The Banality of a Royal Decree Text: Esther 3:12-15
Introduction: The Machinery of Malice
We come now to a passage that ought to send a chill down the spine of every civilized man. Here we witness the cold, bureaucratic machinery of the state being turned to the purpose of genocide. This is not a crime of passion, a hot-blooded murder in a back alley. This is murder by memo, extermination by edict. It is the kind of evil that can only be accomplished with scribes, secretaries, couriers, and the official seal of government. It is the evil of the committee meeting, the wickedness of the rubber stamp.
The book of Esther is a story in which God's name is not mentioned once, and yet His fingerprints are all over every single verse. He is the main character, directing events from off-stage. And in this passage, we see the kingdom of man in its purest form, set in stark opposition to the unseen kingdom of God. The kingdom of man is run by petty tyrants, inflated egos, and is fueled by flattery and wine. It operates with a terrifying efficiency when it sets its mind to do evil. Haman, our villain, is a descendant of Agag, the Amalekite king whom Saul was supposed to have utterly destroyed. Mordecai is a Benjamite, from the house of Kish, Saul's father. This is not just a personal spat; it is the continuation of an ancient, covenantal war. It is the seed of the serpent bruising the heel of the seed of the woman.
What Haman has engineered is a "final solution" to the Jewish problem in Persia. And he does it all legally. He uses the power of the state, the authority of the king, and the ink of the scribes to make his hatred the law of the land. This is what happens when the state believes it is god. When the king's signet ring is the ultimate authority, with no appeal to a higher law, then there is no limit to the wickedness that can be codified and enforced. We must pay close attention, because the spirit of Haman and the bureaucracy of Ahasuerus are not ancient history. They are a perennial temptation for godless civil authority.
The Text
Then the king’s scribes were summoned on the thirteenth day of the first month, and it was written just as Haman commanded to the king’s satraps, to the governors who were over each province, and to the princes of each people, each province according to its script, each people according to its tongue, being written in the name of King Ahasuerus and sealed with the king’s signet ring. And letters were sent by the hand of couriers to all the king’s provinces to destroy, to kill, and to cause all the Jews to perish, both young and old, little ones and women, in one day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar, and to plunder their spoil. A copy of that which was written down to be given as law in every province was revealed to all the peoples so that they should be ready for this day. The couriers went out, hastened by the word of the king. And the law was given at the citadel in Susa. Now the king and Haman sat down to drink, but the city of Susa was in confusion.
(Esther 3:12-15 LSB)
Murder by Memo (v. 12)
We begin with the activation of the imperial bureaucracy.
"Then the king’s scribes were summoned on the thirteenth day of the first month, and it was written just as Haman commanded to the king’s satraps, to the governors who were over each province, and to the princes of each people, each province according to its script, each people according to its tongue, being written in the name of King Ahasuerus and sealed with the king’s signet ring." (Esther 3:12)
Notice the date. The thirteenth day of the first month, Nisan. This is the day before Passover was to be celebrated. As the Jews were preparing to remember their deliverance from the angel of death in Egypt, a new angel of death was being commissioned against them, this time armed not with a sword, but with a pen. The irony is thick, and it is God's irony. While Haman is busy with his legal paperwork, God is setting the stage for a deliverance that will be remembered for all generations.
The machinery of the state is impressive. Scribes are summoned. Letters are written to every corner of the vast Persian empire, from India to Ethiopia. The logistics are a marvel of multicultural administration. Every province gets the memo in its own script, every people in their own language. This is the ancient equivalent of a global press release. The Persian state is a model of administrative efficiency. But efficiency is not a moral virtue. A train system that runs on time to take people to death camps is an efficient evil. An administrative state that can seamlessly deliver a genocidal decree to one hundred and twenty-seven provinces is a monstrous thing.
And it is all done "just as Haman commanded." The king is a passive participant. He has outsourced his authority, handed his signet ring over to a wicked man. This is what happens to kings who are more interested in their wine than in justice. They become tools in the hands of evil men. The decree is written in the king's name and sealed with his ring, making it irrevocable according to the law of the Medes and Persians. This is the key. Haman has weaponized the law. He has turned the very thing that is meant to provide order and justice into an instrument of mass murder. This is the ultimate perversion of civil government.
The Fine Print of Annihilation (v. 13-14)
The content of the decree is laid out in brutal, explicit detail.
