Esther 8:10
And he wrote in the king Ahasuerus’ name, and sealed it with the king’s ring, and sent letters by posts on horseback, and riders on mules, camels, and young dromedaries: And he wrote in the king Ahasuerus’ name, and sealed it with the king’s ring, and sent letters by posts on horseback, and riders on mules, camels, and young dromedaries:
The verse describes the formal issuing and swift dispatch of the counter-decree, written in the king's name, authenticated with his signet ring, and carried to the provinces by mounted royal couriers. A letter so written and sealed carried the king's own authority, joining his seal to his name. That decree permitted the Jews to defend themselves and to destroy their enemies after Haman's decree had ordered their destruction. Haman's attempt under Ahasuerus to destroy all of God's people was Satan working through Medo-Persia to cut off the people through whom the promised Man-child and Deliverer would come, but God intervened and preserved the godly line. It shows God working deliverance for His people when a law seeks to put them to death for refusing to yield to man's command in worship, as will again occur in the final Sabbath controversy when God will deliver His own.
Wording and Historical Setting
The counter-decree was formally issued in King Ahasuerus's name, authenticated with his signet ring, and carried to the provinces by mounted messengers on horseback, mules, camels, and young dromedaries. It followed the king's authorization for Esther and Mordecai to write on behalf of the Jews in response to the decree ordering their destruction. A royal letter so written in the king's name and sealed with his ring carried the king's authority, showing the connection between a seal and a name. It belongs to the history of such royal provincial decrees as the one granted to the Jews in connection with the Jewish league with Rome in 161 B.C.
The decree was sent swiftly throughout Ahasuerus's vast empire by royal couriers and translated into the empire's languages. It reached its borders within nine months to within a year despite having no printing presses, steam transport, or telegraphs. The account of three successive proclamations demonstrates the reach and speed of the empire's communications.
It belongs to the sequence in which the sleepless king heard from the chronicles of Mordecai's faithfulness in saving his life, Haman was made to promote Mordecai to great honor, and Haman was then hung on the gallows he had erected for Mordecai. It stands in the closing chapters of Esther that give the origin of the feast of Purim, where the name of God does not appear in English but is found five times in the original in the form of an acrostic.
Divine Deliverance Preserved
Esther 8:10 belongs to the counter-decree that followed Haman's decree ordering the destruction of the Jews, allowing the Jewish people to defend themselves and authorizing them to destroy their enemies. Haman's attempt under the Medo-Persian ruler Ahasuerus to destroy all of God's people was Satan working through Medo-Persia to destroy the people through whom the promised Man-child and Deliverer would come. God intervened and frustrated that purpose, and by this counter-decree helped preserve the godly line from which the promised Deliverer would come.
God brought deliverance to the threatened Jewish people through Esther, defeating Haman's malice. He also brought it through Mordecai's position near the throne, by which proclamations emphasizing the power of Israel's God were broadcast throughout Persia under the king's authority, with the royal seal, by mounted couriers across the empire. The deliverance was carried out through human actions under God's special providence, with the royal letters sent out as part of the means by which Mordecai finally saved his people. It proves that God worked for His people and answered the faith of the believing ones.
The outcome was the triumphant vindication of God's people and the utter and absolute defeat of wicked Haman, the devil's agent.
Worship Conflict and Mission
The dispatch of the letters by posts on horseback and riders on mules, camels and young dromedaries belongs to God's working of deliverance for His people when a law seeks to put them to death for refusing to yield to man's command in worship. It stands in the same contest between God's way and man's way that appeared when Cain slew Abel and when Christ was persecuted for not keeping the Sabbath according to the Jews' ideas. That contest continues in the present Sabbath controversy, where the demand to keep the Sabbath according to man's command will end in an effort to put to death those who will not yield, but God will deliver His people.
The swiftness with which the decree to save the Jews was carried throughout the vast empire by royal couriers, translated into the empire's languages and reaching its borders within nine months, shows what widespread communication was possible even without printing presses, steam transport, and telegraphs. The three successive proclamations demonstrate that reach by ancient means. It stands as a lesson that the world can be evangelized within a single generation.