Mordecai was set over the house of Haman. The king gave him the signet ring that belonged to Haman. The king showed mercy to the Jews on behalf of Esther and allowed an edict be written on his behalf to remove the commands of Haman to have the Jews killed. The Jews experienced success and defeated their enemies. They killed the sons of Haman, then the queen gained permission from the king to hang them. The Feast of Purim was instituted to celebrate the relief they received and the joy they experienced. Mordecai was given great power and was second in command. He was great among the Jews. He sought peace and the welfare of his people.
Bible Reading Plan
Day 223 - Read Esther 8-10
Hello and welcome to our daily Bible reading. Today we're looking at Esther chapters 8-10. Mordecai was set over the house of Haman. The king gave him the signet ring that belonged to Haman. The king showed mercy to the Jews on behalf of Esther and allowed an edict to be written on his behalf to remove the commands of Haman to have the Jews killed. The Jews experienced success and defeated their enemies. They killed the sons of Haman, then the queen gained permission from the king to hang them. The feast of Purim was instituted to celebrate the relief they received and the joy they experienced. Mordecai was given great power and was second in command. He was great among the Jews. He sought peace and the welfare of his people. Follow along with me as I begin to read, starting in Esther chapter 8 verse 1. On that day King Ahasuerus gave to Queen Esther the house of Haman, the enemy of the Jews. And Mordecai came before the king, for Esther had told what he was to her. And the king took off his signet ring which he had taken from Haman and gave it to Mordecai. And Esther set Mordecai over the house of Haman. Then Esther spoke again to the king. She fell at his feet and wept, and pleaded with him to avert the evil plan of Haman, the Egegot, and the plot that he had devised against the Jews. When the king held out the golden scepter to Esther, Esther rose and stood before the king. And she said, "If it please the king, and if I have found favor in his sight, and if the thing seems right before the king, and I am pleasing to his eyes, let an order be written to revoke the letters devised by Haman the Egegot, the son of Hamadatha, which he wrote to destroy the Jews who are in all the provinces of the king. For how can I bear to see the calamity that is coming to my people? Or how can I bear to see the destruction of my kindred? Then king Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther, "Antomorticai the Jew, behold I have given Esther the house of Haman, and they have hanged him on the gallows, because he intended to lay hands on the Jews. But you may write as you please with regard to the Jews, in the name of the king, and seal it with the king's ring, for an edict written in the name of the king, and sealed with the king's ring cannot be revoked. The king's scribes were summoned at that time in the third month, which is the month of Sivan on the twenty-third day, and an edict was written, according to all that Mordecai commanded concerning the Jews to the satrips, and the governors and the officials of the provinces from India to Ethiopia, 127 provinces, to each province in its own script, and to each people in its own language, and also to the Jews in their script and their language. And he wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus, and sealed it with the king's signet ring. Then he sent the letters by mounted couriers, riding on swift horses that were used in the king's service, read from the royal stud, saying that the king allowed the Jews, who were in every city to gather and defend their lives, to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate any armed force of any people or province that might attack them, children and women included, and to plunder their goods, on one day throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar. A copy of what was written was to be issued as a decree in every province, being publicly displayed to all peoples, and the Jews were to be ready on that day to take vengeance on their enemies. So the couriers, mounted on their swift horses that were used in the king's service, rode out hurriedly, urged by the king's command, and the decree was issued in Sousa, the citadel. Then Mordecai went out from the presence of the king in royal robes of blue and white, with a great golden crown and a robe of fine linen purple, and the city of Sousa shouted and rejoiced. The Jews had light and gladness, and joy and honor, and in every province and in every city, wherever the king's command and his edict reached, there was gladness and joy among the Jews, a feast and holiday, and many from the peoples of the country declared themselves Jews, for fear of the Jews had fallen on them. Chapter 9 Now in the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar, on the thirteenth day of the same, when the king's command and edict were about to be carried out on the very day when the enemies of the Jews hoped to gain mastery over them, the reverse occurred. The Jews gained mastery over those who hated them. The Jews gathered