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Esther 3 · a question people ask

Is Haman "the Agagite" a descendant of Agag, the king Saul spared?

In the text

Esther doesn't say. It calls him "Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite" (3:1), and again in 3:10 (tap Agagite). In Hebrew the word comes only in Esther, five times, each time of Haman (3:1, 3:10, 8:3, 8:5, 9:24). The name Agag comes in other books: Balaam says, "His king shall be higher than Agag" (Numbers 24:7), and Saul "took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive" (1 Samuel 15:8). Esther never names Amalek or Saul, and never says that Haman came from that Agag. The verses are set side by side for what they say, and this study doesn't join them; the family tree keeps them apart.

The verses

“After these things King Ahasuerus promoted Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, and advanced him, and set his seat above all the princes who were with him.”
Esther 3:1 · World English Bible
“The king took his ring from his hand, and gave it to Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the Jews’ enemy.”
Esther 3:10 · World English Bible
“Esther spoke yet again before the king, and fell down at his feet and begged him with tears to put away the mischief of Haman the Agagite, and his plan that he had planned against the Jews.”
Esther 8:3 · World English Bible
“She said, “If it pleases the king, and if I have found favor in his sight, and the thing seems right to the king, and I am pleasing in his eyes, let it be written to reverse the letters devised by Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, which he wrote to destroy the Jews who are in all the king’s provinces.”
Esther 8:5 · 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