Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Esther 8:4

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

8:1-10:3 THE JEWS TRIUMPHANT

Victory and celebration (8:1-9:32)

Although Mordecai was appointed chief minister instead of Haman (8:1-2), the decree arranged by Haman was still in force. A king’s decree could not be changed. However, the king gave Esther and Mordecai his authority to issue a new decree that would counteract the former one (3-8).
Esther and Mordecai acted promptly. They gave the Jews permission to take whatever action they chose in order to defend themselves against any attack on the appointed day. Because the new decree showed that the king was now sympathetic to the Jews, provincial officials would hesitate to enforce the former decree (9-14). Many non-Jewish people were so impressed by what had happened, that they became open converts to the Jewish religion (15-17).
It seems that when the day for the destruction of the Jews arrived, very few of their enemies attacked them. Rather the Jews attacked their enemies, possibly doing more than the decree gave them permission to do. To their credit, however, they refused to exercise their right to plunder the enemies’ goods. The Persian officials now feared Mordecai’s power, and thought it wise to give the Jews whatever help they needed (9:1-10).
At Esther’s request, the Jews in the capital were given an extra day to take revenge on their enemies (11-15). This meant that although the slaughter in the provincial areas lasted only one day, in the capital it lasted two days (16-19).
Mordecai ordered that the great occasion be celebrated by feasting, exchanging gifts of food and giving to the poor (20-22). From that time on the Jews held an annual festival, known as the Feast of Purim, to celebrate their victory over Haman. The word ‘purim’ was the Hebrew plural of the Persian-Assyrian word pur, and meant ‘lots’; for by casting lots, Haman decided which day was suitable for his attack. It was a day that turned into one of triumph for the Jews (23-28; cf. 3:7,13). Esther and Mordecai then issued a formal decree to confirm Mordecai’s instructions concerning Purim as official law for all Jews (29-32).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

ESTHER ENTREATS THE KING TO CANCEL HAMAN'S EDICT

"And Esther spake yet again before the king, and fell down at his feet, and besought him with tears to put away the mischief of Haman the Agagite, and his device that he had devised against the Jews. Then the king held out to Esther the golden sceptre. So Esther arose, and stood before the king. And she said, If it please the king, and if I have found favor in his sight, and the thing seem right before the king, and if I be pleasing in his eyes, let it be written to reverse the letters devised by Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, which he wrote to destroy the Jews that are in all the king's provinces: for how can I endure to see the evil that shall come upon my people? or how can I endure to see the destruction of my kindred?"

It is of interest that Mordecai does not carry this urgent request to the king. He was the new First Minister of the empire; but he might have felt that Esther would be more likely to have a favorable reply from the king. At any rate, Esther did it.

"And the king held out to Esther the golden sceptre" This seems to imply that Esther had again approached the king unbidden."J. R. Dummelow's Commentary, p. 288.

"And (if) I be pleasing in his eyes" Esther's appeal was prefaced with the usual stereotyped phrases used by petitioners; but these words stress Esther's personal attractiveness to the king. This was indeed a delicate feminine touch.

"Reverse the letters devised by Haman" This was indeed exactly what should have been done; and this exceedingly intelligent and tactful queen here gave Ahasuerus a valid reason why he should have done so; but that silly rule about the "Law of the Medes and Persians that altereth not," prevented the king from taking such action. Note the tact of Esther here. "She was careful not to put any blame on the king for Haman's wicked letters."Wycliffe Old Testament Commentary, p. 455.

"Many have accused Esther and her race of cruelty because of their slaughter of their enemies, but without justification. She implored for the bloody edict of Haman to be reversed (Esther 8:5); and if she had been heard, no blood at all would have been shed; but the Gentile mind was not of the kindly sort. Oh no. The king likes to see blood; he is a sportsman. Blood must flow. You Jews defend yourselves. Fight!"Arthur S. Peake's Commentary, p. 339.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Chapter 8

So on that day the king Ahasuerus did give the house of Haman the Jews' enemy unto Esther the queen. [He gave the house to her.] And Mordecai came before the king; for Esther had told what he was to her ( Esther 8:1 ).

So Esther said, "Mordecai is my cousin."

