Esther 9
PATof joy and gladness for any blessing, without feasting and liberal entertainment of each other, and of the poor.
Esther 9:1
J\oW, in the twelfth month (that is the month Adar), on the thirteenth day of the same, when the king’s vol* n. commandment and his decree drew near to be put in execution, in the day that the enemies of the Jews hoped to have power over tliem.] As they often boasted (it is likely) and threatened, since the decree, which Haman sent, came to them, for they had gotten start of the other, and put the Jews into great terror and confusion, and their enemies into high expectation of their ruin. (Though it was turned to the contrary, that the Jews had rule over them that hated them).] As it appeared presently when the time was come for the executing both the decrees. •
Esther 9:2
Ttie Jews gathered themselves together in their cities throughout all the provinces of the king Ahasuems, to Icty hand on such as sought their hurt. As some did, being possessed with hatred to them, and being combined, it is likely, upon the receipt of Hainan’s decree, to endeavour to destroy them. It cannot be imagined, that when Haman perished, all his friends and potentates perished with him; but he had a great party every where, some of which were so furiously enraged at his fall, that they could not contain themselves from shewing their indignation. at those who were the occasion of it. And no man could withstand them.] But they fled before them. For the fear of them fell upon all people] When they heard that Haman had lost all his authority and his life, and that his family was destroyed, and how Mordecai was in great power (as it here follows), and the queen herself was a Jew, no doubt it daunted all those who were disposed to execute the first decree. And though some were so desperately envenomed against the Jews, that they did rise up to assault them, yet they had not such courage as the Jews had’ to oppose them.
Esther 9:3
And all the rulers of the provinces, and the lieutenants, and the deputies, and officers of the king, helped the Jews!. Which was d’ great advantage to them> and! disheartened their enemies, who hoped for their assistance.- Because the f ear* of Mordecai fell upon them.] They were men of the times (as we speak),* and would have been as ready to execute Hainan’s decree, if he had continued in power, as to aid the Jews in this: which it was their interest to do, being afraid to be turned out of their places by Mordecai, who was tlie chief minister, if they did otherwise.
Esther 9:4
For Mordecai was great inthe king’s house. Having the management of all the queen’s affairs in the court, where she was beloved of the king; who also (it appears by the foregoing chapter, ver. 15.) gave him the highest authority in the kingdom. And his fame went out throughout all the provinces.] It is soon known every where who is the favourite at court, which makes all addresses to be paid to him. For this man Mordecai waxed greater and greater.] In the esteem of the people, who not only stood in awe of his power, but highly applauded his wisdom and justice in the management of all affairs: for one cannot but think he was very eminent in those noble qualities.
Esther 9:5
Titus the Jews smote all their enemies xoith the stroke of the sivord, and slaughter, and destruction:. -That is, they that had no swords slew them with clubs and staves, and such-like weapons &s they could procure;^ as the former Targum understands it. 5B Microsoft ® [chap. IX. And did what they woidd unto those that hated them.] Had them perfectly at their mercy* Vcr. G. And in Shushan the palace.] That is, in tho city where the king’s palace was. The Jeivs slew and destroyed five hundred men.] It is commonly thought that these and the rest mentioned ver. 15, 1G. were such as they knew were confederate with Haman, and perhaps Amalekitcs (as the latter Targum saith); for Mordecai, they think it is likely, required them to kill none but those who declared themselves forward to execute Hainan’s decree. But I see no ground for this: if men were quiet, and did not rise up against them, they had no authority to hurt them, much less to kill them. Therefore these five hundred, and the rest killed in other places, were men who could not conceal their wicked inclinations, but openly assaulted them; and such Ahasucrus gave them power to destroy, (viii. 11.) And Dr. Alix thinks the conjecture of the Targum is right; that these five hundred men were Amalekitcs, who followed the fortune of Haman: and by their slaughter were accomplished the prophecies against Amalek. Some others’, it is likely, joined with them; but they were the most enraged against the Jews, and the readiest to attempt their destruction. *
Esther 9:7
And Parshandatha,and Dalphon, and Aspatha,
Esther 9:8
And Poratha, and Adalia, and Aridatha,
Esther 9:9
And Parmashta, and Arisai, arid Aridai, and Vajezatha. It is too curious an observation of some of the Jews, that the letter vau before the last of these names is larger than ordinary, to shew, that though this was the youngest son of Haman, yet he was the most violent against the Jews of all the rest. Or, as others will have it (for such conceits are endless), this being the numeral letter for the number six, it signifies this was the sixth son of Haman, but placed last, out of contempt, as the vilest of them all*
Esther 9:10
The ten sons of Hainan the son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews, slew they. It is likely they were in the head of the rest, who were so bold as to attempt the destruction of the Jews in this city; being mad with rage, and resolved to revenge their father’s death; and rather perish than not execute his design as far as they were able. - But on the spoil laid they not their hand.] The king had granted them leave to take it, (viii. 11.) but they would not meddle with it, that they might not seem to desiro any thing but their own safety, and that the king might have the greater kindness for them, into whose exchequer these goods were to come, if he pleased. *
Esther 9:11
On that day the number of those that were slain in Shushan tlie palace, was brought before the king. Who required an account, that he might know how people stood affected towards the Jews.
