on the thirteenth day of the month Adar; and on the fourteenth of the same they rested, and made it a day of feasting and joy.
The fighting ordered for the thirteenth of Adar ends. The next day the Jews in the provinces rest, and they turn that day into a feast. A book that never once names God ends its battle in rest. What was that rest for, and what does it still point to?
The victory was total. Yet one thing is missing from the account of it.
The Jews throughout the rest of the land gathered together and killed 75,000 of their enemies in one day, the 13th day of the month Adar. They also took no plunder (v. 16). On the 14th day they rested and made the day one of feasting and gladness (v. 17). God had made their victory complete, though even then His name is not mentioned.
They won, but they took nothing home. The Persian king Ahasuerus raised no objection to the killing.
Only the people "laid not their hands on the prey" (vv. 10, 15, 16), in keeping with what had been prescribed concerning Amalek or the enemies of Israel. (1 Sam. 15:9; Joshua 6:19-20) It is only a matter of carrying out God's judgment, with no profit for those who carry it out. Ahasuerus accepts this vengeance as a necessity. The plot against the Jews had been stirred up in his capital. So God's judgment falls on that city for one day longer than on the other cities of the kingdom. Everywhere the fourteenth and fifteenth days become days of joy and feasting and rest.
Note: the older translation reads "laid not their hands on the prey"; the ESV has "but they laid no hand on the plunder."
The rest was more than exhaustion after battle. Someone ordered it — a man the nation had passed over until God lifted him up.
It is Mordecai who, like the future Messiah, orders joy and rest. "The Jews undertook to do as they had begun, and as Mordecai had written to them." They submit themselves to the written word of a man whom everyone had ignored and left unknown — themselves included. God had now exalted him in the sight of everyone.
One day's rest grew into a feast the Jews still keep. In Shushan, the Persian capital, they kept it a day later.
With the fourteenth day of Adar they rested and made it a feast of rejoicing. The Jews in Shushan celebrated the thirteenth and fourteenth day and rested on the fifteenth day. This was the origin of the traditional feast of Purim. Orthodox Jews still keep it in memory of the great deliverance and the wonderful history of Mordecai and Esther. They mostly celebrate it by reading this book in public and by giving gifts.
Set this feast beside the exiles who went home and rebuilt the temple. The surprise is who ends up celebrating.
The name of God is not mentioned in Esther, and we might have expected that these easy-going folk would have come under His displeasure. What do we find? Read Esther 9:17-19, and see. The people who had cared for God's interests and rebuilt His temple, despite their faults, are marked by affliction and reproach. Those who did not concern themselves, but stayed in their comforts, have "feasting," "gladness," and "a good day."
The lesson he draws from that contrast cuts both ways.
Worldly prosperity and celebration may well be the fruit of God's care and dealings behind the scenes. Even so, they are not a sure sign of His approval. And affliction is not a sign of His disapproval.
The day of rest became a marker. It points past itself to a rescue still to come.
The book of Esther gives us no more than the witness of secret providence in the face of the most extreme dangers. It looks onward to that grand public outcome. In the meantime it gives us a striking and lasting observance of Him Who delivers though unseen.
Commentators also read these events as a picture of a far greater victory, and Israel's joy as a small taste of a greater joy.
These types tell us in a wonderful way of the great victory of the Lord Jesus over Satan and his power. But the joy that came to the nation of Israel is only a faint picture of the joy that belongs to God's people now. They have truly been "delivered from the authority of darkness." Through the mighty victory of the Lord Jesus they have been delivered from the fear of death.
- Fight — The day set for their destruction became the day their enemies fell. The victory was complete, though God is never named.
- Rest — They stopped fighting and touched no plunder. The work was God's judgment, not their gain.
- Feast — The rest became joy, and the joy became Purim, still kept by reading this book and giving gifts.
- Caution — A feast is not proof of God's approval. Affliction is not proof of His displeasure.
- Hope — Mordecai, once ignored and then exalted, orders the joy. The day stands as a sign of the God Who delivers unseen, and a faint picture of freedom from the fear of death.
