Esther 8:9-14

3. The royal decree 8:9-14

The first decree, to destroy the Jews, had gone out on April 17, 474 B.C. (Esther 3:12). [Note: R. A. Parker and W. H. Dubberstein, Babylonian Chronology 626 B.C.-A.D. 75, p. 31.] Ahasuerus published this second one, allowing the Jews to defend themselves, on June 25, 474 B.C. The Jews had over eight months to prepare for the day their enemies might attack them, which was March 7, 473 B.C.

The king gave the Jews permission even to take the lives of the enemy "which might attack them, . . . [their] children and women" (Esther 8:11). The children and women in view seem to be those of the Jews (cf. Esther 3:13), not the enemies of the Jews. [Note: Gordis, pp. 49-53.] This extreme measure enabled the Jews to defend themselves completely. It neutralized the enemy’s former advantage (cf. Esther 3:13).

"It has often been observed that this [fourteenth verse] provides a remarkably cogent illustration of missionary work today. God’s death sentence hangs over a sinful humanity, but He has also commanded us to hasten the message of salvation to every land (cf. Proverbs 24:11). Only by a knowledge of, and a response to, the second decree of saving grace through the Lord Jesus Christ can the terrible effects of the first decree of universal condemnation for sin be averted." [Note: Whitcomb, p. 107.]

"If a group of pagan scribes and messengers, without modern means of transportation and communication, could take Mordecai’s decree to an entire empire, how much more should Christian workers be able to take Christ’s Gospel to a lost world!" [Note: Wiersbe, p. 745.]