Esther 8:12, commentary and pictures

The verse appoints one single day in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus for the action commanded, namely the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar. It belongs to the reign of the great Persian king Xerxes, when a Jewish maiden was brought in providence to the throne and when Haman the prime minister, at the head of the Amalekites as the wicked and sworn enemies of God's children, was in favor and plotted to destroy all the Jews, a plot God frustrated and overruled to save them. It stands in what followed the king's grant of authority to Esther and Mordecai to write to the Jews in the king's name, after the king could not sleep and heard of Mordecai's faithfulness in saving his life, after Haman was made to honor Mordecai, and with wicked Haman hanged on the gallows he had erected for Mordecai. It gives the day set by the counter decree concerning the threatened destruction of God's people, which preserved them and led to the overthrow of their enemies and the triumphant vindication of God's people, authorizing united action everywhere at once for the Jews to stand for their life, to defend themselves, and to destroy their enemies. It shows God working for His people and answering the faith of the believing ones, bringing His tried servant next to the throne when the welfare of His people was at stake, so that proclamations emphasizing the power of the God of Israel went broadcast throughout an empire deemed universal for the furtherance of His cause and the heralding of the knowledge of the true God to the ends of the earth in that generation.

Date and Historical Setting

The appointed time was one single day in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, namely the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar. That day was the date set in the counter decree concerning the threatened destruction, and it belonged to the story of deliverance. It authorized united action everywhere at once.

It belonged to the reign of the great Persian king Xerxes, called Ahasuerus. In the providence of God a Jewish maiden had been brought to the throne of Persia. At that time the Amalekites, the wicked and sworn enemies of God's children, were in the favor of the king with Haman the prime minister at their head, and Haman plotted to destroy all the Jews, God's people. That plot to destroy all His people was frustrated and overruled by God to save them from their enemies.

The verse stands in what followed the king's grant of authority to Esther and Mordecai to write to the Jews in the king's name, recorded in Esther 8:9-14. It came after the king could not sleep and heard read of Mordecai's faithfulness in saving his life, after Haman was made to promote Mordecai to great honor, and with wicked Haman hanged on the gallows he had erected for Mordecai. It is part of the account of Ahasuerus sending proclamations across his vast kingdom, showing that his orders could be distributed widely within a year even by the slow posts of that time. It is part of the account giving the origin of the feast of Purim, in a book that contains the name of God nowhere in English, with God's name found in the original only five times in the form of an acrostic.

Deliverance and Divine Providence

The thirteenth day of Adar was the day fixed by the counter decree that met the threatened destruction of God's people, and that decree preserved them. It belongs to the story of their deliverance and to the overthrow of their enemies. It stands within their triumphant vindication and the utter and absolute defeat of wicked Haman as the devil's agent.

Though the decree against the Jews had brought gloom over the nation, God brought deliverance through Esther. Haman's malice was defeated and darkness was turned into light. This came when the Jews had seemed certain to be slaughtered, but God's providence turned events so that Mordecai was honored and his people were saved.

The verse appoints united action everywhere at once, authorizing the Jews in the counter decree to stand for their life. It appointed them to defend themselves and to destroy their enemies. That united action meant to fight, slay many, take captive wives and children, spoil goods, take possession of lands, pull down strongholds, and bring resisters into servitude. Such destruction of resisting kingdoms and isles, joined with keeping amity with friends and those who rely upon them, conquers both far and nigh and makes all that hear the name afraid. It holds power to help to a kingdom those who reign and to displace whom it will, though wearing no crown nor purple for magnification.

The verse shows God working for His people and answering the faith of the believing ones. God's providence turned events so that Mordecai was honored and his people were saved. It shows Mordecai next to the throne of Persia enabling proclamations emphasizing the power of the God of Israel to go broadcast throughout the regions of an empire deemed universal. God in providence brought His tried servant into prominence when the welfare of His people was at stake, for the furtherance of His cause in the earth and for missionary work to the world. So the knowledge of the true God was heralded to the ends of the earth in that generation. This was done not by political intrigue or party politics or the will of the people, and not sought or imagined by Mordecai, but by God working through a humble servant in captivity and exile through the instrumentality of an absolute, heathen monarchy to send His message of truth to the world.