Esther 9:5

“Thus the Jews smote all their enemies with the stroke of the sword, and slaughter, and destruction, etc.] 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.”

“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.”

“9:5 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).”

“smote: Psa 18:34-40, Psa 18:47, Psa 18:48, Psa 20:7, Psa 20:8, Psa 149:6-9; Th2 1:6 the stroke: Jer 18:21 what they would: Heb. according to their will, The Chaldee paraphrast says that none appeared against the Jews but Amalekites only, who were infatuated, and had their hearts hardened, as Pharaoh's against Israel, to take up arms to their own destruction. Some had such an inveterate, implacable malice against the Jews, that Haman's fall and Mordecai's advancement, instead of convincing, seemed only to exasperate them the more. How have the most dreadful scourges ravaged a country, and yet the inhabitants are unmindful of the Almighty Disposer of events, and that the cause of his righteous…”