A single rider on a dirt road across the plain at first light, the citadel of Susa far off behind him

The Book of

Esther 8

Haman is dead, but his edict still stands, and no one can undo it.

17 verses≈ 5 min3 peopleBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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In this chapter

Where we are

1–2A new queenVashti out, Esther crowned
3The plotHaman buys a decree
4–5The riskEsther goes to the king
6–7The turnA sleepless night, a gallows
8–9OverturnedA second decree, and PurimChapter 8
10MordecaiSecond to the king

Esther Appeals for the Jews

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Queen Esther, veiled and robed, kneels upright on the pavement before the king's dais, weeping

And once again, Esther addressed the king. She fell at his feet weeping and begged him to revoke the evil scheme of Haman the Agagite, which he had devised against the Jews.

The king extended the gold scepter toward Esther, and she arose and stood before the king.

“If it pleases the king,” she said, “and if I have found favor in his sight, and the matter seems proper to the king, and I am pleasing in his sight, may an order be written to revoke the letters that the scheming Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, wrote to destroy the Jews in all the king’s provinces.

Esther 8:6

Reflect

My kindred

Esther had the king’s favor. Her enemy was dead, and she had his estate. She went back anyway, in tears, for people who could never repay her. Who is in danger that you could quietly walk away from? What would going back for them cost you?

The Decree of Xerxes

So King Xerxes said to Esther the Queen and Mordecai the Jew, “Behold, I have given Haman’s estate to Esther, and he was hanged on the gallows because he attacked the Jews. Now you may write in the king’s name as you please regarding the Jews, and seal it with the royal signet ring.

For a decree that is written in the name of the king and sealed with the royal signet ring cannot be revoked.”

Esther 8:8

At once the royal scribes were summoned, and on the twenty-third day of the third month (the month of Sivan), they recorded all of Mordecai’s orders to the Jews and to the satraps, governors, and princes of the 127 provinces from India to Cush—writing to each province in its own script, to every people in their own language, and to the Jews in their own script and language.

Mordecai wrote in the name of King Xerxes and sealed it with the royal signet ring. He sent the documents by mounted couriers riding on swift horses bred from the royal mares.

From MordecaiTo the Jews and all the provinces of King Xerxes

By these letters the king permitted the Jews in each and every city the right to assemble and defend themselves, to destroy, kill, and annihilate all the forces of any people or province hostile to them, including women and children, and to plunder their possessions. The single day appointed throughout all the provinces of King Xerxes was the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar.

A copy of the text of the edict was to be issued in every province and published to all the people, so that the Jews would be ready on that day to avenge themselves on their enemies.

Esther 8:11–13

The couriers rode out in haste on their royal horses, pressed on by the command of the king. And the edict was also issued in the citadel of Susa.

Two edicts, one day

Whiteboard

A sealed edict “cannot be revoked.” So Haman’s still stood. The answer used the same scribes, the same ring and the same couriers, and it set the Jews on their feet for the same day.

Question

Quick question

Esther begged the king to revoke Haman’s letters, and he answered with a law of his own empire.

Why could the king not simply cancel Haman’s edict?

Mordecai comes out on the palace steps in royal blue and white with a purple robe and a plain gold band

Mordecai went out from the presence of the king in royal garments of blue and white, with a large gold crown and a purple robe of fine linen.

Jewish families pour out into a lamplit lane of Susa at dusk, a long table of food set out among them

And the city of Susa shouted and rejoiced.

For the Jews it was a time of light and gladness, of joy and honor. In every province and every city, wherever the king’s edict and decree reached, there was joy and gladness among the Jews, with feasting and celebrating.

0:32

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

And many of the people of the land themselves became Jews, because the fear of the Jews had fallen upon them.

For the Jews it was a time of light and gladness, of joy and honor.

Esther 8:16

Pray

Thank God that no enemy’s plan is the last word. Pray for those who stand before the powerful on behalf of others. Ask for courage to go back for those in danger, and for light and gladness among God’s people today.

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Esther 8

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A verse to carry with you

For the Jews it was a time of light and gladness, of joy and honor.

Esther 8:16

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