And the king took off his ring which he had taken from Haman, and he gave it to Mordecai. And Esther set Mordecai over the house of Haman. And Esther spake yet again before the king, and fell down at his feet, and besought him with tears to put away the mischief of Haman the Agagite, and the devices that he had devised against the Jews. And the king held out the golden sceptre toward Esther. So Esther arose, and stood before the king, and said, If it pleases the king, if I have found favor in your sight, and the thing seems right, and I be pleasing in your eyes, let it be written to reverse the letters devised by Haman the son of Hammedathah the Agagite, which he wrote to destroy the Jews which are in all the king's provinces: For how can I endure to see the evil that shall come to my people? how can I endure to see the destruction of my kindred? ( Esther 8:2-6 )

Now, there is an interesting law of the Medes and the Persians, and that is once the king has made a decree he can't change it. Once a decree has been made and sealed by the king, that decree stands. It was a law of the Medes and the Persians. You remember, Daniel got tripped up by this law of the Medes and the Persians when Darius was snookered by these guys who wanted to destroy Daniel, and they said, "Let the king make a decree that whoever prays to any other god or person for the period of thirty days will be put to death. So that the people might know how important and how wonderful you are." So the king made this proclamation, signed it, and so then Daniel went to his home, and as was his custom, the windows open towards Jerusalem, he prayed three times daily, and these guys were outside in the bushes. They ran back to the king and said, "Hey, we've got a guy who violated your proclamation." And so they brought Daniel in, and Darius and Daniel had a close relationship. And Darius sought all day some way to reverse it, but because the laws of the Medes and Persians cannot be reversed, they cannot be changed; they cannot be altered. Once it has been set you cannot reverse it.

Thus, Daniel had to be tossed into the lion's den, but Darius assured him, "Daniel, the God you serve is able to deliver you, you know." And so that same situation with the decree that Darius made, we'll get that when we get to the book of Daniel.

Now, he can't change the decree. However, he let Mordecai make another decree that on the thirteenth day of March the Jews would be able to defend themselves from against those that would seek to kill them. And so, they could also take vengeance on those who were seeking to destroy them. So he gave them the right to defend themselves and also the right to destroy any who would seek to destroy them. "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

2. Esther’s request for her people 8:3-8

Esther again had to argue her case, this time for clemency for the Jews. Her request involved expense to the king. Esther would not have been sure he would grant it. Ahasuerus could have spared the life of the queen and Mordecai and let the rest of their fellow Jews perish. Esther’s commitment to her people, which jeopardized her own safety, was very selfless and accounts for the high honor the Jews have given her since these events transpired. Mordecai witnessed her plea (Esther 8:7).

"The Book of Esther is set in the reign of Xerxes, who was heavily committed to Zoroastrianism of an orthodox variety and who reversed the practice of religious tolerance of his predecessors. He destroyed the main idol of Bel Marduk, the temple of Marduk, Esagila, and many other Mardukian temples." [Note: Robert J. Littman, "The Religious Policy of Xerxes and the Book of Esther," Jewish Quarterly Review NS65:3 (January 1975):155.]

In view of the king’s religious intolerance, it took great courage for Esther to request mercy for the Jews.

"It is very moving to see the extent to which this young girl, who has everything money can buy, identifies herself with her own kith and kin, and is prepared to risk everything in an attempt to prevent the disaster that threatens them." [Note: Baldwin, p. 95.]

"At the beginning of this story, Esther and Mordecai were hardly exemplary in the way they practiced their religious faith; but now we get the impression that things have changed. Both of them have affirmed their Jewish nationality and both were the means of calling all the Jews in the empire to prayer and fasting. In one sense, they spearheaded a Jewish ’revival’ and made being Jewish a more honorable thing in the empire." [Note: Wiersbe, p. 742.]

The king did not have authority in his government to cancel decrees (cf. Esther 1:19; Daniel 6:17). This awkward policy tended to lend weight to the king’s official pronouncements (as when the pope speaks ex cathedra for Roman Catholics).

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

Then the king held out the golden sceptre towards Esther,.... As a token that she had not incurred his displeasure by coming into his presence without leave, and that she was admitted to speak and make her request; see Esther 5:3

