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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Esther 8:9 - 8:9
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These letters were prepared in the same manner as those of Haman (Est 3:12-15), on the 23rd day of the third month, the month Sivan, and sent into all the provinces. “And it was written according to all that Mordochai commanded.” They were sent to the Jews and to the satraps, etc., of the whole wide realm from India to Ethiopia (see Est 1:1), while those of Haman had been issued only to the satraps, etc. The rest coincides with Est 3:12. וַיִּכְתֹּב, and he (Mordochai) wrote. To show the speed with which the letters were despatched, (messengers) “on horseback, on coursers, government coursers, the sons of the stud,” is added to הָרָצִים בְּיַד. רֶכֶשׁ is a collective, meaning swift horses, coursers; comp. 1Ki 5:8. אֲחַשְׁתְּרָנִים (Est 8:11 and Est 8:14) answers to the Old-Persian kschatrana, from kschatra, government, king, and means government, royal, or court studs. So Haug in Ewald's bibl. Jahrb. v. p. 154. The older explanation, mules, on the other hand, is founded on the modern Persian estar, which, to judge from the Sanscrit açvatara, must in ancient Persian have been açpatara. רַמָּכִים, ἁπ. λεγ. from רַמָּךְ, answering to the Syriac remakaa', herd, especially a herd of horses, and to the Arabic :TransOther}ramaka, stud, is explained by Bertheau as a superlative form for the animal who excels the rest of the herd of stud in activity, perhaps the breeding stallion, while others understand it of the stud in general. The contents of the edict follow in Est 8:11 and Est 8:12 : “that the king allows the Jews in every city to assemble and to stand for their life (i.e., to fight for their lives, comp. Dan 12:1), to destroy, to slay, and to cause to perish all the power (חַיִל, military power) of the people and province that should assault them, children and women, and to plunder their property, upon a certain day,” etc. The appointed time is thus stated as in Est 3:13. The Jews were thus authorized to attack and destroy all enemies who should assault them on the day appointed for their extermination. Est 8:13 coincides with Est 3:14, with this difference, that the Jews are to be ready on this day to avenge themselves on their enemies. Est 8:14 also is similar to Est 3:15, except that the expression is strengthened by an addition to הָרָצִים as in Est 8:10, and by that of דְּחוּפִים, urged on, to מְבַהֲלִים, hastened, to point out the utmost despatch possible.