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Haman Cast Lots and Creation Refused Him

Haman threw lots at days and months until Adar smiled at him. Moses had died there. He did not know Moses had been born there too.

Curated by Arthur · Told by Maggid ·
Table of Contents
  1. He Wanted a Date from Heaven
  2. The Days Would Not Serve Him
  3. Adar Hid a Birthday
  4. The Fish Closed Its Mouth
  5. The Thorn Took the Job

Haman shook the lot until he heard a date he liked. He wanted one exposed place in the calendar, one loose thread where Israel could be torn out. The lot was supposed to make murder look like fate. A number falls. A month is chosen. A decree puts on the costume of destiny.

Haman Cast Lots and Creation Refused Him Click for full size

Every part of time had a memory. The lot kept hitting it.

He Wanted a Date from Heaven

He cast first at the days of the week, as if a weekday might be empty enough to hold a massacre. The first day carried light. The second stood under the covenant of day and night, the fixed order God had appointed for heaven and earth (Jeremiah 33:25). The third carried Eden. The fourth remembered the sun stopping for Joshua at Gibeon. The fifth held the creatures of the field. The sixth held Behemoth, the beast of a thousand mountains. Shabbat stood with Israel's rest in its hands.

No day would become his accomplice. Haman wanted time to behave like an empty box. Time answered back with creation already inside it.

The Days Would Not Serve Him

He moved from days to months, hunting a weaker door.

Nissan answered with the Passover lamb. Iyar answered with manna. Sivan stood under Sinai with the Torah still smoking. Tammuz and Av already held grief, and catastrophe would not be doubled for him there. Elul carried the tithing of animals. Tishrei carried holy days. Cheshvan remembered the Temple. Kislev held the completed Tabernacle and the lights of dedication.

Month after month the lot bounced. Haman's jaw tightened. He had come to steal a date. Creation kept reclaiming its own.

Adar Hid a Birthday

Then Adar appeared.

Haman rejoiced with a full-throated joy, because Moses had died in Adar. At last, he thought, the month of loss had opened. He did not know the trap inside his own gladness. Moses died on the seventh of Adar, and Moses was also born on the seventh of Adar. The month that held burial also held arrival. Death had not finished the account.

The constellation seemed better. Adar belonged to the fish. Haman saw Israel caught in his hand like fish in a net. He mistook the image for ownership.

A voice answered him from inside his own symbol. "Evil one, they are not in your hands. You are in theirs. Fish swallow, and fish are swallowed." He thought Israel was in his fist. He was already in theirs. The same sign he read as capture turned while he looked into it. The opposite would happen, and the Jews would gain power over those who hated them (Esther 9:1).

The Fish Closed Its Mouth

Haman had not found fate. He had found a mirror with teeth.

That night Ahasuerus could not sleep. In heaven the patriarchs had already bowed under judgment, and mercy had already moved. God told them Israel had been condemned, because in the days of Nebuchadnezzar they had failed to sanctify His name. The patriarchs accepted the verdict. The moment they bowed, God rose from the throne of justice and sat on the throne of mercy. The heavenly host asked what would become of them if this nation were destroyed, since the world had been made for the Torah given to Israel. God filled with mercy.

Then He called the trees and asked which one would serve as the gallows for Haman.

The Thorn Took the Job

The fig tree stepped forward. The vine came. The pomegranate, walnut, citron, willow, olive, apple, and cedar all offered themselves, each carrying some verse that tied it to Israel. Then the thorn spoke. The wicked had been compared to thorns. Let the thorn serve. God silenced the noble trees and chose the rough one.

Michael knocked the king from his bed again and again, three hundred and sixty-six times. Unable to sleep, Ahasuerus ordered the royal chronicles brought. Gabriel appeared in a dream disguised as Haman, sword drawn. When Haman entered the next morning with his dream of honor, the king, already terrified, asked how to honor a man the king wished to raise. Haman described a lavish parade, assuming the man was himself. The king ordered him to do it for Mordecai the Jew.

The lot, the fish, the sleepless king, and the thorn all moved toward one beam. Haman had asked creation for permission. Creation gave him wood, but not for Israel. By morning he was building height for Mordecai and imagining honor for himself. The king's sleeplessness turned the ladder upside down.

The gallows became the last lot. Haman had tried to make heaven, calendar, constellation, and tree line up beneath his decree. Instead they lined up against him. The day refused. The month answered. The fish reversed. The thorn accepted. The king's sleep broke open at the exact hour Mordecai needed memory to speak from the royal book. By the time Haman reached the courtyard, fate had stopped sounding like dice and started sounding like footsteps behind him.

PurimCreationTorahRedemptionHamanEstherLotsAdarMordecaiAstrologyDivine Justice
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From the tradition

Sources

2 sources

The texts behind this telling. Some cards carry a translation of the source; others are our own retelling of it, and each card says which. Every card links out to the original.

