Arisai
Arisai was one of the ten sons of Haman, who were killed and hanged after their father's downfall.
Biography
Arisai was the eighth of ten sons born to Haman the Agagite, the chief minister of Persia's King Ahasuerus. His name is catalogued in Esther 9:9 among those slain by the Jews of Susa on the thirteenth of Adar, the very day that had been designated for the Jews' destruction. The irony of the entire narrative of Esther is nowhere more concentrated than in the fate of Haman's sons: the day that was meant to seal Israel's doom became the day of their enemies' destruction instead. Arisai, along with his nine brothers, paid the ultimate price for his father's genocidal agenda. Following their deaths, the bodies of all ten sons were hanged, as Esther had specifically requested of the king (Esther 9:13), symbolizing the finality of their downfall.
Significance
Arisai's death represents the fulfillment of a divine reversal at the heart of the Esther narrative. The Feast of Purim, established to commemorate these events (Esther 9:28), is a perpetual celebration of the truth that the plans of the wicked come to nothing when God stands with His people. The destruction of Haman's ten sons, including Arisai, also carried symbolic weight in Jewish memory as a complete eradication of the Agagite threat, evoking the earlier incomplete obedience of Saul against Agag (1 Samuel 15), and thus portrays the ultimate fulfillment of divine justice against enemies of the covenant community.
Verse Appearances (1)
Esther
References
- Orr, J. (ed.) (1915) The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Chicago: Howard-Severance Company. [Public Domain]
- Tyndale House, Cambridge (n.d.) Translators Individualised Proper Names with all References (TIPNR). STEPBible. Available at: https://www.stepbible.org. [CC BY 4.0]
- Church of England (1769) The Holy Bible, Authorized (King James) Version. [Public Domain]