It was after this that king Assuerus bestowed high rank upon an Agagite, Aman the son of Amadathi, bidding him take precedence of all his other nobles.

And all the royal attendants at the palace gates must bow the knee and do Aman reverence, such were their orders. But Mardochaeus went his own way, and would neither bow nor bend.

Often the king’s men asked him at the palace doors why he thus defied the royal bidding,

but still he gave them no heed, till at last they told Aman of it. Would he still be so stiff in his opinions? They had learned from him by now that he was a Jew.

Aman, when he heard their story, and proved the truth of it for himself, that Mardochaeus would neither bow nor bend,

fell into a great passion of rage; and, hearing that he was a Jew, he would not be content with laying hands on Mardochaeus only; the whole race, throughout all Assuerus’ dominions, should be brought to ruin for it.

It was in the twelfth year of the reign, in Nisan, the first month of it, that the lot (which the Hebrews call Pur) was cast into the urn in Aman’s presence, to determine the day and month when he would make an end of the Jews; and the month chosen was the twelfth month, Adar.

So now Aman said to king Assuerus, There is a race spread here and there throughout thy domains that follows strange law and custom, in defiance of the royal decrees; judge whether it consorts with thy royal dignity that licence should embolden them.

Be it thy pleasure to decree their destruction, and I promise thee an increase of ten thousand talents to thy revenue.

There and then Assuerus took off the ring he wore on his hand, and gave it to the Agagite Aman, son of Amadathi, the Jews’ enemy;

Keep it for thy own use, said he, the money thou offerest, and as for the people, do what thou wilt with them.

So, on the thirteenth day of that month, Nisan, the royal secretaries were summoned, and a decree was made in Aman’s sense. Governor and chieftain must receive a letter, each in the language and the characters of his own province or tribe, sent in the name of king Assuerus and sealed with his royal seal.

All through his dominions the couriers went out on their errand, bearing death and ruin to all the Jews, to young and old, to women and little children with the rest. The day fixed for their massacre and the seizing of their goods was the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, Adar.

The tenour of the letter, sent out to warn all the provinces and have them in readiness for the stated day, was this …✻

No time the couriers lost in following out the royal command; at Susan, the decree was posted up forthwith, and before the king and Aman had finished their wine, all the Jewish citizens were in tears.