Yalkut Shimoni on Nach 1054:8Yalkut Shimoni

Retold in our words. Read the original at the link below.Sefaria Community Translation · CC0

He cast the pur - that is, the lot: Rabbi Chama bar Chanina said, "It was taught [that] when it fell out in the month of Adar, [Haman] rejoiced with great joy: He said, 'The lot fell out in the month that Moshe, their teacher died.' But he did not know that Moshe died on the seventh of Adar and that Moshe was [also] born on the seventh of Adar. He cast the pur - that is, the lot: Rabbi Chama bar Chanina said, "You are the lot of the children. He cast lots for the days, but it did not work for him; he cast the lots for the constellation and it did work for him, the constellation of Pisces. He said, 'They are caught in my hands just like that fish.' He said to him, 'Evil one, they are not in your hands, you are in their hands. Just like this fish sometimes swallows and sometimes is swallowed; so too are you swallowed in their hands - "the opposite happened, and the Jews got their enemies in their power." He cast the lot on the first day and it did not work for him. For it is written (Jeremiah 33:35), "If not for my covenant of day and night, the ordinances of heaven and earth I have not appointed." The second day, "And the enlightened will be radiant" (Daniel 12:3). The third day, the Garden of Eden was created. The fourth day, the sun stopped in Giveaon. The fifth day, the creatures of the field were created. The sixth day, the behemoth of the thousand mountains. The Shabbat, the Jewish people observe the Shabbat. So he tried the months. In Nissan, there is the lamb (Aries) for the Pesach (Passover) sacrifice. In Iyar, the manna descended. In Sivan, the Torah was given. In Tamuz, distress does not occur twice [at the same time]; likewise Av. In Elul, there is the tithing of animals. In Tishrei, there are the holidays. In MarCheshvan, the Temple was built, in the month of Bul. In Kislev, there is Chanukah, and the work on the tabernacle was completed. Tevet's constellation is the goat (Capricorn), so it [is a reminder of], "and the skins of the young goats" (Genesis 27:16). In Shevat, its constellation is the Water Bearer (Aquarius), [bringing up] the merit of Moshe, "he surely drew [water]" (Exodus 2:19). Adar is the Fish (Pisces), to swallow them up like fish. The Sages said: The tree was a cedar tree. For Haman cast lots. He cast it on the grapevine, but it did not work for him. For the Jewish people was compared to it, as it is stated (Psalms 80:9), "You brought a grapevine from Egypt." He cast [it] on the olive tree, but it did not work for him. For the Jewish people was compared to it, as it is stated (Jeremiah 11:16), "A verdant olive tree of notable fruit." He cast [it] on the apple tree, but it did not work for him. For the Jewish people was compared to it, as it is stated (Song of Songs 8:5), "under the apple tree I roused you." He cast [it] on the pomegranate tree, but it did not work for him. For the Jewish people was compared to it, as it is stated (Song of Song 6:11), " the pomegranates were in bloom"; (Song of Songs 4:3) "like a pomegranate split open." He cast [it] on the date palm, but it did not work for him. For Chananiah, Mishael and Azariah were compared to it, as it is stated (Song of Songs 7:9), "I say, 'Let me climb the palm.'" He cast [it] on the nut tree, but it did not work for him. For the Congregation of Israel was compared to it, as it was stated (Song of Songs 6:11), "I went down to the nut grove." He cast [it] on the myrtle, on the willow and on the citron (etrog), but it did not work for him. For they are defenders of the Jewish people and seek mercy upon them, as it is stated (Leviticus 223:40), "And you shall take for yourselves on the first day, etc." He cast [it] on the reed. The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him, "Fool, the Jewish people was compared to a reed, as it stands in the water and moves with every wind. Even though the water is hard, the reed stands in its place. But they are not compared to the cedar, since the wind breaks it. But the idolaters are compared to it, as it is stated, (Ezekiel 31:3), 'Behold, Assyria was a cedar in Lebanon.' But with the Jewish people, it is written (I Kings 14:15), 'it sways like a reed in water.' Behold, the cedar is prepared for you from the six days of creation - 'on the tree that he/He prepared for him.'"

Full source
Chronicles of Jerahmeel LXXXIIIChronicles of Jerahmeel (Gaster, 1899)

Retold in our words. Read the original at the link below.The Chronicles of Jerahmeel, trans. Moses Gaster (1899) · Public Domain

On the night King Ahasuerus could not sleep, something far stranger was happening in heaven. According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century Hebrew chronicle preserved by Moses Gaster in 1899, God turned to the patriarchs and told them Israel had been condemned to destruction. Their sin? During the time of Nebuchadnezzar, they had failed to sanctify God's name, making it seem as though God lacked the power to save them.

The patriarchs accepted the judgment. But the moment God saw them bow to justice, He rose from His throne of justice and sat upon the throne of mercy. The heavenly host intervened too, reminding God that the entire world was created for the sake of the Torah given to Israel. "If You destroy this nation, what becomes of us?" they asked. God relented.

Then came one of the most unusual scenes in all of Jewish legend. God called out to the trees of creation and asked which among them would serve as a gallows for the wicked Haman. The fig tree volunteered first, claiming Israel had been compared to it in Scripture. The vine stepped forward, then the pomegranate, walnut, citron, willow, olive, apple, and cedar, each citing a biblical verse linking it to Israel. Finally the thorn spoke up: "I will serve, for the wicked were compared to me." God silenced every other tree. The thorn was chosen.

Meanwhile, the angel Michael visited Ahasuerus in the night and knocked him off his bed 366 times. Unable to sleep, the king ordered the royal chronicles brought before him. Gabriel then appeared in a dream disguised as Haman, sword drawn to kill. When Haman arrived at court the next morning, the king, already terrified, asked him how to honor a loyal man. Haman, assuming the king meant him, described a lavish parade. The king's reply stunned him: "Go and do this for Mordecai the Jew." The gallows Haman had built from his own house would soon be used, on himself.

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