Megillat Esther 8:11 - The counter decree

8:11 records that Achashverosh made a second decree that the Jews could defend themselves and plunder their enemies. Why was the second decree necessary? Were the Jewish people so beaten down that they could not envision fighting back without the decree? This would not accord with their later actions that when given the chance they were able to kill 75,000 people in one day (9:16). Also, if the Jews were able to defeat their enemies, why were they worried after Haman's decree?

I used to think that it was the army that changed sides after the second decree, as initially the army was prepared to attack the Jews but in the end the army defended the Jews. Yet, the second decree only allowed the Jews to defend themselves and nothing is mentioned about a change in the role of the army.

One answer is that most of the people were not rabid anti-Semites. R. Moshe Alshich (16th century) argues that the allowance for the population to plunder the Jewish people's homes in Haman's decree was an incentive for the people to murder. According to this idea, Haman realized that not everybody was a rabid anti-Semite and then the permission to plunder the Jew's wealth was to obtain the general population's acquiescence to his decree. The second decree that allowed the Jews to defend themselves was then crucial not to the Jews but for the general population who were not rabid anti-Semites. After the second decree most of the general population who were not rabid anti-Semites decided not to attack the Jews since they could have been killed and lost their possessions if they attacked the Jews because the Jews were now allowed to defend themselves. The Jews could not have defended themselves against the entire population, but after the second decree, only the true anti-Semites attacked the Jews, and against this smaller number, the Jewish people were able to organize and defend themselves, 9:2.

Another possible answer is based on the peculiar nature of the decree that it was limited to one day, which meant that the Jews had the option of hiding on the 13th and surviving with a loss of their possessions. Prior to the second decree, had the Jews successfully defended themselves against their attackers, then they would have been tried for murder. Accordingly, if the Jewish people attempted to protect their property then they could not have won since either they would be killed or they would be considered murderers. Their only option was to escape and forgo their possession. However, the second decree allowed the Jewish people to legally kill anybody who attacked their property, and hence only with the second decree were they willing to fight back.