicked men, the result is always tyranny and bloodshed. The king's words, "to do with them according to what is good in your eyes," is the very definition of lawless tyranny. Justice is no longer the standard. The king's law is no longer the standard. The only standard is Haman's personal, malevolent desire.
Conclusion: Providence Over Pur
This is a dark scene. A pagan superstition has set a date. A slanderous lie has been told. A foolish king has given his authority away. A genocidal decree is about to be written. From a human perspective, all seems lost. The enemies of God have the power, the money, and the law on their side. The people of God are scattered, defenseless, and condemned.
But this is precisely the kind of stage God loves to set. He brings His people to the edge of the abyss to show them that His arm is not too short to save. He allows the enemy to build his gallows seventy-five feet high so that the reversal, when it comes, will be all the more spectacular. Every detail in this passage that seems to spell doom for the Jews is, in fact, a part of God's perfect plan of deliverance.
The casting of the Pur provided the necessary delay. Haman's arrogant offer of money revealed the depth of his wickedness. The king's foolishness in handing over his ring created the legal mechanism that Esther would later use to turn the tables. God is not reacting to Haman's plot; He is authoring it. Haman is a puppet, and though he struts and schemes with great malice, his strings are held by the God whose people he seeks to destroy.
We must take this to heart. We live in a world full of Hamans and Ahasueruses. We see wickedness in high places. We hear the slanders against the people of God. We see laws being written that are hostile to our faith. And it is easy to fear. But the lesson of Esther is that the dice of the wicked are overruled by the decree of our God. Our hope is not in the favor of kings or the turn of political events. Our hope is in the unseen, unshakable, sovereign hand of the God who works all things, even the wrath of man, to praise Him.
The ultimate fulfillment of this story is, of course, at the cross. There, the greatest Haman of all, Satan himself, cast his lots. He stirred up the rulers of the earth, told his slanderous lies, and used the power of a pagan state to condemn the King of the Jews. It seemed like the ultimate victory for the forces of darkness. But God, in His sovereign providence, used that very act of wicked rebellion to accomplish the salvation of His people. The cross was the ultimate Pur, the ultimate turning of the tables, where the enemy was hanged on the very gallows he had built for the Son of God. And because of that, we can face any plot, any decree, any Haman, with absolute confidence. For if God is for us, who can be against us?