so Esther arose and stood before the king; she rose from the ground on which she lay prostrate, and stood upon her feet, in an humble manner, to make her speech, and present her petition to the king.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      3 And Esther spake yet again before the king, and fell down at his feet, and besought him with tears to put away the mischief of Haman the Agagite, and his device that he had devised against the Jews.   4 Then the king held out the golden sceptre toward Esther. So Esther arose, and stood before the king,   5 And said, If it please the king, and if I have found favour in his sight, and the thing seem right before the king, and I be pleasing in his eyes, let it be written to reverse the letters devised by Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, which he wrote to destroy the Jews which are in all the king's provinces:   6 For how can I endure to see the evil that shall come unto my people? or how can I endure to see the destruction of my kindred?   7 Then the king Ahasuerus said unto Esther the queen and to Mordecai the Jew, Behold, I have given Esther the house of Haman, and him they have hanged upon the gallows, because he laid his hand upon the Jews.   8 Write ye also for the Jews, as it liketh you, in the king's name, and seal it with the king's ring: for the writing which is written in the king's name, and sealed with the king's ring, may no man reverse.   9 Then were the king's scribes called at that time in the third month, that is, the month Sivan, on the three and twentieth day thereof; and it was written according to all that Mordecai commanded unto the Jews, and to the lieutenants, and the deputies and rulers of the provinces which are from India unto Ethiopia, a hundred twenty and seven provinces, unto every province according to the writing thereof, and unto every people after their language, and to the Jews according to their writing, and according to their language.   10 And he wrote in the king Ahasuerus' name, and sealed it with the king's ring, and sent letters by posts on horseback, and riders on mules, camels, and young dromedaries:   11 Wherein the king granted the Jews which were in every city to gather themselves together, and to stand for their life, to destroy, to slay, and to cause to perish, all the power of the people and province that would assault them, both little ones and women, and to take the spoil of them for a prey,   12 Upon one day in all the provinces of king Ahasuerus, namely, upon the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar.   13 The copy of the writing for a commandment to be given in every province was published unto all people, and that the Jews should be ready against that day to avenge themselves on their enemies.   14 So the posts that rode upon mules and camels went out, being hastened and pressed on by the king's commandment. And the decree was given at Shushan the palace.

      Haman, the chief enemy of the Jews, was hanged, Mordecai and Esther, their chief friends, were sufficiently protected; but many others there were in the king's dominions that hated the Jews and desired their ruin, and to their rage and malice all the rest of that people lay exposed; for the edict against them was still in force, and, in pursuance of it, their enemies would on the day appointed fall upon them, and they would be deemed as rebels against the king and his government if they should offer to resist and take up arms in their own defence. For the preventing of this,

      I. The queen here makes intercession with much affection and importunity. She came, a second time, uncalled into the king's presence (Esther 8:3; Esther 8:3), and was as before encouraged to present her petition, by the king's holding out the golden sceptre to her, Esther 8:4; Esther 8:4. Her petition is that the king, having put away Haman, would put away the mischief of Haman and his device against the Jews, that that might not take place now that he was taken off. Many a man's mischief survives him, and the wickedness he devised operates when he is gone. What men project and write may, after their death, be either very profitable or very pernicious. It was therefore requisite in this case that, for the defeating of Haman's plot, they should apply to the king for a further act of grace, that by another edict he would reverse the letters devised by Haman, and which he wrote (she does not say which the king consented to and confirmed with his own seal; she leaves it to his own conscience to say that), by which he took an effectual course to destroy the Jews in all the king's provinces,Esther 8:5; Esther 8:5. If the king were indeed, as he seemed to be, troubled that such a decree was made, he could not do less than revoke it; for what is repentance, but undoing, to the utmost of our power, what we have done amiss? 1. This petition Esther presents with much affection: She fell down at the king's feet and besought him with tears (Esther 8:3; Esther 8:3), every tear as precious as any of the pearls with which she was adorned. It was time to be earnest when the church of God lay at stake. Let none be so great as to be unwilling to stoop, none so merry as to be unwilling to weep, when thereby they may do any service to God's church and people. Esther, though safe herself, fell down, and begged with tears for the deliverance of her people. 2. She expresses it with great submission, and a profound deference to the king and his wisdom and will (Esther 8:5; Esther 8:5): If it please the king and if I have found favour in his sightand again, "If the thing itself seem right and reasonable before the king, and if I that ask it be pleasing in his eyes, let the decree be reversed." Even when we have the utmost reason and justice on our side, and have the clearest cause to plead, yet it becomes us to speak to our superiors with humility and modesty, and all possible expressions of respect, and not to talk like demandants when we are supplicants. There is nothing lost be decency and good breeding. As soft answers turn away wrath, so soft askings obtain favour. 3. She enforces her petition with a pathetic plea: "For how can I endure to see the evil that shall come upon my people? Little comfort can I have of my own life if I cannot prevail for theirs: as good share in the evil myself as see it come upon them; for how can I endure to see the destruction of my kindred, that are dear to me?" Esther, a queen, owns her poor kindred, and speaks of them with a very tender concern. Now it was that she mingled her tears with her words, that she wept and made supplication; we read of no tears when she begged for her own life, but, now that she was sure of that, she wept for her people. Tears of pity and tenderness are the most Christ-like. Those that are truly concerned for the public would rather die in the last ditch than live to see the desolations of the church of God and the ruin of their country. Tender spirits cannot bear to think of the destruction of their people and kindred, and therefore dare not omit any opportunity of giving them relief.

