King Xerxes replied to Queen Esther and to Mordecai the Jew, “Because Haman attacked the Jews, I have given his estate to Esther, and they have hanged him on the gallows. 8 Now write another decree in the king’s name in behalf of the Jews as seems best to you, and seal it with the king’s signet ring—for no document written in the king’s name and sealed with his ring can be revoked.”
9 At once the royal secretaries were summoned—on the twenty-third day of the third month, the month of Sivan. They wrote out all Mordecai’s orders to the Jews, and to the satraps, governors and nobles of the 127 provinces stretching from India to Cush. These orders were written in the script of each province and the language of each people and also to the Jews in their own script and language. 10 Mordecai wrote in the name of King Xerxes, sealed the dispatches with the king’s signet ring, and sent them by mounted couriers, who rode fast horses especially bred for the king.
11The king’s edict granted the Jews in every city the right to assemble and protect themselves; to destroy, kill and annihilate any armed force of any nationality or province that might attack them and their women and children; and to plunder the property of their enemies. 12 The day appointed for the Jews to do this in all the provinces of King Xerxes was the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar. 13 A copy of the text of the edict was to be issued as law in every province and made known to the people of every nationality so that the Jews would be ready on that day to avenge themselves on their enemies.
Although Haman had been eliminated, the threat to the Jews remained, because the royal decree authorizing their slaughter had already been published. Since the time for the execution of the decree was still ten months away, we might think that the easiest solution would be for the king to revoke the decree. But according to the Persian regulation reported earlier in the book of Esther (1:19), Persian royal decrees could not be revoked. The only way to get around the decree was to issue a second decree that would have the practical effect of rendering the first decree harmless. With the guidance of Mordecai, King Xerxes issued such a decree.
The Jews now had ten months to strengthen themselves and prepare their defenses. It is shocking to us that the decree authorized the killing of women and children. But this decree was merely following the basic principle of Near Eastern justice, which is also recognized in the Mosaic Law—“[an] eye for [an] eye” (Deuteronomy 19:21). This decree authorized the Jews to use the exact measures that Haman’s decree, recorded in chapter 4, had granted to their enemies. Both sides in the conflict were now put on equal terms.