Esther 8

Why is the book called Esther?

The Greek version of Esther has 6 additional chapters. Catholic Bibles today place these chapters in a separate section after the Book of Esther. Most European Christians used the additional chapters until the Reformation. Protestant and Jewish Bibles use only the 10 Hebrew chapters.

The Reformers didn’t generally like Esther.

Neither Luther nor Calvin wrote commentaries on Esther. Luther criticized the books of 2 Maccabees and Esther this way:

Structure: 10 banquets and a Chiasm.

Fasting

Chiasm X

Ahasuerus aka Achashverosh aka Xerxes

Purpose of Esther

Explain why we Jews celebrate Purim.

Show God working where we don’t expect him.

Esther 1: Queen Vashti Deposed

King Ahasuerus (Xerxes I) holds a lavish banquet for his nobles in Susa.

On the final day, he commands Queen Vashti to appear to display her beauty.

Vashti refuses, and the king, advised by his counselors, deposes her to prevent other women from disobeying their husbands.

A decree is issued that every man should be ruler of his own household.

Esther 2: Esther Becomes Queen

A search begins for a new queen.

Esther, a beautiful Jewish woman raised by her cousin Mordecai, is taken to the palace.

She keeps her Jewish identity secret, as instructed by Mordecai.

Esther wins favor with everyone, including the king, and is crowned queen.

Mordecai later discovers a plot to assassinate the king and reports it through Esther. The conspirators are executed, and the event is recorded in the royal chronicles.

Esther 3: Haman’s Plot Against the Jews

The king promotes Haman to a high position.

Everyone bows to Haman, but Mordecai refuses.

Haman is enraged and plots not just to punish Mordecai but to destroy all Jews in the empire.

He convinces the king to issue a decree for their extermination, and the date is set by casting lots (“Purim”).

Esther 4: Esther’s Decision to Act

Mordecai mourns publicly and urges Esther to plead with the king.

Initially hesitant, Esther fears approaching the king uninvited (a capital offense).

Mordecai challenges her, saying, “Who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”

Esther agrees to act and asks the Jews to fast for three days as she prepares to approach the king.

Esther 5:

Esther bravely approaches the king and invites him and Haman to two banquets, while Haman, consumed by pride and anger at Mordecai, plots to have him executed.

summarize

Esther 6:

The king can’t sleep and learns that Mordecai was never honored for saving his life. Haman, thinking the honor is for himself, suggests a grand reward—only to be told to give it to Mordecai. Haman is humiliated and warned that his downfall is coming.

Esther 7:

Queen Esther reveals to King Xerxes that Haman is plotting to destroy her people. The king is furious, and when he sees Haman begging Esther for mercy, he misinterprets it as an assault. Haman is then executed on the gallows he built for Mordecai.

Esther 8:1–2 CSB

That same day King Ahasuerus awarded Queen Esther the estate of Haman, the enemy of the Jews. Mordecai entered the king’s presence because Esther had revealed her relationship to Mordecai. The king removed his signet ring he had recovered from Haman and gave it to Mordecai, and Esther put him in charge of Haman’s estate.

Esther 8:3–6 CSB

Then Esther addressed the king again. She fell at his feet, wept, and begged him to revoke the evil of Haman the Agagite and his plot he had devised against the Jews. The king extended the gold scepter toward Esther, so she got up and stood before the king. She said, “If it pleases the king and I have found favor with him, if the matter seems right to the king and I am pleasing in his eyes, let a royal edict be written. Let it revoke the documents the scheming Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite wrote to destroy the Jews who are in all the king’s provinces. For how could I bear to see the disaster that would come on my people? How could I bear to see the destruction of my relatives?”

Esther 8:7–8 CSB

King Ahasuerus said to Esther the queen and to Mordecai the Jew, “Look, I have given Haman’s estate to Esther, and he was hanged on the gallows because he attacked the Jews. Write in the king’s name whatever pleases you concerning the Jews, and seal it with the royal signet ring. A document written in the king’s name and sealed with the royal signet ring cannot be revoked.”

Esther 8:9–10 CSB

On the twenty-third day of the third month—that is, the month Sivan—the royal scribes were summoned. Everything was written exactly as Mordecai commanded for the Jews, to the satraps, the governors, and the officials of the 127 provinces from India to Cush. The edict was written for each province in its own script, for each ethnic group in its own language, and to the Jews in their own script and language. Mordecai wrote in King Ahasuerus’s name and sealed the edicts with the royal signet ring. He sent the documents by mounted couriers, who rode fast horses bred in the royal stables.

Esther 8:11–14 CSB

The king’s edict gave the Jews in each and every city the right to assemble and defend themselves, to destroy, kill, and annihilate every ethnic and provincial army hostile to them, including women and children, and to take their possessions as spoils of war. This would take place on a single day throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month Adar. A copy of the text, issued as law throughout every province, was distributed to all the peoples so the Jews could be ready to avenge themselves against their enemies on that day. The couriers rode out in haste on their royal horses at the king’s urgent command. The law was also issued in the fortress of Susa.

Esther 8:15–17 CSB

Mordecai went from the king’s presence clothed in royal blue and white, with a great gold crown and a purple robe of fine linen. The city of Susa shouted and rejoiced, and the Jews celebrated with gladness, joy, and honor. In every province and every city where the king’s command and edict reached, gladness and joy took place among the Jews. There was a celebration and a holiday. And many of the ethnic groups of the land professed themselves to be Jews because fear of the Jews had overcome them.

How does Esther 8 relate to the Gospel?

Humanity is under a decree of death because of sin (Romans 6:23), but through Christ, God issues a new decree—one of grace and eternal life.

Esther steps into the throne room again to intercede for her people, risking her life to plead their cause.

The gospel brings a similar response as those Jews who received the good news: filled with joy, freedom, and peace.

After His saving work, Jesus was exalted to the right hand of God and reigns as King, similar to Mordecai’s exaltation.