Esther 9:14

9:1-19 The enemies of the Jews hoped to have power over them by the former edict. If they had attempted nothing against the people of God, they would not themselves have suffered. The Jews, acting together, strengthened one another. Let us learn to stand fast in one spirit, and with one mind, striving together against the enemies of our souls, who endeavour to rob us of our faith, which is more precious than our lives. The Jews, to the honour of their religion, showed contempt of wordly wealth, that they might make it appear they desired nothing except their own preservation. In every case the people of God should manifest humanity and disinterestedness, frequently refusing advantages which might lawfully be obtained. The Jews celebrated their festival the day after they had finished their work. When we have received great mercies from God, we ought to be speedy in making thankful returns to him.

And the king commanded it so to be done: and the decree was given at Shushan,.... That the Jews might have leave to seek out and slay the rest of their enemies in Shushan, on the fourteenth day, in like manner as they had on the thirteenth: and they hanged Haman's ten sons; on the same gallows very probably their father was hanged; the Targum gives us the distance between each person hanged thereon.

Verse 14. - They hanged the ten sons of Haman . Exposure on a cross was regarded as a deep disgrace, and was a punishment often inflicted by the Persians on persons killed in some other way (see Herod., 3:125; 7:238; Xen., 'Anab.,' 3. 1, § 17; Pint., 'Vit. Artax.,' § 17). Esther 9:14

13. let it be granted to the Jews which are in Shushan to do to-morrow also according unto this day's decree—Their enemies adroitly concealing themselves for the first day might have returned on the next, when they imagined that the privilege of the Jews was expired; so that that people would have been surprised and slain. The extension of the decree to another day at the queen's special desire has exposed her to the charge of being actuated by a cruel and vindictive disposition. But her conduct in making this request is capable of full vindication, on the ground (1) that Haman's sons having taken a prominent part in avenging their father's fall, and having been previously slain in the melee, the order for the exposure of their dead bodies on the gallows was only intended to brand them with public infamy for their malice and hatred to the Jews; and (2) the anti-Jewish party having, in all probability, been instigated through the arts or influence of Haman to acts of spiteful and wanton oppression, the existing state of feeling among the natives required some vigorous and decisive measure to prevent the outbreak of future aggressions. The very circumstances of their slaying 800 eight hundred Jews in the immediate vicinity of the court (v. 6, 15) is a proof of the daring energy and deep-rooted malice by which multidues were actuated against the Jews.

To order an extension, therefore, of the permissive edict to the Jews to defend themselves, was perhaps no more than affording an opportunity for their enemies to be publicly known. Though it led to so awful a slaughter of seventy-five thousand of their enemies, there is reason to believe that these were chiefly Amalekites, in the fall of whom on this occasion, the prophecies (Ex 17:14, 16; De 25:19) against that doomed race were accomplished.

The king commanded it so to be done. "Then was a decree given at Susa, and they hanged the ten sons of Haman." The decree given in Susa does not refer to the hanging of the sons of Haman, but to the permission given to the Jews to fight against their enemies on the morrow also. This is required not only by a comparison of Esther 8:13 , but also by the connection of the present verse; for in consequence of this decree the Jews assembled on the 14th Adar (comp. ויּקּהלוּ, then they assembled themselves, Esther 9:15 ), while the hanging of the sons of Haman, on the contrary, is related in an accessory clause by a simple perfect, תּלוּ.

