Esther 8:10

10 And he wrote in King Ahasuerus’s name and sealed it with the king’s ring and sent letters by posts on horseback, and riders on mules, mules that were born of mares,

Esther 8:10 Meaning and Commentary

Esther 8:10

And he wrote in the King Ahasuerus' name, and sealed it with
the king's ring
Which gave the letters authority, and made them irreversible, and for this Mordecai had the king's order, ( Esther 8:8 )

and sent letters by post;
by runners or couriers:

on horseback;
that rode on horses that were racers, that ran swiftly:

and riders on mules, camels, and young dromedaries;
which were all different creatures, and swift ones, according to our version, especially the latter; see ( Jeremiah 2:23 ) which were a kind of camels, but swifter, and would go more than one hundred miles a day ^F1; and, as Diodorus Siculus says ^F2, not less than 1500 furlongs or about two hundred miles: though it may be only one sort are meant, namely, "mules", for the next word, "ahashteranim", in the Persian language signifies mules ^F3, and so Aben Ezra interprets it, and likewise Kimchi and Ben Melech; and the last words may be rendered "sons of mares", so David de Pomis; that is, such mules as are gendered by he asses and mares: and so the same writer observes, that the word in the Arabic language signifies "mares"; and such mules that come from them he says are stronger than those that come from she asses; so that the whole may be rendered to this sense, "riders on mules", (which in the Persian language are called "ahashteranim",) namely, such as are "sons of mares"; and which according to Aelianus ^F4 and Pliny ^F5 are the swiftest; though the Persians had camels swifter than are common elsewhere, called "revatrie", the "goer", which trot as fast as an horse can gallop ^F6.

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FOOTNOTES:

F1 Isidor. Origin. l. 12. c. 1. Vid. Strabo Geograph. l. 15. p. 498.
F2 Bibliothec. l. 19. p. 683.
F3 Castell. Dictionar. Persic. col. 29. Hottinger. Smegma Oriental l. 1. c. 5. p. 75.
F4 De Animal. l. 16. c. 9.
F5 Nat. Hist. l. 8. c. 44.
F6 Universal History, vol. 5. p. 88.

Esther 8:10 In-Context

8 Write ye also for the Jews, as it pleases you, in the king’s name, and seal it with the king’s ring; for the writing which is written in the king’s name and sealed with the king’s ring may not be revoked.

9 Then the king’s scribes were called at that time in the third month, that is, the month Sivan, on the twenty-third day thereof; and it was written according to all that Mordecai commanded unto the Jews and to the lieutenants and the captains and the princes of the provinces which are from India unto Ethiopia, one hundred and twenty-seven provinces, unto each province according to the writing thereof, and unto each people after their language, and to the Jews according to their writing, and according to their language.

10 And he wrote in King Ahasuerus’s name and sealed it with the king’s ring and sent letters by posts on horseback, and riders on mules, mules that were born of mares,

11 that the king granted power to the Jews who were in all the cities to gather themselves together and to stand for their life, to destroy, to slay, and to cause to perish any army of the people or province that would assault them, and even their little ones and women, and to take the spoil of them for a prey,

12 upon the same day in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, namely, upon the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar.