Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Esther 9:13
Then said Esther, If it please the king, let it be granted to the Jews which [are] in Shushan to do tomorrow also according unto this day’s decree, and let Haman’s ten sons be hanged upon the gallows.
13. There may have been special reasons why the extension of time was needed in Susa in order to ensure the Jews’ complete success in exterminating their foes there. The attitude of Esther and Mordecai towards the whole question of the permissibility of revenge was naturally that of their contemporaries, and so it is not to be judged by us on Christian principles.
be hanged upon the gallows ] She asks that the bodies may be impaled or hung on a gibbet, so as to crown their disgrace, and serve as a terrible example.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 13. Let Haman’s ten sons be hanged] They had been slain the preceding day, and now she requests that they may be exposed on posts or gibbets, as a terror to those who sought the destruction of the Jews.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
According to this days decree, i.e. to kill their implacable enemies. For it is not improbable that the greatest and worst of them had politicly withdrawn or hidden themselves for that day; after which, the commission granted to the Jews being expired, they confidently returned to their homes, where they were taken and slain by virtue of this private and unexpected decree.
Hamans sons were slain before; now let their bodies be hanged upon their fathers gallows, for their greater infamy, and the terror of all others who shall presume to abuse the king in like manner, or to persuade him to execute such cruelties upon his own subjects. This custom of hanging up the bodies of malefactors after their death was frequent among the Jews, and Persians also, as is well known.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
13. let it be granted to the Jewswhich are in Shushan to do to-morrow also according unto this day’sdecreeTheir enemies adroitly concealing themselves for thefirst day might have returned on the next, when they imagined thatthe privilege of the Jews was expired; so that that people would havebeen surprised and slain. The extension of the decree to another dayat the queen’s special desire has exposed her to the charge of beingactuated by a cruel and vindictive disposition. But her conduct inmaking this request is capable of full vindication, on the ground (1)that Haman’s sons having taken a prominent part in avenging theirfather’s fall, and having been previously slain in the melee,the order for the exposure of their dead bodies on the gallows wasonly intended to brand them with public infamy for their malice andhatred to the Jews; and (2) the anti-Jewish party having, in allprobability, been instigated through the arts or influence of Hamanto acts of spiteful and wanton oppression, the existing state offeeling among the natives required some vigorous and decisive measureto prevent the outbreak of future aggressions. The very circumstancesof their slaying 800 eight hundred Jews in the immediate vicinity ofthe court (Est 9:6; Est 9:15)is a proof of the daring energy and deep-rooted malice by whichmultidues were actuated against the Jews. To order an extension,therefore, of the permissive edict to the Jews to defend themselves,was perhaps no more than affording an opportunity for their enemiesto be publicly known. Though it led to so awful a slaughter ofseventy-five thousand of their enemies, there is reason to believethat these were chiefly Amalekites, in the fall of whom on thisoccasion, the prophecies (Exo 17:14;Exo 17:16; Deu 25:19)against that doomed race were accomplished.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Then said Esther, if it please the king,…. For she was all submission to his will:
let it be granted to the Jews which are in Shushan; for no further did she desire the grant to be extended:
to do tomorrow also according to this days decree; one Targum makes the request only that they might keep the morrow as a festival, but the other, more rightly, to do according to the decree of this day; which was, to slay as many of their enemies as rose up against them; and whereas many might flee and hide themselves, who were implacable enemies of the Jews, Esther moves for a grant that the decree might be continued for the next day, that these might be found out and slain; in which she sought the glory of divine justice, in their righteous destruction, and the peace of the people of God, and not private revenge, or to indulge malice:
and let Haman’s ten sons be hanged upon the gallows; on which their father was; this was deferred, though they were already slain, for their greater reproach, and for a terror to others not to injure the people of God; and it was usual with the Persians to hang persons on a gallows, or fix them to a cross, after they were dead; as Polycrates was by Oroites i, and Bagspates by Parysatis k.
i Herodot. Thalia, sive, l. 3. c. 125. k Ctesias in Persicis, c. 58.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Esther requested: “let it be granted to the Jews which are in Susa to do to-morrow also according to the decree of to-day (i.e., exactly as to-day), and let the ten sons of Haman be hanged upon the tree,” i.e., their dead bodies nailed on crosses – majoris infamiae causa , according to Hebrew and Persian custom; comp. Deu 21:22 and the explanation of Ezr 6:11. On the motive for this request, see above, p. 194.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
(13) Then said Esther . . .In the terse words of the heading, Ahasuerus, at the request of Esther, granteth another day of slaughter, and Hainans sons to be hanged. It seems impossible here to acquit Esther of simple blood – thirstiness. Before the slaughter of the 13th of Adar was actually over, it is obvious that the Jews were no longer in any danger. It was known that the sympathies of the Court were entirely with the Jews, and the officers of the king consequently took their part. After one days slaughter, in which in the capital alone 500 men were killed, we may be quite certain that the Jews were masters of the situation, and therefore we do not hesitate to call Esthers fresh action needless butchery. Were anything needed to bring out the matter in its true light, it might be seen in the request that the sons of Haman might be hanged. They had already been killed (Est. 9:10), doubtless among the first, and Esther, therefore, asks for the dead bodies to be crucified, a gratuitous outrage on the dead. Because Esther was a person whom God made use of as an agent for a great purpose, we are not called upon to tone down and explain away the black spots in her history. To suggest that Esther had reason to fear a renewal of the attacks of the enemies of the Jews is out of the question, when the Jews had their feet on their necks. We must not, on the other hand, judge Esther according to the high Christian standard. It is true that the Old Testament taught vengeance is Mine but it needed the teaching of the New Testament to bring that truth home to men.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
13. To do to-morrow also according unto this day’s decree This request of Esther has been pronounced the offspring of a bloodthirsty vengeance, and desire to have another day for the butchery of enemies. But what was this day’s decree which the queen desired to be continued another day? Merely “to stand for their life” against all that would assault them. See note on Est 9:2, and Est 8:11. Hence we infer that the queen believed, or had reason to suspect, that the enemies of the Jews in Shushan would renew the attack upon the following day. So fearfully enraged were these enemies that they were likely to retaliate for their losses by an unauthorized continuance of the fight, and it was to secure her people against such an event Esther wisely made this request. This extension of the decree was to have effect only in Shushan, not in the provinces.
