Esther 8:15, commentary and pictures

After Esther pleaded for her people to be spared from Haman's plot, the king gave her and Mordecai authority to send a counter decree in his name, and Mordecai came out from the king's presence in royal blue and white with a great crown of gold and a robe of fine linen and purple, while the city of Shushan shouted and rejoiced with gladness over the deliverance.
It belongs to Heaven's intervention to preserve the captive Jews under Medo-Persian rule, when God frustrated Haman's attempt to destroy them all and gave them by counter decree the right to defend themselves, saving them and overthrowing their enemies.
It shows the triumphant vindication of God's people in royal honor and gladness, with wicked Haman utterly defeated as the devil's agent, proving that God has care for His peculiar people and is able to deliver from any snare the evil one may set.
Mordecai brought out in royal honor with the city rejoicing pictures the deliverance God will give His people when they face death for refusing to yield to man's command, for the contest between God's way and man's way begun then will end in the effort to put to death those who will not keep the Sabbath according to man's command.

Setting and Royal Honor

Esther's tearful plea to put away Haman's device to destroy the Jews came first, after which the king gave Esther and Mordecai authority to write to the Jews in the king's name sealed with the king's ring. Mordecai then went out from the king's presence in royal blue and white with a great crown of gold and a robe of fine linen and purple, and the city of Shushan shouted and rejoiced with gladness over the deliverance. That honor came about that very night when the king could not sleep and had the chronicles read. He heard of Mordecai's faithfulness in saving his life, and used Haman, who supposed the honor was for himself, to promote Mordecai instead. This was followed by a counter decree for the Jews to destroy their enemies and by the hanging of Haman on the gallows he had erected for Mordecai.

When destruction seemed near and no human power appeared able to save them, Mordecai and Esther fasted and prayed, Mordecai was exalted, and he ultimately saved his people. The events occurred under the reign of the great Persian king Xerxes, called Ahasuerus in the Bible. Haman the prime minister, at the head of the Amalekites, the wicked and sworn enemies of God's children, had plotted to destroy them. The vast realm ruled over is shown in that the Persian Empire is called great, while Greece is called very great and the little horn exceeding great.

Mordecai's royal dress was a public sign of the king's favor toward the Jews. It brought the Jews light and gladness and joy and honor, with the city of Shushan rejoicing and glad at his going out from the king's presence dressed in royal honor with a great gold crown. His honored position in the Persian court enabled proclamations throughout the empire that made the power of Israel's God known, while the people of Shushan rejoiced. The crown and purple are worn to be magnified thereby, a display of self-exaltation which the Roman rulers avoided. They wore no crown and no purple, but committed their government to one man every year whom all obeyed with neither envy nor emulation.

God's Deliverance of His People

Heaven intervened to preserve the captive Jewish people under Medo-Persian rule, frustrating Haman's attempt to destroy all God's people so that the threatened people were preserved. Through Esther's pleading for her kindred and her people, a counter decree gave the Jews the right to defend themselves against any who should attack them, and that decree saved them and brought about the complete overthrow of their enemies, preserving the godly line. Mordecai honored in royal apparel before the king while the city of Shushan rejoiced and was glad displays that triumphant vindication of God's people together with the utter and absolute defeat of wicked Haman as the devil's agent. God brought light out of the nation's gloom through Esther, defeating Satan's malice by God's love. It means God has care for His peculiar people and makes the wrath of man to praise Him, proving He is able to deliver from any snare the evil one may set.

Prophecy and Final Deliverance

The verse stands at the turning of God's frustration of Satan's plan to destroy all His people through Haman in the reign of Ahasuerus. Medo-Persia was the second head of the abnormal Satanic church-and-state beast system, perverted by Satan to his own ends. Satan meant by it to destroy the woman through whom the Man Child should come, but God frustrated his purpose and turned the decree of death into rejoicing and gladness for Shushan.

It shows God working deliverance for His people when they face death for refusing to yield to man's command. The contest is always between God's way and man's way, as when Cain slew Abel for not worshiping in his way and when the Jews persecuted Christ for not keeping the Sabbath by their rules. The Sabbath controversy then begun will end only in the effort to put to death those who will not keep the Sabbath according to man's command. Mordecai brought out in royal honor with the city of Shushan rejoicing and glad pictures the deliverance God will then give.