Commentary on this section of Esther, chapter 8, is quite complicated. As I try to imagine the sounds, sights, smells, and emotions of these days, it’s an overwhelming composition in my mind. A flurry of activity, plus references to previous conflicts between Israel and their various enemies.
It would take a few essays just to pick everything apart fully, so let’s see how far we get with the imagery in this next section of Esther 8.
1. A Date with the Scribes
John Gill’s Commentary takes verse 8 line by line, thank heaven: there is a lot to see. “The king's scribes were summoned at that time, in the third month, which is the month of Sivan, on the twenty-third day.”
Apparently, this was in May or June. Gill refers us back to Esther 3:12 where Haman summoned the royal scribes. Again, Scripture is very specific about the day. We can see how long the Jewish people had to endure this death sentence.
But we also realize how much time they had to leave Persia in order to escape their persecution. Gill wrote, “So long the Jews had been in distress by reason of them and was a just rebuke upon them for not returning to their own land when they might, as well as for other sins.”
I’m not clear as to why the Jews could not or would not have left at this time. Did they simply have too many enemies and nowhere to go? Did they bury their heads in the sand, disbelieving that the worst would actually happen?
Was it that they trusted the Lord not to allow such punishment to be inflicted upon them because they were God’s chosen people? Or perhaps there were too many sacred observations associated with Sivan to just pack everything up and leave.
One writer says that “in the month of Sivan, [Jews] celebrate the holiday of Shavuot when the Torah was given by G‑d to the Jewish people on Mount Sinai more than 3,300 years ago. Every year on the holiday of Shavuot, we renew our acceptance of G‑d’s gift, and G‑d ‘re-gives’ the Torah.”
2. A Death-Defying Decree?
“And an edict was written, according to all that Mordecai commanded concerning the Jews, to the satraps and the governors and the officials of the provinces from India to Ethiopia, 127 provinces, to each province in its own script and to each people in its own language, and also to the Jews in their script and their language” (8:10).
There were too many enemies, all of them commanded in the king’s name to go ahead and kill the Jews — over a hundred enemy forces, assuming there was some kind of military presence or even a rag-tag group of antisemitic thugs in each nation.
Meanwhile, this edict of Mordecai did not say, “the previous edict has been reversed.” On the contrary, David Guzik asserts that “the king could not revoke the previous decree, so he simply made another decree giving support to the Jews against their attackers.”
When Esther 8:10 sweeps through the Persian Empire from India to Ethiopia, we see what the Jews were up against, and the power that was now in Mordecai’s hands.
What would this have meant to the Jewish people — to know that the king, though he did not remove his previous command, did in fact transfer favor from Israel’s enemies to the Jewish people themselves?
I have no doubt they would have at least tried to defend themselves with or without his approval, but there is something about a king’s affirmation that causes one to puff up a little and gain confidence. Maybe annihilation no longer felt like a foregone conclusion.
Like when Gideon received the Lord’s support against the Midianites. “And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, ‘The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor’” (Judges 6:12). Gideon and a few hundred men defeated an enemy of thousands.
3. The Language of War
Notice the many languages this counter-edict had to be addressed in. No one would or could have hidden from the knowledge of this decree with the excuse that they hadn’t known because there wasn’t a version in their native tongue.
This is a reminder of how much brokenness and division existed between people in the various nations around the world, a consequence of Genesis 11, where the people had built a tower, thinking they could “make a name for ourselves” (Genesis 11:4).
Instead, “there the Lord confused the language of the whole earth, and from there the Lord scattered them throughout the earth” (Genesis 11:9). When people follow their own way instead of God’s way, they are divided.
Going back to Judges 6, concerning Gideon’s fear of facing the huge Midianite army, “The Lord said to him, “But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man” (v.16).
The Jews, too, experienced a unity of purpose, spiritually strengthening them against their enemies. Unity plus the king’s approval would have made them formidable.
Christians unified by the purpose of obeying and enjoying God, and loving one another, filled with the Holy Spirit, are a far more powerful force than a discordant group trying to identify their own truth about who God is.
God doesn’t even need us to fight the fight, but he invites us, and when we accept that invitation, we join a body. We fight as “one man.” We cannot live out our faith alone if we hope to maintain our purpose, which is to love, glorify, obey, and enjoy God.
4. Swift Horses
“And he wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus and sealed it with the king's signet ring. Then he sent the letters by mounted couriers riding on swift horses that were used in the king's service, bred from the royal stud” (Esther 8:10).
What I see is God coming to the rescue in the nick of time. Look at several different translations referring to the horses: the fastest, the best racing stock. There was no time for leisure as the armies were massing, soldiers ready to march. Do you feel the tension of immediacy when you read 8:10?
Yet the roads these messengers used for the transmission of messages were always employed for royal purposes, not just everyday mail. Afshin Majlesi explained that “Persian emperors used the Royal Road and other such routes for issuing decrees.”
These messengers were highly trained horsemen, and this was their usual job (though not their typical message).
These messengers were not part of Israel; they were not among the family of God. Were they enemies of Israel? Ahasuerus loved Esther and desired that she and her people would be saved for her sake.
The messengers were members of his court. As members of the king’s court, so I suppose they were not Israel’s enemies, although Haman proved that treachery could be hidden within the palace walls.
Still, these messengers were among God’s own emissaries, and they did good work regardless of what their own hearts had to say about it.
Paul wrote in Philippians that some pastors preached the gospel “from selfish ambition,” which was bad for their standing with Christ, but it meant that more people heard the gospel. God will use believers and unbelievers to bring his plans to fruition, even the Persian king.
God’s Decree, Our Savior
Again, there are those shadows, echoes, and foretastes of the Good News. Esther 8 really does explore God’s redemptive plans and his methods for saving wayward people. A king signed a scroll that told the Jews they could fight for their survival.
The King signed his name on our hearts when we believed in his Son for salvation so that we could fight sin with the help of the Holy Spirit.
Guzik suggested that, although the writer of Esther does not mention Satan and did not know Jesus, we can see Haman as a kind of Satan whom we know God will deal with. “But we still must deal with the righteous decree of God that demands our death: the soul who sins shall die” (Ezekiel 18:4).
We are sinners, and God demands a blood sacrifice. So, God sent Jesus to pay the penalty. “His counter-decree saves us; that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus” (Guzik).
For further reading:
Role Reversal: Esther’s Eighth Connection to the Gospel
The Queen's Patience: Esther's Ninth Connection to the Gospel
A Convenient Justice: Esther’s Tenth Connection to the Gospel
Photo Credit: ©iStock/Getty Images Plus/Ilya Burdun
