Annotations for Esther

1:1—5:14 The Jews of Persia Are Threatened. The book of Esther presents an episode in the history of God’s ancient covenant people that threatened their annihilation by the pagan powers of ancient Persia. The first five chapters provide the background of life in Persia and how this great threat arose.

1:1–22 Queen Vashti Deposed. This opening incident in the book of Esther shows how treacherous life could be in the court of the Persian king, who had great wealth and power at his disposal that could be manipulated by his closest advisors. Vashti’s removal as queen is the initial example of this, and it ominously sets the stage for Esther’s eventual coronation into the dangerous court of the king.

1:1–8 Xerxes Is a Powerful and Dangerous King. The book begins with the introductory formula found in other historical books, such as Joshua, Judges, and Samuel. This suggests the author intends for readers to understand the story as events that actually happened. These opening verses locate the story during the time of Xerxes (see note on v. 1). The events of the Esther story span a period of about ten years. The wealth and opulence of his court on display would have seemed ironic to the original readers, who may have known that Xerxes had returned from a military campaign against Greece a defeated king who had depleted the royal treasury (see notes on v. 3; 2:16).

1:1 Xerxes. The king of Persia who reigned from 486 until 465 BC (cf. Ezra 4:6). Xerxes ascended the throne in 486 BC at age 32.

1:2 Susa. One of the four capital cities from which the Persian monarchs ruled during the winter. See Dan 8:2; Neh 1:1.

1:3 Xerxes holds a banquet for all his nobles, officials, and military leaders “in the third year of his reign.” This corresponds well to the great war council of 483 BC, held to plan and rally support for the invasion of Greece by bridging the narrows between modern Turkey and Greece.

1:9–12 Queen Vashti Defies Xerxes. The events described in this section will have long-reaching consequences. Even the mighty acts of God in redemptive history are linked through long years of human history by a chain of seemingly insignificant, ordinary events. Xerxes’ decision unwittingly sets in motion a series of events that will culminate in the deliverance of God’s people, fulfilling the promise of the ancient covenant made ages before in a faraway place.

1:10–11 Xerxes sends seven eunuchs to fetch Vashti; seven is perhaps the number needed to carry her seated in the royal litter. Perhaps the sight of the queen attired in her royal glory was intended to inspire patriotism and loyalty to the king’s cause, much as public appearances of the British queen do today.

1:10 in high spirits from wine. Unlike our modern culture, Persians deliberated matters of state under the influence of alcohol because they believed inebriation put them in closer touch with the gods, whose support they would need to go to war (cf. 3:15). It is while he is inebriated that Xerxes sends for Vashti.

1:12 Queen Vashti refused to come. This ignites the king’s anger. Vashti’s refusal to obey her husband’s command must be extremely embarrassing when Xerxes is trying to solidify support for his command to go to war. But if Vashti and Amestris are the same woman (see Introduction: Particular Challenges, 1), she would have been in the late stage of her pregnancy with Xerxes’ son. Regardless of her motives, this incident with Vashti provides a context in which to understand her successor, Queen Esther. Both women are locked in a relationship with Xerxes that is politically charged. He uses his tremendous power ostentatiously to reinforce his own glory with little or no thought for the consequences to others.

1:13–22 The King and Nobles React to Vashti’s Disobedience. These verses show the inner workings of the Persian court and the escalation of Vashti’s refusal into an empire-wide public event.

1:15 what must be done to Queen Vashti? This is decided not between a man and his wife but on the basis of a perceived insult that is more universal and includes all the nobles and the peoples of Persia. This highlights the political ramifications of Vashti’s defiance, which is the defiance of a queen, not simply a wife.

