Text:<\/strong> Esther 8<\/p>\n After the death of Haman, Ahasuerus gifts Haman\u2019s estate to Esther. Given that Haman was able to put up 10,000 talents of silver to wipe out the Jews, his estate must have been large. Esther also informed the king that Mordecai was both her cousin and the man who had raised her. The king honored his queen by appointing Mordecai as the keeper of his signet ring. Esther then appointed Mordecai as the steward of her estate that was formally Haman\u2019s.<\/p>\n Despite all of this, the dreadful law that Haman had enacted was still in place. Esther wasn\u2019t looking for revenge against Haman, but salvation for her people. Esther again came before the king weeping and begging that he cancel Haman\u2019s scheme. Once again Esther apparently took a risk at coming before Ahasuerus unbidden since the king again acknowledged her with his scepter. She told the king that she could not endure seeing her own people die. Notice that Esther speaks formally to the king in third-person and pleads instead demanding justice. She also puts the blame for the law on Haman but skips over the role that the king himself had played (Esther 3:8-11).<\/p>\n But Medo-Persian laws cannot be revoked (Esther 1:19). Replying to both Esther and Mordecai, Ahasuerus stated that he had taken action. Again the guilt of taking action against the Jews is placed fully on Haman. The king doesn\u2019t mention that he had a part in what happened. He had Haman killed and gave his estate to Esther, but he then gave permission for a law to be written in his name to counter Haman\u2019s decree. Esther and Mordecai were given large freedom to write this new counter-edict as they saw best. Once again, we notice that Ahasuerus doesn\u2019t get involved in the actual crafting of laws.<\/p>\n Thus, a little over two months after Haman\u2019s decree was published, a new decree was issued. Interestingly, the time between the two laws was two months and ten days \u2013 70 days, which brings to mind the 70 years the Jews were in captivity. The new law was distributed widely and written in every language, including in Hebrew this time. It was sent out by the fastest courier horses.<\/p>\n The new decree written by Mordecai allowed the Jews to unite in the common defense of themselves. It used the same three phrases as Haman\u2019s decree (Esther 3:13) but was directed against those who might attack the Jews. They were allowed to destroy any group that attacked them or their families. The property of any people they destroyed would become the defending Jews\u2019. This placed additional risks on anyone thinking of killing Jews for their property. This right was for only the one day that Haman\u2019s decree was valid. The limitation prevented a widespread civil war from erupting. Mordecai\u2019s counter law gave the Jews nine months to prepare their defense.<\/p>\n Haman ruled by fear and subtly, wanting the respect of everyone, but in the end, he lost everything. When Haman\u2019s decree went out, Mordecai put on sackcloth and ashes (Esther 4:1), now he was wearing finery. The people of Susa found Haman\u2019s law confusing (Esther 3:15) but now they shouted and rejoiced.<\/p>\n The Jews, of course, rejoiced, where before they were fasting and mourning (Esther 4:3). While they still had to defend themselves, they now had a fighting chance to survive. When the new law arrived, celebrations broke out. Seeing how the Jews were divinely protected, many people converted to Judaism across the empire. The wording of the last statement in Esther 8:17 could be translated that many people claimed to be Jews and not necessarily that they changed their religion.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPrior Lesson\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tA Study of Esther\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNext Lesson\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Reversal of Fortune Text: Esther 8 Understanding What You Read How did Mordecai come to replace Haman? What did Esther request of the king? Take note of the language. How did Esther address the king when making her plea? What was allowed to be done about the law to kill the Jews? Since Medo-Persian laws…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":20799,"menu_order":8,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-22198","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":22506,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-studies\/survey-of-the-bible\/survey-of-the-bible-esther\/","url_meta":{"origin":22198,"position":0},"title":"Survey of the Bible – Esther","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 18, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Survey of the Bible - Esther Text: Esther 4 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Esther\u2019s story takes place between the first return from captivity, led by Zerubbabel, and the second return lead by Ezra. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It would fall between the 6 and 7 chapters of Ezra. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The author is unknown. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a01.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Not the same style as\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":21793,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-studies\/a-study-of-esther\/esther-plays-on-hamans-pride\/","url_meta":{"origin":22198,"position":1},"title":"Esther Plays on Haman\u2019s Pride","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 22, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Esther Plays on Haman\u2019s Pride Text: Esther 5 Understanding What You Read Did the king behave as Esther had feared? Why did Esther invite the king to dinner instead of directly stating the problem? Why did the king continue to offer Esther up to half his kingdom? What ruined Haman\u2019s\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":21333,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-studies\/a-study-of-esther\/hamans-plot\/","url_meta":{"origin":22198,"position":2},"title":"Haman\u2019s Plot","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 7, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Haman\u2019s Plot Text: Esther 3 Understanding What You Read What order of the king did Mordecai refuse to obey? What reason did Mordecai give? How was Mordecai\u2019s refusal similar to Vashti\u2019s refusal? Why did Haman decide to destroy all the Jews? What did Haman do all year during Ahasuerus\u2019 twelfth\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":21561,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-studies\/a-study-of-esther\/convincing-esther-to-intervene\/","url_meta":{"origin":22198,"position":3},"title":"Convincing Esther to Intervene","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 15, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Convincing Esther to Intervene Text: Esther 4 Understanding What You Read Why didn\u2019t Mordecai go directly to Esther or the king about Haman\u2019s decree? Do a word study and see if you find out why sackcloth and ashes were used at times of great agony (Genesis 18:27; II Samuel 13:19;\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":21852,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-studies\/a-study-of-esther\/mordecai-is-honored\/","url_meta":{"origin":22198,"position":4},"title":"Mordecai Is Honored","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 24, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Mordecai Is Honored Text: Esther 6 Understanding What You Read Why was the king reviewing the chronicles of his reign? What was the king reminded of from the records? Why was Haman sent for? Why had Haman originally come? When asked about how to best honor a man, who did\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":21965,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-studies\/a-study-of-esther\/esthers-banquet\/","url_meta":{"origin":22198,"position":5},"title":"Esther’s Banquet","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 29, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Esther's Banquet Text: Esther 7 Understanding What You Read What did the king want to know? What did the queen request? How did Ahasuerus react to the request? Why did Haman stay behind when Ahasuerus went to the garden? What did the king see as he came back into the\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/22198","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22198"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/22198\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/20799"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Understanding What You Read<\/h2>\n
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