Esther 9:5 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Esther 9:5
Thus the Jews smote all their enemies with the stroke of the sword, and slaughter, and destruction, and did what they would unto those that hated them.
a Jehudite (i.e. Judaite or Jew) · definite article + noun, gentilic masculine plural absolute
smote
וַיַּכּ֤וּvai.ya.Ku
H5221
to strike (lightly or severely · conjunction + verb, hiphil sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
enemies
אֹ֣יְבֵיהֶ֔ם'o.ye.vei.Hem
H341
hating · verb, qal active participle, masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
stroke
מַכַּתma.kat-
H4347
a wound · noun, common feminine singular construct
sword
חֶ֥רֶבChe.rev
H2719
drought · noun, common feminine singular absolute
slaughter
וְהֶ֖רֶגve.He.reg
H2027
slaughter · conjunction + noun, common masculine singular absolute
destruction
וְאַבְדָ֑ןve.'av.Dan
H12
a perishing · conjunction + noun, common masculine singular absolute
did
וַיַּֽעֲשׂ֥וּvai.ya.'a.Su
H6213
to do or make · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
would
כִּרְצוֹנָֽםkir.tzo.Nam
H7522
delight (especially as shown) · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
hated
בְשֹׂנְאֵיהֶ֖םve.so.ne.'ei.Hem
H8130
to hate (personally) · preposition + verb, qal active participle, masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Psalms 18:34-40 He teacheth my hands to war, so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms.
Psalms 18:47-48 It is God that avengeth me, and subdueth the people under me.
Psalms 20:7-8 Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the LORD our God.
Psalms 149:6-9 Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a twoedged sword in their hand;
Jeremiah 18:21 Therefore deliver up their children to the famine, and pour out their blood by the force of the sword; and let their wives be bereaved of th…
2 Thessalonians 1:6 Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you;
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Esther 9:1-19
We have here a decisive battle fought between the Jews and their enemies, in which the Jews were victorious. Neither side was surprised; for both had notice of it long enough before, so that it was a fair trial of skill between them. Nor could either side call the other rebels, for they were both supported by the royal authority.
I. The enemies of the Jews were the aggressors. They hoped, notwithstanding the latter edict, to have power over them, by virtue of the former (Est 9:1), and made assaults upon them accordingly; they formed themselves into bodies, and joined in confederacy against them, to seek their hurt, Est 9:2. The Chaldee paraphrase says that none appeared against the Jews but…
Thus the Jews smote all their enemies--The effect of the two antagonistic decrees was, in the meantime, to raise a fierce and bloody war between the Jews and their enemies throughout the Persian empire; but through the dread of Esther and Mordecai, the provincial governors universally favored their cause, so that their enemies fell in great numbers.
Adam Clarke on Esther 9:3
And all the rulers of the provinces - Mordecai being raised to the highest confidence of the king, and to have authority over the whole realm, these officers assisted the Jews, no doubt, with the troops under their command, to overthrow those who availed themselves of the former decree to molest the Jews. For it does not appear that the Jews slew any person who did not rise up to destroy them. See Est 9:5.
John Gill on Esther 9:5
Thus the Jews smote all their enemies with the stroke of the sword, and slaughter, and destruction,.... Some with swords, and others with clubs, and staves; as the Targum; and such like slaughtering weapons of destruction:
and did what they would unto those that hated them; being then entirely at their will, and under their power.
Keil & Delitzsch
The Church Fathers
Queen Esther's endeavor to successfully crush her enemies and root them out reveals the eagerness and zeal of a true queen, namely, of the holy church that constantly fights against her enemies and strives to defeat them completely and subdue them. And it is her voice the psalmist uses when he says, "I pursued my enemies and overtook them; and did not turn back until they were consumed. I struck them down so that they were unable to rise." And when she first kills five hundred people in Susa, and then three hundred, she shows that eternal death awaits not only those who do not want to repent of their sins, but also those who neglect to adorn the faith of the Holy Trinity with good works.
What can it mean when we read that the Jews pursued their enemies and killed five hundred men in Shushan, except for the ten sons of Haman whom they nailed to gibbets? Merely that to the people of God, it is not only all the evildoers among the nations who appear to be loathsome and worthy of damnation when they persist in their wickedness, refuse to repent for their sins, and make no effort to obtain forgiveness for their offenses through the grace of the Holy Spirit; but also the actual Jews of the flesh, i.e. those who violated the Decalogue of the Law of Moses, and were guilty of the cross of Christ whom in their faithlessness they took responsibility for at his very passion, are quite rightly forced to bear the torments of Hell. And none of the chosen would deign to share in their wickedness, or to imitate their unspeakable actions; so it makes sense that the text would add that once the Jews had killed their enemies, they refused to touch or to handle any of the spoils of their property.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Gentiles · Hated and despised the Jews — Hated and despised the Jews
Hatred · Exemplified: Enemies of the Jews — Exemplified: Enemies of the Jews
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
on Esther 9:1-10
The Jews avenged of their enemies. - Est 9:1. In the twelfth month, on the thirteenth day of the same - the Jews gathered themselves together in their cities, etc. Several parenthetical clauses succeed this definition of time, so that the statement of what then took place does not follow till נקהלוּ, Est 9:2. These parenthetical clauses state not only the meaning of the day just named, but also give a general notice of the conflict between the Jews and their enemies. The first runs: "when the word of the king drew nigh and his decree to be done," i.e., when the execution of the royal decree approached. The second is: "on the day that the enemies of the Jews hoped to have the mastery of them,…
They killed and annihilated their enemies: It was not an attack on defenseless people or a ruthless uncontrolled killing spree, but a victorious self-defense against their attackers. The phrase used here repeats the terminology of Haman’s original decree (3:12).
Rashi on Esther 9:3
And the executive staff. Those who were appointed to conduct the king’s affairs.