1:17 the queen’s conduct will become known to all the women. Memukan fears that all the women will then disrespect and despise their own husbands. By universalizing the incident, Memukan can express his personal anxiety and fears in terms of the good of the empire and thereby manipulate this powerful king to his own ends. Haman later uses the same tactic against the Jews in 3:8. Vashti’s decision not to come before the king, a decision made in one moment, is to be made permanent by banishing her from the king’s presence. This incident of gender politics is highlighted because in this story powerful Persian men are later outwitted by a Jewish woman to achieve God’s redemptive purposes.

1:22 own script . . . own language. The emphasis on the many languages of Persian society is a repeated element throughout the story. The choice of language in the home was important for maintaining the culture and religion. In Jewish homes scattered throughout the empire, the children of Jewish men were speaking the language of their pagan mothers, a situation that had to be corrected to preserve national and covenantal identity (cf. Neh 13:23–24). The use of the man’s language in his home implied for the Jews that the wife and children were to join the covenant community of Yahweh. By issuing a decree that all parts of the kingdom in every script and language of the empire, the king ironically assures the strengthening of the Jewish community rather than the pagan conformity the advisors desired.

2:1—3:15 Esther, Mordecai, and Haman. The initial incident of Vashti’s refusal to come when summoned by Xerxes has set the stage for the next development in the story. The complex relationships between the three main characters—Esther, Mordecai, and Haman—unfold when Esther is taken to the harem during the search for a new queen of Persia.

2:1–18 Esther Made Queen. The coronation of a young Jewish girl as queen of Persia begins to show God’s sovereign power to oversee the protection of his people. God does this not through miracles, but through the exercise of his providence through the decisions of pagan people.

2:1–4 The gathering of virgins is an unusual way to select a new queen, though a later Persian king is said to have replenished his large harem by the same method. The author is ironically showing that the king whose word was irrevocable law actually was largely swayed by the advice of his advisors in even the most personal area of his life.

2:5-6 Mordecai . . . who had been carried into exile from Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar. See Introduction: Particular Challenges, 2. A tablet discovered in 1904 in Persepolis, another Persian royal city, contains the name Marduka, who was an official during the early years of Xerxes’ reign, corresponding in time to the Esther story. There is no way to know if that Marduka is the same man as Mordecai.

2:7 Mordecai raised Esther because she was an orphan. Esther is the only person in the story with two names, perhaps indicating her plight of living in two worlds—the Jewish world in which she was raised and the pagan world of the opulent and treacherous Persian court into which she was forced.

2:10 had not revealed her nationality. Cf. 2:20. Esther’s reaction contrasts with that of Daniel and his friends in Babylon, who had also been carried into exile but who didn’t hesitate to make their identities known and continued to hold to their religious convictions.

2:12 twelve months of beauty treatments. Archaeologists have found ancient cosmetic burners used to perfume women’s skin and clothing with the scent of roses, cloves, or musk.

2:16 the seventh year of his reign. This is 479 BC, four years after the great banquet of ch. 1. During those intervening years, Xerxes was off fighting a disastrous war with Greece. His humiliating defeat depleted the treasuries of the Persian Empire, perhaps making Haman’s offer in 3:9 more tempting.

2:17 more than any of the other virgins. Despite any moral ambiguity involved in her night with the king, an uncircumcised man to whom she was not married, it is the means by which Esther becomes the queen of Persia, the role through which she later saves her whole nation, the nation from which the Messiah later comes. The author doesn’t comment on Esther’s night with the king and avoids the word “married,” though it is implied, perhaps because at about this time intermarriage had become an issue for the exiles returning to Jerusalem (Ezra 9:12; 10:10–17).

2:19–23 Mordecai Uncovers a Conspiracy. In another example of God’s providence, Mordecai thwarts an assassination plot that puts him in good standing with the king (see 6:1–2).

2:20 kept secret her family background and nationality. See note on v. 10. Even after becoming queen, Esther hides her identity, which puts her in even greater jeopardy when Haman proposes to annihilate the Jews without knowing he is targeting the queen herself.

