The king could not sleep, so he gave orders to have the book of the records of the chronicles brought, and they were read before him (6:1). The king found in the records the report of how Mordecai had saved him from being assassinated by two of his eunuchs, and he decided to bestow honor and dignity on Mordecai. While the king was considering this, Haman came into the court to ask the king about hanging Mordecai (vv. 2-6). The king was thinking about honoring Mordecai, and Haman was thinking about hanging him. When the king asked Haman what should be done for the man whom the king desires to honor, Haman answered, “Let a royal robe be brought, one which the king has worn, and a horse on which the king has ridden and on whose head a royal crown has been set. And let the robe and the horse be delivered into the hand of one of the king’s most noble princes; and let them array the man whom the king desires to honor and make him ride on horseback through the street of the city; and let them proclaim before him, Thus shall it be done for the man whom the king desires to honor” (vv. 8-9). At this juncture, the king commanded Haman to put on Mordecai a royal robe which the king had worn, make Mordecai ride through the street of the city on a horse on which the king had ridden, and proclaim before Mordecai, “Thus shall it be done for the man whom the king desires to honor” (vv. 10-11). After Haman did this, he hurried to his house, mourning and with his head covered (v. 12).
At her feast with the king and Haman, Esther the queen pointed out that Haman was the wicked adversary and enemy who conspired to kill all the Jews. The king immediately sentenced Haman to death and commanded his men to hang Haman on the gallows which he had prepared for Mordecai. On that day the king gave the house of Haman, the enemy of the Jews, to Esther the queen and took off his signet ring, which he had taken from Haman, and gave it to Mordecai, making him the second man to the king in the whole empire (7:1—8:2).
In 8:3 through 10:3 we see the open, triumphant victory of the Jews over their enemies—the open salvation of their hiding God to rescue them from their persecutors.
The king issued through Mordecai a decree to authorize the Jews to destroy all their enemies throughout his empire from India to Ethiopia, one hundred twenty-seven provinces (8:3-14).
Mordecai went forth from the presence of the king in royal robes of blue and white and with a large crown of gold and a garment of fine linen and purple. The city of Susa the capital shouted and rejoiced, and the Jews had light, gladness, joy, and honor. Throughout every province and every city, wherever the king’s decree came, the Jews had gladness, joy, a feast, and a good day. Many from among the peoples of the land (the heathen) became Jews, for the fear of the Jews had fallen on them (vv. 15-17).
The Jews destroyed all their enemies throughout the empire under the reign of King Ahasuerus in the influence of Esther the queen with Mordecai as the second to the king (9:1-16). All the princes of the provinces, the satraps, the governors, and those who did the king’s business helped the Jews because of the fear of Mordecai, who was great in the king’s house and whose fame went forth throughout all the provinces and who became greater and greater (vv. 1-4). In Susa the capital in two days the Jews destroyed eight hundred of their enemies and they hanged Haman’s ten sons upon the gallows (vv. 5-15). In the provinces the Jews assembled and destroyed seventy-five thousand of those who hated them, thus having rest from their enemies (v. 16).