in their cities throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus to lay hands on those who sought their harm, and no one could stand against them, for the fear of them had fallen on all peoples. All the officials of the provinces and the satrups and the governors and the royal agents also helped the Jews, for the fear of Mordecai had fallen on them. For Mordecai was great in the king's house, and his fame spread throughout all the provinces, for the men Mordecai grew more and more powerful. The Jews struck all their enemies with the sword, killing and destroying them, and did as they pleased to those who hated them. In Susa, the citadel itself the Jews killed and destroyed 500 men, and also killed Parson Dotha, and Dauphin, and Aspatha, and Paratha, and Adalia, and Eredetha, and Parmashta, and Arisai, and Eridai, and Veazatha, the ten sons of Haman, the son of Hamadatha, the enemy of the Jews, but they laid no hand on the plunder. That very day the number of those killed in Susa the citadel was reported to the king, and the king said to Queen Esther, in Susa the citadel, the Jews have killed and destroyed 500 men, and also the ten sons of Haman. What then have they done in the rest of the king's provinces? Now what is your wish? It shall be granted you. And what further is your request? It shall be fulfilled. And Esther said, "If it pleased the king, let the Jews who are in Susa be allowed tomorrow also to do according to this day's edict, and let the ten sons of Haman be hanged on the gallows." So the king commanded this to be done. A decree was issued in Susa, and the ten sons of Haman were hanged. The Jews who were in Susa gathered also on the 14th day of the month of Adar, and they killed 300 men in Susa, but they laid no hands on the plunder. Now the rest of the Jews who were in the king's provinces also gathered to defend their lives, and got relief from their enemies, and killed 75,000 of those who hated them. But they laid no hands on the plunder. This was on the 13th day of the month of Adar, and on the 14th day they rested and made that a day of feasting and gladness. But the Jews who were in Susa gathered on the 13th day and on the 14th, and rested on the 15th day, making that a day of feasting and gladness. Therefore the Jews of the villages, who live in the rural towns, hold the 14th day of the month of Adar as the day for gladness and feasting, as a holiday, and as a day on which they send gifts of food to one another. And Mordecai recorded these things and sent letters to all the Jews who were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near and far, obliging them to keep the 14th day of the month Adar, and also the 15th day of the same year by year, as the days on which the Jews got relief from their enemies, and as the month that had been turned from sorrow into gladness, and from mourning into holiday, that they should make them days of feasting and gladness, days for sending gifts of food to one another and gifts to the poor. So the Jews accepted what they had started to do and what Mordecai had written to them. For Haman the Agagite, the son of Hamadatha, the enemy of all Jews, had plotted against the Jews to destroy them, and had cast pure, that is, cast lots, to crush and to destroy them. But when it came before the king, he gave orders in writing that his evil plan that he had devised against the Jews should return on his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows. Therefore, they called these days Purim, after the term, pure. Therefore, because of all that was written in this letter, and of what they had faced in this matter, and of what had happened to them, the Jews firmly obligated themselves, and their offsprings and all who joined them, that without fail they would keep these two days according to what was written, and at the time appointed every year, that these days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation, in every clan, province, and city, and that these days of Purim should never fall into disuse among the Jews, nor should the commemoration of these days cease among their descendants. Then Queen Esther, the daughter of Abbahel, and Mordecai the Jew gave full written authority confirming this second letter about Purim. Letters were sent to all the Jews to the 127 provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus in words of peace and truth, that these days of Purim should be observed at their appointed seasons as Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther obligated them, and as they had obligated themselves and their offspring, with regard to their fasts and their lamenting, the command of Esther confirmed these practices of Purim and it was recorded in writing. Chapter 10 King Ahasuerus imposed tax on the land and on the coastlands of the sea, and all the acts of his power and might, and the full account of the high honor of Mordecai to which the king advanced him, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of media and Persia? For Mordecai the Jew was second in rank to King Ahasuerus, and he was great among the Jews and popular with a multitude of his brothers, for he sought the welfare of his people and spoke peace to all his people.