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Allusions in rabbinic literature to the Biblical character of Haman , the anti-Jewish villain of the Book of Esther, contain various expansions, elaborations and inferences beyond what is presented in the text of the Bible itself.
Haman is identified by the Talmudists with Memucan, the last of the seven princes "who saw the king's face" (Esther 1:14), giving to "Memucan" the signification of "prepared for punishment". [1]
Haman was a direct descendant of Agag in the sixteenth generation and consequently an Amalekite. [2] Haman's lineage is given in the Targum Sheni as follows: "Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, son of Srach, son of Buza, son of Iphlotas, son of Dyosef, son of Dyosim, son of Prome, son of Ma'dei, son of Bla'akan, son of Intimros, son of Haridom, son of Sh'gar, son of Nigar, son of Farmashta, son of Vayezatha, (son of Agag, son of Sumkei,) son of Amalek, son of the concubine of Eliphaz, firstborn son of Esau". The Septuagint, however, gives for ha-Agagi "Macedonian" in Esther 9:24, while in the preceding instances no translation whatever is given.
Having attempted to exterminate the Jews of Persia, and rendering himself thereby their worst enemy, Haman naturally became the center of many Talmudic legends. Being at one time in extreme want, he sold himself as a slave to Mordecai. [3] He was a barber at Kefar Ḳarẓum for the space of twenty-two years. [4] Haman had an idolatrous image embroidered on his garments, so that those who bowed to him at command of the king bowed also to the image. [5]
Haman was also an astrologer, and when he was about to fix the time for the massacre of the Jews he first cast lots to ascertain which was the most auspicious day of the week for that purpose. Each day, however, proved to be under some influence favorable to the Jews. He then sought to fix the month, but found that the same was true of each month; thus, Nisan was favorable to the Jews because of the Passover sacrifice; Iyar, because of Pesach Sheni. But when he arrived at Adar he found that its zodiacal sign was Pisces, and he said, "Now I shall be able to swallow them as fish which swallow one another". [6]
Haman had 365 counselors, but the advice of none was so good as that of his wife, Zeresh. She especially induced Haman to build a gallows for Mordecai, assuring him that this was the only way in which he would be able to prevail over his enemy, for hitherto the just had always been rescued from every other kind of death.
As God foresaw that Haman himself would be hanged on the gallows. He asked which tree would volunteer to serve as the instrument of death. Each tree, declaring that it was used for some holy purpose, objected to being soiled by the unclean body of Haman. Only the thorn-tree could find no excuse, and therefore offered itself for a gallows. [7]
Haman selected a thorn-tree in the king's garden, and, singing and rejoicing, set it up before his door, and said to himself, "Tomorrow, in the morning, at the time of the reading of the Shema , I shall hang Mordecai." Then he measured the tree by comparing it with his own person to see whether it was suited to the purpose. Just then a bat kol ("heavenly voice") came from heaven saying, "The tree is suited to thee; it is prepared for thee since the day of creation." He then went to the Beth midrash, where he found Mordecai surrounded by his 22,000 pupils, all with dust on their heads and clad in sack-cloth. Haman placed chains upon their necks and feet, and set guards over them, saying to himself, "I will first massacre these, and then I will hang Mordecai." It was the cry of these pupils ascending to heaven that brought about the sudden change in Haman's fate. [8]
Haman tried hard to avoid the humiliation of leading Mordecai through the streets of Shushan; he implored the king to spare him that disgrace and offered every kind of reparation to Mordecai, but the king remained inflexible. [9] At the time of leading Mordecai through the streets of Shushan, Haman performed the duties of four different callings: barber, bath attendant, groom, and public crier. He was also compelled to bend forward that Mordecai might mount from his back on to the horse. [4]
It is also said that when King Ahasuerus rose from the banquet in anger and went into his garden he saw angels in the form of men felling the trees, who said that they were ordered to do so by Haman. [4] According to Esther Rabba 10, it was the angel Michael that felled the trees and who afterward pushed Haman on to Esther's couch.
