Esther 8:10 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

And he wrote in the king Ahasuerus' name, &c.— Josephus has given us a true copy, as he says, of this decree, or, as he terms it, of the letters which Artaxerxes sent to all the nations which lie between India and Ethiopia; wherein he represents the abuse which favourites are wont to make of their power and credit with their prince, by insulting their inferiors, flying in the face of those who raised them, and, to gratify their resentments, calumniating the innocent, and putting honest men in danger of their lives, &c. It is observable, that this decree allows the Jews to defend themselves, and therefore may, in some measure, account for the slaughter which they made of their enemies, as related in the next chapter; and, no doubt, the great sum which Haman had offered to gratify his revenge against the Jewish nation, was an additional provocation to them to slay every one who came to annoy them. But it should be remembered, that in this they acted by virtue of a royal edict, which authorized them to stand upon their own defence; that they were not the first aggressors, but only opposed those who openly assaulted them, and were for putting in execution an unjust and cruel decree against them; and as the Amalekites, who might be dispersed throughout the Persian dominions, were the known and inveterate enemies of the Jews, and, following now the fortune of Haman, might be forward enough to execute the decree which he had procured against them, it is reasonably presumed that most of those whom the Jews destroyed in their necessary defence, both at Shushan and in the provinces, were of that devoted nation, and that by this their slaughter the prophesies against Amalek were remarkably accomplished. See Bishop Patrick.