Esther 8
8:1 a Just as Haman had promised the wealth of the Jews to those who would kill them (3:13 b), Xerxes gave the property of Haman, the enemy of the Jews, to Queen Esther.8:2 c The signet ring that Haman had used to seal the decree to destroy the Jewish people (3:10 d) was now given to the Jewish person he had most wanted to destroy.
8:3 e Esther probably expected the king to reverse Haman’s decree right after he was killed, but that did not happen. This time she was much more insistent on raising the issue of Haman’s plot against her people.
8:5 f Esther was asking for the unusual favor of reversing a law signed with the king’s seal.
• the orders of Haman: Esther diplomatically avoided suggesting any responsibility on the king’s part.
8:8 g According to Persian law, whatever has already been written ... can never be revoked (see 1:19 h; Dan 6:8 i, 12 j; cp. Ps 148:6 k). However, a new decree with the king’s royal seal could give different or competing directions.
8:9 l on June 25: The details of writing and sending the new decree purposely match the account of sending out the original decree in 3:12 m.
8:11 n The king’s decree did not permit the Jewish people to start a war but to defend themselves and plunder the property of those who attacked them (reversing the decree in 3:13 o).
• The phrase kill, slaughter, and annihilate is an ironic repetition of the words in Haman’s original edict (3:13 p; see also 9:5 q).
8:12 r March 7 of the next year: This date was nearly a year after Haman’s original decree was published (3:12 s).
8:13 t The Hebrew word translated to take revenge could also mean to establish justice. In situations where civil government could not exercise authority over all the parties involved in a conflict, this law would allow people who were attacked to establish justice by redressing wrongs committed against them.
8:15 u Just as the city of Susa had been in great confusion after Haman’s original decree (3:15 v), now there was great rejoicing by all—they understood the injustice of the original decree and the justice of the new one.
8:17 w many ... became Jews themselves: That is, they became proselytes of Judaism.
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