3:1–15 Haman’s Plot to Destroy the Jews. The crisis coming upon the Jewish people is defined in this chapter. Because Persia ruled such a vast area, including Judah and Jerusalem, this plot threatened to annihilate all of God’s covenant people.

3:1 After Mordecai thwarts a plot against Xerxes’ life, the ancient reader would expect the king to honor him. Instead, the king “honored Haman . . . the Agagite.” Agagite. Although the term means little to the modern reader, it would have identified Haman as a perennial enemy of God’s people (v. 10). Agag was the king of the Amalekites at the time Saul was king of Israel (1 Sam 15). Because the Amalekites had been the first nation to try to destroy God’s people as they journeyed to the promised land, God promised Moses that he would be at war with them from generation to generation (Exod 17:8–16). Once the people settled in the land, God commanded Saul to wipe out the Amalekites (Deut 25:17–19; 1 Sam 15:1–3), but Saul failed to kill Agag. The descendants of Agag were a threat to the existence of God’s people ever after. By calling Haman an Agagite, the author is characterizing him as an enemy of the Jews, and his conflict with Mordecai as yet another episode in the age-old conflict between God’s nation and the powers that sought to destroy it.

3:2 Mordecai would not kneel down or pay [Haman] honor. The author doesn’t explain this. Whether it was personal resentment, political enmity, or religious conviction, Mordecai’s personal decision set into motion life-threatening consequences for his people.

3:7 the pur (that is, the lot) was cast. Pûr (plural pûrîm) is the Hebrew form of an Akkadian word used to refer to cube-shaped objects similar to modern dice that were commonly used in the ancient world to inquire of deity (cf. Josh 18:6). The Jewish festival of Purim takes its name from this word in the story of Esther and celebrates that only God’s sovereignty, not the roll of the dice, determines the destiny of his people. The lot was cast in the first (Jewish) month of Nisan and falls on the twelfth month of Adar, eleven months later, as the auspicious time for the plot to be carried out.

3:9 let a decree be issued to destroy them. Haman advises the king to destroy the Jews. Not satisfied with punishing Mordecai alone, Haman initiates an attempt of genocide against God’s people. ten thousand talents of silver. Represented two-thirds of the annual income of the Persian Empire and would presumably have been confiscated from the victims of the genocide. Although Xerxes refused the money (v. 11), it would have provided enormous financial incentive to those who carried out the decree.

3:12-13 on the thirteenth day of the first month [the decree is written] . . . to destroy, kill and annihilate all the Jews . . . on a single day, the thirteenth . . . of Adar. The genocide is to occur eleven months after the decree is written. Ironically, the decree goes out on the very eve of Passover (cf. Exod 12:18; Lev 23:5; Num 28:16), the feast that commemorates even to this day the deliverance of Israel from Egypt and the founding of God’s covenant nation. The threat would have reinforced doubts at the time about the exiles’ standing with God. The timing heightens the glory of the subsequent deliverance and links it to God’s promises made at the time of the exodus (Exod 17:14–16).

4:1–17 Mordecai Persuades Esther to Help. This chapter presents the defining moment in Esther’s life that makes her a good example of faithfulness to God that can be imitated by both men and women. Despite the danger to herself and her previous attempts to conceal her identity, Esther decides to identify herself with God’s covenant people. This defining moment develops her identity in the story from a young Jewish girl to the powerful queen of Persia. Only after she identifies herself with God’s people does she fully embrace the purpose for which God has positioned her. From this point onward, she no longer takes orders from Mordecai, but he follows her instructions (v. 17).

4:1–5 Mordecai Mourns Over Haman’s Decree. Mordecai realizes the extent of the threat and publicly mourns in the customs of the day.

4:1 tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the city, wailing. A sign of grief and sorrow. This gesture of tearing one’s clothes is common in the stories of the OT (cf. Num 14:6; 2 Sam 1:11; 3:31; 13:31; Ezra 9:3; Isa 36:22). The Persians would have recognized the significance of Mordecai’s act, for according to the historian Herodotus, they also tore their clothes in grief when defeated by the Greeks in battle at Salamis. Wearing sackcloth and ashes further indicated grief and repentance.

