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Esther 3 · a question people ask

Did the king take Haman's silver?

In the text

The chapter doesn't say. Haman offers: "I will pay ten thousand talents of silver into the hands of those who are in charge of the king’s business, to bring it into the king’s treasuries" (3:9). The king answers, "The silver is given to you, the people also, to do with them as it seems good to you" (3:11). The chapter tells nothing more about the silver, and this study doesn't say what the king's words meant for it. The book speaks of it twice more. Mordecai tells Esther's messenger "the exact sum of the money that Haman had promised to pay to the king’s treasuries for the destruction of the Jews" (4:7), and Esther says to the king, "For we are sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be slain, and to perish" (7:4).

The verses

“If it pleases the king, let it be written that they be destroyed; and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver into the hands of those who are in charge of the king’s business, to bring it into the king’s treasuries.””
Esther 3:9 · World English Bible
“The king said to Haman, “The silver is given to you, the people also, to do with them as it seems good to you.””
Esther 3:11 · World English Bible
“Mordecai told him of all that had happened to him, and the exact sum of the money that Haman had promised to pay to the king’s treasuries for the destruction of the Jews.”
Esther 4:7 · World English Bible
“For we are sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be slain, and to perish. But if we had been sold for male and female slaves, I would have held my peace, although the adversary could not have compensated for the king’s loss.””
Esther 7:4 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Esther 3

Esther 3: A certain people

In all Haman says to the king, he never names the people: "a certain people" (3:8). The king hands over his ring, and the chapter tells of no question from him (3:10-11), and the letters say "to destroy, to kill, and to cause to perish, all Jews" (3:13): in Hebrew, the three verbs Esther will say to the king (7:4).

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions