BIBLE CHARACTERS MENTIONED IN THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE LESSON-SERMON* April 3, 2005 for CSDirectory.com Compiled by Lt Gen C. Norman Wood, USAF (Ret), Burke, VA, 703-898-8818, [email protected] SUBJECT: Unreality SECTION II: Haman’s Revengeful Design Against the Jews (Esther 3: 2-9) “This chapter begins with the sudden and unexplained promotion of Haman, who has not been mentioned before.” (Peake’s Commentary) Haman [H_’m_n] (“magnificent”) TIME LINE: @480 BCE Hammedathe Haman Haman is the name of the vizier (i.e., the prime minister) of the Persian king Ahasuerus ( HYPERLINK "http://bible1.crosswalk.com/OnlineStudyBible/bible.cgi?passage=es+3:1" Esther 3:1). He is called an "Agagite," which seems to denote that he was descended from the royal family of the Amalekites, the bitterest enemies of the Jews, as Agag was one of the titles of the Amalekite kings. He or his parents were brought to Persia as captives taken in war. He was hanged on the gallows which he had erected for Mordecai the Jew ( HYPERLINK "http://bible1.crosswalk.com/OnlineStudyBible/bible.cgi?passage=es+7:10" Esther 7:10). Eddy, Rev. Mary Baker (Discover and Founder), “Mind Healing History,” Christian Science Journal (June 1887), p. 109. --In a peppery pamphlet, Mr. Dresser delivers a stupendous eulogy over the late P. P. Quimby, as his healer, and exaggerates and fabricates in Quimby's behalf; but all that is kind, and I wish it was honest. --In his pamphlet Dresser states that Quimby "discovered the science of life," — God. • Must not the science of life be of necessity eternal? ---Later, Mr. Dresser owns that Quimby had been a mesmerist. --Who is the Haman, to whom Mr. Dresser alludes? • Is it not he who rests not, but would trouble the peace of the dead, so long as a Mordecai is at the gate, — even though this Mordecai had given Haman his only place and power as a so-called healer? --“The Lord knoweth the way of the righteous; but the way of the ungodly shall perish.” Mordecai [Môr’d_ k_] (“chief god of Babylon”) TIME LINE: 4th century BCE Benjamin ⇓ Jair Mordecia Brother/Sister? Esther (cousin) Mordecai was the son of Jair, of the tribe of Benjamin. It has been alleged that he was carried into captivity with Jeconiah, and hence that he must have been at least one hundred and twenty-nine years old in the twelfth year of Ahasuerus (Xerxes). But the words of Esther do not necessarily lead to this conclusion. It was probably Kish of whom it is said (ver. 6) that he "had been carried away with the captivity." He resided at Susa, the metropolis of Persia. He adopted his cousin Hadassah (Esther), an orphan child, whom he tenderly brought up as his own daughter. When she was brought into the king's harem and made queen in the room of the deposed queen Vashti, he was promoted to some office in the court of Ahasuerus, and was one of those who "sat in the king's gate" ( HYPERLINK "http://bible1.crosswalk.com/OnlineStudyBible/bible.cgi?passage=es+2:21" Esther 2:21). While holding this office, he discovered a plot of the eunuchs to put the king to death, which, by his vigilance, was defeated. His services to the king in this matter were duly recorded in the royal chronicles. Haman the Agagite had been raised to the highest position at court. Mordecai refused to bow down before him; and Haman, being stung to the quick by the conduct of Mordecai, resolved to accomplish his death in a wholesale destruction of the Jewish exiles throughout the Persian empire ( HYPERLINK "http://bible1.crosswalk.com/OnlineStudyBible/bible.cgi?passage=es+3:8-15" Esther 3:8-15). Tidings of this cruel scheme soon reached the ears of Mordecai, who communicated with Queen Esther regarding it, and by her wise and bold intervention the scheme was frustrated. The Jews were delivered from destruction, Mordecai was raised to a high rank, and Haman was executed on the gallows he had by anticipation erected for Mordecai. In memory of the signal deliverance thus wrought for them, the Jews to this day celebrate the feast ( HYPERLINK "http://bible1.crosswalk.com/OnlineStudyBible/bible.cgi?passage=es+9:26-32" 9:26-32) of Purim. “Prayer and Fasting,” EDITORIAL, Christian Science Sentinel (5 April 1900), p. 500. --Abstention from eating meats, and from the usual social obligations and festivities, are among the acts of fasting or self-denial --A deep and earnest study of the chapters on "Prayer" and the "Atonement and Eucharist" will enable the enquirer to comprehend the true office and significance of prayer and fasting. --The Christian Science conception is that the mere abstaining from