Haman was hanged on the second day of the Passover holiday. [10] The Talmudists did not agree as to the number of Haman's sons; according to Rav there were thirty: ten had died, ten were hanged, and ten became beggars. According to the ancient rabbis, the beggars were seventy in number; according to Rami bar Abi, there were altogether two hundred and eight. [11]
Pietro Perreau published in Steinschneider's "Hebr. Bibl." (vii. 46–47) a supposed text of Haman's circular regarding the massacre of the Jews (compare "Midrash Panim Aḥerim," first text, ed. Buber). The manuscript, which is found in the Parma Library (No. 924), dates from the thirteenth century.
The Book of Esther, also known in Hebrew as "the Scroll", is a book in the third section of the Hebrew Bible. It is one of the Five Scrolls in the Hebrew Bible and later became part of the Christian Old Testament. The book relates the story of a Jewish woman in Persia, born as Hadassah but known as Esther, who becomes queen of Persia and thwarts a genocide of her people.
Esther, originally Hadassah, is the eponymous heroine of the Book of Esther in the Hebrew Bible. According to the biblical narrative, which is set in the Achaemenid Empire, the Persian king Ahasuerus falls in love with Esther and marries her. His grand vizier Haman is offended by Esther's cousin and guardian Mordecai because of his refusal to bow before him; bowing in front of another person was a prominent gesture of respect in Persian society, but deemed unacceptable by Mordecai, who believes that a Jew should only express submissiveness to God. Consequently, Haman plots to have all of Persia's Jews killed, and eventually convinces Ahasuerus to permit him to do so. However, Esther foils the plan by revealing and decrying Haman's plans to Ahasuerus, who then has Haman executed and grants permission to the Jews to take up arms against their enemies; Esther is hailed for her courage and for working to save the Jewish nation from eradication.
Agag is a Northwest Semitic name or title applied to a biblical king. It has been suggested that "Agag" was a dynastic name of the kings of Amalek, just as Pharaoh was used as a dynastic name for the ancient Egyptians. The etymology is uncertain, according to John L. McKenzie (1995), while Cox (1884) suggested "High."
Mordecai is one of the main personalities in the Book of Esther in the Hebrew Bible. He is described in Tanna Devei Eliyahu as being the son of Jair, of the tribe of Benjamin and member of the Sanhedrin. Mordecai was also the cousin and guardian of Esther, who became queen of Persia under the reign of Ahasuerus. Mordecai's loyalty and bravery are highlighted in the story as he helps Esther foil the plot of Haman, the king's Vizier, to exterminate the Jewish people. His story is celebrated in the Jewish holiday of Purim, which commemorates his victory. However, since the 1890s, some academics have suggested that Purim originated from a Babylonian or Persian myth or festival, noting the lack of overt religious elements in the story, with a hypothesis that “[The Book of] Esther [is] a historicized myth or ritual”.
Purim is a Jewish holiday that commemorates the saving of the Jewish people from annihilation at the hands of an official of the Achaemenid Empire named Haman, as it is recounted in the Book of Esther.
Vashti was a queen of Persia and the first wife of Persian king Ahasuerus in the Book of Esther, a book included within the Tanakh and the Old Testament which is read on the Jewish holiday of Purim. She was either executed or banished for her refusal to appear at the king's banquet to show her beauty as Ahasuerus wished, and was succeeded as queen by Esther, a Jew. That refusal might be better understood via the Jewish tradition that she was ordered to appear naked. In the Midrash, Vashti is described as wicked and vain; she is viewed as an independent-minded heroine in feminist theological interpretations of the Purim story.
Haman is the main antagonist in the Book of Esther, who according to the Hebrew Bible was an official in the court of the Persian empire under King Ahasuerus, commonly identified as Xerxes I but traditionally equated with Artaxerxes I or Artaxerxes II. As his epithet Agagite indicates, Haman was a descendant of Agag, the king of the Amalekites. Some commentators interpret this descent to be symbolic, due to his similar personality.
