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.
And Mordecai wrote these things, and sent letters to all the Jews near and far that were in all the provinces of king Ahasuerus,
The fighting is over, the enemies have fallen, and the Jews have rested — and now Mordecai takes up a pen. What he writes, and where he sends it, turns one rescue into a feast a whole people would keep for generations.
Mordecai's letters reached Jews near and far. One writer follows the letters and what came of them.
And Mordecai writes and sends letters to all the provinces, and so the joy is spread throughout the whole earth. Not only that, but the Jews, as we are told, founded a feast upon this remarkable intervention of the providence of God.
Mordecai fixed two days in the year. The names he gave them describe a reversal.
Verse 22 uses language full of meaning. The Jews were to celebrate the 14th and the 15th day "as the days on which the Jews rested from their enemies" and "the month that was turned to them from sorrow to joy", and "from mourning into a good day".
(The ESV renders verse 22 as the days the Jews "got relief from their enemies," and the month "turned for them from sorrow into gladness and from mourning into a holiday.")
The king has slipped into the background. Mordecai writes, and the people do what the writing says.
The king of the nations now appears only as one who depends on Esther and Mordecai. From here to the end of the chapter, only they are in question. 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 to the written word of a man who had been unknown and ignored by everyone, including themselves. God had now raised him high in the sight of all.
The letter that founded the feast never names God. One writer sets that silence beside what the feast later became.
Here again the book keeps the character stamped on it. Even now He is not named — the One whom it would normally and naturally be the highest duty to proclaim. Yet man's own word shows the full difference: the Talmud lays down that at the feast of Purim a man should drink until he does not know the difference between "Blessed be Mordecai" and "Cursed be Haman." Judaism, and Christendom where Christ is ignored, each sink into the driest ditch of heathenism. Both dare to approve a drunken carnival where there had been a holy feast.
A feast can carry the Lord's name or the people's. One writer asks whose feast this is.
So the history here speaks of Purim as a feast of the Jews, not a "feast of the Lord." Leviticus 23:1 speaks of "The Feasts of the Lord." But John 2:13 calls the Passover "the Passover of the Jews," and John 7:2 calls another feast of the Lord "the Jews' Feast of Tabernacles." Why? Because it was not primarily the Lord's honour the Jews sought, but their own enjoyment. What sad disrespect for the Lord's feasts!
What Mordecai wrote did not fade with the generation that lived it. One writer follows the feast forward, past its own history.
The memory of these days is carried on from age to age. This book mentions only one feast, the feast of Purim. It is a new feast, and it will last forever in memory of the deliverance of God's earthly people. There is perfect harmony between Esther and Mordecai and the people. What Esther and Mordecai establish, the people establish for themselves. So ends this account. It brings us to the dawn of the glorious time that follows deliverance, and leads us, as a prophecy, to the threshold of the millennial reign of Christ.
- Written. Mordecai writes the rescue down. The whole nation then submits to what he wrote.
- Sent. The letters go out to Jews near and far in every province. Joy felt in one city spreads through them all.
- Named. The days carry the name of the change itself: rest from enemies, sorrow turned to joy, mourning turned into a good day.
- Unnamed. One name is missing from the letter: God's. The holy feast later sank into a drunken carnival.
- Kept. What one man wrote became a memorial no generation dropped. Writers see in it the dawn of the rest and joy that follow deliverance.
to establish [this] among them, that they should keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar, and the fifteenth day of the same, yearly,
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
as the days on which the Jews rested from their enemies, and the month that was turned to 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.
Mordecai's letter sets aside two days for a scattered people. The reason he gives is the reversal itself: enemies gone, the month changed, mourning turned into a holiday. He tells the Jews to do more than feast. They are to send food to one another and gifts to the poor.
The days take their name from the relief the Jews got when the fighting stopped. Older translations call this relief rest, and one writer sees in it a picture of a rest still ahead for Israel:
At last the time of Jacob's trouble (Jeremiah 30:7) will be over. The Jews, long scattered and persecuted, will "rest from their enemies." Israel will enter its sabbath rest.
This was a reversal at the point where hope had run out:
The Jews had the sentence of death in themselves; but there is One who raises the dead, and turns the shadow of death into the morning.
One writer notes that such giving already had a long history:
The sending of presents or gifts on occasions of public joy is an old and widespread custom (Proverbs 19:6; Esther 2:18; Esther 9:19-22).