Esther 9:12
And the king said unto Esther the queen % The Jews have slain and destroyed five hundred men in Shushan the palace, and the ten sons of Haman; tvhat have they done in the rest of the king’s provinces?] That was not yet known, but he thought in all likelihood they must have killed a great many more. Now, what is thy petition? and it shall be granted thee; or what is thy request farther? and it shall be done.] If this did not satisfy her, he asks her what she had to desire farther, and he would not deny her. Vcr. 13. Tlien said Esther, If it please the king, let it be granted to the Jews which are in Shushan to do to-morrow also according unto this day’s decree*] That is, kill as many of their enemies as they could find; for some that appeared against them, perhaps, escaped their hands, whom they might meet withal the next day. And let Hainan’s ten sons be hanged upon the gallows.] By their father, I suppose. ♦.
Esther 9:14
And the king commanded it so to be done: and the decree was given at Shushan. That both her petition and request should be granted. This was a new decree, authorizing them to do on the fourteenth day as they had on the thirteenth. And they hanged Haman’s ten sons.] For their great in? famy, that they might be exposed to public reproach, and their bodies remain unburied, being left to rot upon the gallows, or to be devoured by crows and vultures, and such-like ravenous creatures. For, though tho Jews suffered none to hang on a tree (so they called a gallows) longer than till the evening of the day, whereon they were hanged, yet other nations let them hang till they were there consumed; as appears from the story of the Gibeqnites, (2 Sam. xxi. 9, 10.) and from the vulgar saying among the Romans, u pascere in cruce corvos," to feed ravens on a gibbet. Vcr. 15. For the Jeivs that were in Shushan gathered themselves together on the fourteenth day also of the month Adar, and slew three hundred men at Shushan; but on the prey they laid not their hand.] The former Targum saith still, these three hundred men were of the family of Amalek. But whosoever they were, I take them to have been such as the day before rose up against them, hut in the conflict escaped by flight, and now were found out and killed.. Ver- 1G. But the other Jews that were in the king’s provinces gathered themselves together, and stood for their lives.] This they did upon the thirteenth day, when they defended themselves from those that rose up against them to destroy them. And had rest from their enemies.] Who could not stand before them; but ceased to molest them. And slew of their foes seventy and five thousand.] There is some reason to think these were Amalekitcs, as the former Targum saith: for, it is likely, many of that nation might be dispersed throughout the king’s provinces as well as the Jews; and being the old enemies of the Jews, might be very forward to help to destroy them. But whosoever they were, the Jews prevailed against them, and slew so many thousands, that thereby we may judge what a great number of Jews still remained in other countries, and did not return to their own. But they laid not their hands on the prey.] It is likely Mordecai, in his letters, had charged them not to make use of the liberty the king had given them to take the spoil, (viii. 11.) because they universally avoided it.
Esther 9:17
On the thirteenth day of the month Adar. This is to be referred to the foregoing words; the slaughter was, made in the provinces on the thirteenth day of this month, when they should have been destroyed themselves. And on the fourteenth day of the same y rested they, and made it a day of feasting end gladness.] And so the Jews in the. provinces made the uext day a festival of rejoicing for their great deliverance. For there never was any day
Esther 9:18
But the Jews that were at Shushan assembled.together on’the thirteenth day thereof, and on the fourteenth thereof; and on the fifteenth day of the. same they rested, and made it a day of feasting and gladness.] The Jews, indeed, in the city of Shushan, made the fifteenth day a festival, because they had liberty to avenge themselves of their enemies, not only on the thirteenth, but on the fourteenth, which were botl days of slaughter; and therefore they rested not till the fifteenth day.
