The king's scribes were summoned at that time, in the third month, which is the month of Sivan, on the twenty-third day. And an edict was written, according to all that Mordecai commanded concerning the Jews, to the satraps and the governors and the officials of the provinces from India to Ethiopia, 127 provinces, to each province in its own script and to each people in its own language, and also to the Jews in their script and their language.
Haman's letters ordering the death of the Jews had gone out, and a decree of the king could not be cancelled. So the scribes are called in again, this time to write what Mordecai commands.
Two Letters, One Seal
Two royal letters now ordered opposite things. Neither one could be taken back.
W. H. WestcottEsther 3:12 and Esther 8:8 give us two letters of King Ahasuerus. The first was written under Haman's influence and scheming. It told men to rise up against the Jews and wipe them out. The second was written under Mordecai's direction. It gave the Jews the right to destroy anyone who dared lay hands on them. Both letters were written in the king's name and sealed with the king's ring, and neither was cancelled. An edict written in the name of the king and sealed with the king's ring cannot be revoked. So the seal meant the unchangeable purpose and will of the one whose seal it was. No man could reverse it.
Death Standing, Life Offered
The old law kept its force. So rescue had to come by adding something new, not by deleting the old.
Arno Clemens GaebeleinThe proclamation of death stood, but alongside it came a proclamation of life. They did not need to die. Their enemies were now in their hands. They acted on this second proclamation and believed what it said. So they learned this: the first decree still stood and could not be revoked, but the second decree set them free from death and gave them liberty.
The Man Whose Words Are Written Down
In chapter 3 the scribes wrote what Haman commanded. Here they write what Mordecai commands. The change of voice follows a change of position.
William KellyThe king takes off his ring and gives it to Mordecai. So the Jew now comes into the place of government in the earth. Their enemies are destroyed. But they still have to be vindicated and fully delivered throughout the empire.
From India to Ethiopia
The two names mark the outer edges of the empire, so the phrase is a way of saying everywhere.
Morrish Bible DictionaryIndia was the boundary of the Persian empire of Ahasuerus on the east, as Ethiopia was its boundary on the west. Esther 1:1; Esther 8:9.
The rescue letter matched the threat in reach and in speed.
Leslie M. GrantThis second decree went out as widely as the first. It reached all the lands of the Persian empire, from India to Ethiopia, and every people in their own language. The message was written in the name of King Ahasuerus and sealed with the king's signet ring. Couriers carried it on horseback, on thoroughbred horses chosen for their speed.
What a Written Word Did
Nothing outside had changed yet. The mood changed anyway.
C E StuartWhat a change had been made. Perplexity gave way to gladness; feasting took the place of fasting. Why? The thirteenth of Adar had not yet come. The first decree stood unrepealed. Why this change? The written word of that second decree had made all the difference. Relief had come. That decree offered the Jews a way of escape from a dreadful doom. They believed it, and they acted as if they believed it.
The Same Test, Now Ours
The point does not stay in Persia. It lands on the reader.
C E StuartThe written word in those days spoke to people. They heard it, they believed it, and it affected them according to what it said. Now God, not Ahasuerus, has spoken to all of us. He has announced a coming judgment. In view of it He "commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead" (Acts 17:30-31). But what is man? He is more ready to believe the decree of Ahasuerus than the word of God.
Summary
- Written — Two letters stood side by side, both in the king's name and both sealed. A sealed word "meant the unchangeable purpose and will of the one whose seal it was."
- Not Withdrawn — The death decree was never revoked. The second decree set the Jews free from it while it still stood.
- Dictated — The king's ring had passed to Mordecai. So the scribes now took down "all that Mordecai commanded," and "the Jew now comes into the place of government."
- Carried — The good news travelled as far as the threat had. India to Ethiopia, 127 provinces, every people in its own language, carried by the fastest horses.
- Believed — Joy came months before the dreaded day. Why? "They believed it, and they acted as if they believed it." The same test still faces every reader.