Esther 9:13

13 "If it pleases you," Esther answered, "let the Jews in Susa carry out today's order tomorrow also. Stick poles through the dead bodies of Haman's ten sons. Set them up where everyone can see them."

Esther 9:13 Meaning and Commentary

Esther 9:13

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 ^F9, and Bagspates by Parysatis ^F11.

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FOOTNOTES:

F9 Herodot. Thalia, sive, l. 3. c. 125.
F11 Ctesias in Persicis, c. 58.

Esther 9:13 In-Context

11 A report was brought to the king that same day. He was told how many men had been killed in the safest place in Susa.

12 He said to Queen Esther, "The Jews have killed 500 men. They destroyed them in the safest place in Susa. They also killed the ten sons of Haman there. What have they done in the rest of my territories? Now what do you want? I'll give it to you. What do you want me to do for you? I'll do that too."

13 "If it pleases you," Esther answered, "let the Jews in Susa carry out today's order tomorrow also. Stick poles through the dead bodies of Haman's ten sons. Set them up where everyone can see them."

14 So the king commanded that it be done. An order was sent out in Susa. And the king's men did to the bodies of Haman's sons everything they were told to do.

15 The Jews in Susa came together on the 14th day of the month of Adar. They put 300 men to death in Susa. But they didn't take anything that belonged to those men.