      II. The king here takes a course for the preventing of the mischief that Haman had designed. 1. The king knew, and informed the queen, that, according to the constitution of the Persian government, the former edict could not be revoked (Esther 8:8; Esther 8:8): What is written in the king's name, and sealed with the king's ring, may not, under any pretence whatsoever, be reversed. This was a fundamental article of their magna charta, that no law or decree, when once it had passed the royal assent, could be repealed or recalled, no judgment vacated, no attainder reversed, Daniel 6:15. This is so far from bespeaking the wisdom and honour of the Medes and Persians that really it bespeaks their pride and folly, and consequently their shame. It is ridiculous in itself for any man, or company of men, to pretend to such an infallibility of wisdom as to foresee all the consequences of what they decree; and therefore it is unjust, and injurious to mankind, to claim such a supremacy of power as to make their decrees irrevocable, whether the consequences prove good or bad. This savours of that old presumption which ruined us all: We will be as gods. Much more prudent is that proviso of our constitution, that no law can, by any words or sanctions whatsoever, be made unrepealable, any more than any estate unalienable. Cujus est instruere, ejus est destruere--the right to enact implies the right to repeal. It is God's prerogative not to repent, and to say what can never be altered or unsaid. 2. Yet he found an expedient to undo the devices of Haman, and defeat his design, by signing and publishing another decree to authorize the Jews to stand upon their defence, vim vi repellere, et invasorem occidere--to oppose force to force, and destroy the assailant. This would be their effectual security. The king shows them that he had done enough already to convince them that he had a concern for the Jewish nation, for he had ordered his favourite to be hanged because he laid his hand upon the Jews (Esther 8:7; Esther 8:7), and he therefore would d the utmost he could to protect them; and he leaves it as fully with Esther and Mordecai to use his name and power for their deliverance as before he had left it with Haman to use his name and power for their destruction: "Write for the Jews as it liketh you (Esther 8:8; Esther 8:8), saving only the honour of our constitution. Let the mischief be put away as effectually as may be without reversing the letters." The secretaries of state were ordered to attend to draw up this edict on the twenty-third day of the third month (Esther 8:9; Esther 8:9), about two months after the promulgation of the former, but nine months before the time set for its execution: it was to be drawn up and published in the respective languages of all the provinces. Shall the subjects of an earthly prince have his decrees in a language they understand? and shall God's oracles and laws be locked up from his servants in an unknown tongue? It was to be directed to the proper officers of every province, both to the justices of peace and to the deputy-lieutenants. It was to be carefully dispersed throughout all the king's dominions, and true copies sent by expresses to all the provinces. The purport of this decree was to commission the Jews, upon the day which was appointed for their destruction, to draw together in a body for their own defence. And, (1.) To stand for their life, that, whoever assaulted them, it might be at their peril. (2.) They might not only act defensively, but might destroy, and slay, and cause to perish, all the power of the people that would assault them, men, women, and children (Esther 8:11; Esther 8:11), and thus to avenge themselves on their enemies (Esther 8:13; Esther 8:13), and, if they pleased, to enrich themselves by their enemies, for they were empowered to take the spoil of them for a prey. Now, [1.] This showed his kindness to the Jews, and sufficiently provided for their safety; for he latter decree would be looked upon as a tacit revocation of the former, though not in expression. But, [2.] It shows the absurdity of that branch of their constitution that none of the king's edicts might be repealed; for it laid the king here under a necessity of enacting a civil war in his own dominions, between the Jews and their enemies, so that both sides took up arms by his authority, and yet against his authority. No better could come of men's pretending to be wise above what is given them. Great expedition was used in dispersing this decree, the king himself being in pain lest it should come too late and any mischief should be done to the Jews by virtue of the former decree before the notice of this arrived. It was therefore by the king's commandment, as well as Mordecai's, that the messengers were hastened and pressed on (Esther 8:14; Esther 8:14), and had swift beasts provided them, Esther 8:10; Esther 8:10. It was not a time to trifle when so many lives were in danger.