3 Then Esther again came before the king, falling down at his feet, and made request to him with weeping, that he would put a stop to the evil purposes of Haman the Agagite and the designs which he had made against the Jews. 4 Then the king put out the rod of gold to Esther, and she got up before the king. 5 And she said, If it is the king's pleasure and if I have his approval and this thing seems right to the king and I am pleasing to him, then let letters be sent giving orders against those which Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, sent out for the destruction of the Jews in all divisions of the kingdom: 6 For how is it possible for me to see the evil which is to overtake my nation? how may I see the destruction of my people? 7 Then King Ahasuerus said to Esther the queen and to Mordecai the Jew, See now, I have given Esther the family of Haman, and he has come to his death by hanging, because he made an attack on the Jews. 8 So now send a letter about the Jews, writing whatever seems good to you, in the king's name, and stamping it with the king's ring: for a writing signed in the king's name and stamped with the king's ring may not be changed. 9 Then at that time, on the twenty-third day of the third month, which is the month Sivan, the king's scribes were sent for; and everything ordered by Mordecai was put in writing and sent to the Jews and the captains and the rulers and the chiefs of all the divisions of the kingdom from India to Ethiopia, a hundred and twenty-seven divisions, to every division in the writing commonly used there, and to every people in their language, and to the Jews in their writing and their language. 10 The letters were sent in the name of King Ahasuerus and stamped with his ring, and they were taken by men on horseback, going on the quick-running horses used for the king's business, the offspring of his best horses: 11 In these letters the king gave authority to the Jews in every town to come together and make a fight for their lives, and to send death and destruction on the power of any people in any part of the kingdom attacking them or their children or their women, and to take their goods from them by force, 12 On one day in every division of the kingdom of Ahasuerus, that is, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month Adar. 13 A copy of the writing, to be made public as an order in every division of the kingdom, was given out to all the peoples, so that the Jews might be ready when that day came to give punishment to their haters. 14 So the men went out on the quick-running horses used on the king's business, wasting no time and forced on by the king's order; and the order was given out in Shushan, the king's town.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Esther 8:3-14
Commentary on Esther 8:3-14
(Read Esther 8:3-14)
It was time to be earnest, when the church of God was at stake. Esther, though safe herself, fell down and begged for the deliverance of her people. We read of no tears when she begged for her own life, but although she was sure of that, she wept for her people. Tears of pity and tenderness are the most Christ-like. According to the constitution of the Persian government, no law or decree could be repealed or recalled. This is so far from speaking to the wisdom and honour of the Medes and Persians, that it clearly shows their pride and folly. This savours of that old presumption which ruined all, We will be as gods! It is God's prerogative not to repent, or to say what can never be altered or unsaid. Yet a way was found, by another decree, to authorize the Jews to stand upon their defence. The decree was published in the languages of all the provinces. Shall all the subjects of an earthly prince have his decrees in languages they understand, and shall God's oracles and laws be locked up from any of his servants in an unknown tongue?