Esther 8:2

_AND THE KING TOOK OFF HIS RING, WHICH HE HAD TAKEN FROM HAMAN, AND GAVE IT UNTO MORDECAI. AND ESTHER SET MORDECAI OVER THE HOUSE OF HAMAN._ The king took off his ring ... and gave it unto Mordecai - by that act transferring to him all the power and authority (cf. Gen. 12:42) which the ring symbolized, and promoting him to the high dignity which Haman had formerly filled. ESTHER SET MORDECAI OVER THE HOUSE OF HAMAN - as her steward, or factor, to manage that large and opulent estate which had been assigned to her....

1,2 What Haman would have done mischief with, Esther will do good with. All the trust the king had reposed in Haman, he now placed in Mordecai: a happy change. See the vanity of laying up treasure upon earth; he that heapeth up riches, knoweth not who shall gather them. With what little pleasure, nay, with what constant vexation, would Haman have looked upon his estate, if he could have foreseen that Mordecai, the man he hated above all men in the world, should have rule over all that wherein he had laboured! It is our interest to make sure of those riches which will not be left behind, but which will go with us to another world....

Verse Esther 8:2. _THE KING TOOK OFF HIS RING_] In the _ring_ was the _seal_ of the king. _Giving the ring_ to Mordecai was tantamount to giving him the _seal of the kingdom_, and constituting him the same as _lord_ _chancellor_ among us....

HIS RING - i. e. the royal signet by which the decrees of the government were signed. OVER THE HOUSE OF HAMAN - Not only the building and the furniture, but the household - the vast train of attendants of all kinds that was attached to the residence of a Persian noble....

EXPOSITION HAMAN'S HOUSE GIVEN TO ESTHER, AND THE KING'S SIGNET MADE OVER.TO MORDECAI (Esther 8:1, Esther 8:2). Two consequences followed immediately on Haman's execution. His property escheating to the crown, Ahasuerus made the whole of it over to Esther, either simply as a sign of favour, or in compensation of the alarm and suffering which Haman had caused her. Further, Haman's office being vacant, and Mordecai's close relationship to Esther having become known to the king, he transferred to Mordecai the confidence which he had been wont to repose in Haman, and gave him the custody of

AND THE KING TOOK OFF HIS RING, WHICH HE HAD TAKEN FROM HAMAN, AND GAVE IT UNTO MORDECAI,.... which, with the Persians, was a token of the strongest affection and strictest friendship z; the Targum calls it his signatory ring, that with which he signed laws, edicts, letters, patents, c. and so hereby made him keeper of the seals: AND ESTHER SET MORDECAI OVER THE HOUSE OF HAMAN appointed him her steward of the estate of Haman, the king had given her. z Alex. ab Alex. Genial. Dier. l. 1. c. 26. l. 2. c. 19....

MORDECAI'S EXALTATION AND THE SECOND PROCLAMATION CHAPTER 8 _ 1. Mordecai's exaltation (Esther 8:1)_ 2. Esther's second petition (Esther 8:3) 3. The second proclamation (Esther 8:9) 4. The joy of the Jews (Esther 8:15) Esther 8:1. Esther the Queen receives from the king the possessions of Haman, the enemy of the Jews. Then she revealed what Mordecai was to her, her uncle and foster-father. The king had taken the signet-ring of authority from the hand of Haman. The same ring Mordecai received. Esther honoured her uncle by plac

ESTHER 8. THE KING DECREES THAT THE JEWS MAY DEFEND THEMSELVES. We come now to one of the most important parts of the tale. Esther has seen Haman pass out to death not, be it noted, at her request. Now, what does she seek further? Many have accused her of cruelty, her and her race. Not so the reality. She implores that the bloody decree be annulled (Esther 8:5), and thus, had she been heard, no blood at all would have been shed. But the Gentile mind is not of this kindly sort. Oh no. The king likes to see blood: he is a sportsman. No, no, Esther, the king answers, blood must flow. Ye Jews, defend yourselves. Fight! So they are forced to take arms, directly against their own mind. LXX gives a supposed form of the new royal order, fanciful, perhaps, but based on fact. Away out the fast posts speed, to order this anti-massaore ...

GAVE IT UNTO MORDECAI. Compare Esther 3:10. Note how God honoured godly Jews in foreign courts: Joseph next to Pharaoh; Moses the heir to the throne of Egypt; Daniel next to Darius in Babylon; Mordecai next to Astyages in Shushan. OVER THE HOUSE OF HAINAN. Wonderful retribution....

THE KING TOOK OFF HIS RING—AND GAVE IT UNTO MORDECAI— That is, he made him the keeper of the royal signet, in the same manner as Haman had been before him....