Esther 8
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On that day King Ahasuerus gave Queen Esther the house of Haman, the enemy of the Jews. And Mordecai came before the king, for Esther had told how he was related to her. So the king took off his signet ring, which he had taken from Haman, and gave it to Mordecai; and Esther appointed Mordecai over the house of Haman.
So Mordecai gets everything Haman wanted.
The king gives Esther the house of Haman.
Esther introduces her uncle to the king.
The king honors Mordecai with the signet ring he had given Haman.
Esther puts Mordecai over the house of Haman.
Sound like a happy ending, no?
Now Esther spoke again to the king, fell down at his feet, and implored him with tears to counteract the evil of Haman the Agagite, and the scheme which he had devised against the Jews. And the king held out the golden scepter toward Esther. So Esther arose and stood before the king, and 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 revoke the letters devised by Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, which he wrote to annihilate the Jews who are in all the king’s provinces. For how can I endure to see the evil that will come to my people? Or how can I endure to see the destruction of my countrymen?”
Esther BEGS the king to rescind the letters that Haman had sent throughout the kingdom.
Everything looks good for Esther and Mordecai, but there’s still the issue of the orders to destroy the Jews.
Then King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther and Mordecai the Jew, “Indeed, I have given Esther the house of Haman, and they have hanged him on the gallows because he tried to lay his hand on the Jews. You yourselves write a decree concerning the Jews, as you please, in the king’s name, and seal it with the king’s signet ring; for whatever is written in the king’s name and sealed with the king’s signet ring no one can revoke.”
Hey queen, you have that bad guys house and he’s been hung.
Write a decree about this Jewish problem.
Anything sealed with the kings’ signet cannot be revoked.
So Esther and Mordecai cannot simply write a decree saying “Never mind! The forget that old decree.”
They have to come up with something that will protect the Jews, but cannot revoke the previous decree.
So the king’s scribes were called at that time, in the third month, which is the month of Sivan, on the twenty-third day; and it was written, according to all that Mordecai commanded, to the Jews, the satraps, the governors, and the princes of the provinces from India to Ethiopia, one hundred and twenty-seven provinces in all, to every province in its own script, to every people in their own language, and to the Jews in their own script and language. And he wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus, sealed it with the king’s signet ring, and sent letters by couriers on horseback, riding on royal horses bred from swift steeds.
Scribes, take a letter.
It’s still only the third month, the massacre isn’t scheduled until the twelfth month.
Plenty of time for this new decree to go everywhere it has to.
Just like the decree Haman had written, this goes to all the satraps, governors and princes in their own languages.
What does Mordecai put in this decree?
By these letters the king permitted the Jews who were in every city to gather together and protect their lives—to destroy, kill, and annihilate all the forces of any people or province that would assault them, both little children and women, and to plunder their possessions, on one day in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar. A copy of the document was to be issued as a decree in every province and published for all people, so that the Jews would be ready on that day to avenge themselves on their enemies. The couriers who rode on royal horses went out, hastened and pressed on by the king’s command. And the decree was issued in Shushan the citadel.
The command is for the Jews to defend themselves.
They were to destroy, kill and annihilate everyone who assaulted them.
Just as Haman’s letter gave permission for people to destroy, kill and annihilate the Jews.
The Jews were to plunder the possessions of their attackers.
This was all to happen on the day Haman had set to destroy the Jews.