Esther 8:13
The copy of the writing for a commandment to be given in every province was published unto all people, and that the Jews should be ready against that day to avenge themselves on their enemies. The copy of the writing for a commandment to be given in every province was published unto all people, and that the Jews should be ready against that day to avenge themselves on their enemies.
The copy of the writing was a public counter-decree, written under the authority the king gave Esther and Mordecai and proclaimed throughout every province unto all people, giving the Jews notice and authority to be ready on the appointed day to defend themselves and avenge themselves on their enemies. Its setting was under the Persian king Xerxes, called Ahasuerus, when a Jewish maiden had in providence been brought to the throne while Haman, standing at the head of the Amalekites as the sworn enemies of God's children, was plotting their destruction. It shows God's especial providence and overruling power answering the faith of the believing ones, turning Haman's cruel decree and the darkness over the Jews into deliverance and triumphant vindication. By it God preserved His people and the godly line from destruction, frustrating Satan's purpose to use Medo-Persia to war against God and His church by destroying the woman through whom the Man Child should come. It illustrates God's future deliverance of His people from a decree of death in the coming Sabbath controversy over obedience to human commands about Sabbath-keeping.
Setting and Published Decree
The verse belongs to Esther 8:9-14, which tells what followed the king giving Esther and Mordecai authority to write to the Jews in the king's name as they pleased to carry out Esther's request. Its setting is a striking period under the great Persian king Xerxes, called in the Bible Ahasuerus, when in providence a Jewish maiden had been brought to the throne. At that time Haman the prime minister, standing at the head of the Amalekites, the wicked and sworn enemies of God's children, was in the favor of the king and plotting to destroy them.
The copy of the writing for a commandment was publicly proclaimed and distributed throughout every province unto all people, giving the Jews notice and authority to be ready on the appointed day to defend themselves and avenge themselves on their enemies. The king's proclamations reached every subject across his vast kingdom within a year even by the slow posts of that day, showing how widely a message could be carried. It is an example of a formal decree of protection for a Jewish people grievously oppressed by their enemies, the same kind of aid the Romans granted when the Jews sent an embassy to Rome in B.C. 161 to join in a league of amity and confederacy against the Syrian kings.
The counter-decree followed fasting and prayer by Mordecai and Esther when the set day of slaughter had nearly come with no hope and no human power able to save. God sent an angel to trouble the king so he could not sleep and had the chronicles read. Mordecai's faithfulness in saving the king's life was remembered and he was exalted the next day, while Haman, supposing the honor was for himself, was made the means of promoting Mordecai. Haman was then hanged on the gallows he had erected for Mordecai, and through the decree Mordecai finally saved his people.
God's Providential Deliverance
Esther 8:13 belongs to a striking period under the great Persian king Xerxes, called in the Bible Ahasuerus, when in providence a Jewish maiden had been brought to the throne of Persia while Haman the prime minister, standing at the head of the Amalekites, the wicked and sworn enemies of God's children, was in the favor of the king and plotting to destroy them. The verse records the counter-decree that allowed the Jews to destroy their enemies, showing the overruling power of God in saving them and working for His people in answer to the faith of the believing ones. It belongs to the account of the triumphant vindication of God's people and the defeat of Haman, the enemy who sought their destruction. Haman's cruel decree had brought darkness over the Jews, but God turned the danger into deliverance and defeated malice with love.
The Jews were about to be slaughtered on a set day that had nearly come, with no hope and no human power able to save them. Mordecai and Esther fasted and prayed, and God sent an angel to trouble the king so he could not sleep and commanded the chronicles of the kingdom to be read before him. Mordecai's faithfulness in saving the king's life was then remembered from the chronicles, and he was exalted to great honor the next day. Haman, supposing the king desired to honor himself, was made the means of promoting Mordecai, and at the same time the wicked Haman was hanged on the gallows he had erected to hang Mordecai. Through the decree preparing them to stand against their enemies on that day, Mordecai finally saved his people, showing God's especial providence in human affairs.
By this published counter-decree throughout the Persian provinces, giving the Jews notice and authority to defend themselves against their enemies on the appointed day, God preserved His people and the godly line from destruction. Haman's plot in the reign of Ahasuerus to destroy all the people of God shows Medo-Persia, the second head of the beast system of church-and-state government, perverted by Satan to his own ends and used to war against God, His Christ, and His church. It was an attempt to destroy the woman through whom the Man Child, the promised Man-child, should come. In frustrating Satan's purpose God preserved His people.
Mordecai stood next to the throne of Persia by the providence of God when the welfare of God's people was at stake for the furtherance of His cause in the earth. He did not seek the office and did not gain it by political intrigue, party politics, or the will of the people. The published decree went broadcast throughout the provinces of an empire whose domination was deemed universal as a proclamation emphasizing the power of the God of Israel. Thus through a humble servant in captivity and exile and through the instrumentality of an absolute heathen monarchy the knowledge of the true God was heralded to the ends of the earth as missionary work for the world.
Prophecy and Future Application
The published counter-decree that made the Jews ready against the appointed day illustrates God's deliverance of His people from a decree of death. That deliverance applies to a future controversy over the Sabbath, in which those who refuse to obey human commands about Sabbath-keeping will face an effort to put them to death.
The published warning of a determined plan to destroy a people gives knowledge of the plan beforehand and makes ready against that day. That readiness means sending out a captain and fighting, slaying many, carrying away captive wives and children, spoiling them, taking possession of their lands, pulling down their strongholds, and bringing them into servitude. It also means destroying and bringing under dominion resisting kingdoms and isles, while keeping amity with friends and with those who rely upon them. It means conquering kingdoms far and nigh so that all who hear the name are afraid, helping whom they will to a kingdom so that those reign and displacing whom they will. It means being greatly exalted, yet wearing no crown nor being clothed in purple to be magnified thereby.
The verse stands as evidence connected with Rome overthrowing the place and nation of the Jews. That overthrow fulfilled the prophecy that the power symbolized by Daniel's little horn would grow toward the pleasant land, meaning Palestine.