Then the king's scribes were summoned on the thirteenth day of the first month, and an edict, according to all that Haman commanded, was written to the king's satraps and to the governors over all the provinces and to the officials of all the peoples, to every province in its own script and every people in its own language. It was written in the name of King Ahasuerus and sealed with the king's signet ring.
Haman holds the king's ring, and now the king's scribes write whatever he commands. On the thirteenth day of the first month, one man's hatred becomes the fixed law of an empire.
The Machinery of the Empire
The verse reads like paperwork: officials, provinces, scripts, languages. One commentator walks through the steps that turned Haman's wish into a law nobody could undo:
Leslie M. GrantThe king's scribes were then called to write a decree "according to all that Haman commanded." It was addressed to all the officials of the kingdom in every province and sealed with the king's signet (v. 12). Couriers then carried these letters to all the king's provinces. They told the people to kill and destroy all the Jews — young and old, women and children — on one set day, and to take all their possessions as plunder. Haman took the fullest advantage of the king's permission. He had copies of the document sent everywhere (v. 14), declaring this slaughter to be law. That law could not be changed, because the Medes and Persians prided themselves on having unchangeable laws (Dan. 6:8).
The Name and the Ring
The decree carries two things that are not Haman's: the king's name and the king's seal. A later letter in the book carries the same two marks. Comparing them shows what the seal meant:
W. H. WestcottEsther 3:12 and Esther 8:8 hold two letters of King Ahasuerus. The first was written under Haman's influence and scheming, calling on men to rise up against the Jews and wipe them out. The second was written under Mordecai's guidance, authorising the Jews to destroy anyone who dared to lay hands on them. Both letters were written in the king's name and sealed with the king's ring, and neither was cancelled. No man may reverse a writing that carries the king's name and the king's seal. So the sealing stood for the settled, unchangeable purpose and will of the one whose seal it was. No man could reverse it.
Every Province, Every Language
The order goes out "to every province in its own script and every people in its own language." No Jew anywhere could say the law had not reached him.
C E StuartThe decree they read. It was written, it was sealed with the king's signet — no man could reverse it. Who could bring comfort to those affected by it? A Persian had no fear of death because of it; it did not touch him. Once it was published, no Jew inside the king's lands had any hope of life. He could go from one end of the empire to the other, and no corner, no hidden spot, was safe for him. The decree aimed at the whole race. So the Jew was born into this world under a threat of death.
Haman's Plan, the King's Signature
Everything in the letter is Haman's; nothing in it bears his name. One commentator sees the same arrangement returning at the end of days:
H. L. RossierHaman writes "in the name of King Ahasuerus," and in appearance acts as his humble servant in affairs that the king himself has resolved and decreed. Similar circumstances will be renewed at the time of the end. The Antichrist will make himself the servant of the Roman Beast (Rev. 13:14-16) to carry out his own plans. Haman's satanic plan begins with his own pride and ambition. He would rather crush everything under his feet than see it made subject to Christ.
The Date Nobody Chose
Haman used the lot to pick his day, and the lot gave him the twelfth month — eleven months away. That delay left room for the steps that undid him.
F. B. HoleHaman had power, and he was full of anger at Mordecai's lack of respect. He decided to destroy not Mordecai alone but all his people. So he cast lots to find "the lucky day." The lots were cast in the first month of the year, and they pointed to a day as late as the thirteenth day of the twelfth month. That left ample time for the various steps that brought down both his plan and himself (3:7 and 13).
A Sentence That Gets Answered
No one ever cancels the decree of verse 12. A second decree answers it, and one commentator sees in that a picture of the nation's standing before God:
Michael HardtHis plan is ratified by a royal decree according to which all Jews must die (v. 12-15). This illustrates that there is a divine death sentence on the Jewish nation. How good to know that — as we will see — the king later passes a second decree which overturns the first. The sentence of death becomes life and peace.
Summary
- Written. Hatred in Haman's heart could kill no one. Written out by the king's scribes, it became law.
- Sealed. The king's ring marked a settled will. What it stamped could not be taken back, so rescue had to come as a second decree, not as a cancelled first one.
- Sent. Copies went to every province in its own script and language. No Jew in the empire stood outside the sentence.
- Delayed. The lot Haman trusted gave him a date eleven months away. That gap left room for the steps that destroyed him.
- Reversed. Chapter 3 leaves a death sentence over the nation. By chapter 8 a second letter, with the same name and the same ring, turns it into life and peace.