81 On that day King Ahasuerus gave the house of Haman , the enemy of the Jews , to Queen Esther ; and Mordecai came before the king , for Esther had disclosed what he was to her. 2 The king took off his signet ring which he had taken away from Haman , and gave it to Mordecai . And Esther set Mordecai over the house of Haman .
3 Then Esther spoke again to the king , fell at his feet , wept and implored him to avert the evil scheme of Haman the Agagite and his plot which he had devised against the Jews . 4 The king extended the golden scepter to Esther . So Esther arose and stood before the king . 5 Then she said , " If it pleases e the king and if I have found favor before him and the matter seems proper to the king and I am pleasing in his sight , let it be written to revoke the letters devised by Haman , the son of Hammedatha the Agagite , which he wrote to destroy the Jews who are in all the king's provinces . 6 "For how can I endure to see the calamity which will befall my people , and how can I endure to see the destruction of my kindred ?" 7 So King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther and to Mordecai the Jew , "Behold , I have given the house of Haman to Esther , and him they have hanged on the gallows because e he had stretched out his hands against the Jews . 8 "Now you write to the Jews as you see fit , in the king's name , and seal it with the king's signet ring ; for a decree which is written in the name of the king and sealed with the king's signet ring may not be revoked ." 9 So the king's scribes were called at that time in the third month (that is, the month Sivan ), on the twenty-third e day; and it was written according to all that Mordecai commanded to the Jews , the satraps , the governors and the princes of the provinces which extended from India to Ethiopia , 127 e e provinces , to every province according to its script , and to every people according to their language as well as to the Jews according to their script and their language .
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Esther 8:1-9
Commentary on Esther 8:1-2
(Read Esther 8:1-2)
What Haman would have done mischief with, Esther will do good with. All the trust the king had reposed in Haman, he now placed in Mordecai: a happy change. See the vanity of laying up treasure upon earth; he that heapeth up riches, knoweth not who shall gather them. With what little pleasure, nay, with what constant vexation, would Haman have looked upon his estate, if he could have foreseen that Mordecai, the man he hated above all men in the world, should have rule over all that wherein he had laboured! It is our interest to make sure of those riches which will not be left behind, but which will go with us to another world.
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?