But the Jews that were at Shushan gathered themselves together on the thirteenth [day] thereof, and on the fourteenth thereof; and on the fifteenth of the same they rested, and made it a day of feasting and joy.
In Susa (Shushan) the fighting lasted two days, not one, so the rest there came a day later than everywhere else. Why did the capital need a second day of judgment, and where was God while it all happened?
One writer ties the extra day to the place where the plot began:
The oppressor of the Jews is judged, along with his race (vv. 6-10). In the same way the apostate race of the Antichrist will perish in a future day, for the hour of vengeance has struck. Only the people "laid no hand on the plunder" (vv. 10, 15, 16)... It is only a matter of carrying out God's judgment, with no profit for those who carry it out. Ahasuerus accepts this vengeance as a necessity. The plot against the Jews was stirred up in his capital, so God's judgment falls there one day longer than on the other cities of the kingdom. Everywhere the fourteenth and fifteenth days become days of joy and feasting and rest. So the year of the great tribulation ends.
Why is judgment, not grace, the note here? William Kelly points to whom Esther pictures:
Some take Esther as a picture of the Lord's dealings with the church. Not so. Here the Gentile is set aside and the Jew is called in. Righteousness will be the character of the reign of the kingdom by and by, while grace is what suits the church now... The Lord will not only strike at the beginning; there will be a repetition of the blow: a thorough clearing out of the adversary, and of all who give only pretended obedience.
Two resting days, the fourteenth and the fifteenth, became two dates for one celebration:
With the fourteenth day of Adar they rested and made it a feast of rejoicing. The Jews in Shushan celebrated the thirteenth and fourteenth day and rested on the fifteenth day. This was the origin of the traditional feast of Purim. Observant Jews still keep it in memory of the great deliverance and the wonderful history of Mordecai and Esther. They mostly celebrate it by public reading of this book and by giving gifts.
Notice the order: the rest came first, and the feasting followed.
Once the fighting ends, the Persian king fades from the story. Rossier notes who now orders the celebration:
The king of the nations no longer appears on the scene except in dependence on Esther and Mordecai. They alone are in question until the end of the chapter. It is Mordecai who, like the future Messiah, orders joy and rest. "So the Jews accepted what they had started to do, and what Mordecai had written to them." They submit themselves to the written word of him who had been unknown and ignored by all, and by themselves, and whom God had now exalted in the sight of everyone.
One writer sees in this rest and feasting a picture of what still lies ahead for a scattered people:
Yet this book of Esther makes very clear that God Himself was working in miraculous ways on behalf of the Jews, but working behind the scenes. In this present day, the same fact is true... He is still working among the Jews in obscure ways. He has preserved them through centuries of persecution and trouble, so that, though scattered among many nations, they have still kept their identity as Jews. In the future their great sorrow and trouble will be turned into vibrant joy and gladness, such as is symbolized in their celebration of victory in Esther 9:18-19.
Another writer sets the good day of this verse against the hardship of the Jews who had gone back to rebuild God's house:
Read Esther 9:17-19, and see. The people who had cared for God's interests and rebuilt His temple, despite their faults, are marked by affliction and reproach. Meanwhile those who did not concern themselves, staying in their comforts, have "feasting", "gladness", and "a good day".
His conclusion is that outward circumstances are the wrong instrument for reading God's mind:
Worldly prosperity and celebration may well be the fruit of God's care and dealings behind the scenes. Even so, it is not necessarily a sign of His approval. Nor is affliction a sign of His disapproval, as Job's case shows far more clearly.
- Rest first. The rest came before the feasting. The gladness of Susa grew out of a deliverance already finished.
- Two days, one thorough work. God's judgment stayed one day longer on the capital, where the plot began. Commentators see in the repeated blow a judgment that leaves no adversary and no pretended obedience standing.
- No plunder taken. The people carried out God's judgment and took no profit from it.
- Joy at the word of an exalted man. Mordecai, once ignored and now raised high, orders the rest and the rejoicing. The people submit to what he wrote.
- Gladness is not a scoreboard. The comfortable in Persia feasted while the faithful in Jerusalem suffered reproach. Prosperity is no proof of God's approval, and affliction is no proof of His displeasure.
