Esther 8:1 Ulasan

We left the plotter hanging, and are now to see what becomes of his plot. I. His plot was to raise an estate for himself; and all his estate, being confiscated for treason, is given to Esther and Mordecai (Est 8:1, Est 8:2). II. His plot was to ruin the Jews; and as to that, 1. Esther earnestly intercedes for the reversing of the edict against them (Est 8:3-6). 2. It is in effect done by another edict, here published, empowering the Jews to stand up in their own defence against their enemies (Est 8:7-14). III. This occasions great joy to the Jews and all their friends (Est 8:15-17).

It was but lately that we had Esther and Mordecai in tears and in fears, but fasting and praying; now let us see how to them there arose light in darkness. Here is, 1. Esther enriched. Haman was hanged as a traitor, therefore his estate was forfeited to the crown, and the king gave it all to Esther, in recompence for the fright that wicked man had put her into and the vexation he had created her, Est 8:1. His houses and lands, good sand chattels, and all the money he had heaped up which he was prime-minister of state (which, we may suppose, was no little), are given to Esther; they are all her own, added to the allowance she already had. Thus is the wealth of the sinner laid up for the just, and the innocent divides the silver, Pro 13:22; Job 27:17, Job 27:18. What Haman would have done mischief with Esther will do good with; and estates are to be valued as they are used. 2. Mordecai advanced. His pompous procession, this morning, through the streets of the city, was but a sudden flash or blaze of honour; but here we have the more durable and gainful preferments to which he was raised, which yet the other happily made way for. (1.) He is now owned as the queen's cousin, which till now, though Esther had been four years queen, for aught that appears, the king did not know. So humble, so modest, a man was Mordecai, and so far from being ambitious of a place at court, that he concealed his relation to the queen and her obligations to him as her guardian, and never made us of her interest for any advantage of his own. Who but Mordecai could have taken so little notice of so great an honour? But now he was brought before the king, introduced, as we say, to kiss his hand; for now, at length, Esther had told what he was to her, not only near a-kin to her, but the best friend she had in the world, who took care of her when she was an orphan, and one whom she still respected as a father. Now the king finds himself, for his wife's sake, more obliged than he thought he had been to delight in doing honour to Mordecai. How great were the merits of that man to whom both king and queen did in effect owe their lives! Being brought before the king, to him no doubt he bowed, and did reverence, though he would not to Haman an Amalekite. (2.) The king makes his lord privy-seal in the room of Haman. All the trust he had reposed in Haman, and all the power he had given him, are here transferred to Mordecai; for the ring which he had taken from Haman he gave to Mordecai, and made this trusty humble man as much his favourite, his confidant, and his agent, as ever that proud perfidious wretch was; a happy change he made of his bosom-friends, and so, no doubt, he and his people soon found it. (3.) The queen makes him here steward, for the management of Haman's estate, and for getting and keeping possession of it: She set Mordecai over the house of Haman. See the vanity of laying up treasure upon earth; he that heapeth up riches knoweth not who shall gather them (Psa 39:6), not only whether he shall be a wise man or a fool (Ecc 2:19), but whether he shall be a friend or an enemy. With what little pleasure, nay, with what constant vexation, would Haman have looked upon his estate if he could have foreseen that Mordecai, the man he hated above all men in the world, should have rule over all that wherein he had laboured, and thought that he showed himself wise! It is our interest, therefore, to make sure those riches which will not be left behind, but will go with us to another world.

INTRODUCTION TO ESTHER 8 This chapter relates the gifts Ahasuerus gave to Esther and Mordecai, Est 8:1, the suit Esther made to him to reverse the letters for the destruction of the Jews, Est 8:3, which, though it could not be formally granted, was in effect done by letters sent to the Jews, giving them power to rise in their own defence, and slay their enemies, Est 8:7, the consequence of which, and the advancement of Mordecai, were matter of great joy to the Jews, Est 8:15.

On that day did the King, Ahasuerus, give the house of Haman, the Jews' enemy, unto Esther the queen,.... That, and all the goods in it, and estate belonging to it; which being confiscated to the king, he gave to Esther, who would have been the sufferer, had his scheme taken place; so the Targum adds,"and the men of his house, and all his treasures, and all his riches:" and Mordecai came before the king; was introduced into his presence, became one of his privy counsellors, one of those that saw the king's face, and sat first in the kingdom, Est 1:14 for Esther had told what he was unto her; what relation he stood in to her; her uncle, according to the Vulgate Latin version, and so Aben Ezra and Josephus, but wrongly, for she was his uncle's daughter; so that they were brother's children, or own cousins, see Est 2:7.

[Daniel 2:48] "Then the king elevated Daniel to a high position, and gave him many great gifts and set him up as governor over all the provinces of Babylon..." In this matter also the slanderous critic of the Church has ventured to castigate the prophet because he did not reject the gifts and because he willingly accepted honor of the Babylonians. He fails to consider the fact that it was for this very purpose that the king had beheld the dream and that the secrets of its interpretation were revealed by a mere lad, that Daniel might increase in importance and that in the place of captivity he might become ruler over all the Chaldeans, to the end that the omnipotence of God might be made known. We read that this same thing happened in the case of Joseph at the court of Pharaoh and in Egypt (Genesis 41:38-43), and also in the case of Mordecai at the court of Ahasuerus (Esther 8:1-2). The purpose was that the Jews, as captives and sojourners in each of these nations, might receive encouragement as they beheld men of their own nation constituted as governors over the Egyptians or the Chaldeans, as the case might be.