Another writer traces the giving back to what joy does to a person:
Many scriptures show that the more joy we have in God, the more large-hearted we will be toward one another. It is the very nature of joy to enlarge the heart… A happy man can afford to look around and make others happy with him.
The feast took its name from Haman's lot. Notice also what the record leaves unsaid:
The Jews set up a two-day feast at this time and called it Purim, after Pur, the lot Haman cast with the aim of destroying the Jews. Very likely the Jews knew Solomon's proverb, "The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord" (Proverbs 16:33). Haman had expected demon power to back him up. But no doubt the Jews recognised that the Lord had stepped in with His own clear decision. The Jews certainly did recognise the Lord's hand in this. Yet God still did not allow His name to be mentioned publicly at all.
The book of Esther never names God. Later Jewish teaching turned the day into something Mordecai's letter never described:
Yet man's own word makes the whole difference plain. 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."… Judaism, and Christendom where Christ is ignored, both sink into the driest ditch of heathenism. Both dare to approve a drunken carnival where there had been a holy feast.
This is the only feast the book records, and the account closes by looking forward:
The memory of these days carries on from age to age. This book mentions only one feast, the feast of Purim. It is a new feast which will last forever in memory of the deliverance of the earthly people of God… So this account ends. It leads us to the dawn of the glorious time that follows deliverance, and it brings us in prophecy to the threshold of the millennial reign of Christ.
- Rest first. The verse dates these days from the moment the fighting stopped. One writer links that rest to Israel's coming sabbath rest, after the time of Jacob's trouble ends.
- Reversal, not repair. They had the sentence of death in themselves. Then they met the One who raises the dead and turns the shadow of death into morning.
- Joy that spreads. Sending gifts on a day of public joy was an old and widespread custom. Joy in God enlarges the heart, and a happy person can afford to make others happy too.
- Named by the enemy's lot. The feast carries the name of the lot Haman threw — a silent confession that every decision of the lot is from the Lord, even while God keeps His own name out of the public record.
- Guarded or wasted. The same feast later became a drinking carnival. A holy memory decays wherever people ignore God. Yet its true horizon is the reign of Christ.
And the Jews undertook to do as they had begun, and as Mordecai had written to them.
The Jews had just escaped destruction. Now a letter from Mordecai lay in their hands, and this verse records their answer to it. Two questions sit under the line. Why take on a brand-new festival? And why does a book about rescue never name the Rescuer?
The verse names Mordecai, not the king. That matters, because of where Mordecai had come from.
It is Mordecai who, like the future Messiah, orders joy and rest. The Jews submit themselves to the written word of a man who had been unknown and ignored by everyone, including themselves. God had now raised him high in the sight of all.
One writer quotes the letter itself, in an older translation:
Mordecai wrote these things and sent letters to all the Jews in all the provinces of king Ahasuerus, both near and far. He told them to keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar and the fifteenth day of the same, every year, as the days when the Jews had rest from their enemies. It was the month that was turned for them from sorrow to gladness, and from mourning into a good day. They were to make them days of feasting and gladness, of sending portions to one another, and of gifts to the poor.
The name of the feast comes from Haman's side of the story.
The Jews established a feast of two days at this time and called it Purim. The name refers to Pur, the lot Haman cast in order to destroy the Jews. 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 demon power to back him up. But no doubt the Jews recognized that the Lord had intervened with His own clear decision.
One writer sums up what the whole book, and this feast, is for.
In the book of Esther we have no more than the witness of secret providence in the face of the most extreme dangers. It looks forward to a grand public outcome still ahead. Meanwhile it yields a striking and lasting ordinance of Him Who delivers though unseen.
God's name is missing from these instructions. One writer explains why the record stays silent.
In all of these instructions it seems strange that God is not mentioned. Yet it is clear that God's hand of protecting care had been over the Jews to deliver them from their enemies. Very likely the Jews did include God's name in their celebration. But scripture says nothing of this, because the condition of the Jews at that time showed no real evidence of obedience to God. He was disowning them publicly, in effect, while caring for them behind the scenes.
What one generation accepts, a later one can hollow out. Jewish tradition's own rule for keeping Purim shows how far the day drifted.
Man's own word makes the utter difference plain. The Talmud lays down that at the feast of Purim a man should drink till 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, each sink into the driest ditch of heathenism. Both dare to allow a wild carnival where there had been a holy feast.
The first question comes back here: why keep a festival that was brand new?
