Esther — Chapter 8

Die illo dedit rex Assuerus Esther

On that day king Assuerus gave queen Esther the house of Haman — furnished with all precious goods and filled with gold and silver, as the Septuagint and Josephus indicate. For the goods of Haman as guilty of treason were assigned by the king to the treasury, and then given to the queen, according to the edict of Cyrus as quoted by Josephus (Ant. bk. XI ch. 1): \"Those who have disobeyed these our commands I will have crucified and their property assigned to our treasury.\" \"And Mordecai came before the king\" — meaning he was made intimate, most closely joined, and most familiar with the king, almost a second king.

Tulitque rex annulum, quem ab Aman

The king took the signet ring which he had ordered to be taken back from Haman, and gave it to Mordecai. This was the royal ring with which Haman had subscribed his letters about killing the Jews as though with the royal seal. Thus this ring was of supreme dignity and authority, making Mordecai the king's viceroy and as it were a second king. Hence Mordecai was also adorned with royal robes and a golden crown, and was called in ch. 9 v. 4 \"the prince of the palace,\" and in ch. 10 v. 3 \"second to king Assuerus,\" and Josephus says he \"governed the empire together with the king.\"

Obsecro ut novis epistolis veteres Aman

Esther earnestly begged the king that the old letters of Haman against the Jews be corrected by new letters. This was the knotty difficulty: for Haman had written and sealed letters for killing the Jews in the king's name; but the letters and decrees of the Persian king were irrevocable (as is clear in the case of Daniel condemned to the lions' den, Dan. 6:15). Therefore Esther used kneelings, tears, and every art to bend the king to annul these letters. And she prudently accomplished this by saying these were not the king's letters but Haman's, which Haman himself had slyly written without the king's knowledge and sealed with the royal ring. Since it was now known to the king that Haman was a plotter and traitor, it was equitable that his treacherous writings, fraudulently foisted on the unknowing king and promulgated to the damage and disgrace of the king and the whole realm, should be revoked — which persuaded the king to abrogate Haman's letters as those of an enemy and plotter, and to dictate contrary ones in favor of the Jews.

Accitisque scribis et librariis regis

The \"scribae\" were the senior secretaries who dictated the letters; the \"librarii\" were those who wrote out what the scribes dictated, both to send to the provinces and to enter into public archives and annals.

Quibus imperavit rex, ut convenirent Judaeos

The couriers were commanded by the king that they should assemble the Jews, to notify them of the king's edict issued in their favor, lest the provincial governors, hostile to the Jews, might under some pretext suppress or delay it; but the Jews themselves would compel them to execute it, threatening to accuse them before the king as contemners of the royal edict. The Septuagint and our version add in ch. 16 that the king in this edict granted the Jews the right to live under their own laws everywhere.

Mardochaeus autem, de palatio et de

Mordecai went out from the palace in royal robes of hyacinth and white — that is, white, as the Hebrew and Chaldean have (for from this color the nobles were called חורים horim, as if \"the white ones\"). White garments were also worn on feast and joyful days, such as this was — \"At all times let your garments be white\" (Eccl. 9:8). He was also wearing a golden crown of Persian fashion with rays like the sun (which the Persians worshiped as a god). Behold Mordecai almost a second king, who a short while before was going about squalid and livid, destined for the cross. St. Jerome in Daniel ch. 1: \"God willed Mordecai to be elevated to such dignity, so that just as formerly in Joseph, and recently in Daniel, now in Mordecai the captive and exile Jews might have consolation, seeing a man of their nation now the chief of the Egyptians, now of the Chaldeans, now of the Persians.\"

Judaeis autem nova lux oriri visa est

To the Jews there appeared new light, gladness, joy and honor — for rejoicing they exulted, going in processions and dancing.

In tantum ut plures alterius gentis

So much so that many of other nations and sect joined themselves to the religion and ceremonies of the Jews — that is, were circumcised and converted to Judaism and the true worship of God. For they saw that this miraculous and unhoped-for salvation and exaltation of the Jews could not have happened without the special providence of God caring for his own people. Recognizing therefore the power, clemency, and providence of God toward the Jews, they confessed and venerated him as the true God. To this also the religion and holiness of Esther and Mordecai contributed no little, joined with such authority and glory. \"For a great fear of the Jews had fallen upon all peoples\" — lest what had been done to Haman be done to them, and they be killed soon by the Jews' edict. Therefore, lest they be reckoned enemies of the Jews and killed, they showed themselves friends — some genuinely, some falsely — and became proselytes.