Esther 8:1-17--Esther Saves the Jews

Esther 8
English Standard Version

Esther Saves the Jews
8 On that day King Ahasuerus gave to Queen Esther the house of Haman, the enemy of the Jews. And Mordecai came before the king, for Esther had told what he was to her. 2 And the king took off his signet ring, which he had taken from Haman, and gave it to Mordecai. And Esther set Mordecai over the house of Haman.

3 Then Esther spoke again to the king. She fell at his feet and wept and pleaded with him to avert the evil plan of Haman the Agagite and the plot that he had devised against the Jews. 4 When the king held out the golden scepter to Esther, Esther rose and stood before the king. 5 And she said, “If it please the king, and if I have found favor in his sight, and if the thing seems right before the king, and I am pleasing in his eyes, let an order be written to revoke the letters devised by Haman the Agagite, the son of Hammedatha, which he wrote to destroy the Jews who are in all the provinces of the king. 6 For how can I bear to see the calamity that is coming to my people? Or how can I bear to see the destruction of my kindred?” 7 Then King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther and to Mordecai the Jew, “Behold, I have given Esther the house of Haman, and they have hanged him on the gallows, because he intended to lay hands on the Jews. 8 But you may write as you please with regard to the Jews, in the name of the king, and seal it with the king's ring, for an edict written in the name of the king and sealed with the king's ring cannot be revoked.”

9 The king's scribes were summoned at that time, in the third month, which is the month of Sivan, on the twenty-third day. And an edict was written, according to all that Mordecai commanded concerning the Jews, to the satraps and the governors and the officials of the provinces from India to Ethiopia, 127 provinces, to each province in its own script and to each people in its own language, and also to the Jews in their script and their language. 10 And he wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus and sealed it with the king's signet ring. Then he sent the letters by mounted couriers riding on swift horses that were used in the king's service, bred from the royal stud, 11 saying that the king allowed the Jews who were in every city to gather and defend their lives, to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate any armed force of any people or province that might attack them, children and women included, and to plunder their goods, 12 on one day throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar. 13 A copy of what was written was to be issued as a decree in every province, being publicly displayed to all peoples, and the Jews were to be ready on that day to take vengeance on their enemies. 14 So the couriers, mounted on their swift horses that were used in the king's service, rode out hurriedly, urged by the king's command. And the decree was issued in Susa the citadel.

​15 Then Mordecai went out from the presence of the king in royal robes of blue and white, with a great golden crown and a robe of fine linen and purple, and the city of Susa shouted and rejoiced. 16 The Jews had light and gladness and joy and honor. 17 And in every province and in every city, wherever the king's command and his edict reached, there was gladness and joy among the Jews, a feast and a holiday. And many from the peoples of the country declared themselves Jews, for fear of the Jews had fallen on them.

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Haman has been killed on his own gallows, and for many playwrights, that would be the end of the story, but the LORD has a much bigger story of salvation that He has written and is directing (and it's a true story).  The king gives Esther the house of Haman and sets her uncle Mordecai over it, and even gives Mordecai the signet ring off of Haman's finger that the king had given to him, making Mordecai the highest official in the land who had full authority to act in the name of the king, like Haman did.

Since the king could not take back or reverse the edict that Haman had written, Mordecai writes new orders that please the king that command the Jews to take up arms and fight--whether they are in the cities or in the country, they are given immunity by the king for one day for any deaths that happen by their hands in the actions of saving their own lives from those that would try to kill them that day.  The enemies of the Jews have had several months of planning and preparation already, so these letters written by Mordecai must be sent out using the king's fastest horses to the ends of the empire which stretched all the way from India to Ethiopia.  The letters were written in the local languages and also in Hebrew so that the Jewish people could clearly understand them too.

Mordecai was then dressed in royal garments and had a crown put upon his head (similar to what Haman was forced to do the morning that Haman had planned to kill Mordecai, but that Haman ended up dying on his own gallows, but this time the king was the one who dressed Mordecai in the royal robes and put the crown on his head).  All the people in the citadel of Susa rejoiced and it pleased them to give grace and favor to the Jewish people because of their love for Mordecai and Queen Esther.  Everywhere where the new instructions reached the Jews, the Jews threw a party to celebrate the salvation that they knew the LORD was bringing--they didn't have to wait and see it to know that it was sure.  The most amazing part of all this is in the last verse.  Even knowing that the threat of death was coming, many of the people of the empire truly converted to Judaism (and others called themselves Jews just so they could participate in the day of fighting off those who were going to attack the Jewish people) because they loved the Jewish people--especially Esther and Mordecai, and the fear of the Jews (read that as the fear of the LORD whom the Jews worshiped and who had already worked in a mighty way to save them) had fallen upon all their enemies.

Even more shocking though is that even after all of this, there would still be people so evil that they would want to go through with Haman's plan even after Haman had been killed, the king had switched sides, the identity of the queen had been revealed and Mordecai had been put over all the royal officials in the place of Haman.  They too had read and heard the new edict, yet they imagined that somehow they would still be able to rise up and be victorious against the LORD and His people. That's a very foolish idea, but we see from Romans 1 and the book of Proverbs (as well as many other places in the Bible) that the LORD allows the wicked to believer foolishness that will lead to their own destruction.  We'll see that next time when we see exactly what it is that Jews celebrate with the feast of Purim (this year it happened on March 23rd and March 24th...we'll see why it is a two-day feast in the upcoming passages as well).