”¦[The] opposition”¦ [to the Christian gospel in the Book of Acts follows an]”¦ order of events that has often been repeated [throughout history]. At first there is serious theological debate. When this fails, people start a personal campaign of lies. Finally, they resort to legal or quasi-legal action in an attempt to rid themselves of their adversary by force.
—The Message of Acts: The Spirit, The Church and the World (Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 1990), p.127
Esther 3:8-9 (ESV)
Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom. Their laws are different from those of every other people, and they do not keep the king’s laws, so that it is not to the king’s profit to tolerate them. If it please the king, let it be decreed that they be destroyed, and I will pay 10,000 talents of silver into the hands of those who have charge of the king’s business, that they may put it into the king’s treasuries.â€