Therefore the Jews of the villages that dwell in the country towns make the fourteenth of the month Adar a day of joy and feasting, and a good day, and on which they send portions one to another.
The fighting is over, and the village Jews keep their feast a day earlier than the capital does. Why the different date, and how did one escape from slaughter become a festival kept every year?
The day celebrates the quiet that followed the fighting, not the fighting itself. One writer notes that the Jews took no plunder, so the fighting gained them nothing but safety:
The people, however, "laid no hand on the plunder" (vv. 10, 15, 16), in keeping with what Scripture had laid down about Amalek or the enemies of Israel. It is only a matter of carrying out God's judgment, with no profit for those who carry it out. The king's capital, where the plot against the Jews was hatched, came under God's judgment for one day longer than the other cities of the kingdom. Everywhere the fourteenth and fifteenth days become days of joy and feasting and rest.
The villages kept a different day from the capital. Mordecai later joined both days into one festival:
The Jews at Shushan, however, having spent two days destroying their enemies, rested on the 15th day of the month, making it a day of feasting and gladness (v. 18). Those in the surrounding villages had done this on the 14th day of the month (v. 19). So Mordecai wrote letters to all the Jews: both the 14th and 15th days of that month would be holidays for the Jews from then on every year, a time for giving gifts to one another and to the poor (vv. 20-22).
The gifts are not an extra detail. One writer shows how gladness makes people generous:
In various Scriptures we find that the more joy we have in God, the more large-hearted we shall be toward one another. It is the very character of joy to enlarge the heart. As in Nehemiah 8, where the prophet tells the people, "Go your way. Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved, for the joy of the LORD is your strength." And all the people went their way … to send portions and to make great rejoicing. A man who is happy himself can afford to look around and make others happy with him.
The festival born from this day was named after Haman's dice. God is never named in the book, yet the naming quietly concedes who overruled the throw:
Very likely the Jews were familiar with Solomon's proverb, "The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD" (Proverbs 16:33). Haman had expected demonic power to back him up; but no doubt the Jews recognised that the Lord had stepped in with His own clear decision. Yet, while the Jews surely did recognise the Lord's hand in this, God still did not let anyone mention His name openly.
A day of gladness is fragile. One writer contrasts the holy feast with what later custom made of it:
The Talmud lays down that at the feast of Purim a man should drink until he cannot tell the difference between "Blessed be Mordecai" and "Cursed be Haman." "Stop regarding man in whose nostrils is breath, for of what account is he?" Judaism, and Christendom where Christ is ignored, are each sinking into the driest ditch of paganism. Both dare to approve a drunken carnival in place of what had been a holy feast.
These feasting villagers were the Jews who never went back to rebuild the temple. One writer compares them with those who did:
The people who, despite their defects, had cared for God's interests and rebuilt His temple were marked by affliction and reproach. Meanwhile those who did not concern themselves, staying in their comforts, have "feasting," "gladness," and "a good day." … Worldly prosperity and celebration is not necessarily a sign of His approval, even when it is the fruit of God's care and dealings behind the scenes. Nor is affliction a sign of His disapproval.
Commentators read the lasting festival as a preview. The one feast this book gives is tied to a deliverance still ahead:
The memorial of these days is kept up from age to age. Only one feast, the feast of Purim, is mentioned in this book: it is a new feast that will last forever in memory of the deliverance of the earthly people of God. … So ends this account, which brings us to the dawn of the glorious time that follows deliverance.
- Rest — The day marks the end of the fighting, not the fighting itself. The Jews took no plunder, so they gained nothing but safety.
- Gladness — Rest turns into feasting. Village and capital each kept the day they stopped fighting, and Mordecai's letters joined both dates into one festival kept every year.
- Giving — Joy enlarges the heart, so portions travel from house to house; a happy man can afford to make others happy with him.
- Remembering — The Jews named the feast after Haman's lot. It is a quiet admission that every decision of the lot is the Lord's, even where His name goes unspoken.
- Guarding — A holy feast can decay into a drunken carnival. Easy comfort is no proof of God's approval, so the gladness needs guarding as much as the memory does.