Esther 8:9-14 — Double order, please

READ THIS: Esther 8:9-14

9 At once the royal secretaries were summoned—on the twenty-third day of the third month, the month of Sivan. They wrote out all Mordecai’s orders to the Jews, and to the satraps, governors and nobles of the 127 provinces stretching from India to Cush. These orders were written in the script of each province and the language of each people and also to the Jews in their own script and language. 10 Mordecai wrote in the name of King Xerxes, sealed the dispatches with the king’s signet ring, and sent them by mounted couriers, who rode fast horses especially bred for the king. 

11 The king’s edict granted the Jews in every city the right to assemble and protect themselves; to destroy, kill and annihilate the armed men of any nationality or province who might attack them and their women and children, and to plunder the property of their enemies. 12 The day appointed for the Jews to do this in all the provinces of King Xerxes was the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar. 13 A copy of the text of the edict was to be issued as law in every province and made known to the people of every nationality so that the Jews would be ready on that day to avenge themselves on their enemies. 14 The couriers, riding the royal horses, went out, spurred on by the king’s command, and the edict was issued in the citadel of Susa.

WHAT’S THIS MEAN, ANYWAY?

 

In short, both the edict (official order) written by Haman and Mordecai would go into effect. People were encouraged to attack the Jews but the Jews were allowed to attack back. So people could choose what they wanted to do. When you can't take an edict back, you have to write something that works with it, and that's what Mordecai came up with--an exact image of Haman but in defense. 

Imagine being a citizen looking at both edicts. There's the order to destroy the Jews and the order for Jews to defend themselves against attackers, and both sides are told they can take plunder. The average person might have a hard time deciphering what should be done, but at the end of the day, that's actually every day for followers of God!! We have the orders that we get from the world and the orders that we get from God, and sometimes they can feel like they're the same thing, but following one versus the other means a world of difference. 

THINK ABOUT IT:

1. If you weren't a Jew, and you read both edicts/orders...what would you do? What about if you were a Jew?

 

2. What is something that you think is an order the world gives you that might be different from what God orders? Which order do you feel like you follow most often? Why?

TRY THIS:

Think about the things God has told us to do. Pick one of His orders, and try to hold that above any other order you get today!!! 

NEW SONG OF THE WEEK:

 

There was a temptation to do Battle Belongs because of what all we'll be reading these next few days...but psych! Listen to this NEW SONG of the week and think about the story of Esther and how God already knew what would happen from the very beginning. 

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