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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadWilliam Kelly Major Works Commentary - Esther 8:1 - 8:17
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Esther Chapter 8
But this was not all. It is not only that God thus completely caught in his own toils the cruel adversary of His people, but God would care for the Jews throughout the whole dominions of the king, where they were still under sentence of death. The deliverance was not yet complete. The prime enemy was destroyed, but they were still in danger; and so Mordecai, it is said, came before the king (Esther 8.) "For Esther had told what he was unto her." The king takes off his ring and gives it to Mordecai. The Jew accordingly comes now into the place of government in the earth. Their enemies are destroyed, but still they have to be vindicated and to be delivered completely throughout the empire. And Esther falls down at the feet of the king and beseeches him with tears to put away the mischief of Haman, and the king again holds out the golden sceptre, and Esther explains that the posts that had gone forth with the king's letters were carrying destruction to the Jew throughout his provinces. The king answers, "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. 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" (vers. 7, 8)
How then was the thing to be met? In this way - that throughout the whole empire by a fresh post are sent out letters "wherein the king granted the Jews which were in every city 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, both little ones and women, and to take the spoil of them for a prey." So it was done. "And Mordecai went out from the presence of the king," now with every sign of real honour. And "the Jews had light and gladness, and joy and honour. And in every province, and in every city whithersoever the king's commandment and his decree came, the Jews had joy and gladness, a feast and a good day."