Chapter 3: The Rise of Haman
Achashverosh is not happy to find out that two of his palace guards were plotting to kill him. For a man whose sole reason for being is amassing and retaining power, this is the worst thing that could ever happen. And because of this, something changes in Achashverosh. A fundamental change that will come to be his defining characteristic throughout the rest of the narrative.
He becomes hopelessly and insanely paranoid.
His first order of business is to secure himself. Bigtan and Teresh have already been executed, but who's to say they were alone in the plot? Were they even interrogated in that regard? We don't know. And neither does Achashverosh. So he does what any paranoid ruler would do: he limits the amount of people with whom he is to come into contact to the barest minimum possible.
This is not as easy as it sounds. The throne room in ancient Persia was not like the oval office in the white house, where only tour groups and zaftig interns are allowed entry. The court was open to advisors, members of court, scribes, musicians - it was a busy place. Achashverosh sought to change all of that. He made sure that only one advisor would speak to him directly. Everyone else would have to go through that advisor. Kind of like Paulie Cicero in Goodfellas. He would handle every problem, but not directly. Everything would be handled through this one advisor. This has enormous implications for his style of government. Up to now, Achashverosh has always been surrounded by advisors, legal counsel, etc. Now the entourage of policy-shapers is all gone, and he only consults with one man.
Haman.
Who is this Haman? He wasn't mentioned as an advisor earlier, nor was he named as a legal counsellor when the king summoned them. So where did he come from? No one's sure. It could be he was an advisor under another name (some say he might have been Memuchan, the author of Achashverosh's divorce/exile edict), or he might have been the chief of palace security (who was in charge of handling the Bigtan/Teresh plot - this would actually explain why he was promoted right afterward).
Whoever he was, he has now become the second most powerful man in the empire. Not only is he the go-between for the king to everyone else, essentially making him the king's eyes, ears, and voice, but he is to be treated like the king as well: all must kneel before Haman as they would kneel before Zod. I mean, Achashverosh.
But Mordechai will not kneel.
Why not? The truth is, that according to Jewish law, there's no reason why a Jew can't kneel to a king if that is the custom of the land. So what's Mordechai's problem? Honestly, he'd better have a good reason for not kneeling because this could turn into a huge problem for himself (and the entire Jewish population? Probably.).
To understand why Mordechai wouldn't kneel, we have to understand something about what it means to be a Jew. Being a Jew is not just about being born a Jew or converting. Well, it's about that, but it's also about more than that. It's more than just an adherence to God's commandments as understood through the Rabbis. Well, it's that too, but it goes beyond that. It includes a philosophy of life that teaches very important ethical and moral truths. One of those truths is the concept of social and governmental justice. Every single one of the Jewish prophets has had the same mission: to show the people and their leaders that they've veered from the right path, and show them how they can mend their ways. Many times, this message is not directed at the masses, but to the kings themselves. The point is that everyone is accountable to the Law; tyranny is unacceptable to a Jew.
And that's what bothers Mordechai.
Even though Achashverosh wasn't the best ruler in the world, at least he had advisors surrounding him at all times. This way, even though his natural tendency was to tyranny and megalomania, his advisors would offer other opinions, balancing him out. It wasn't a perfect government, but it wasn't that bad either. But now that's gone. In it's place is a system in which Achashverosh and Haman are the only ones who can decide anything in the government. It's a system of tyranny.
So it's not that that Mordechai WILL not kneel to Haman; as a Jew, he CANNOT kneel to tyranny.
And so when other members of court approach Mordechai, asking him "Why do you refuse to kneel to Haman?" he answers with the short, yet to-the-point answer: "I'm a Jew." That is why when word of this insolence reaches Haman, his reaction is not directed against Mordechai alone. He decides he must act out against the entire Jewish people. Why? How does that make any sense?
Haman, as we will see, is as power-obsessed as Achashverosh. So when he hears that a single person won't kneel to him, he could easily have that person killed. But as soon as he hears that the reason this man won't kneel is because he's a member of a people that doesn't allow for kneeling to him, and that other members of this people are to be found spread throughout the empire, he cannot handle it. A whole segment of the population not kneeling? Sure they're a minority, but this kind of insurrection can easily spread. So Haman decides to take a more proactive approach and wipe them all out before they can become a real problem.
Seeing as how he is nearly all-powerful in the kingdom, he assumes that this genocide will go off without a hitch. I mean, he'll have to get permission from the king, but that's basically a formality as far as Haman is concerned. What he'd like to do, though, is to decide when the massacre will take place, so he can have a more detailed plan to present to Achashverosh. How can he choose an appropriate date?
He draws lots.
Through the lots, he chooses which day and month the annihilation of the Jews will take place. When it is all done, he goes to the king to present his plan. And he doesn't just blurt it out any ol' way. He crafts his words in such a way that he knows Achashverosh will agree. He knows Achashverosh is extremely paranoid, and he uses that to make sure the king will "ok" the plan. He suggests the following:
"There is a nation, spread the length and width of your kingdom, intermingled throughout the entire population. This nation has it's own set of laws, different than those of most of your subjects. Furthermore, they don't respect the king's own laws. Seeing as how they are so subversive, and so potentially persuasive to the rest of the population, it is not in the best interests of the king to allow them to continue their seditious ways. They should be exterminated. With extreme prejudice. As for the money needed to carry out this royal military act, I'll see to it that it is funded privately."
After hearing Haman's suggestion (and so craftily phrased, at that), Ahchashverosh is more than happy to agree to the plan. He removes his royal signet ring and hands it over to Haman. This essentially grants Haman the power to do anything in the king's name. But he has one addendum to Haman's plan:
"If this operation to exterminate the Jewish population in the empire is in the best interests of the crown, then it should be financed by the crown."
Thus, Achashverosh and Haman became partners in an undertaking that would see the entire Persian empire rid of its Jews on the 13th day of Adar, exactly 11 months from the day the partnership was made. Letters were written in every language of the realm, and sent to every part of each of the 127 provinces, informing everyone that on the 13th of Adar, all Jewish men, women, and children were to be wiped out, and their properties and posessions were forfeit.
So now Haman can solve his real problem of Mordechai not kneeling, and Achashverosh can solve his delusional problem of a Jewish-based uprising. And the best part is, Jews get to be killed (and who doesn't love that?)! Everybody wins! To celebrate this partnership, Achashverosh and Haman dine at a private banquet together.
But there was unrest in Shushan...
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