Esther 9:19
Tlierefore the Jews of the villages, that dwelt in the unwalled towns, made the fourteenth day of the month Adar a day of gladness and feasting, and a good day, and of sending portions one to another.] This verse gives an account of the reason of the different observation of the festival in Shushan, and in the country towns throughout the king’s provinces. There they had leave only on one day to slay their enemies, which was the thirteenth of Adar; therefore the fourteenth was a day of gladness to them: whereas in Shushan the fifteenth was the day of gladness, the fourteenth being, by the king’s leave, made like the thirteenth, another day of slaughter. But this was at the first done thus, only of their own free accord; afterward the law established it otherwise. A day of gladness and feasting, and a good day.] A day of thanksgiving and praise to God, as well as of feasting one with another, and of sending portions to their neighbours out of their good cheer, that the meaner sort might feast and rejoice also. And as, to add to their joy, they sent them meat from their tables; so the Jews have made a constitution, that they should make a collection of money to send to the poor at this time of the year, that they may provide themselves things necessary to make a feast. Which money it is unlawful (as Guilielmua Schickardus observes) to apply to any other use, but only the making themselves merry at this time. (Sec Nehem. viii. 10.)
Esther 9:20
And Mordecai wrote these things, and sent letters unto all the Jetvs’that were in all the provinces of the king Ahasuerus, both nigh and far. That which they had done at the first voluntarily, he thought good to turn into a law, and sent it into the whole realm.
Esther 9:21
To stablish this among them, that they should keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar, and the fifteenth day of the same, yearly. But, to make these more solemn times, they now keep a fast before the feast (after the example of Esther) on the thirteenth day of the month Adar.
Esther 9:22
As the days wherein the Jews rested from their enemies, and the month which was turned unto them from sorrow to joy, and from mourning into a good day; that they should make them days of feasting and joy, and of sending portions one to another, and gifts to the poor.] For in the’ provinces they had done their work before the fourteenth day, and then rested and rejoiced: but in Shushan not before the fifteenth; and then they rejoiced there.
Esther 9:23
And the Jews undertook to do as they had begun, and as Mordecai had written unto them. That is, to keep these days as festivals every where throughout all generations.
Esther 9:24
Because Haman the son of JJammedatha the Agagite,the enemy of all the Jews, had devised against the Jews to destroy them, and had cast Pur (that is the lot) to consume them, and to destroy them:
Esther 9:25
But ivhen Esther came before the king, he commanded, by letters, that his wicked device, which he devised against the Jews, should return upon his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows.] These two verses give an account why this festival was ordained, which they took care should be understood by all posterity: who observe it at this day; and tell us it consists in these three things: in reading, in rest from labour, and in feasting. The reading begins in the evening, as soon as the stars appear; when the history of Haman is read from the beginning to the end, out of a Hebrew manuscript written on parchment: for it is not lawful to read it out of a printed Bible, no more than they do the law itself, as Schick&rd observes out of their writers, who say, three prayers go before this reading. In the first of which they praise God for counting them worthy to attend this Divine service: in the second, they thank him for the miraculous preservation of their ancestors: and in the third, that they have lived to observe another festival in memory of it. After this they go to supper upon spoon-meats; and.next morning to the synagogue, where the history is read over again with the same ceremonies. After which they have done with religion and piety, and spend the two days in idleness, and eating, and drinking. Surenhuysius hath given a full account of this reading, and the benedictions, in his notes upon the Megillah, p. 087. And for their rest and feasting, they say in their books, that the first is kept so sacredly, that they will not so much as set or sow any thing in their garden on these days; but play at chess, and such-like games, or spend the time in music and dancing, till it be time to feast. And then they indulge themselves so far, that they think it not unlawful to drink so much, as not to be able to distinguish between the blessing of Mordecai and the curse of Haman, as they themselves speak. Insomuch, that our learned primate Usher calls this feast, Tlie Bacchanals of the Jews.
Esther 9:26
Wfierefore they called these days Purim, after the name of Pur. A Persian word, signifying a lot. Thereforeyfor all the words of this letter, and of that which they had seen concerning this matter, and which had come unto them.] This seems to refer to the foregoing words;" wherefore they called these days Purim, because of what was contained in the letters of Mordecai, and because of what they bad seen when these things fell out, and what they heard reported of them in the places where they could not see them. But we take them to be the reason of what follows; viz. of the keeping these days."
