The Book of Esther

Chapter 8

Psalm
Wait on the Lord, and keep his way, and he shall exalt thee to inherit the land: when the wicked are cut off, thou
shalt see it.

1. Mordecai’s (Verses 1-2, 15)

2. Esther’s (Verses 3-6)
3. The King’s (Verses 7-17)

Verses 1-2 & 15

1. According to the ancient historians, whenever a traitor was executed, the throne appropriated his property.
• The king chose to give Haman’s estate to .
• More than an act of generosity, this gift was probably the king’s way of atoning for his foolish decisions that
had brought so much pain to Esther and her people.
2. Ahasuerus knew that both Esther and Mordecai were , but now he was to learn that they were also
.
3. This new discovery (for Esther had told what he was unto her) makes Ahasuerus and Mordecai relatives by
marriage.
4. When Haman was deposed, the king took back his royal (Esther 3:10), the insignia of the
authority of the throne (Esther 8:8 & 10; 3:12), and he gave the to Mordecai, making him
prime minister.
5. Esther gave the management of Haman’s vast estate into the hands of Mordecai.
6. The king made sure that Mordecai had a worthy of his office.
• No longer did Mordecai wear old borrowed robes (Esther 6:7-11) but new robes prepared especially for him.
• The golden “ ” was probably a large turban.
7. Everything that Haman had acquired from the king by his scheming, Mordecai received as gifts, because Mordecai
was a deserving man.

Verses 3-6
1. “Esther spake yet again before the king” (verse 3) because the king failed to do anything more to stop the decrees
that was signed.
• Although was dead, his evil still was the irrevocable law of the land.
• and had to again and again go to battle to stop Haman's evil.
2. “Esther... besought him with ” - the more she worked for the deliverance of the Jews, her
compassion grew.
3. “Put away the mischief of Haman” Esther did not water down the evil conduct of Haman in her pleading with
Ahasuerus.
• The word “ ” means evil and wicked.
• Esther condemned Haman's conduct very strongly.
4. “Then the king held out the golden scepter toward Esther” (verse 4).
• A person risked his or her life coming to see the king .
• If the king did not hold out the golden scepter, the uninvited guest would be killed.
5. “If it please the king, and if I have found favor in his sight, and the thing seem right before the king, and I be
pleasing in his eyes” (verse 5) shows the manner in which Esther pleaded with
Ahasuerus on behalf of the Jews.
7. Verse 6 records Esther asking the king to save her people and deliver her from the heavy burden on her heart.

Verses 7-14
1. Esther did not plead in vain, because Ahasuerus responded in a helpful way to stop the evil decree.
2. “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” (verse
7).
• Mordecai's new the government put him in the presence of the king.
• The king's comment about his previous decision and action was an attempt to show that he was concerned
about the Jewish people.
3. “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” (verse 8).
• The king commissioned Mordecai and Esther to write a new proclamation to
the evil proclamation which Haman had made against the Jews.
• “Write ye also for the Jews, as it liketh you” (verse 8) was like a blank check with the king's signature
already attached.
4. “The writing which is written in the king's name, and sealed with the king's ring, may no man reverse” (verse 8)
- the finality of the writing was based on a law of the Persian government.
• Ahasuerus could overturn the previous law by ruling it null and void.
• Because of this law, Ahasuerus was handcuffed for quick action and had instead to use the round about
method of having Mordecai write a proclamation that would people, if they obeyed
the first proclamation.
5. “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” (verse 9).
• The “third month…and three and twentieth day” was days since Haman wrote his
proclamation to kill all the Jews.
• The date of the new proclamation (“third month... three and twentieth day”) gave the Jews the advantage of
nearly nine months to to fight their enemies.
6. The proclamation's orders for the Jews were “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... to take the spoil of
them for a prey” (verse 11).
• “Gather themselves together” – the people were to assemble together “upon the thirteenth day of the
twelfth month” (verse 12) the very day that Haman's proclamation decreed the Jews should be killed.
• “Stand for their life” - the word “stand” tells us that the Jews were not to be the .
• “To destroy, to slay, and to cause to perish, all the power of the people and province that would assault
them” – if they were attacked, they were to the attackers.
• “Take the spoil of them for a prey” as we read later, they did take the spoil from the
enemy (Esther 9:10 & 15-16).
7. The decision by the king to allow another decree to go against his previous decree actually caused a
war.
8. “Unto the Jews, and to the lieutenants, and the deputies and rulers of the provinces which are from India unto
Ethiopia, an hundred twenty and seven provinces, unto every province” (verse 9).
• Like Haman's evil proclamation, Mordecai's proclamation was sent into all provinces of Persia.
• Unlike Haman's proclamation, Mordecai sent his proclamation to the also.
9. Mordecai sent his proclamation “by posts on horseback, and riders on mules, camels, and young dromedaries...
being hastened and pressed on by the king's commandment” (Esther 8:10 &14) - the same way Haman had his
proclamation sent.
Verses 16-17
1. “The city of Shushan rejoiced and was ” (verse 15) – this is a contrast to what the city did
after Haman sent out his evil proclamation against the Jews (“the city of Shushan was
” - Esther 3:15).
2. Verse 17 indicates that Mordecai's proclamation caused celebration not lamentation, and feasting not fasting.
3. “Many of the people of the land became Jews, for the fear of the Jews fell upon them” (verse 17) - Persians either
converted to Judaism or they pretended to be as Jews.
• The desire of many Gentiles to want to be Jews shows the tremendous change in the Jewish situation that
took place in a few years in Persia in Mordecai's day.
• At the beginning of the book, Mordecai and Esther their identity because
of the strong anti-Semitism in the land.