Commentary for Esther 9:10

The ten sons of Haman. I saw in Seder Olam: These are the ten who wrote a [false] accusation against Yehudah and Yerusholayim, as it is written in the Book of Ezra: “And during the reign of Achashveirosh, at the beginning of his reign, they wrote an accusation against the dwellers of Yehudah and Yerusholayim.”¹Ezra 4:6. And what was the [purpose of the] accusation? To stop those who were coming up from the exile during the days of Koresh, who had started to build the Beis Hamikdosh, and the Cutheans slandered them and stopped them.²Seder Olam Rabbah 29. But when Koresh died, and Achashveirosh reigned, and Haman was promoted, he [Haman] saw to it that those in Yerusholayim would not engage in the construction, so they [Haman’s ten sons] sent in the name of Achashveirosh to the princes of the other side of the river to stop them [from building].

But they did not lay their hands on the spoils. So that the king should not cast an envious eye on their money.³Alternatively, Esther’s ancestor, King Shaul had sinned by sparing Agag and by allowing the people to take some of Amoleik’s booty (I Shmuel 15:17-29). His misdeed was now rectified by killing Agag’s descendants, Haman and his sons, and by “not lay[ing] their hands on the spoils,” although they were permitted to do so. This is alluded to in the acrostic [שאול] formed by the first letters of the phrase ובבזה לא שלחו את. (Me’am Lo’ez)