We know no details concerning the identities of the assassins or the reasons they hated Ahasuerus. Extra-biblical sources have not yet clarified these matters, though the commentators love to speculate. Mordecai's position in the government is another evidence of God's providential preparation to deliver His people.
"Gallows"(v. 23; cf. 5:14; 7:10) is literally "tree."
"Rather than being hanged by the neck on a modern-type gallows, the men were probably impaled on a stake or post (cf. Ezra 6:11). This was not an unusual method of execution in the Persian Empire. Darius, Xerxes' father, was known to have once impaled 3,000 men."51
Ahasuerus was careful to record the name, father, and town of anyone who demonstrated particular loyalty to his throne and to reward him quickly and generously.52
"Xerxes is consumed with power yet powerless as sovereign events unfold."53
