Mordecai issues a decree of defense
Because the first decree could not be revoked, Esther and Mordecai obtained authority for a second decree allowing the Jews to assemble and defend themselves. Mordecai left the king in royal garments, and fear of the Jews fell on many throughout the provinces (Esther 8:3-17).
3And once again, Esther addressed the king. She fell at his feet weeping and begged him to revoke the evil scheme of Haman the Agagite, which he had devised against the Jews. 4The king extended the gold scepter toward Esther, and she arose and stood before the king. 5“If it pleases the king,” she said, “and if I have found favor in his sight, and the matter seems proper to the king, and I am pleasing in his sight, may an order be written to revoke the letters that the scheming Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, wrote to destroy the Jews in all the king’s provinces.