This book mentions only one feast, the feast of Purim. It is a new feast, and it will last forever in memory of the deliverance of God's earthly people. Esther, Mordecai, and the people are in perfect harmony. What Esther and Mordecai establish, the people establish for themselves.
- Written — Deliverance came first, then a letter. The people's part was to agree with what Mordecai had put in writing — a man once ignored, now raised high.
- Accepted — What Esther and Mordecai established, the people established for themselves, in perfect harmony.
- Shared — The accepted joy had to travel: two fixed days, portions to one another, gifts to the poor.
- Named — Purim keeps the enemy's lot in its title, because the decision that fell was not his.
- Remembered — The feast stands as a lasting witness to the God who delivers unseen. Where He is ignored, a holy feast can sink into a wild carnival.
For Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the oppressor 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 9:24 gives the official reason for a new yearly feast. In one sentence the Jews recorded where their enemy came from, how far his hatred went, and how he chose the date.
The verse does not call Haman a Persian official. It ties him to Agag, and commentators read that as a family line, not a job title. This also explains a refusal earlier in the book that looks, at first glance, like simple rudeness:
Haman was the son of Hammedatha the Agagite (Esther 3:1-10; Esther 8:3, 5; Esther 9:24). Fürst says that Josephus explains Haman's Gentile name as meaning "Amalekite by race," and Jewish tradition says the same. That is, Haman was an Amalekite. This explains why Mordecai refused to bow down before Haman. He belonged to the race the LORD had sworn to fight for ever, and the race Saul had orders to destroy completely.
Amalek was Israel's sworn enemy, under a standing verdict from God. Mordecai's refusal rested on that, not on personal pride.
The verse calls him "the enemy of all the Jews," and the plot matches the title. One man's slight was not enough for him:
He must have the blood of all the Jews; his heart will not be satisfied by the life of the one who had refused to honour him. He must have the lives of the whole nation. He breathes the spirit of the enemy of Israel. That enemy later says, "Come, let us wipe them out as a nation; let the name of Israel be remembered no more!" (Ps. 83).
The verse stops to translate the foreign word: Pur means "the lot." Haman did not work out a date. He gambled for one. Writers point out what that shows about him:
The Antichrist will rage against those who do not acknowledge his power and authority, and who refuse to bear his mark on their forehead and hands. Haman's fury is like it. It burns against a man who despises his person and refuses his yoke, and it knows no limits. But he would have scorned to put Mordecai alone to death. He must strike him down together with all his people. Haman cast Pur (that is, the lot) to learn when this extermination should take place. He believes in this superstitious practice. Later the Antichrist will do the same and consult the "god of fortresses" (Dan. 11:38). Even the most unbelieving man must have some religion: a fact we may observe every day.
The lot he consulted named the last month of the year. That left the threatened people a long window in which to escape:
The lot points to the twelfth month for the massacre of the Jews. Why not the third or the fourth month, to take away any chance of escape from the oppressed people? Is it not once again hidden Providence which directs everything as always? What can "the enemy of the Jews" (Esther 9:10, 24) do against the secret counsels of Providence? He must obey the lot he has consulted, and from that point his swift road to death and judgment begins.
The Jews could have named the holiday after Esther, or Mordecai, or the battle. They named it after Haman's dice. They knew whose hand had thrown them:
The two-day feast the Jews set up at this time was called Purim, after Pur, the lot Haman cast with the aim of destroying the Jews. Very likely the Jews knew Solomon's proverb, "The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD" (Proverbs 16:33). Haman had expected demon power to back him up. But no doubt the Jews recognised that the Lord had stepped in with His own clear decision. The Jews did recognise the Lord's hand in this. Yet God still did not allow His name to be mentioned in public.
Some writers read Haman as a preview of an enemy still to come:
Amalek is always the bitter enemy of Israel. His final overthrow will come with the second coming of Christ... This Haman, the Amalekite, is later called "the Jews' enemy" (verse 10). He foreshadows that final enemy. That enemy rises to trouble Israel and tries to wipe them out before the King of Israel appears.
- Ancestry. "The Agagite" ties Haman to Amalek, Israel's sworn enemy — he inherited his hatred, he did not invent it.
- Ambition. He wanted a nation, not a man; Mordecai's refusal was the excuse, extermination was the aim.
- Lot. Pur means "the lot." He trusted chance and dark powers to name the day — even the most unbelieving man keeps some religion.
- Overruled. The lot he obeyed gave him the twelfth month, and that delay opened his own road to death and judgment.
