Esther 8:5

And said, If it please the king, and if I have found favour in his sight, and the thing seem right before the king, and I be pleasing in his eyes, let it be written to reverse the letters devised by Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, which he wrote to destroy the Jews which are in all the king's provinces:

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(5) To reverse.—Rather, to bring back, to recall. Esther shows considerable skill in wording her request. She avoids speaking of the king’s letters, but calls them “the letters, the device of Haman, which he wrote.” It is the king, however, to whom the injury is done—“to destroy the Jews which are in all the king’s provinces.”

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

8:3-14 It was time to be earnest, when the church of God was at stake. Esther, though safe herself, fell down and begged for the deliverance of her people. We read of no tears when she begged for her own life, but although she was sure of that, she wept for her people. Tears of pity and tenderness are the most Christ-like. According to the constitution of the Persian government, no law or decree could be repealed or recalled. This is so far from speaking to the wisdom and honour of the Medes and Persians, that it clearly shows their pride and folly. This savours of that old presumption which ruined all, We will be as gods! It is God's prerogative not to repent, or to say what can never be altered or unsaid. Yet a way was found, by another decree, to authorize the Jews to stand upon their defence. The decree was published in the languages of all the provinces. Shall all the subjects of an earthly prince have his decrees in languages they understand, and shall God's oracles and laws be locked up from any of his servants in an unknown tongue?

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Though Haman was dead, his work was not yet undone. The royal decree had gone forth, and, according to Persian notions, could not be directly recalled or reversed Esther 8:8. Mordecai did not dare, without express permission from the king, to take any steps even to stay execution. And Esther, being in favor, once more took the initiative.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

5, 6. reverse the letters devised by Haman … to destroy the Jews—The whole conduct of Esther in this matter is characterized by great tact, and the variety of expressions by which she describes her willing submission to her royal husband, the address with which she rolls the whole infamy of the meditated massacre on Haman, and the argument she draws from the king's sanction being surreptitiously obtained, that the decree should be immediately reversed—all indicate the queen's wisdom and skill, and she succeeded in this point also.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

She useth various expressions, that she might insinuate herself into the king’s favour, by such a full and repeated resignation and submission of herself to the king’s good pleasure.

To reverse the letters devised by Haman; she prudently takes off all the envy and hatefulness of the action from the king, and lays it upon Haman, who had for his own wicked and selfish ends contrived the whole business, and circumvented the king in it; which she allegeth as a reason why it should be repealed, because it was surreptitiously and craftily procured.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And said, if it please the king, and if I have found favour in his sight, and the thing seem right before the king, and I be pleasing in his eyes,.... This heap of phrases, which signify much the same thing, are used to work upon the king's affections, and to show how submissive she was to his will:

let it be written to reverse the letters devised by Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, which he wrote to destroy the Jews which are in all the king's provinces. She wisely takes no notice of any concern the king had in them, but suggests as that she looked upon them as forged by Haman, who put the king's name and seal to them, without his knowledge and consent.

Geneva Study Bible

And said, If it please the king, and if I have favour in his sight, and the thing seem right before the king, and I be pleasing in his eyes, let it be written to reverse the letters devised by Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, which he wrote to destroy the Jews which are in all the king's provinces:

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

5. If it please etc.] The long preface to the definite request shews some doubt on Esther’s part whether it will be granted.

to reverse the letters devised by Haman … which he wrote] She is careful to represent it as the work of Haman and not of the king. The latter however points out in reply that what has received the authority of the king’s seal ‘may no man reverse.’ The most that can now be done is to address to all concerned (intended victims and governors alike) letters equally authoritative, which shall have the effect of neutralising, so far as may be possible, those which have already gone forth. That the king’s sympathies are now wholly on the side of the Jews he emphasizes in Esther 8:7.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 5. - If it please the king, etc. The long preface of four clauses, winding up with "If I be pleasing," is indicative of Esther's doubt how the king will receive her suggestion that it should be written to reverse the letters (comp. Esther 3:13) devised by Haman. To ask the king to unsay his own words was impossible. By representing the letters as devised by Haman, and written by Haman, Esther avoids doing so. But she thereby blinks the truth. In excuse she adds the striking distich contained in the next verse - "For how could I endure to see the evil that is coming on my people? or how could I endure to see the destruction of my kindred?" Esther 8:5

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The introductory formula are in part similar to those used Esther 1:19; Esther 5:4, Esther 5:8; Esther 7:3; but the petition referring to a great and important matter, they are strengthened by two new phrases: "If the thing is advisable (כּשׁר, proper, convenient, advantageous, a later word occurring again only Ecclesiastes 11:6; Ecclesiastes 10:10, - in Ecclesiastes 2:21; Ecclesiastes 4:4-5, Ecclesiastes 4:10 of the same book, כּשׁרון) before the king, and if I be pleasing in his eyes, let it be written (let a writing be used, like Esther 3:9), to frustrate (להשׁיב, i.e., to put out of force) the letters, the device of Haman ... which he wrote to destroy the Jews, who are in all the provinces of the king." המן מחשׁבת, the device, the proposal of Haman, is added to הסּפרים, briefly to characterize the contents of the letters. On the matter itself, comp. Esther 3:8. and Esther 3:12. "For how shall I endure to see the destruction of my people?" The verbs וראיתי אוּכל are so combined that the second is governed by the first, וראיתי standing instead of the infinitive; comp. Ew. 285, c. ראה cons. בּ denotes an interested beholding, whether painful or joyous, of something; comp. Genesis 44:34. מולרת in parallelism with אם denotes those who are of like descent, the family, members of a tribe.