Esther weeps before the king and gets the scepter again. She asks for something to be done about the order to kill the Jews. The king had just dealt with Haman, not the issue of annihilation.

He gives Mordecai the authority to do whatever he wants about it.

Esther had asked the king to have the letters revoked.

The king puts it to Mordecai to do as he pleases. He doesn’t have letters written revoking the law. We’re told that the king’s laws cannot be revoked. They stand forever. You’d think he’d take more care in what they were.

Mordecai’s plan is for the Jews to be able to defend themselves, but also to be able to attack those who might attack them, annihilating them, including their women and children and that they be given the right to the spoils of war.

Does something seem wrong to you?

The women and children wouldn’t be attacking. This isn’t just the Jews defending themselves. This is the Jews going on the offensive, doing to others exactly what they didn’t want done to them.

The Jews are all happy with the plan. They rejoice and feast.

Many people become Jews because they are afraid of them now.

It doesn’t feel like something to make a city glad, that someone was given permission to annihilate another people! It’s exactly what they were sad about before.

God obviously is protecting the Jews and orchestrating Haman’s demise. At the same time, Mordecai isn’t seeking God for his plans. He has the plan to use Esther to go to the king. He has the plan for the Jews to kill. There’s no seeking God’s counsel.

God still comes through. He doesn’t abandon His people.

Mordecai is rewarded. He has Haman’s position and property. I don’t think Mordecai and Esther are characters we should imitate, but God is still present, still defending, still helping, still arranging circumstances for His children, never abandoning His promises to them.