- Memorial. The Jews named the feast Purim after the enemy's dice — they turned his weapon into their calendar.
and when [Esther] came before the king, he commanded by letters that his wicked device, which he had devised against the Jews, should return upon his own head; and they hanged him and his sons on the gallows.
Esther 9:25 is the short official summary of the whole story: Haman's plot, Esther's appeal, and the reversal that hanged the schemer on his own gallows. It raises the question the book never answers by name — who turned the plot around?
The verse looks back to the "Pur," the lot Haman threw to pick the day for the massacre. That day fell almost a year later. Commentators see God's hand behind the long delay.
The Amalekite and his company cast the lot, the Pur, only to fix the day for this act of extermination. But as we know, the lot may be "cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD" (Prov. 16:33). And so it was here. Eleven long months stand between the two dates. The lot was cast on the thirteenth day of the first month, and it fixed the slaughter of the nation for the thirteenth day of the twelfth month. That time was given so that God would ripen His purposes toward both His people and their enemies.
The verse turns on a single moment: the matter came before the king. That hearing is where a private scheme became public knowledge.
Verses 24-25 briefly retell the history of the plot of Haman the Agagite to wipe out the Jews. He cast Pur, that is, the lot, which in Haman's case meant consulting evil spirits. At first his scheme seemed to be working. Then Esther stepped in — the king not only respected her, he loved her — and the whole plot came out into the open. So Haman's wickedness recoiled on his own head, and he and his sons were hanged on the gallows he had put up for Mordecai.
"His evil plan... should return on his own head" is not only poetic justice. Writers point out that God's purpose and Haman's own choices are both fully real here.
God does not only use circumstances or events to carry out His purposes. He also uses people — whether godly people like Mordecai and Esther, or ungodly and wicked people like Haman... God's dealings with people never contradict or remove man's responsibility. Man is not a puppet in His hand... In the book of Esther this is seen in connection with the great enemy and hater of the Jews called "this wicked Haman" (7:6). In the end, his wickedness resulted in his own destruction and their salvation. People may call this irony, but it is nothing of the kind. It was God's hand and purpose. It was also the outcome of Haman's own free decision, and he was fully responsible for all his decisions and actions.
Commentators see a settled rule of Scripture here, not a one-off.
So the evil Haman planned came back violently on his own head, as Ecclesiastes 10:8 warns, "He who digs a pit will fall into it."
Some writers find more than irony in the gallows Haman built.
It is beautifully significant that Haman hangs on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai. At the cross, Satan was defeated. Through death, the one who had the power of death was destroyed (Heb. 2:14). What looked like a great defeat turned out to be the greatest victory of all time — and the end of the adversary.
The feast takes its name from Haman's lot. Yet God is still not named, even in the letters that set up the feast. Commentators contrast what God's book leaves out with what man's own writings later put in.
Here again, notice, the book holds to its character all the way through. Even here it does not name Him whom it would normally be the highest duty to proclaim. Yet the complete contrast shows up in man's own word. 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."
Others read the feast as pointing forward rather than backward.
Only one feast, the feast of Purim, is mentioned in this book: a new feast that will last forever in memory of the deliverance of God's earthly people... So ends this account. It brings us to the dawn of the glorious time that follows deliverance, and points us prophetically to the threshold of the millennial reign of Christ.
- Plot. Haman schemed to destroy a whole people, and the plan looked unstoppable.
- Lot. The "Pur" he cast set the date eleven months away — time in which God ripened His purposes.
- Return. The evil he devised came back on his own head; God's purpose and Haman's own responsibility both stand.
- Gallows. He died on the structure he built, a reversal some read as a picture of the adversary's defeat at the cross.
- Memorial. Purim keeps his lot in its name, so the deliverance would never be forgotten — yet God's name stays unspoken to the last.
Therefore they called these days Purim after the name of Pur. Therefore, according to all the words of this letter, and for what they had seen concerning this matter and what had happened to them,
The verse looks back and explains a name. The Jews called their two days of feasting Purim, after "Pur" — the lot Haman cast when he picked a date to wipe out the Jews. It also ties the yearly feast to three things: a letter, what the people had faced, and what had happened to them.
The name comes straight from "Pur," the lot Haman cast. It fixes the feast to the very moment his plot began.
A feast, meaning 'lot or lots.' Haman cast lots to find a favourable day for the destruction of the Jews. When that danger passed, the Jews kept a yearly feast to remember their deliverance. Esther 3:7; Esther 9:24-32. It fell on the 14th and 15th of Adar.
