The well organized bureaucratic system managed from a central point and anchored by a ruthless oppression of liberty is the major contribution Persia made to the evolution of the Empire. No person was born, or died, or made money, or got married, without the government’s desire to know and record it. Persia gave the Empire body and in that lies Persia’s crucial and important contribution to God’s quintessential history.

But there is one more thing. Persia holds the notorious distinction of introducing a particular evil into the Beast’s character that would be at the very heart of the conflict with the nations and their competition in the centuries to come. Hatred of the Jews.

Satan Always attempts Genocide Prior to Israel’s Possession of the Promised Land
Persia injected the Beast with the virus of senseless, unrestrained hatred of the Jews. Down through history this hatred has been wanton, often it has been motivated by jealousy, sometimes the Jews have been political pawns used as scapegoats to cure the world’s ills. Just prior to World War II an author warning the Jews about the coming conflagration predicted the Jews would become victims in the battle between the nations once again, writing, “the wheels of progress in the world have always been greased with Jewish blood.” No one alive today has to be told how perfectly accurate that statement was and is. Many times, not just in World II, their persecution has swelled to a fever pitch; imprisonment, violence and killing followed. The Jews have been the world’s whipping boy; any excuse, any accusation, any suspicion serves as reason enough to attack them. On occasion the persecution has grown to its ultimate, as in the case of Persia when it manifested itself in the worst of possible ways with the attempted genocide of the entire Jewish people. Genocide of the Jews was not new to history, Satan’s first plot to exterminate the Jews came with Pharaoh’s attempt to slaughter all of Israel at the Red Sea, and it was quickly tried again during the Jews subsequent wanderings in the desert when Balak tried to coerce God into cursing Israel hoping God would become impatient with their idolatry and destroy them out of frustration. It is no coincidence that these genocidal plots against the Chosen Nation came as she was moving toward the Promised Land to take possession of it. These original schemes of genocide set an historical precedent that would reappear like clockwork at two very crucial points. Both times, just prior to Israel’s return to the Promised Land, Satan’s Antichrist plot to exterminate the Jew resurfaced. The common denominator in genocide is that it precedes the return of the Jews to the land.

There have been three times in history when God was moving the Jews to possess the land: in 1400 B.C. when Moses led Israel out of Egypt; in 426 B.C. when it was time for their return after 70 years of captivity in Babylon; and in A.D. 1948 upon their return for the final days after World War II. Each time, when God has readied his people to take the land, there has been a satanic conspiracy to exterminate them, but each time God has foiled the plan, and in fact, used Satan’s own plan to facilitate the return of his people to Israel.

Persia Attempts Genocide Just before Return from Babylonian Captivity
The second conspiracy of genocide and the subsequent return of Israel to the Promised Land came at the very beginning of the Persian reign and is recorded in the wonderful, wonderful Book of Esther. Prophecy was being miraculously fulfilled at this time. The words of Daniel were coming to pass, the Jews were authorized to return to Jerusalem, the walls of the city were being restored, and the Temple of God was about to be rebuilt. This is the time of Nehemiah and Ezra; the fulfillment of the returned captivity of the 70 years in Babylon prophesied by Jeremiah and confirmed in Daniel (chapter 9); and the enemy was in a fury to avert the return of the Jew to the Promised Land.

The thrust of the Book of Esther is about the high prince of Persia named Haman, and his personal satanically inspired mission to wipe all Jews from the face of the earth, and how God used two Jews and King Ahasuerus of Persia, to confound Haman and his genocidal conspiracy.

The trouble started when Mordecai, a faithful Jew, refused to bow to Haman as the Persian nobleman passed before him on his daily trip to the palace. As a Jew, it was not right for Mordecai to give any man such worship, but Haman’s pride and anger grew each day as Mordecai continued to refuse to bow before him. Egged on by Satan, Haman devised his antichrist plot. By bribery and flatteries, Haman weaseled his way into the favor of the king, where he immediately convinced him that the Jews were the mortal enemies of the state, a threat to the king’s authority, and a  menace to order throughout the empire. The king, under Haman’s instigation, agreed to set a special day and hour when all Jews would be eliminated. King Ahasuerus announced the date for the general extermination and it was posted in every community and province throughout the Empire. Haman, licking his chops, went immediately home and built a special gallows in his courtyard on which to personally hang his hated enemy, Mordecai.