4:3 with fasting, weeping and wailing. Echoes traditional prophetic language (e.g., Joel 2:12–14). Even though repentance is not mentioned in Esther, those who originally heard or read the story would likely have recognized the phrase as a call to turn to God in the face of the impending calamity.

4:6–14 Mordecai Begs Esther to Intercede. Because Esther is isolated from the city, she is unaware of what is transpiring (v. 5) and must rely on her attendants. Mordecai’s plea for Esther’s intervention with the king has dark overtones. If she stays silent, he says, she and her family will still perish. Is he subtly threatening to reveal her identity if she herself does not? He reminds her of the unusual circumstances that put her into the position she holds and asks her to consider that it has been for the very reason of intervening to save the Jewish nation at this moment in history.

4:11 When Mordecai asks Esther to intercede for her people with the king, Esther reminds him that “any man or woman who approaches the king in the inner court without being summoned” puts their life in jeopardy. And five years into her marriage, Esther has not been summoned for 30 days. There were only seven men in the king’s court, known as his “Friends,” who were permitted to see the king. Haman had access to the king, but Esther seems reluctant to request an audience. Perhaps she feared being ignored or did not wish to arouse the suspicions of the court by pleading for the Jewish people. Moreover, it was likely that the ruthless king would not extend the golden scepter if the queen’s death would be somehow expedient to his other interests.

4:13 Do not think . . . you alone . . . will escape. Mordecai’s reply seems almost a threat to reveal her identity as a Jew.

4:14 relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place. Even if Esther fails to act on behalf of her people, Mordecai expresses confidence that they will be delivered. Without referring to God or the promises of his covenant, this confidence against all odds reflects a deep trust in God’s ability to move circumstances to accomplish his purposes. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this? In what is probably the most famous sentence of the book, with this rhetorical question Mordecai reminds Esther of the divine providence that has guided her life. All who read this question do well to reflect on the significance of the circumstances of their own lives.

4:15–17 Esther Calls a Three-Day Fast. This is the first time that Esther takes the initiative, deciding that a three-day fast is called for by the dire situation she faces as she prepares for her uninvited audience with the king. Esther’s call for a fast by the Jews of Susa is described in wording that strengthens the parallel with the prophetic call found, for instance, in Joel 2:15–16a. Her doubt that she will survive is not hyperbole given the intrigue in the court and Vashti’s previous banishment. But this is not fatalism; it is her recognition that she is caught up in something much bigger than her own life.

4:16 And if I perish, I perish. This is the defining moment in Esther’s life, when she decides to identify herself with God’s people, even at the risk of her life. The author’s explicit silence about God, the covenant, and Jewish practices such as prayer seems a deliberate choice that heightens and highlights the message of God’s divine providence—his ability to act through the ordinary decisions of morally ambiguous and even pagan people. Esther’s decision to identify herself with God’s covenant people is an example to be followed in every generation. By showing all the good that came from her decision to identify with God’s covenant people, the author implicitly invites his readers to consider their own relationship with God.

4:17 Up until this point in the story, Mordecai has been telling Esther what to do; from this point to the end, Queen Esther takes charge.

5:1–14 Esther’s Request to the King. It is no doubt because of this scene that the book comes to be called “Esther” and not “Mordecai.” Robed in her royal garments, the queen of Persia courageously goes before the king uninvited with the clever strategy of inviting the king and Haman to a banquet the next day. The suspense rises, but Haman’s defenses are lowered.

5:1–5a Esther Appears Uninvited Before the King. Esther’s uninvited audience with the king is the point of highest plot tension. It was common for the king’s bodyguards to kill anyone who approached the king uninvited, and because of the nature of court intrigue, even royal wives were not beyond suspicion. Esther is putting herself at considerable risk.

