And the king commanded it so to be done: and the decree was given at Shushan; and they hanged Haman's ten sons.
Ver. 14. And the king commanded it so to be done] He feared not that thereupon the people would rise and call him tyrant to his teeth; as when Bajazet II had cast Achmetes Bassa into prison, the janizaries in an uproar insolently answered the Great Turk, that they would by and by teach him, as a drunkard, a beast, and a rascal, to use his great place and calling with more sobriety and discretion (Turk. Hist. fol. 444). Ahasuerus well enough knew his own power, and was therefore the more bold in disposing, after this manner, of the lives of his subjects, who were ready to say to him, as once Tiberius did to Justinus, Si tu volueris, ego sum; si tu non vis, ego non sum; If you are willing, I am, if you are not willing, I am not. I am wholly yours to command.
And the decree was given at Shushan] Dictum, concessum, illico factum. Spoken, agreed, immediately done. The king was not willing to cross Esther in anything, saith Josephus.
And they hanged Haman's ten sons] For greater ignominy and terror to others. Thus God commanded the heads of the twelve princes of Israel to be hanged up against the sun, Numbers 25:4. Joshua hanged the king of Ai upon a gallows until the evening, Joshua 8:29, and after that the five kings of the Amorites, Jos 10:27 God hanged up Absalom with his own bare hand.
Absalon marte furens pensilis arbore obit.
Absalon died in a tree fighting punished for his rage.