See Deuteronomy 33:2 ; Esther 1:8 , Esther 1:13 , Esther 1:15 , Esther 1:19 ; Esther 2:8 ; Esther 3:8 , Esther 3:14-15 ; Esther 4:3 , Esther 4:8 , Esther 4:11 , Esther 4:16 ; Esther 8:13-14 , Esther 8:17 ; Esther 9:1 , Esther 9:13-14 ; and there seems to be no necessity for departing from the common translation. It contains a sense according to the truth in the case, and is in accordance with the Greek, Latin, and Syriac versions. For ye have prepared lying and corrupt words to speak before me - That is, "You have done this in asking me to state the dream Daniel 2:4, Daniel 2:7, and in the demand that the dream should be made known to you, in order that you may interpret it. I shall know by your inability to recal the dream that you have been acting a false and deceitful part, and that your pretensions were all false. Your wish, therefore, to have me state the dream will be shown to be a mere pretence, an artifice for delay, that you might put off the execution of the sentence with the hope of escaping altogether." Till the time be changed - That is, until a new state of things shall occur; either until his purpose might change, and his anger should subside or until there should be a change of government: It was natural for such thoughts to pass through the mind of the king, since, as matters could be no "worse" for them if the subject was delayed, there was a possibility that they might be "better" - for any change would be likely to be an advantage.

The sense given above is that in which the principal interpreters agree; but Houbigant protests against the prophecy signifying the continuance of this tribe, as the words, "in the morning devouring the prey," and "in the evening dividing the spoil," are supposed to imply; "because," he observes, "after the return from the Babylonish captivity, this tribe is no more mentioned." But this may be accounted for from the circumstance of its being associated with that of Judah, (see 1Kgs 12:21-24), after which it is scarcely ever mentioned but in that union. Being thus absorbed in the tribe of Judah, it continued from the morning till the evening of the Jewish dispensation, and consequently till the Lion of the tribe of Judah was seen in the wilderness of Israel. In the morning, according to Mr. Ainsworth, "signifies the first times; for Ehud of Benjamin was the second judge that saved the Israelites from the hands of the Moabites, Judges 3:15, etc. Saul of Benjamin was the first king of Israel; he and his son were great warriors, making a prey of many enemies, 1 Samuel 11:6, 1 Samuel 11:7, 1 Samuel 11:11; 1 Samuel 14:13, 1 Samuel 14:15, 1 Samuel 14:47, 1 Samuel 14:48. And the evening, the latter times; for Mordecai and Esther of Benjamin delivered the Jews from a great destruction, and slew their enemies, Esther 8:7, Esther 8:9, Esther 8:11; Esther 9:5, Esther 9:6, Esther 9:15, Esther 9:16."

Nehemiah 1:1 ; Esther 1:2 , and passim ), it held for nearly two centuries a commanding position in the ancient world. ‘From Susa, during this period, the peoples of W. Asia and E. Europe awaited their destiny; in the Apadâna tributary princes, ambassadors, and satraps, including the noblest of the Greeks, as Antalkidas (387 and 372), Pelopidas and Ismenias (367), did homage at the feet of the Great King. In the palaces of the citadel were enacted bloody harem-tragedies, in which eunuchs and women were the actors (Esther, Amytis, Amestris, Parysatis, Statira). Here Xerxes fell under the daggers of Artabanus and Aspamithras, and here Bagoas poisoned two kings’ (Billerbeck, Susa , p. 154). Susa was thus a suitable spot at which the seer should find himself in a vision that pourtrayed with some prominence both the rise and the fall of the Persian power ( Daniel 8:3-7 ). See further, on Susa, p. 125 f. [318] Maspero, Struggle of the Nations (with Map), p. 30 f. [319] B. Eb. Schrader, Keilinschriftliche Bibliothek (transliterations and translations of Assyrian and Babylonian inscriptions), 1889–1900. [320] Billerbeck, Susa (1893), pp. 128, 129, 133 ff. For other instances of visionary transference to a distant locality, see Ezekiel 8:3 to Ezekiel 11:24 , Ezekiel 40:2 ff. Shushan, the citadel ] the standing title of Shushan in the O. T. ( Nehemiah 1:1 ; Esther 1:2 ; Esther 1:5 ; Esther 2:3 ; Esther 2:5 ; Esther 2:8 ; Esther 3:15 ; Esther 8:14 ; Esther 9:6 ; Esther 9:11-12 ).