5:1 Another of the story’s ironies: While Vashti risked her life by refusing to appear before Xerxes when summoned (1:12), now Esther risks her life by appearing before the king unsummoned. Esther goes to the king as the queen of Persia, dressed in her royal robes, in defense of her people as she takes up the power of her position. From ch. 5 onward, Esther is portrayed as queen of the world’s mightiest empire. She comes into her own only after she decides to align herself with God’s people. the third day. In Jewish tradition, the “third day” symbolized a day of deliverance (cf. Gen 22:4; 31:22; Hos 6:2; Jonah 1:17). It is on the third day that Esther is granted life instead of death (v. 2).

5:2 gold scepter. Foreshadows the deliverance of her people. Christians and Jews alike would probably be reluctant to see in the ruthless and pagan king Xerxes a type of God himself. That was almost certainly not the author’s intent. Nevertheless, this is a picture of grace as Esther approaches the king and completes the gesture by touching the tip of the extended scepter. The scene portrays the power of absolute monarchs, providing an analogy for the biblical portrayal of God as king. Had God not extended the cross of Jesus Christ to the world, all would die in his presence. On the third day, after the final judgment took place on the cross, Jesus Christ arose to imperishable life, guaranteeing safety to enter God’s presence to all who reach out in faith to touch that cross-shaped scepter.

5:3 Even up to half the kingdom. An idiom commonly used by ancient royalty and not intended to be taken literally. It simply means that the king is disposed to be generous in meeting a request (cf. Mark 6:23).

5:4–8 The banqueting motif builds in this scene in which Esther uses a delay tactic to invite the king and Haman to not one, but two, banquets. Previously in the story, when Xerxes is drinking wine, Vashti ends up losing her royal position and power. Will the same thing happen to Queen Esther? Because the story tells the origin of the feast, or banquet, of Purim, the author highlights the role of banquets at decisive moments of the story.

5:5b–8 Esther Prepares a Banquet for the King and Haman. Esther’s strategy is indirect as she simply invites the king and Haman to a banquet on the next day, where she will catch Haman with his defenses down.

5:9–14 Haman’s Rage Against Mordecai. Esther’s invitation to Haman to join her and the king for a banquet the next day increases Haman’s sense of power, which ironically also heightens his anger when he sees Mordecai’s refusal to bow in his presence as he leaves the palace.

5:14 fifty cubits. About 75 feet or 23 meters. It was the practice in the ancient world to display the body of a dead enemy by impaling it on a pole in public view. The pole Haman sets up is enormously high, making the author’s point that its size is really the measure of Haman’s overweening pride (cf. 6:6).

6:1—9:19 The Reversal of Outcome. The story of Esther documents a reversal of outcome for the Jews of Persia that is commemorated by the annual festival of Purim. Chs. 1–5 describe the background for the story, introduce the crisis, and explain the interpersonal dynamics that bring the episode to its highest point of tension. Chs. 6–9 reverse many of the events of the first half of the story and bring the denouement to the crisis that threatens to annihilate God’s covenant people.

6:1–14 Mordecai Honored. The reversal of the Jews’ outcome begins when Haman’s plot to kill Mordecai backfires and he ends up honoring Mordecai instead. The relationship between Mordecai and Haman reflects the larger dynamic between God’s covenant people and the pagan powers under which they live.

6:1–3 The King Has a Sleepless Night. During the night between Esther’s first and second banquets, “the king could not sleep” (v. 1), a seemingly insignificant event. In another remarkable incident of providence, the king discovers that nothing has been done to reward Mordecai for saving the king from an assassination attempt (2:21–23), and that discovery begins the undoing of Haman.

6:4–9 Haman Seeks the King’s Permission to Kill Mordecai Immediately. The irony of this turn of events is delightful. Becoming too impatient to wait for the edict of death against Mordecai and his people, Haman prepares to execute Mordecai immediately, just as the king prepares to honor him! And because Mordecai’s honor stems from a thwarted assassination plot against the king, Haman’s intense desire to kill Mordecai might raise questions in the king’s mind about Haman’s loyalty.

