Esther 9:13 - Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

Then said Esther ... — In the terse words of the heading, “Ahasuerus, at the request of Esther, granteth another day of slaughter, and Hainan’s sons to be hanged.” It seems impossible here to acquit Esther of simple blood - thirstiness. Before the slaughter of the 13th of Adar was actually over, it is obvious that the Jews were no longer in any danger. It was known that the sympathies of the Court were entirely with the Jews, and the officers of the king consequently took their part. After one day’s slaughter, in which in the capital alone 500 men were killed, we may be quite certain that the Jews were masters of the situation, and therefore we do not hesitate to call Esther’s fresh action needless butchery. Were anything needed to bring out the matter in its true light, it might be seen in the request that the sons of Haman might be hanged. They had already been killed (Esther 9:10), doubtless among the first, and Esther, therefore, asks for the dead bodies to be crucified, a gratuitous outrage on the dead. Because Esther was a person whom God made use of as an agent for a great purpose, we are not called upon to tone down and explain away the black spots in her history. To suggest that Esther had reason to fear “a renewal of the attacks of the enemies of the Jews” is out of the question, when the Jews had their feet on their necks. We must not, on the other hand, judge Esther according to the high Christian standard. It is true that the Old Testament taught “vengeance is Mine” but it needed the teaching of the New Testament to bring that truth home to men.