Esther 9:13, commentary and pictures

Esther 9:13 belongs to Haman's attempt under Ahasuerus in Medo-Persia to destroy all the Jews, God's people. It records Esther's request that the Jews in Shushan be granted another day to act according to the day's decree and that Haman's ten sons be hanged upon the gallows. Through the counter decree God saved His people from destruction and from the threat of death, frustrated the attempt to destroy them, and brought about their victory and the complete overthrow of their enemies by His overruling power, preserving the godly line.

The threatened destruction was part of Satan's effort to thwart God's eternal purpose, including the coming of the promised Man-child through the Jews, and his attempted blow against God's work on earth, but God frustrated it so it could not be overthrown. The verse shows the triumphant vindication of God's people and the utter and absolute defeat of wicked Haman as the devil's agent. Haman's ten sons were among those who attacked the Jews and were all slain, and their death marked the end of the Amalekite remnant and of Amalek's war against the Lord's cause and people.

The verse stands in the book and chapter that give the origin of the feast of Purim, whose name comes from Pur meaning lot or casting of lots, a book in which the name of God does not occur in English and is found in the original only five times in the form of an acrostic. The danger from Haman's plot and decree against the Jews was reversed through the efforts and prayers of Mordecai, Esther, and their people, showing how united prayer can turn aside danger. That deliverance illustrates deliverance amid persecution for refusing human religious demands, and shows how great joy can follow great trouble.