Esther 8:10

10 And those letters, that were sent in the name of the king, were asealed with his ring, and were sent forth by his messengers, the which ran about by all provinces, and they came with [the] new messages before that the eld letters were executed.

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 Therefore write ye to [the] Jews, as it pleaseth to you, by the name of the king, and aseal ye the letters with my ring. For this was the custom, that no man durst against-say the letters, that were sent in the king's name, and were sealed with his ring. (And so now write ye to the Jews, what pleaseth you, in the name of the king, and seal ye the letters with my ring. For it is the law, that no one can revoke the orders, that were sent before in the king's name, and were sealed with his ring, or his signet.)

9 And when the arrayers of the king's letters, and his writers, were called; it was then the time of the third month, that is called Sivan, that is, June, in the three and twentieth day of the month; letters were written, as Mordecai would, to [the] Jews, and to [the] princes, and to procurators, and to judges, that were sovereigns over an hundred and seven and twenty provinces, from India unto Ethiopia, they were written to that province and to that province, to that people and to that people, by their languages and by their letters, and (also) to the Jews, (by their language and by their letters,) (so) that they (all) might read and hear them. (And when the king's writers, or his royal secretaries, were called; it was then the third month, that is called Sivan, or June, on the twenty-third day of the month; letters were written, as Mordecai directed, to the Jews, and to the princes, or the leaders, and to the procurators, and the judges, who were the rulers over a hundred and twenty-seven provinces, from India to Ethiopia, yea, they were written to this province and to that province, to this people and to that people, to each in their own language and writing, and to the Jews in their own language and writing, so that they all might read and hear them.)

10 And those letters, that were sent in the name of the king, were asealed with his ring, and were sent forth by his messengers, the which ran about by all provinces, and they came with [the] new messages before that the eld letters were executed.

11 To whom the king commanded, that they should call together the Jews, and command them to be gathered together by all cities, and that they should stand together for their lives; and that they should slay, and do away, all their enemies, with their wives, and with their children, and with all their households. (In which letters, the king granted permission to the Jews, in every city, to call themselves together, and to unite themselves, and to defend their own lives; and so they could kill, and do away with, all their enemies, along with their wives, and their children, and all their households.)

12 And one day of vengeance, that is, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month of Adar, that is, March, was ordained by all provinces. (And one day of vengeance was ordained in all the provinces, that is, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, that is Adar, or March.)