Good News Riders

One of our very best family friends used to ride motorcycles. He and his wife loved to take long rides around the country, camping and exploring the different features of the nation. They would pack up a tent, cooking gear, and go. A few times in conversation our friends would bring up the feeling they would get while traveling on motorcycle. The most frequent topic of conversation my friend would bring up was the differences in the motorcycles he had owned and rode throughout his life. In my head I had thought every motorcycle was fast. However, my friend corrected me that not every bike was of equal ability. In Esther chapter 8 we're told about special riders who travelled fast.

"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" (Esther 8:10 NIV)

What was the edict that these riders brought? The last edict we heard about in the story was an edict of death, destruction, and annihilation. The last edict was written by Haman, with the express purpose of complete extermination of Mordecai and his people. We were told about this edict, it's purpose, composition, and approval by the king in Esther 3:5-15. The edict these riders were bringing was different from that first edict. 

In Esther chapter 8 there is a continuation of the great reversal that began in Esther 6. Haman's plans had come tumbling back upon him. The daydream he had of being exalted through a grand parade was given to Mordecai (Esther 6). The very pole that he had set up to execute Mordecai is what he was executed on (Esther 7:9-10). The plan that Haman had so carefully organized became a template for the preservation of the people he had hoped to destroy. Let's take a look at the law that Haman wrote, and compare it to Mordecai's response.

Scope and Purpose:

The scope of Haman's edict was empire wide. We're told in 3:9 that Haman says "If it pleases the king, let a decree be issued to destroy them". The edict is then detailed further in 3:13 "dispatches were sent...with the order to destroy, kill, and annihilate all the Jews - Young and old, women and children - on a single day". Haman's edict and plan was for the total and absolute extermination of God's Old Testament people of God. 

While we read about the order to kill women and children and think of the atrocity of it, for ancient readers this has a bit different notion than us today. The slaying of women and children had to do with an ending of future threat. Women of child bearing age (militarily speaking in the ancient world) represented a threat to bring forth future children who could avenge the atrocities committed. Children then also represented a future threat to aggressors. In the scope of Haman's edict he sought to end in totality the threat of future retaliation. 

With Mordecai's edict we see a similar scope nearly verbatim in 8:11 "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". The reversal plays out the golden rule in a military practice. Those who sought to hunt and destroy, would themselves be subject to being hunted and destroyed. While Haman wanted to end the future of the Jews, it was the future of the enemies of the Jews who were at risk. 

Geography and Riders:

When Haman's edict went out it covered the territories of the empire: "Then on the thirteenth day of the first month the royal secretaries were summoned. They wrote out in the script of each province and in the language of each people all Haman's orders to the king's satraps, the governors of the various provinces and the nobles of the various peoples." (Esther 3:12). This was an empire wide law that would have impacted thousands if not millions of people. The book of Esther opened up with an important note regarding the span of the empire's boarders "This is what happened during the time of Xerxes, the Xerxes who ruled over 127 provinces scratching from India to Cush" (Esther 1:1). 

Persian empire right before Xerxes reign

Some of the names may be more or less familiar to us. Cush was the name for what we would call northern Ethiopia and India then would have been parts of India, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. This empire was massive, and spanned over a great many people groups with differing languages, cultures, religions, ethnicities, traditions, and systems of governance. It was to this empire that Haman's edict went out, and it was to this empire that Mordecai's edict also went. 

Haman's edict had gone out with the couriers of the king, but Mordecai's edict went out with an added detail. We are told in 3:13 that the edict of Haman went out via courier. Mordecai's edict went out by royal courier who had specific horses bred for speed. These riders had a distinctly different edict to bring than the previous edict. While the previous edict already had the benefit of being out and about in the kingdom, this new edict needed a boost of special speed to get out quickly. While the first edict was motivated by hatred, and sped along by evil, the second edict was motivated by justice and sped along the the fastest means available. 

We see that in almost every way the law that Mordecai wrote on behalf of the Jews is word for word like Haman's, but the intent is for preservation rather than destruction. For us today, are we good news riders? I see so many parallels between these two edicts and the good news of the gospel!

*Why is the second edict needed? Because of the first edict! 

*What did the first edict threaten? Death to God's people and prosperity to the enemies of God's people.

*What did the second edict promise? Life to God's people and prosperity to God's people. 

Many more comparisons could be made, but I'll leave the comparisons there for today. 

Are we (those of us who have placed our faith in Christ Jesus) good news riders? Think of what it must have been like to receive the news of the first edict. The anguish, fear, and anxiety it must have caused. How stressed out would you be if you saw that a law was passed that you, and everyone you are related to would be the target of government sponsored massacre starting next year? That's stress! 

With that context of awful, terrible news, think now of what it must have been like to receive the news of the second edict. The joy it must have come with! Mordecai's edict went out across the empire and with it tears of relief and celebrations followed. We believers are good news riders. We've been given the king's orders to deliver his good news to all the places he has sent us. To bring good news that there is life and life abundant in Christ Jesus. In the bad news of the reality of our world, in the midst of all the cancer, plague, murder, and famine, there is good news and we are it's couriers. 

Our family friends had really cool looking photos and amazing memories of their times on their motorcycles. As good news riders, we have the opportunity and role in participating in God's work of getting his good news spread throughout all the places we go. Motorcycles have become synonymous with "cool", and Christians ought to live lives that are synonymous with the good news our Lord has instructed us to bring.