Long before smartphones and email, the telegram was used from the mid 1800s to late 1900s to quickly deliver urgent messages across a long distance. The sender would go to a local post office and hand over a telegram form containing the intended message. Since a sum was charged for each word, brevity was of high importance. In addition to delivering personal messages, telegrams shared reactions to world events and informed people of breaking news.

The king’s decision to allow Mordecai and Esther to write another decree set in motion the wheels of this new law (v. 8). Mordecai had been given the king’s signet ring, so he had the power not only to enact the new law but also to expedite the process.

Notice the urgency in today’s passage. Verse 9 starts with the words “At once.” This law would be written, approved, and enacted without delay. The royal secretaries were quickly brought in to pen the law. Only two months and ten days had passed since Haman issued the original edict (see 3:12), but there was no time to waste: the new edict was ready to be delivered, sent by couriers riding “fast horses” (v. 10).

The new edict affected the Jewish people who were scattered throughout the kingdom. Remember that the mourning in response to Haman’s decree had been widespread: “In every province to which the edict and order of the king came, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping, and wailing” (4:3). People living in terror now needed to hear word of the new law, in all 127 provinces from India to Cush (8:9). The edict was translated into the people’s own script and language. With an impressive measure of speed, the good news was spread throughout the land.

APPLY THE WORD

Like Esther and Mordecai, we are the bearers of good news. We have news of salvation from the King! How often do we communicate this good news with the urgency it deserves? Consider today how you might tell someone about the life- changing message of the gospel. Ask God to bring one person to mind who needs to hear this truth.

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