The price of blood.
Never was a more nefarious bargain proposed than this. That Haman not only plotted to destroy the Jews, but even offered to buy their lives, this is indeed a proof of the cruelty and baseness of his nature.
I. CRUELTY APPEALS TO AVARICE. Favourites always amass money; often by the most unscrupulous means. Tyrants always want money to spend on their pleasures and their ostentation. Haman offers to Ahasuerus a large sum to secure his assent to the destruction of the Jews.
II. A MEAN PRICE IS OFFERED FOR A NATION'S DESTRUCTION. The blood of one man were purchased cheaply at such a price; what shall we say of the purchase of a nation?
III. We are reminded of THE PRICE WHICH WAS PAID TO THE BETRAYER OF THE SON OF MAN. "The price of him that was valued" was thirty pieces of silver. Fitly was the money employed to buy "the field of blood."
IV. CONTRAST THE PRICE OF DESTRUCTION WITH THE PRICE OF SALVATION. When Christ purchased his people he paid a ransom the preciousness of which is not to be computed in terms of earthly treasure. "Ye were redeemed not with corruptible things, as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ."
Power in bad hands.
How all the links in the chain of evil counsel were fastened together! The tyrannical king was willing enough, in order to please a favourite, to decree the slaughter of a whole people scattered through his dominions. The cruel minister of state was willing enough to take the king s signet, and to issue the decree of extermination. The scribes were willing enough to write the missives of destruction. The lieutenants, governors, and rulers were willing enough to receive and to issue orders for the slaughter of the exiles. And, when the time came, the soldiers and other officers of injustice would be willing enough to "destroy, to kill, and to cause to perish, all Jews" upon whom they could lay their hands.
I. THE COUNSELLOR OF STATE ABUSES HIS INFLUENCE. It is a responsible thing to be the adviser of a throne; for such counsel, as may in such circumstances be given, may mould a nation's character and determine its destinies. It is prostitution of such power to use it for selfish, far more for malicious, ends.
II. THE SOVEREIGN DELEGATES HIS POWER WITH INDIFFERENCE. It does not follow that because bad counsel is given, it must be followed. But this is likely enough to be the case when a monarch is careless, voluptuous, capricious, and arbitrary. Such was the character of Xerxes. How natural from his lips the language, "The silver is given to thee, the people also, to do with them as it seemeth good to thee." Scarcely less culpable was the king than his counsellor.
III. ALL MEN'S EVIL DESIGNS MAY BE FRUSTRATED BY THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD. If the prime minister and the despotic king of Persia could not, with all their power, destroy the Jews, who—what—could do so?
Practical lessons:—
1. Rejoice in the blessings of constitutional government. In our country, happily, such a proceeding as this is impossible.
2. Sympathise with the cause of liberty, as opposed to tyranny, throughout the world. What vast populations are at the present day subject to the unjust authority, exactions, and oppressions of tyrannical governors. May the Lord deliver them from the yoke!
3. Pray for the frustration of cruel and tyrannical counsels, in many places Christians have been, and are, persecuted for righteousness' sake. Let our prayer be, God deliver them from the hands of those that hate and oppress them.