Let Haman’s ten sons be hanged They had been already slain, (Est 9:10,) and now Esther would have their dead bodies impaled, in order to strike terror into the hearts of the Jews’ enemies, and thus, as far as possible, prevent further strife and bloodshed.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Est 9:13. Let Haman’s ten sons be hanged upon the gallows it is not unlikely that many might be enraged at Haman’s death, and his sons in particular might set themselves at the head of those who were bold enough to attempt the destruction of the Jews at Shushan, being resolved to revenge their father’s death, though in so doing they were sure to meet their own. This seems to suggest one reason why Esther was so solicitous to have their dead bodies hung on the gallows, because they had shewn more malice and indignation against the Jews, and, on the day when the cruel edict came to take place, had made more desperate attacks upon them, than any others; though the reason of state, in this severity, might be, to expose the family to greater infamy, and to deter other counsellors at any time from abusing the king with false representations: for though the Jews suffered none to hang on the tree, as they called the gallows, longer than till the evening of the day whereon they were executed, yet other nations let them hang till they were consumed, (as appears from the history of the Gibeonites, 2Sa 21:9.) or devoured by crows, vultures, or other ravenous creatures. See Patrick and Poole.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Est 9:13 Then said Esther, If it please the king, let it be granted to the Jews which [are] in Shushan to do to morrow also according unto this day’s decree, and let Haman’s ten sons be hanged upon the gallows.
Ver. 13. Then said Esther, If it please the king, &c. ] See Est 5:4 ; Est 5:8 .
Let it be granted to the Jews, &c.
And let Haman’s ten sons be hanged] Had Haman been now alive, himself by right should have been their hangman. There was a young man among the Switzers that went about to usurp the government, and alter their free state. Him they condemned to death, and appointed his father for executioner, as the cause of his evil education. But because Haman was hanged before, his sons (though dead) shall now hang with him. Neither was it cruelty or revenge in Esther, to crave this of the king, but zeal to God, and fervent love to his people, whose welfare she sought by all means possible to promote. As for herself, she could joyfully say of Haman, as David did of Doeg, “Lo, this is the man that made not God his strength; but trusted in the abundance of his riches, and strengthened himself in his wickedness. But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God: I trust in the mercy of God for ever and ever. I will praise thee for ever, because thou hast done it: and I will wait on thy name; for it is good before thy saints,” Psa 52:7-9 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
let Hainan’s ten sons be hanged. One of the ten deaths occasioned or obtained by women. See note on Jdg 4:21.
be hanged Not alive, but hanged up after death. They were slain in conflict first. See verses: Est 9:6, Est 9:7.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
If it please the king: Esther had probably been informed by Mordecai, that there were still many enemies of the Jews who sought their destruction, who had escaped the preceding day; and therefore begged that the second day might be added to the former permission; and that the sons of Haman, who had already been slain, might be suspended on gibbets, as a terror to those who sought the destruction of the Jews.
according unto: Est 8:11
let Haman’s ten sons be hanged: Heb. let men hang Haman’s ten sons, Deu 21:23, 2Sa 21:6, 2Sa 21:9, Gal 3:13
Reciprocal: Est 5:11 – the multitude Est 9:15 – gathered themselves Est 9:18 – on the thirteenth Est 9:25 – when Esther came
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Est 9:13. Let it be granted to the Jews to do to-morrow also according to this days decree To kill their implacable enemies. For it is probable that the greatest and worst of them had hidden themselves for that day; after which, the commission granted to the Jews being expired, they confidently returned to their houses, where they were taken and slain, by virtue of this private and unexpected order. And let Hamans ten sons be hanged upon the gallows They were slain before; now let their bodies be hanged on their fathers gallows, for their greater infamy, and the terror of all others who shall presume to abuse the king in like manner, or to persuade him to execute such cruelties upon his subjects. It is not unlikely, says Dr. Dodd, that many might be enraged at Hamans death, and his sons, in particular, might set themselves at the head of those who were bold enough to attempt the destruction of the Jews at Shushan, being resolved to revenge their fathers death, though in so doing they were sure to meet with their own. This seems to suggest one reason why Esther was so solicitous to have their dead bodies hung on the gallows, because they had shown more malice and indignation against the Jews, and, on the day when the cruel edict came to take place, had made more desperate attacks upon them, than any others; though the reason of state, in this severity, might be to expose the family to greater infamy, and to deter other counsellors at any time from abusing the king with false representations. For though the Jews suffered none to hang on the tree, as they called the gallows, longer than till the evening of the day whereon they were executed, yet other nations let them hang till they were consumed, (as appears from the story of the Gibeonites, 2Sa 21:9,) or devoured by crows, vultures, or other ravenous creatures. See Patrick.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
9:13 Then said Esther, If it please the king, let it be granted to the Jews which [are] in Shushan to do to morrow also according {f} unto this day’s decree, and let Haman’s ten sons be hanged upon the gallows.
(f) This she requires not out of a desire for vengeance but with zeal to see God’s judgment’s executed against his enemies.