Esther 9:13

13 Esther responded, “If it please the king, give the Jews in Susa permission to do again tomorrow as they have done today, and let the bodies of Haman’s ten sons be impaled on a pole.”

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 That very day, when the king was informed of the number of people killed in the fortress of Susa,

12 he called for Queen Esther. He said, “The Jews have killed 500 men in the fortress of Susa alone, as well as Haman’s ten sons. If they have done that here, what has happened in the rest of the provinces? But now, what more do you want? It will be granted to you; tell me and I will do it.”

13 Esther responded, “If it please the king, give the Jews in Susa permission to do again tomorrow as they have done today, and let the bodies of Haman’s ten sons be impaled on a pole.”

14 So the king agreed, and the decree was announced in Susa. And they impaled the bodies of Haman’s ten sons.

15 Then the Jews at Susa gathered together on March 8 and killed 300 more men, and again they took no plunder.