6:4 Just as the king is considering what he should do to honor Mordecai, Haman comes “to speak to the king about impaling Mordecai on the pole.” Haman’s and Mordecai’s outcomes begin to reverse.

6:7–9 The king’s robe, bed, and throne were believed to have almost magical powers to impart the benefits of royalty. For Haman, no other honor is left to him but to partake of the king’s own power, prestige, and stature. Even without magical powers, a man permitted to publicly wear the king’s robe would be vested with a certain dignity and prestige in the eyes of his peers and the public (cf. 1 Sam 18:1–5).

6:10–14 Mordecai Is Honored Instead. God’s providence intervenes at just the moment Mordecai is to be condemned to death. Instead of a humiliating death, Mordecai receives prestigious honors that Haman coveted for himself.

6:10 do just as you have suggested for Mordecai the Jew. There would have been no greater humiliation for Haman than the king’s words. This is arguably the most ironically comic scene in the entire Bible. An unsuspecting Haman enters the king’s court and magnificently trips over his huge pride. Haman is humiliated; Mordecai is honored. The reversal of fortunes has begun.

6:13 Since Mordecai . . . is of Jewish origin, you cannot stand against him. The full extent of Haman’s tragic miscalculation begins to unfold, and Haman’s own wife and advisors announce the victory of God’s people against all odds.

7:1–10 Haman Impaled. The irony continues as Haman himself meets the humiliating death he had plotted for Mordecai.

7:1–2 Esther Prepares a Second Banquet for the King and Haman. Little does the king or Haman know what awaits them at Queen Esther’s banquet! Esther now begins the delicate and dangerous task of accusing Haman without incriminating the king, who had, after all, sealed Haman’s desired decree of death for the Jews with full knowledge and approval.

7:3–7 Esther Reveals Her Jewish Identity and Accuses Haman. Through a series of delay tactics, Esther has heightened the king’s interest and raised the tension of the story. In a scene that brings Nathan’s accusation against David to mind (2 Sam 12:1–7), Esther cleverly plays her hand as she reveals her identity to the king by inciting him to ask her a question she cannot refuse to answer. Haman is the one! And Haman cannot deny what the king already knows: that he indeed is the one who contrived the edict of death against the Jews.

7:3–5 Queen Esther finally reveals what brought her to seek the king.

7:4 I and my people. Esther’s life and the life of her people are one and the same; her fate is one with that of her people. destroyed, killed and annihilated. By quoting the exact words of Haman’s edict (cf. 3:13) but using the passive voice, Esther delays mentioning Haman’s name or the fact that it was the king himself who sealed her fate (cf. 3:9, 11). The tactic works for Esther, and Xerxes’ anger and indignation erupt with the demand that she tell him who would dare do this (v. 5).

7:7 Esther’s accusation of Haman sends Xerxes into an enraged quandary that drives him out into the garden to think. Can he punish Haman for a plot he himself approved? If his decree is irrevocable, how can he rescind it?

7:8–10 The King Orders Haman Executed. Did Haman know that the Persian queen was related to Mordecai when he plotted the death edict against the Jews? Perhaps not, but the king’s suspicions were not working in Haman’s favor. The king was enraged, and he paced in his garden as he pondered the ambiguities of the problem he faced. But Haman’s final unwise act settled any doubts in the king’s mind. Haman’s violation of harem protocol (see v. 8 and note) was a personal betrayal!