The Jews and Mordecai seemed doomed. But God had made a way to deliver his people. Shortly before Haman’s plot, the Lord had touched the king’s heart to elevate Mordecai’s adopted daughter, Esther, to First Queen of the Kingdom. Hoping Esther’s influence could make a difference, Mordecai asked Esther (who did not know she was a Jew until Mordecai informed her) to intercede in behalf of Israel to the king (who also was unaware that Esther was a Jew). To do so however, was a very risky business, even for the First Queen. And not just because she was a Jew, but because Persian Law demanded that anyone daring to enter the presence the king without first being summoned was to be put to death. Under the law the only reprieve came if the king raised his scepter to receive the uninvited subject. Esther was forced, however, to take the chance because the date for the Jews extermination was drawing perilously near. If the Jews were to be spared, Esther would have to act at once. Bold in faith, Esther put her life on the line and interceded for her people the next day. As she entered the king’s presence his heart was so touched and he was so overcome with love for her that he not only lifted up his scepter to receive her, but he promised to give her anything – anything she requested – even half of his kingdom.

Esther did not act brashly, but, being lead by the Spirit, merely requested that the king and Haman come to a special banquet, saying only that she would make known her desire there. The king, accompanied by the evil Haman, came that night as requested, but again Esther delayed her request asking them both to return as her special guests the following night. Again the king happily consented. In the interim God’s supernatural plan began to unfold and, just as with the conspirators who thought to throw Daniel to the lions, the tables were about to turn on Haman.

The turn of events began with one of God’s “coincidences”. After the king returned home from the first banquet he found himself unable to sleep and asked to have some of his records read to him. In the reading it was accidentally discovered that a man named Mordecai had uncovered a plot to assassinate him some years earlier. The king was disturbed to find that nothing had ever been done to thank Mordecai for saving his life and decided to honor him without delay, that very next morning. Seeking counsel, the king called, of all people, Haman, and posed this simple question to him, “What should I do to a person I want to honor?”. Haman, with predictable conceit, thought the king meant to honor him. Presumptuously, Haman advised the king to clothe the man in the clothes of the king, put him on the king’s horse, crown him with a crown, and have him led through the streets by one of the king’s high princes, who should proclaim as he went, “Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delighteth to honor!” Imagine Haman’s horror when he learned the man to be honored was the man he had conspired to hang. To make it even more horrific, Haman was chosen to lead Mordecai through the streets, forced to publicly declare the honor of the man he wanted to kill. And the worst was yet to come!

After suffering so great a humiliation Haman still had to attend the banquet that night. At the banquet Esther dropped the big bomb, asking not for half the kingdom, but for the lives of her people, and the judgment of Haman and his house. The king’s heart was turned instantly against the weasel, Haman. As the king stepped outside the banquet hall to consider the fate of his high prince, Haman fell on Esther’s bed where she was reclining, appealing to her mercy. The king entered to see this and was infuriated further, blasting Haman for daring to force himself on the queen even in his presence. Just then one of the king’s guards told the king that Haman had erected a huge gallows at his own home where he had planned to hang Mordecai, whom the king had just honored that morning. Without hesitation, the king barked, “Hang him on it!”

Granting Esther’s request, the king promptly turned his previous proclamation around granting the Jews special status in the empire and licensing the slaughter of those who had made preparations to slaughter them. More than 75,000 conspirators were slain that day.

Haman was hung on the gallows he had built for Mordecai and his ten sons were executed. Instead of wiping out the seed of Abraham, Haman’s seed was lost forever. Esther was strengthened as First Queen; Mordecai was given the position, home, lands and all the wealth, of the dark prince Haman. Mordecai had been given what Haman had schemed to own, and Haman had gotten in full the judgment he had conspired for Mordecai and the Jews. God loves irony in his judgment. He loves to give evil conspirators the very thing they conspire to do; as a favorite message of the Bible preaches, you reap what you sew. Still, Satan will not let up; though he is powerless to prevent the wonderful irony of God’s judgments. The story of Esther is a recurring one in history: the attempt by Satan and his Antichrist to exterminate the Jew before he can return to the Promised Land. Pharaoh and Balak tried it and were destroyed, Haman tried it and was destroyed, and Hitler tried it and was destroyed. This attempted genocide is a fulfillment of the prophecies of Moses, of the prophets, of Jesus, and of the Epistles: that the Jews would be scattered, hated, and killed for the sake of the Gentile world and for the salvation plan of God. This hatred of the Jew explodes in Satanic fury whenever the seed of Israel is about to occupy the Promised Land. And it is during the time of Persia that the Antichrist Empire is infected with the virus of genocide.

Taken from “The Redemption Play” by Terry Myers Smith