The term Agagite is used in the Book of Esther as a description of Haman. The term is understood to be an ethnonym although nothing is known with certainty about the people designated by the name.
Seder Olam Rabbah is a 2nd-century CE Hebrew language chronology detailing the dates of biblical events from creation to Alexander the Great's conquest of Persia. It adds no stories beyond what is in the biblical text, and addresses such questions as the age of Isaac at his binding and the number of years that Joshua led the Israelites. Tradition considers it to have been written about 160 CE by Jose ben Halafta, but it was probably also supplemented and edited at a later period.
Allusions in rabbinic literature to the Biblical character Job, the object of sufferings and tribulations in the Book of Job, contain various expansions, elaborations and inferences beyond what is presented in the text of the Bible itself.
Esther was the chief character in the Book of Esther. She is counted among the prophetesses of Israel. Allusions in rabbinic literature to the Biblical story of Esther contain various expansions, elaborations and inferences beyond the text presented in the book of the Bible.
Zeresh was the wife of Haman the Agagite who is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible in the Book of Esther.
Rabbi Aha was a rabbi of the Land of Israel, of the fourth century.
Esther, also known as The Bible: Esther, is a 1999 American-Italian-German television film based on the Book of Esther, directed by Raffaele Mertes and starring Louise Lombard as Queen Esther, F. Murray Abraham as Mordechai, Jürgen Prochnow as Haman, Thomas Kretschmann as King Achashverosh and Ornella Muti as Vashti.
Rabbi Isaac Nappaha, or Isaac the smith, was a rabbi of the 3rd-4th centuries who lived in the Galilee.
One Night with the King is a 2006 American religious epic film produced by Matt Crouch and Laurie Crouch of Gener8Xion Entertainment, directed by Michael O. Sajbel, and starring Peter O'Toole, Tiffany Dupont, John Rhys-Davies, and Luke Goss.
The Book of Esther is a 2013 American biblical-drama film directed by David A. R. White and starring Jen Lilley as Esther. The film portrays a Jewish girl, Esther, who is chosen as the new queen consort to King Xerxes I of Persia and her efforts to stop evil Lord Haman's plot to exterminate the Jews. The film is loosely based on the biblical tale of the Book of Esther. It was released on June 11, 2013, in the United States as a direct-to-TV special.
Esther 3 is the third chapter of the Book of Esther in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. The author of the book is unknown and modern scholars have established that the final stage of the Hebrew text would have been formed by the second century BCE. Chapters 3 to 8 contain the nine scenes that form the complication in the book. This chapter introduces Haman the Agagite, who is linked by his genealogy to King Agag, the enemy of Israel's King Saul, from whose father, Kish, Mordecai was descended. The king Ahasuerus elevated Haman to a high position in the court, and ordered everyone to bow down to him, but Mordecai refuses to do so to Haman, which is connected to Mordecai's Jewish identity (as Jews would only bow down to worship their own God ; this indirectly introduced the religious dimension of the story. Haman reacted by a vast plan to destroy not simply Mordecai, but his entire people, getting the approval from the king to arrange for a particular date of genocide, selected by casting a lot, or pur to fall on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, Adar. The chapter ends with the confused reaction of the whole city of Susa due to the decree.
Esther 8 is the eighth chapter of the Book of Esther in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible, The author of the book is unknown and modern scholars have established that the final stage of the Hebrew text would have been formed by the second century BCE. Chapters 3 to 8 contain the nine scenes that form the complication in the book. This chapter contains the effort to deal with the irreversible decree against the Jews now that Haman is dead and Mordecai is elevated to the position of prime minister.
Esther 9 is the ninth chapter of the Book of Esther in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible, The author of the book is unknown and modern scholars have established that the final stage of the Hebrew text would have been formed by the second century BCE. Chapters 9 to 10 contain the resolution of the stories in the book. This chapter records the events on the thirteenth and fourteenth of Adar and the institution of the Purim festival after the Jews overcome their enemies.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906). "Haman the Agagite". The Jewish Encyclopedia . New York: Funk & Wagnalls.