So the Jews named their rescue after the lot that was meant to destroy them.
Naming the feast after Pur only makes sense if the lot itself was not random. Commentators point to the delay the lot produced. That gap is where the whole rescue happened.
God overruled among His people how the lot should fall... He could also direct it among the nations to work out His own purposes, as He did in the case of Haman. The result delayed his plan for so long that Esther had time to act. New decrees could go out all over the kingdom, so that the Jews might be saved from destruction. Esther 3:7; Esther 9:24.
What Haman read as a lucky day, the Jews traced to the Lord.
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 intervened with His own clear decision. Yet, even though the Jews surely did recognise the Lord's hand here, God did not allow His name to be even mentioned publicly.
The book of Esther never mentions God, and the founding of Purim does not break the silence either. Writers see that silence as deliberate.
In the book of Esther we have no more than the witness of secret providence in the face of the most extreme dangers. It looks on to that grand public outcome. Meanwhile it produces a striking and lasting ordinance of Him who delivers though unseen.
The verse grounds the feast in what "was written in this letter" — Mordecai's instruction to the Jews.
It is Mordecai who, like the future Messiah, orders joy and rest. The Jews submit themselves to the written word of a man who had been unknown and ignored by all, including themselves. God had now exalted him in the sight of everyone.
The verse gives two more reasons: what they had faced, and what had happened to them. Word and experience agree.
Purim is the only feast this book records, and it reaches far beyond its own day.
The memory of these days lives on from age to age. This book mentions only one feast, the feast of Purim: a new feast which will last for ever in memory of the deliverance of God's earthly people. Esther and Mordecai are in perfect harmony with the people; what Esther and Mordecai establish, the people establish for themselves... This account ends by leading us to the dawn of the glorious time that follows deliverance, and it leads us prophetically to the threshold of the millennial reign of Christ.
Readers sometimes ask whether this feast turns up again later in the Bible.
The New Testament never mentions this feast by name. Some suppose John 5:1 refers to it, but there is no hint of that, and such a feast did not call the Lord to go to Jerusalem.
A memorial can survive for centuries and still lose its point. Later Jewish tradition shows how.
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, both sink into the driest ditch of paganism. Both dare to approve a wild carnival where there had once been a holy feast.
- Pur — the feast carries the name of the enemy's lot, so each year the rescue recalls the plot that failed.
- Overruled — God directed how the lot fell. The delay it created gave Esther and the new decrees time to work.
- Unnamed — God is never mentioned, in the book or in the feast; Purim stands as a lasting ordinance of the One who delivers unseen.
- Written — the Jews kept the days because of a letter, what they had faced, and what had happened to them; word and experience together.
- Guarded — a feast can outlive its meaning. Drinking until Mordecai and Haman sound alike turns a holy day into a carnival.
the Jews ordained and took upon them, and upon their seed, and upon all such as joined themselves to them, so that it should not fail, that they would observe these two days according to their writing and according to their fixed time, every year;
God issues no command here: the Jews bind themselves, their children, and everyone who joined them to keep two days every year without fail. Why is the feast named after Haman's lot, who are these outsiders who joined them, and why is it called a feast of the Jews and not a feast of the LORD?
The verse binds their descendants as well, and fixes the time every year. One writer explains what drove them to it.
In this way the Jews set up the feast of Purim and laid it on themselves and their descendants. They took on the urgent responsibility of celebrating these days every year. The feast continued in every family of the Jews, wherever they were, so that the memory of this great occasion would never fade from their minds.
The feast takes its name from Haman's lot. The same writer asks who really decided that lot.
At this time the Jews established a feast of two days and called it Purim, after Pur, the lot cast by Haman with the aim of destroying the Jews. Very likely the Jews knew 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 allow His name to be mentioned in public.
The verse binds "all who joined them" as well. One writer sees in them a coming day when nations do the same.
Many people became Jews, as the last verse of this chapter records. In the same way, in that coming day ten men from the nations of every tongue shall take hold of the robe of a Jew and say, "Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you" (Zechariah 8:23). "And many nations shall join themselves to the LORD in that day" (Zechariah 2:11). The heroic deed of Esther brought about all this blessing for the Jews in Persia. She went through a great struggle and risked her life so that her people might be saved. And the promised blessings and glory can come to the people Israel only through Him who gave His life, the true King and Shepherd of Israel, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Commentators differ on how to weigh this new feast. One looks hard at what it is called.
