Wherein the king granted the Jews which [were] in every city to gather themselves together, and to stand for their life, to destroy, to slay, and to cause to perish, all the power of the people and province that would assault them, [both] little ones and women, and [to take] the spoil of them for a prey,
Ver. 11. Wherein the king granted the Jews] The slaughter, therefore, that they made of their enemies was not unlawful; because, 1. They were armed with authority. 2. In their own necessary defence.
To gather themselves together] Which till now they might not do, lest it should seem a riot or rebellion. Conquerors use to disarm and disperse those whom they have vanquished, ut sit
Una salus victis, nullam spirare salutem,
that they may not make headway and shake off the yoke.
And to stand for their life] Life is a precious mercy, such as all creatures make much of, from the highest angel to the lowest worm. See the sweetness of it, 1Ki 20:32 Jeremiah 39:18; Jeremiah 45:5; Ecc 9:4; Job 2:4. Quis vitam non vult? Who does not wish life? saith Austin. Joseph is yet alive, saith Jacob, Genesis 45:26. This was more joy to him than all his honour. A man is bound to sacrifice all he hath to the service of his life, and to die in the defence of it; to kill another rather than to be killed by another. If it be the defence of a man's own life which the king himself attempteth, violently and iniuriously, to take away, in such a case ordinarily it shall be lawful for a subject to defend himself, although the death of the prince follow thereupon, saith Suarez. In the defence of himself and his friends, it may be lawful for a private person to lay hands upon his lawful prince that setteth upon him without cause, saith another casuist. Only such an act as this must not proceed out of hatred or desire of revenge, but out of right self-love and pure necessity; adhibita magna inculpatae tutelae moderatione, as the lawyers call it, using great moderation of harmless defence.
To destroy, and to slay, and to cause to perish] Mordecai maketh use of the selfsame terms that Haman had done, Esther 3:13, that all men might know that his commission was altogether as large as the
others, and that they would vim vi repellere, force to repell force, stand upon their guard, slay all such as should seek their lives, and fight stoutly, pro aris et soris. for the altars and their limbs. This, saith Cicero, is:
Lex non scripta sed nata; ad quam non docti, sed facti; non iustituti, sed imbuti sumus, &c., Law is not written but born, at someone, not taught, but done, not established but absorbed, that which uncorrupted nature teacheth every man (Cic. pro Milone).
Both little ones and women ] This seemeth spoken in terrorem, in fear that the enemy might forbear to meddle, if not for their own sakes, yet for their wives and children, whom many hold more dear to
themselves than their own lives. But the text may be better read thus: To destroy, to slay, and to cause to perish all the power of the people and province that would assault them, their little ones and women.
And to take the spoil of them for a prey] This also would work much with those that had estates to lose: for money is the monarch of this present world; and many had as leave part with their blood as
their goods.