the Week of Proper 28 / Ordinary 33
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Bible Encyclopedias
Haman
Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature
or Ha´man, a name of the planet Mercury; a favorite of the king of Persia, whose history is involved in that of Esther and Mordecai. He is called an Agagite; and as Agag was a kind of title of the kings of the Amalekites [AGAG], it is supposed that Haman was descended from the royal family of that nation. He or his parents probably found their way to Persia as captives or hostages; and that the foreign origin of Haman was no bar to his advancement at court, is a circumstance quite in union with the most ancient and still subsisting usages of the East. Joseph, Daniel, and Mordecai afford other examples of the same kind.
It is unnecessary to repeat the particulars of a story so well known as that of Haman. The circumstantial details of the height which he attained and of his sudden downfall, afford, like all the rest of the book of Esther, a most faithful picture of the customs of an Oriental court and government, and furnish invaluable materials for a comparison between the regal usages of ancient and modern times. The result of such a comparison will excite surprise by the closeness of the resemblance; for there is not a single fact in the history of Haman which might not occur at the present day, and which, indeed, is not of frequent occurrence in different combinations. The death of Haman appears to have taken place about the year B.C. 510.
Public Domain.
Kitto, John, ed. Entry for 'Haman'. "Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature". https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/kbe/h/haman.html.