"And letters were sent by the hand of couriers to all the king’s provinces to destroy, to kill, and to cause all the Jews to perish, both young and old, little ones and women, in one day... and to plunder their spoil. A copy of that which was written down to be given as law in every province was revealed to all the peoples so that they should be ready for this day." (Esther 3:13-14 LSB)
There is no ambiguity here. The language is piled up to make the point inescapable: "to destroy, to kill, and to cause all the Jews to perish." This is total war. And it is a war against the helpless. The decree explicitly includes "young and old, little ones and women." Haman's hatred is comprehensive. He wants to wipe out the Jewish people, root and branch. This is the spirit of Amalek, which God commanded to be blotted out for their cowardly attack on the weak and the stragglers of Israel in the wilderness.
And there is a financial incentive. The people are authorized "to plunder their spoil." This is how you get ordinary citizens to participate in a genocide. You appeal to their greed. You turn their neighbors' possessions into a potential windfall. The decree makes mass murder not only legal but profitable. It turns an entire empire into a mob, eagerly awaiting the day they can kill and loot with the full blessing of the law.
The copy of the law was "revealed to all the peoples." This was not a secret order. It was public policy. The date was set: the thirteenth day of the twelfth month. This gives everyone nearly a year to prepare. The Jews are to live for eleven months with this death sentence hanging over their heads, a psychological torture to accompany the physical threat. And their neighbors are given eleven months to sharpen their swords and eye their property. This is a slow, grinding, bureaucratic terror.
Two Responses: Callousness and Confusion (v. 15)
The chapter ends with a stark and telling contrast.
"The couriers went out, hastened by the word of the king. And the law was given at the citadel in Susa. Now the king and Haman sat down to drink, but the city of Susa was in confusion." (Esther 3:15 LSB)
The machine is in motion. The couriers are spurred on, "hastened by the word of the king." The state is urgent when it comes to its wicked projects. The law is promulgated in the capital city. It's official. And what is the response of the men who set this horror in motion? "The king and Haman sat down to drink."
This is perhaps the most chilling line in the entire chapter. After signing a death warrant for an entire race of people, including children and infants, they pour themselves a drink. This is the banality of evil. For them, it is just another day at the office. They have done their administrative work, and now it is time for happy hour. There is no conscience, no hesitation, no remorse. There is only the clinking of goblets while an empire prepares for a bloodbath. This is what power without God looks like. It is callous, detached, and utterly depraved.
But the common people have a different reaction. "The city of Susa was in confusion." The word means perplexed, troubled, agitated. Even the pagan citizens of the capital city were thrown into an uproar by this decree. They may not have loved the Jews, but their moral compass, dulled as it may be, was spinning. They knew that something was deeply wrong. A law that commands you to murder your neighbors, their wives, and their babies, is not a law that produces civic peace. It produces confusion and fear. The common man on the street had a better moral sense than the king on his throne. This is a reminder that tyranny never brings peace. It might bring a coerced silence, but underneath the surface, it creates turmoil and confusion.
God's Hidden Providence
So where is God in all this? He is not named, but He is everywhere. He is in the timing, scheduling this decree right before Passover. He is in the eleven-month delay, giving His people time to act. He is in the very arrogance of Haman, who casts lots to determine the day of destruction, unwittingly handing the calendar over to the Lord of history. Haman thinks he is choosing a lucky day, but God is choosing the day of His own victory.
God is sovereign over the scribes, the signet rings, and the self-important tyrants. As the Proverb says, "The king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the LORD; he turns it wherever he will" (Proverbs 21:1). Ahasuerus and Haman think they are the authors of this story. They believe they are in control, sitting down for a celebratory drink. But they are merely characters in a story that God is writing. They are, in their wickedness, fulfilling His purposes. Their evil is real evil, and they are fully culpable for it. But God, in His infinite wisdom, weaves even their malice into the tapestry of His redemption.
This is the doctrine of concursus. God works in, with, and through the free actions of His creatures to accomplish His will. The couriers are hastened by the king's word, but the king's word is ultimately governed by God's Word. The law given in Susa is a wicked law, but it will be overturned by a higher law, the law of God's covenant faithfulness to His people.
The king and Haman drink, but their party will be short-lived. The city is confused, but their confusion will turn to joy. And the Jews are under a sentence of death, but their sentence will be turned into a great deliverance. This is how our God works. He lets the enemy build his gallows high, so that the reversal, when it comes, will be all the more glorious. He is setting the stage for the checkmate that is coming. The king and Haman are celebrating, but they are celebrating on the edge of a cliff. They just cannot see it yet.