Esther 9:27
The Jews ordained, and took Upon them, and upon their seed, and upon all such as joined themselves unto them. All that should become proselytes to their religion. So as it should not fail, that they xoould keep these two days according to their ivriting, and according to their appointed time, every year.] According as Mordecai had, written, so they engaged without fail to keep these two days in the time appointed; viz. on the fourteenth day they kept the festival in the country all over the king’s do-. minions, and on the fifteenth they kept it in Shushan. The former of these the Jews now call in their calendar the lesser feast of Purim/and the latter the greater feast. Microsoft ® 5 B 2 [chap. X,.
Esther 9:28
And that these days should be remembered, and kept throughout every generation, every family, every province, and every city. Accordingly at this day they kept this festival, as they did in more ancient times: for in the second book of Maccabees, xy. 37. we find, that Judas having obtained a great victory over Nicanor, they ordained it should be commemorated upon the thirteenth of Adar, the day before the feast of Mordccai, which was this ofPurim. This shews, that in those days they kept this deliverance in memory by celebrating this feast, and that the thirteenth of Adar was not then a fast.. And that these days ofPnrim should not fail from among the Jews, nor the memorial of them perish from their seed.] This is but a repetition of what was said before, to make them more seriously attend to their obligation; which was laid upon them all throughout all generations. Accordingly now, as they tell us in their books, the little children, Jhe women, they that are base born, and servants, &c. are bound to keep this feast..
Esther 9:29
Tlien Esther the queen, the daughter ofAbihail, and Mordecai the Jew, wrote with all authority, to confirm this second letter ofPurim. These days w r cre first recommended to their observation by the authority of Mordecai, ver. 20. But either they were neglected, or sometime intermitted, or were thought not to be sufficiently established; therefore the first order was confirmed and ratified by a second, which was backed by the authority of the queen. And the opinion of Maimonides is not improbable, that this was also an ordinance of the prophets; viz. Haggai, Zechariah, and others, that lived in the days of Esther. But this cannot be true; for they were dead long before this time.
Esther 9:30
And he sent the letters unto all the Jews, to the hundred twenty and seven provinces of the kingdom ofAha- ^uerus. And consequently as far as Jerusalem; for Syria and Judea were among his provinces, and the Jews should have been killed there, as well as in the rest of his dominions: and were bound to thank God for their preservation throughout all ages; for otherwise they had not been any longer a people.. With ivords of peace and truth.] Full of sincere love and affectionate desires of their happiness. " Verbis amicis et sinceris." Or, as others will have it, wishing their prosperity, and exhorting them to live in love and peace, and to be faithful in their religion; and particularly in keeping their promise of observing these days. But after all, Conradus Pellicanus seems to me to have guessed the best at the meaning of these words peace and truth, $ which he thinks were the salutation at the top of the letter.
Esther 9:31
To confirm these days ofPurim in their times appointed, according as Mordecai the Jeiv and Esther tlte queen had enjoined them, and as they had decreed for themselves, and for their seed, the matters of. the fastings and their cry.] Some learnqd men understand these words, as if they meant, that these days of Purim were therefore appointed, that they might be a memorial of that; deliverance, which was.obtained of God by fastings and prayqrs unto him; which, if it be admitted, gives no ground to conclude from thence, that they observed a fast upon this occasion, as well as a feast. The Jews, indeed, think quite otherwise; and, if we may believe their calendar, have ever since kept, a fast on the thirteenth of Adar,.which, was the day appointed for their extirpation. Upon tho hearing of which decree, all places were filled with doleful lamentations, there being no help for them if Goddid not deliver them; unto whom therefore they cried with fasting and prayer. In memory of which, they undertook to keep a yearly fast, as well as days of feasting and gladness, which immediately ensued. But their calendar is a new piece, and of no credit at all; nor do we find the least indication that Esther or Mordecai enjoined any tiling but a feast, no mention being made of a fast in their decree: and therefore it was voluntarily undertaken by the Jews themselves in after-ages, as this verse seems to import. Which the former Targum thus paraphrases (and the latter to the same purpose): " To confirm these days ofPurim, as Mordecai the Jew, aud Esther the queen, appointed concerning them; and as the Jews ordained for themselves, and for their posterity, to keep in memory the matter of their fastings and their prayers."
Esther 9:32
And the decree of Esther confirmed these matters ofPurim; and it tvas written in the book. Either she made a new decree by her sole authority to enforce the former; or the meaning is, that she commanded the forementioned decree, which confirmed the days ofPurim, to be recorded and made a public act, in a book where, perhaps, this whole history was contained. Which record testified in time. to come what passed in her days; viz. their danger,and their wonderful deliverance, and the decree of Esther concerning the observation of these.days.