To have the signet ring of the king was to have the
authority of the king. When a document
was issued from the king, wax was poured onto the document and the signet
pressed into the wax, making it official.
To have the king's signet was a sign of incredible trust, you could bind
the king by your actions. The king took
his ring from Haman and gave it to Mordecai who had proven himself in the
earlier matter when he heard of a plot to assassinate the king. Laws and edicts thus sealed had the power of
irrevocable law. As Matthew Henry
pointed out, this was a foolish pride that elevated men to the status of gods. If their edicts were irrevocable they were,
themselves, infallible, incapable of making mistakes. Therefore, Mordecai was given power and
authority to write an edict which would nullify without revoking the prior
edict which Haman had issued in the king's name. Ahasuerus may have been weak but he was not
without great pride.
The people of Capernaum were amazed at Jesus' teaching because
it had an authority they had never heard before. The reason was that He, like Mordecai, had
the authority of the King. If we had
Thomas Jefferson before us today, he could speak with authority on every jot
and tittle of the Declaration of Independence and James Madison with respect to
the Constitution. They could give us the
exact intent of every phrase in a way that no one else could do because they
wrote those phrases. Jesus had intimate
knowledge of not only the words but the intention of the Law and therefore the
authority in His teaching was different from any one who had ever taught
before. As He teaches, for some reason,
an unclean spirit in a man speaks out to Him and Jesus commands it with an
authority and power that comes only from the one through whom and for whom all
things, even this spirit, were created.
What authority has been given to us as Christians?
Follow the money.
That is always the best rule in investigations determined to get at
truth and motive. Jesus taught that very
thing when He said that the love of money is the root of all evil. Here, Demetrius is motivated by his wallet
not his religious sensibilities. How does
his little speech begin? “Men, you know
that from this business we have our wealth." You can motivate business people by showing
them the cost to themselves if a certain action is taken but you can motivate
other people by appealing to their civic and religious pride and that was
exactly what they did. Most of the
people demonstrating did not know why they were there. If you took a poll at most demonstrations
today you would find the same thing, that many people there were not there for
the reasons the organizers tout. Ultimately,
the town clerk sorts out that the apostle is neither sacrilegious nor a
blasphemer of Diana, there is some other motive and he rightly points to the
culprits and their legal remedies if there is an issue at law. He too is motivated by loss, rioting will get
you in trouble with Rome. Authority matters and we should always be aware what
authority we are obeying.
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