Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Esther 9:10

The ten sons of Haman the son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews, slew they; but on the spoil laid they not their hand.

10. on the spoil they laid not their hand ] although according to the terms of the edict (Est 8:11) they had a legal right to do this. Their desire was deliverance and also vengeance, but not material gain. Cp. the case of Abraham, when he refused to make himself liable to the imputation that he had been enriched by his overthrow of the king of Sodom’s enemies (Gen 14:23).

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Est 9:10

But on the spoil laid they not their hand.

Leaving the spoilt

It is not always good to seize all the money to which one has a legal right. There are many cases in which a regard to ones own credit, and there are others in which a sense of duty, should bind up our hands from receiving what we might otherwise take without injustice. The kings edict gave the Jews the right to take the spoil of their enemies. If they had done so, the tongue of slanderers might have alleged that they had slain innocent persons to enrich themselves. (G. Lawson.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 10. The ten sons of Haman] Their names are given above. And it is remarked here, and in Es 9:16, where the account is given of the number slain in the provinces, that the Jews laid no hands on the spoil. They stood for their lives, and gave full proof that they sought their own personal safety, and not the property of their enemies, though the decree in their favour gave them authority to take the property of all those who were their adversaries, Es 8:11.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

Either because they were desirous it should come into the kings treasury; or because they would leave it to their children, that it might appear that what they did that day was not done out of malice to their persons and families, or covetousness of their estates, but out of mere necessity, and by that great and approved law of self-preservation, and that they were ready to mix mercy with judgment and would not deal with their enemies so ill as it was apparent that their enemies intended to do against them.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

[See comments on Es 9:7].

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

(10) On the spoil laid they not their hand.This they might have done, according to the edict (Est. 8:11).

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

10. On the spoil laid they not their hand The king’s decree granted them, as it had done their enemies, the right to the spoils, (Est 3:13; Est 8:11,) but they showed that they had no desire to enrich themselves by the goods of their fallen foes.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Est 9:10 The ten sons of Haman the son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews, slew they; but on the spoil laid they not their hand.

Ver. 10. The ten sons of Haman ] Of whom he had so boasted, Est 5:12 , and bore himself bold, as believing that being so full of children, he should leave the rest of his substance to his babes, Psa 17:14 . These ten likely were ringleaders to those Hamanists in Shushan, that durst appear in so bad a cause, being evil eggs of an evil bird. Non enim fieri ullo mode potest, ut ex me et Agrippina vir bonus nascatur, said Domitius, the father of Nero; It cannot be that of myself and Agrippina should come any good man. K (Dio. in Ner.). Haman brought up his sons to bring down his house; and was a parricide to them rather than a parent. His darling Vajezatha he corrected not, but cockered; no wonder, therefore, that he proved to be of a gastrill-kind (disquieting his own nest), of a viperous brood; and, therefore, though not hanged together with his father, and the whole family (as the Apocryphal additions of Esther, Esther 16:18, tell us, but not truly), yet slain in this insurrection at Shushan, together with the rest of his brethren; the good people crying out, as once they did at Rome, when the son of Maximinus, the emperor, was put to death, Ex pessimo genere ne catulum quidem habendum, Let not one whelp be left of so evil a litter.

But on the spoil laid they not their hand ] Lest the king should be damnified, or themselves justly taxed of covetousness and cruelty. “Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the Church of God,” 1Co 10:32 . Non semper omnia quae licent sunt facienda Not everything which is permitted should be done. (Lavat.). This is oft repeated in this chapter, to their great commendation; that although, by the king’s grant, they might have taken the spoil, Est 8:11 , yet they did it not: 1. To show that they were God’s executioners, not thieves and robbers. 2. To gratify the king for his courtesy towards them, by leaving the spoil wholly to his treasury. 3. It is not unlikely, saith an interpreter (Fevard), that Mordecai and Esther had admonished them how ill Saul had sped with his spoils of the Amalekites, and Achan with his wedge of gold, which served but to cleave his body and soul asunder, and his Babylonish garment, which proved to be his burial sheet.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

The ten sons. In all Hebrew manuscripts and printed editions these ten names are written with the word veeth, being the demonstrative pronoun = self, or this same, or himself, thus: veeth Parshandatha, veeth Dalphon, veeth Aspatha, veeth Poratha, veeth Adalia, veeth Aridatha, veth Parmashta, veeth Arisai, veeth Aridai, veeth Vajezatha. It has been suggested that it is because they were hanged one above another. But, as each Hebrew character is a number as well as a letter, the numerical value of these names (regarded as an addition sum) amounts to 10,244, or 13 x 788; while Haman the Agagite = 117 (13×9), and Zeresh = 507 (13×39), and the whole family = 10,868 (13×836). See App-10for the significance of this. On the other hand, ‘Eth-Hadassah hi’ (Est 2:7) adds up 1,152 = 8×122, and “Mordecai”, son of Jair, son of Shimei, son of Kish, a Benjarnite (Est 2:5), adds up 1,912 = (8 x 239). See App-10.

the enemy of the Jews. See note on Est 3:10.

Slew they. See note on “Benjamite” (Est 2:5).

laid they not their hand. Compare note on “take the spoil” (Est 3:13). They probably remembered taking the spoil instead of obeying in 1Sa 15. Hence the emphasis on this in verses: Est 9:10, Est 9:15, Est 9:16.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

ten sons: Est 5:11, Exo 20:5, Job 18:18, Job 18:19, Job 27:13-15, Psa 21:10, Psa 109:12, Psa 109:13

enemy: Est 3:1, Est 7:4, Est 7:6, Exo 17:16

but on the spoil: It does not appear that the Jews slew any person who did not rise up to destroy them: they stood for their lives; and gave full proof that they sought their own personal safety, and not the property of their enemies: though the decree in their favour gave them authority to take the property of all their adversaries. Est 9:15, Est 9:16, Est 8:11, Gen 14:23, Rom 12:17, Phi 4:8

Reciprocal: Gen 34:27 – spoiled 2Sa 21:6 – hang Est 3:13 – the spoil Est 9:2 – gathered Est 9:24 – the enemy Dan 6:24 – their children Amo 6:9 – if

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Est 9:10. But on the spoil laid they not their hand The king had granted them leave to take it, Est 8:11, but they declined to do it; that it might appear what they did was not done out of malice or covetousness, but out of mere necessity, and according to the great law of self-preservation; that they might not so much as seem to desire any thing but their own safety; and that the king might have the greater kindness for them, in whose exchequer these goods were to come, if he pleased so to appoint, or to go to the children of such as were slain.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

9:10 The ten sons of Haman the son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews, slew they; but {e} on the spoil laid they not their hand.

(e) By which they declared that this was God’s just judgment on the enemies of his Church as they fought not for their own gain, but to execute his vengeance.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes