Esth 8:1-17 · Read 10 min · think and write 15 min
In the last lesson, “they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai” (Esth 7:10).
But the decree Haman had sealed with the king’s ring still stood: on the thirteenth day of the month Adar, all the Jews in every province were to be destroyed (Esth 3:12-13). And the king’s decrees were “written among the laws of the Persians and the Medes, so that it cannot be altered” (Esth 1:19).
In this lesson, Esther goes to the king once more.
1On that day, King Ahasuerus gave the house of Haman, the Jews’ enemy, to Esther the queen. Mordecai came before the king; for Esther had told what he was to her.
2The king took off his ring, which he had taken from Haman, and gave it to Mordecai. Esther set Mordecai over the house of Haman.
3Esther spoke yet again before the king, and fell down at his feet and begged him with tears to put away the mischief of Haman the Agagite, and his plan that he had planned against the Jews.
4Then the king held out to Esther the golden scepter. So Esther arose, and stood before the king.
5She said, “If it pleases the king, and if I have found favor in his sight, and the thing seems right to the king, and I am 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 who are in all the king’s provinces.
6For how can I endure to see the evil that would come to my people? How can I endure to see the destruction of my relatives?”
7Then King Ahasuerus said to Esther the queen and to Mordecai the Jew, “See, I have given Esther the house of Haman, and they have hanged him on the gallows because he laid his hand on the Jews.
8Write also to the Jews as it pleases 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 not be reversed by any man.”
9Then the king’s scribes were called at that time, in the third month, which is the month Sivan, on the twenty-third day of the month; and it was written according to all that Mordecai commanded to the Jews, and to the local governors, and the governors and princes of the provinces which are from India to Ethiopia, one hundred twenty-seven provinces, to every province according to its writing, and to every people in their language, and to the Jews in their writing, and in their language.
10He wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus, and sealed it with the king’s ring, and sent letters by courier on horseback, riding on royal horses that were bred from swift steeds.
11In those letters, the king granted the Jews who were in every city to gather themselves together and to defend their lives—to destroy, to kill, and to cause to perish all the power of the people and province that would assault them, their little ones and women, and to plunder their possessions,
12on one day in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar.
13A copy of the letter, that the decree should be given out in every province, was published to all the peoples, that the Jews should be ready for that day to avenge themselves on their enemies.
14So the couriers who rode on royal horses went out, hastened and pressed on by the king’s commandment. The decree was given out in the citadel of Susa.
15Mordecai went out of the presence of the king in royal clothing of blue and white, and with a great crown of gold, and with a robe of fine linen and purple; and the city of Susa shouted and was glad.
16The Jews had light, gladness, joy, and honor.
17In every province and in every city, wherever the king’s commandment and his decree came, the Jews had gladness, joy, a feast and a holiday. Many from among the peoples of the land became Jews, for the fear of the Jews had fallen on them.
The house of Haman. “On that day, King Ahasuerus gave the house of Haman, the Jews’ enemy, to Esther the queen” (v. 1). Esther told the king what Mordecai was to her (v. 1), and the king gave Mordecai the ring he had taken back from Haman (v. 2).
Begged him with tears. But the decree still stood. “Esther spoke yet again before the king, and fell down at his feet and begged him with tears to put away the mischief of Haman the Agagite, and his plan that he had planned against the Jews” (v. 3). “Then the king held out to Esther the golden scepter” (v. 4) — for the second time.
How can I endure to see? Esther arose, stood before the king, and asked that “it be written to reverse the letters devised by Haman” (v. 5). She said, “For how can I endure to see the evil that would come to my people? How can I endure to see the destruction of my relatives?” (v. 6). She herself was already safe; what she asked for was her people.
May not be reversed by any man. The king said, “Write also to the Jews as it pleases 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 not be reversed by any man” (v. 8). The old decree could not be taken back, so another was written. Mordecai likewise “sealed it with the king’s ring” and sent it out in the writing of every province (vv. 9–10). The new decree granted the Jews in every province, on the same day, “to gather themselves together and to defend their lives” (v. 11).
Shouted and was glad. Mordecai went out from the king in royal clothing, “and the city of Susa shouted and was glad” (v. 15). When the last decree went out, “the city of Susa was perplexed” (Esth 3:15). This time, “The Jews had light, gladness, joy, and honor” (v. 16), and in every province “the Jews had gladness, joy, a feast and a holiday” (v. 17).
Later, the Jews remembered these events every year. The book of Esther calls these days “the days in which the Jews had rest from their enemies, and the month which was turned to them from sorrow to gladness, and from mourning into a holiday” (Esth 9:22), and says “that these days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation … and that these days of Purim should not fail from among the Jews” (Esth 9:28).
Readers can see this: the name ‘Purim’ comes from the ‘Pur’ that was cast before Haman (Esth 3:7). What the Jews remembered generation after generation was this time when the month was “turned to them from sorrow to gladness” (Esth 9:22).
Perhaps you, too, have known what it is not to bear to see: you see a group of people suffering, and it seems there is nothing you can change. Perhaps you yourself are already safe, but others are still waiting.
This lesson does not say that if only you plead, things will surely turn around. What it shows you is this: Esther was already safe herself, yet she fell down at the king’s feet once more and “begged him with tears” (v. 3); what she said was, “how can I endure to see the evil that would come to my people?” (v. 6). The New Testament says: “Rejoice with those who rejoice. Weep with those who weep” (Rom 12:15).
This week: Think of a group of people whose suffering you cannot bear to see. This week do one real thing for them: visit them, find out what they need, or tell someone who can help about what they are facing.
Scripture: World English Bible.