VIII.

(1) Did . . . give the house of Haman.--Confiscation of goods necessarily followed on a sentence of death in the East. So, with ourselves, a convicted felon's property is forfeited to the Crown.

Verse 1. - On that day did the king... give the house of Haman. When a criminal was executed, everything that belonged to him became the property of the crown, and was disposed of according to the king's pleasure. It pleased Ahasuerus to make over to Esther the house of Haman, with, no doubt, all its content, attendants, furniture, and treasure. The Jews' enemy. This now becomes Haman's ordinary designation (see Esther 9:10, 24). Traditional practices have in many places kept up his memory as one of the most hated adversaries of the nation (see Stanley, 'Lectures on the Jewish Church,' Third Series, pp. 177, 178). And Mordecai came before the king. Mordecai became a high official - one of those in constant attendance on the king. For Esther had told what he was to her. i.e. had revealed his relationship, had told that he was her cousin. Mordecai having been recognised as a "king's benefactor" (Esther 6:3-11), and Esther having been forced to confess herself a Jewess in order to save her nation (Esther 7:3, 4), there was no object in any further concealment.

8:1,2 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.On that day did the King, Ahasuerus, give the house of Haman, the Jews' enemy, unto Esther the queen,.... That, and all the goods in it, and estate belonging to it; which being confiscated to the king, he gave to Esther, who would have been the sufferer, had his scheme taken place; so the Targum adds,"and the men of his house, and all his treasures, and all his riches:"

and Mordecai came before the king; was introduced into his presence, became one of his privy counsellors, one of those that saw the king's face, and sat first in the kingdom, Esther 1:14

for Esther had told what he was unto her; what relation he stood in to her; her uncle, according to the Vulgate Latin version, and so Aben Ezra and Josephus, but wrongly, for she was his uncle's daughter; so that they were brother's children, or own cousins, see Esther 2:7.