Esther 9

Esther 9:1

E. The Enemy’s Destruction and the Inauguration of the Feast of Purim (Chap. 9)9:1-5 When the fateful day arrivedthe thirteenth day of the twelfth monththe Jews gathered together in their respective cities and destroyed their enemies. Even the princes and rulers helped the Jews because they feared Mordecai, now the second-most-powerful man in the kingdom. 9:6-15 In the capital alone five hundred men were killed, along with the ten sons of Haman. When it was reported to the king, he realized that the slaughter in the rest of the land must be great as well. Esther requested that an additional day be given the Jews in Shushan to wipe out any remaining pockets of anti-Semitism. As a result three hundred more men were executed. She also asked that the bodies of Haman’s ten sons be publicly hanged. 9:16 In the king’s provinces the Jews killed seventy-five thousand, but had not taken any of their foes’ plunder. This would make it clear to all that they were interested only in protecting themselves, not in growing rich. 9:17-28 The Jews in the provinces held a great feast on the fourteenth of the month while those at Shushan celebrated on the fifteenth. This was the beginning of the feast of Purim. The name Purim comes from “Pur"the lot which Haman had cast (Est_3:7). Later Mordecai decreed that both the fourteenth and the fifteenth should be observed by all the Jewish people. Like the feasts of old, it was to be celebrated annually as a reminder to succeeding generations of this marvelous deliverance. 9:29-32 Apparently two letters went out to all the Jews, charging them to keep the feast of Purimthe first one in verse 20, and the second in verses 29-32. The book referred to in verse 32 was probably the chronicles of the kingdom (cf. Est_2:23; Est_6:1; Est_10:2).