food is not true fasting. • They believe in eating a temperate quantity of healthful food every day of the year. ---Get the mind in the right condition of abstemiousness and there will be no difficulty with the body. • Pray without ceasing, live in the atmosphere of true prayer, and the fasting will take care of itself. Ahasuerus/Xerxes/Artaxexes [Ah has you eh’rus] (“Per. “the chief of rulers”) TIME LINE: 500-465 BCE Darius Hystaspis (father) Ahasuerus = Vashti Artaxerxes Longimnus (son) = Esther Ahasuerus was son of Darius Hystaspes, the Persian king named in the Book of Esther. He ruled over the kingdoms of Persia, Media, and Babylonia, "from India to Ethiopia." The picture of Ahasuerus presented in the Book of Ester—the vastness of his empire, his riches, his sensuality and feasting, and his cruelty and lack of foresight—is consistent with the description of Xerxes provided by the Greek historian Herodotus. Xerxes succeeded his father Darius (485 BCE). In some versions of the Book of Esther the name Artaxerxes occurs for Ahasuerus. He reigned for twenty-one years (486-465 BCE). Vashti was his first queen. He invaded Greece with an army, it is said, of more than 2,000,000 soldiers, only 5,000 of whom returned with him. Leonidas, with his famous 300, arrested his progress at the Pass of Thermopylae, and then he was defeated disastrously by Themistocles at Salamis. It was after his return from this invasion that Esther was chosen as his queen. “Life’s Heroes,” POEM, Christian Science Journal (November 1885), p. 149. SPEAK, Victory! Who are Life's heroes? Unroll thy long annals, and say, — Are they those whom the world called the victors, Who won the success of a day? "The martyrs, or hero? The Spartans Who fell at Thermopylae's tryst, Or the Persians and Xerxes? His judges, or Socrates? Pilate, or Christ?" “March of Mind,” POEM, Christian Science Journal (December 1886), p. 234. WITH one high hope which ever shines Before you as a star, One prayer of faith, one fount of strength, A glorious few ye are! Ye dare not fear, ye cannot fall, Your destiny ye bind To that sublime, elemental law That rules the march of Mind. 'Tis said, that Persia's baffled King, In mad, tyrannic pride, Cast fetters on the Hellespont, To curb its swelling tide. The scorn of each succeeding age On Xerxes' head is hurled, And o'er that foolish deed hath pealed Th' long laughter of a world…. Mordecai’s Appeal to Esther to Save Her Countrymen; The Execution of Haman; and the Jews Are Saved (Esther 4: 3,4,15,16; 7: 3-6; 8:2,15,16)) Esther TIME LINE: @479 B.C. Benjamin Kish Shimei Jair Mordecai Abihail Hadas’sah (Esther) ⇔ Ahasuerus Esther is the queen of Ahasuerus, and heroine of the book that bears her name. She was a Jewess named Hadas'sah (the myrtle), but when she entered the royal harem she received the name by which she henceforth became known--Esther. It is a Syro-Arabian modification of the Persian word satarah, which means a star. She was the daughter of Abihail, a Benjamite. Her family did not avail themselves of the permission granted by Cyrus to the exiles to return to Jerusalem; and she resided with her cousin Mordecai, who held some office in the household of the Persian king at Shushan in the palace." Ahasuerus having divorced Vashti, chose Esther to be his wife. Soon after this he gave Haman the Agagite, his prime minister, power and authority to kill and extirpate all the Jews throughout the Persian empire. By the interposition of Esther this terrible catastrophe was averted. Haman was hanged on the gallows he had intended for Mordecai; and the Jews established an annual feast, the feast of Purim, in memory of their wonderful deliverance. This took place about fifty-two years after the Return, the year of the great battles of Plataea and Mycale in 479 B.C. Esther appears in the Bible as a "woman of deep piety, faith, courage, patriotism, and caution, combined with resolution; a dutiful daughter to her adopted father, docile and obedient to his counsels, and anxious to share the king's favour with him for the good of the Jewish people. There must have been a singular grace and charm in her aspect and manners, since 'she obtained favour in the sight of all them that looked upon her.’ That she was raised up as an instrument in the hand of God to avert the destruction of the Jewish people, and to afford them protection and forward their wealth and peace in their captivity, is also manifest from the Scripture account." King, Helen M., “The Book of Esther,” Christian Science Journal (July 1919), p. 194. --Simply as a story, the book of Esther is fascinating.