7:8 falling on the couch where Esther was reclining. Harem protocol dictated that no one but the king could be left alone with a woman of the king’s harem, much less a royal wife. Haman should have left Esther’s presence when the king retreated to the garden, but his choice was either to follow the angry king or to flee the room, suggesting guilt or inviting pursuit. Even in the presence of others, a man was not to approach a woman of the king’s harem within seven steps. This unfortunate moment of impropriety is Haman’s last and fatal act, and it resolves the king’s dilemma. It is ironic that though Mordecai refused to fall before Haman, Haman falls before a Jewish woman who has become his sovereign queen. they covered Haman’s face. The meaning of this phrase is uncertain. In some ancient cultures, the head of those sentenced to death was covered, but it is not known if that was a practice in ancient Persia. If intended metaphorically, it may mean that this turn of events covered Haman’s face with shame, much as his head had been covered in grief (6:12).

7:9 The pole Haman had set up for Mordecai ironically becomes Haman’s own end. Haman turns against Mordecai at just the time the king is remembering that Mordecai had thwarted an assassination attempt on his life. This convergence of events perhaps implicates Haman with the conspirators in the king’s mind, whether it was true or not. Although many older English Bibles describe a “gallows” here, death by asphyxiation from a noose around the neck was not a form of execution used in Persia.

8:1–14 The King’s Edict in Behalf of the Jews. These verses record the reversals of what had happened earlier in the story against the Jews, using the same language found there. Compare the seven pairings: 8:2 and 3:10; 8:9 and 3:12; 8:10 and 3:12; 8:11 and 3:13; 8:13 and 3:14; 8:14 and 3:15; 8:15 and 4:1. Although Haman is gone, the threat against the Jews still stands in his irrevocable edict of death.

8:1 Esther Introduces Mordecai to the King. Although Haman planned to plunder the Jews, his own property is confiscated instead. Because Queen Esther and Mordecai are wronged by Haman’s evil, “that same day King Xerxes gave Queen Esther the estate of Haman, the enemy of the Jews,” as restitution.

8:2 Mordecai Receives the Signet Ring Previously Worn by Haman. This is the first of seven explicit reversals (see note on vv. 1–14). In 3:10 the king gave his signet ring, symbolizing his delegated authority, to Haman, expressing his approval of Haman’s plot against the Jews. In this verse the king gives the same ring to Mordecai as an expression of his delegated authority.

8:3–8 Esther Gives Haman’s Property to Mordecai. Part of Haman’s scheme against the Jews was to confiscate the possessions of those killed (see 3:9 and note). Instead, the throne confiscates Haman’s estate and Esther appoints Mordecai its administrator.

8:9–14 Mordecai Writes the Counteredict. Even though Haman himself is gone, the irrevocable edict he had issued in the king’s name still stands. The reversals continue as Mordecai writes a counteredict against Haman’s edict described in exactly the same terms (cf. 8:9 and 3:12; 8:10 and 3:12; 8:11 and 3:13; 8:13 and 3:14; 8:14 and 3:15; 8:15 and 4:1).

8:11 The counteredict, using exactly the same terms specified in Haman’s edict in 3:13, grants the Jews the right to defend themselves when the day of death arrives. It further echoes 1 Sam 15:2–3, the Lord’s words to Israel’s King Saul, who failed to annihilate the Amalekites as God commanded.

8:15—9:19 The Triumph of the Jews. The day of Haman’s edict finally arrives. On this day meant to annihilate the Jews, the tables are turned and the Jewish people not only survive but get “the upper hand over those who hated them” (9:1).

8:15–17 A Day of Joy. These verses represent the complete reversal of fortune and resolution of the risk to the Jewish people that began in 3:8–15. The joy in Susa (v. 15b) at the resolution of the conflict corresponds to the bewilderment of Susa when it first heard the decree against the Jews (3:15). Mordecai has replaced Haman as the king’s closest advisor (v. 15; cf. 3:10). And rather than being the victims of a heinous plot, the Jewish race was held in esteem and even fear because of their newly gained power (v. 17b; cf. 3:13).