When King Ahasuerus gives Queen Esther the house of Haman the enemy of the Jews, this must refer to the fact that after the people spurned the arrival of the incarnate intermediary between God and man and refused to accept his evangel, the true king and our Lord put at the disposal of the holy Church all the dignity and honor which in the past they had gotten from their knowledge of the Law and the prophets and from their practice of righteous faith, so that the Church would possess spiritual wealth and become the most respected guardian of all the virtues. Hence it is written in Proverbs: “The wealth of the sinner is guarded by the righteous” (Proverbs 13). And in the Gospel, the Lord says to the Jews themselves: “The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation that produces its fruits” (Matthew 21). This is also the reason for what Solomon says: “He who is good receives favor from the Lord” (Proverbs 12). We are next told about Mordecai that he went in before the face of the king, meaning that because the Church praises and proclaims the dedication of its leaders, these sacred teachers discover—in exchange for the effort they have exerted in nurturing the faithful—abundant grace in the sight of the creator of all things. We might also apply this principle to the characterization of all the persecutors of the Church more generally, because whatever the latter produced in their eagerness to acquire wisdom or useful disciplines; or sought out by investigating the respectability of the virtues; or whatever sorts of punishments they devised to torment the martyrs, it was all subverted by the faithful so as to magnify the honor and the glory of Christ. Nor did the wicked possessors of these things retain any of the good rewards that they earned for their labors, but everything was transferred to the righteous to consummate their perfection. And what follows this, where the king took the ring he had gotten from Haman and gave it to Mordecai, is an allegorical expression of the fact that the seal of faith, which the faithless Jews and all the persecutors of the name of Christ did not want to accept when it was offered to them through the preaching of the Gospel, was transferred to the nations by the apostles of Christ for the sake of their salvation. So Esther holds onto the house of Haman the enemy of the Jews, just as the Church of Christ possesses the world which was once the enemy of Christianity. And Mordecai goes in before the face of the king because the souls of the saints are taken every day from their homes in this life to contemplate the visage of the supreme Judge; there is no limit to the measure of their happiness—each day they experience ever more glory in the joy of eternal exultation.

The fact that King Ahasuerus gave Queen Esther the house of Haman, the enemy of the Jews, clearly signifies that the true king who is our Lord transferred to the holy church all the dignity and honor which the people previously possessed because of their knowledge of the law and the prophets and because of their holy and religious worship. This happened because they despised the advent in flesh of the Mediator between God and humanity and because they had no desire to receive his gospel. And so the church was able to possess all the spiritual riches and become the sincere guardian of all virtue. Therefore it is written in the book of Proverbs, “The sinner’s wealth is laid up for the righteous.” And the Lord says to the Jews themselves in the gospel, “The kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom.” And again it is said through Solomon, “The good obtain favor from the Lord.”

Ahasuerus invests Mordecai with the offices and dignities possessed by Haman, Est 8:1, Est 8:2. Esther begs that the decree of destruction gone out against the Jews may be reversed, Est 8:3-6. He informs her that the acts that had once passed the kings seal cannot be reversed; but he instructs her and Mordecai to write other letters in his name, and seal them with his seal, and send them to all the provinces in the empire, giving the Jews full liberty to defend themselves; which is accordingly done; and the letters are sent off with the utmost speed to all the provinces: in consequence, the Jews prepare for their own defense, Est 8:8-14. Mordecai appears publicly in the dress of his high office, Est 8:15. The Jews rejoice in every place; and many of the people become Jews, because the fear of the Jews had fallen upon them, Est 8:16, Est 8:17.

The king - give the house of Haman - As Haman was found guilty of treasonable practices against the peace and prosperity of the king and his empire, his life was forfeited and his goods confiscated. And as Mordecai had been the means of preserving the king's life, and was the principal object of Haman's malice, it was but just to confer his property upon him, as well as his dignity and office, as Mordecai was found deserving of the former, and fit to discharge the duties of the latter.

MORDECAI ADVANCED. (Est 8:1-6) On that day did the king Ahasuerus give the house of Haman . . . unto Esther--His property was confiscated, and everything belonging to him, as some compensation for the peril to which she had been exposed. Mordecai came before the king--that is, was introduced at court and appointed one of the seven counsellors. Esther displayed great prudence and address in acknowledging Mordecai's relation to her at the moment most fitted to be of eminent service to him.

Mordochai Advanced to Haman's Position. Counter-Edict for the Preservation of Jews - Esther 8 The king bestowed the house of Haman on Esther, and advanced Mordochai to Haman's place of prime minister (vv. 1 and 2). Esther then earnestly besought the king for the abolition of the edict published by Haman against the Jews, and the king permitted her and Mordochai to send letters in the king's name to all the Jews in his kingdom, commanding them to stand for their life, and to slay their enemies, on the day appointed for their own extermination (Est 8:3-14). These measures diffused great joy throughout the kingdom (Est 8:15-17).

By the execution of Haman, his property was confiscated, and the king decreed that the house of the Jews' enemy should be given to Esther. The "house of Haman" undoubtedly means the house with all that pertained to it. "And Mordochai came before the king, for Esther had told him what he was to her," viz., her kinsman and foster-father, Est 2:7. This information effected Mordochai's appearance before the king, i.e., his reception into the number of the high dignitaries who beheld the face of the king, i.e., were allowed personal access to him; comp. Est 1:10, Est 1:14; Est 7:9. Est 8:2 And the king took off his seal-ring which he had taken from Haman (comp. Est 3:10), and gave it to Mordochai. מן העביר, to cause to go from some one, i.e., to take away. By this act Mordochai was advanced to the post of first minister of the king; comp. Gen 41:42, 1 Macc. 6:15. The king's seal gave the force of law to royal edicts, the seal taking the place of the signature. See rem. on Est 8:8 and Est 3:10.