Esther 8:9
Then were the king’s scribes called at that time in the third month, that is, the month Sivan, on the three and twentieth day thereof; and it was written according to all that Mordecai commanded unto the Jews, and to the lieutenants, and the deputies and rulers of the provinces which are from India unto Ethiopia, an hundred twenty and seven provinces, unto every province according to the writing thereof, and unto every people after their language, and to the Jews according to their writing, and according to their language.
On the twenty-third day of Sivan the king's scribes wrote all that Mordecai commanded to the Jews and to the lieutenants, deputies and rulers of the hundred twenty and seven provinces from India unto Ethiopia, to every province in its own writing and to every people in its own language. It stands in the reign of the Persian king Xerxes called Ahasuerus, when Haman plotted to destroy the Jews, and after Mordecai was honored and Haman was hanged on his own gallows this counter-decree frustrated the cruel decree and turned gloom into hope and safety. It was written with nearly nine months remaining before the day fixed for the massacre of the Jews. Though scattered through so many provinces and languages, and later in every nation, the Jews still knew and were fully agreed upon the true seventh-day Sabbath when they returned to Jerusalem and at Jerusalem in gospel days, proving dispersion and the Babylonian captivity had not caused them to lose its identity. That deliverance from a death decree for refusing to yield to man's religious demand foreshadows God's final deliverance in the Sabbath controversy over putting to death those who will not keep man's Sabbath, and its swift carriage to the uttermost part of the kingdom without press or steam or telegraph stands as a permanent lesson that evangelization of the world in a single generation is possible.
Wording And Historical Setting
The scribes of the king were summoned to put into writing all that Mordecai directed, and the writing was dispatched to the Jews and to the lieutenants, deputies and rulers of the provinces, to every province in its own script and to every people in its own tongue, and to the Jews in their own script and tongue. The proclamations thus went out under the king's authority throughout the empire, adapted to the writing and language of each province and people.
Sivan is the third month of the Jewish sacred year, which began with Abib or Nisan and ran from April onward. May stands as the second month, so Sivan follows it and corresponds nearly but not exactly with June. The Jewish civil year, by contrast, began with the seventh month Tisri.
The writing was done on the twenty-third day of Sivan. Nearly nine months still remained before the day fixed in Haman's decree for the massacre of the Jews.
The decree went to a hundred twenty and seven provinces, from India unto Ethiopia. India was the far eastern extent of the realm, and Ethiopia marked its western limit. That vast reach from India to Ethiopia illustrates the great extent and greatness of the Persian Empire. Its size has been reckoned at about fifteen hundred miles in one direction by three thousand in the other, and also at two thousand by twelve hundred miles.
The verse stands in the history of the Jews under the great Persian king Xerxes, called in the Bible Ahasuerus. At that time Haman the prime minister plotted to destroy them throughout the empire. The book opens with a six-month feast, and shows how in providence a Jewish maiden was brought to the throne of Persia. It shows the Amalekites, the wicked and sworn enemies of God's children, in the favor of the king with Haman at their head. It shows the overruling power of God saving His people from their enemies, frustrating Haman's attempt and preserving them, and its finishing chapters bring their triumphant vindication and the utter and absolute defeat of wicked Haman. The name of God does not occur in English, being found in the original only five times in the form of an acrostic, and the book gives the origin of the feast of Purim.
Deliverance And Prophetic Meaning
Esther 8:9 belongs to the counter-decree that reversed the threat against the captive Jewish people and frustrated Haman's cruel attempt under Ahasuerus to destroy all the Jews throughout the Persian Empire. The decree prepared under Mordecai's direction and sent in writing throughout the king's 127 provinces, in each people's language and script, turned the gloom cast over the nation into hope and safety. It came when the Jews faced slaughter and seemed to have no human means of escape, and by it Mordecai ultimately saved his people and God protected them from destruction. In so doing it helped preserve the godly line from destruction through whom the promised Man Child would come.
The counter-decree authorizing the Jews to destroy their enemies was issued after Mordecai was honored and Haman was hanged on the gallows he had built for Mordecai. It shows God working for His people in answer to the faith of those who sought Him. The proclamations sent under the king's authority throughout the empire, in the writing and language of each province and people, carried a message that emphasized the power of the God of Israel and spread across the empire.
The story to which the verse belongs, of God's deliverance of His people from a death decree imposed for refusing to yield to man's religious demand, foreshadows the final Sabbath controversy. Then an effort will be made to put to death those who will not keep the Sabbath according to man's command, with God again working deliverance for His people. The wide dispersion of Jews living throughout the empire from India to Ethiopia, across 127 provinces and among peoples with different languages, illustrates the prediction that Israel would be scattered among the kingdoms of the earth.
The royal decree issued under the king's authority and in writing suited to each people and language shows a seal and a name linked together. In the sealing message this supports treating seal and name as synonymous terms. The empire-wide decree in behalf of the Jews, written to rulers and peoples in every province in their own writing and language, is the same kind of decree Rome granted to the Jews after the Jewish league of 161 B.C.
Sabbath Proof And Missionary Lesson
In the days of Ahasuerus, dated to B.C. 510, the Jews were scattered through one hundred and twenty-seven provinces from India to Ethiopia, and afterward in every nation under heaven. Despite that wide dispersion they knew the Sabbath well and were fully agreed upon the true seventh-day Sabbath when they returned to Jerusalem and when devout Jews out of every nation were found at Jerusalem in gospel days. Their agreement after gathering from so many provinces and languages shows their dispersion had not caused them to lose its identity, and proves they did not lose the Sabbath in going into Babylon.
This wide scattering preserved the identity of the seventh day from Christ to the present time. Three times a year all the men of Israel gathered together at Jerusalem for the feasts, so no one nation could lose or change the day without being detected by the others.
The proclamation to save the queen's people was translated into every language and script suited to each province and people and sent by the swiftest posts to the uttermost part of the vast kingdom. Even with only the slow postal system of that time and without printing-press, steam transportation, or electric telegraph, it reached every subject across the whole territory in less than nine months, across an empire described as about fifteen hundred miles in one direction by three thousand in the other and as two thousand by twelve hundred miles. As one of three such empire-wide proclamations it stands as a permanent lesson that evangelization of the world in a single generation is possible, and that preaching the gospel over thirteen times that space in eleven years is possible.