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The reasons given for the death of Haman's ten sons is their active role in halting the construction of the beis hamikdash (this is one of many midrashic sources)

My question is why was it necessary to include them in the megillah?

Haman had a son named Shimshai the scribe who was also actively involved in the halting of construction AND played a role in the story of purim. He had tried to erase Mordechai's name from the book of chronicles which kept a record of Mordechai's life saving advice to the king. (Source for writing stop work order Source for Shimshai as Achashverosh's scribe)

If Shimshai - who was involved in the Purim story- is not mentioned in the megillah, why then were his 10 brothers who (seemingly) did not have a role in the Purim story mentioned so prominently in the megillah?

(This is NOT a duplicate of this question)

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2 Answers 2

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I say that as long as those ten were alive, Haman's legacy was not completely erased…and it was important not to leave any trace of Haman in order to fix the mistake of Saul leaving Agag alive causing Haman to be born. That I saw in מגילת סתרים…as a reason why Esther forced Achashverosh to hang them.

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  • But that doesn’t completely answer his question, he also asked why Shimshai wasn’t mentioned even though he was one of Haman’s sons. Also there’s a mid rash that said he had 208 children.
    – user34750
    Commented Mar 13 at 11:04
  • besides these 10 all others were not powerful and were not compared to hamans influence or legacy
    – user19400
    Commented Mar 13 at 16:08
  • But like he said, Shimshai was a scribe in the palace.
    – user34750
    Commented Mar 13 at 22:31
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This from midrash תלפיות…..

that achashverash knew that haman used magic that this tree should be used for the kings buddy only So that is why he filled every inch of it with hamans sons so no others can fit on it

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