9:1–10 The Jews Kill Many, Including Haman’s Ten Sons. Mordecai’s counteredict gave the Jewish people the authority to defend themselves when the day of Haman’s edict against them arrived. Rather than falling helplessly before powerful enemies, God’s people under the leadership of Esther and Mordecai had the resources to fight back to gain victory over those who hated them. So that Haman’s sons would not survive to avenge their father’s death, they too fall on that tragic day that was their father’s own doing (vv. 7–10).

9:1 the tables were turned. The story ends not by simply cancelling the threat but by reversing the fortunes of the Jews in Persia.

9:10, 15, 16 But they did not lay their hands on the plunder. Even though Haman plotted to plunder the Jews after annihilating them, the Jews do not plunder their enemies. This confirms that they perceive this episode as holy war, for when God commanded destruction of a people whose evil could be remedied in no other way, the human agents of that judgment were not to profit from it in any way. Queen Esther and Mordecai fulfill God’s covenant promise (Exod 17:8, 14–16; Deut 25:17–19) where King Saul had failed (1 Sam 15:18–19).

9:11–19 Esther Asks for Their Bodies to Be Displayed and for a Second Day of Killing in Susa. Mordecai’s counteredict authorized the Jews to defend themselves throughout the empire only on Adar 13 (see v. 2 and 8:11–12), but Queen Esther asks the king to “give the Jews in Susa permission to carry out this day’s edict tomorrow also” (v. 13). Interpreters have found a disquieting ambiguity in Esther’s character here. Perhaps Esther’s request shows that she herself had begun to feel the heady intoxication of the power she had so remarkably attained. On the other hand, Esther’s reasons for a second day of killing in Susa may have been the decision of a wise and discerning leader, for Haman likely had many in the city who were loyal to him and his decree.

9:17–19 At the time the book of Esther was written, Purim was celebrated in some places on two consecutive days but in other places on only one day. Here the author explains the origin of that difference.

9:20–32 Purim Established. Mordecai (vv. 20–21) and Esther (v. 29) together establish the celebration of this great deliverance as an annual holiday that is still celebrated today in the Jewish religion, usually in February-March. It is fitting that the fulfillment in the Persian period of God’s ancient promise to protect his people should be written down and commemorated. When God promised to wipe out the enemies of his people, he told Moses to “write [it] on a scroll as something to be remembered” (Exod 17:14). The Jewish people imprisoned in the Nazi death camps treasured the story of Esther precisely because it promised the survival of their race despite Hitler’s attempts to annihilate them.

But Esther is also in the Christian canon of Scripture. Throughout history Esther has been read as symbolizing the final salvation of God’s people at the end of time. It forms a link between the promises God made at the exodus and the eschatological destiny of God’s people. Purim was a spontaneous celebration of the joy of finding oneself still standing the day after an irrevocable death decree was executed. The day of death had come and gone, and God’s people were still alive!

9:20–28 Mordecai Writes to the Jews of Persia. Although there was great joy at the time of the deliverance, this event was recognized as signifying that God’s faithfulness to protect his covenant people against all odds, humanly speaking, should be commemorated and celebrated annually by every generation.

9:29–32 Esther Writes to Confirm Mordecai’s Letter. This story was canonized with the title “Esther,” not “Mordecai,” though it is difficult to decide which of them is the main character due to the interdependent nature of their leadership. This “daughter of Abihail” (v. 29) rose to the throne of Persia through providential circumstances to intervene and change the course of history for her people. She had full authority as queen to confirm the establishment of Purim as a holiday that could be openly and legally celebrated by the Jews throughout the Persian Empire.

10:1–3 The Greatness of Mordecai. This epilogue documents that, together with Esther, Mordecai rose to a high position in the Persian Empire, second only to Xerxes himself (v. 3). His work “for the good of his people” (v. 3) and his advocacy for their welfare made him a prominent leader who has long been celebrated. Later in the Hellenistic period, Purim was sometimes referred to as “Mordecai’s Day” (in the Apocrypha, see 2 Maccabees 15:36).