So the history here speaks of Purim as a feast of the Jews, not a "feast of the LORD." Leviticus 23 speaks of "the appointed feasts of the LORD." But John 2:13 calls the Passover "the Passover of the Jews," and John 7:2 calls another feast of the Lord "the Jews' Feast of Tabernacles." Why? Because it was not primarily the Lord's honour that the Jews sought, but their own enjoyment. What sad disrespect for the Lord's feasts!
Another writer looks ahead. He sees one feast that lasts, and full agreement among the people.
The memorial of these days carries on from age to age. This book mentions only one feast, the feast of Purim. It is a new feast which will last for ever in memory of the deliverance of God's earthly people. There is perfect harmony between Esther, Mordecai and the people. What Esther and Mordecai establish, the people establish for themselves (v. 31).
The feast lasted. One writer ties what it became to the book's silence about God's name.
Notice again that the book keeps to its own deeply marked character. Even here it does not name Him whom it would normally be the highest duty to proclaim. Yet man's word makes the complete difference plain. 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."
- Lot. Haman cast the lot to destroy the Jews. The decision behind it was the Lord's, and the feast now carries the name of the very thing that failed.
- Vow. No command came down from God here. The Jews laid the duty on themselves, their children, and all who joined them, so the memory would not fade.
- Reach. The duty reaches past one nation to those who joined them. It points to a day when nations say to a Jew, "Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you."
- Silence. Even as the feast is founded, the One who saved them is not named. That silence runs through the whole book.
- Drift. The feast was kept from age to age. But later tradition turned it into drinking that blurs the blessing on Mordecai and the curse on Haman.
and that these days should be remembered and observed throughout every generation, in every family, every province, and every city, and that these days of Purim should not fail from among the Jews, nor the memorial of them cease from among their seed.
Two days of rescue could have faded with the people who lived through them. Instead they became a yearly feast for every generation and every place. Two questions follow. What were the Jews remembering? And why does a feast the Lord never appointed still stand?
The days carry the name of the weapon the enemy used against the Jews. A dictionary entry gives the facts:
A feast, meaning "lot" or "lots." Haman cast lots to find a favourable day for the destruction of the Jews. When that plan was stopped, the Jews marked their deliverance with a yearly feast. It fell on the 14th and 15th of Adar. The Jews still keep the feast. They read the Book of Esther, and they pronounce curses on Haman and on his wife, and blessings on Mordecai and on Harbonah.
Naming the feast after the lot raises the question of who really controlled it. One writer answers that, and points to what God still kept out of public view:
The two-day feast the Jews established at this time was called Purim. The name refers to Pur, the lot Haman cast in order to destroy the Jews. Very likely the Jews knew Solomon's proverb, "The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord" (Proverbs 16:33). Haman had expected demon power to back him up. But no doubt the Jews recognised that the Lord had stepped in with His own clear decision. They surely did recognise the Lord's hand in this. Yet God still did not allow anyone to even mention His name publicly.
The verse describes a duty the Jews took on and handed to their children:
So the Jews established the feast of Purim and imposed it on themselves and their descendants. They took on the urgent responsibility of celebrating these days every year. The feast continued in every family of the Jews, wherever they were, so that they would never let the memory of this great occasion fade from their minds (vv. 26-28).
The verse names every province and city. That reach was the whole empire — and the keeping went further still:
Mordecai sent letters to all the Jews in the 127 provinces of the kingdom of Persia. His aim was to confirm the yearly observance of the Feast of Purim at the appointed time. Esther was joined with this decree as well. From that time Israel has gone on observing the Feast of Purim, even where Jews are scattered in other lands.
Reading the book kept the memory alive, and it did its work in the hardest times:
The Jews read Esther during the Purim feast, on 14th and 15th Adar (February/March). So it is one of the best-known Old Testament books among the Jews. It also has the oldest surviving copies. The book of Esther has supported the Jewish people in their national hope, above all in days of persecution.
Purim is not listed among the feasts God appointed. Commentators note the distinction and see something telling in it:
So the history here speaks of Purim as a feast of the Jews, not a "feast of the Lord." Leviticus 23:1 speaks of "The Feasts of the Lord." But in John 2:13 the Passover is called "the Passover of the Jews," and another feast of the Lord was called "the Jews' Feast of Tabernacles" (John 7:2). Why? Because the Jews were not seeking the Lord's honour first of all, but their own enjoyment.
Later tradition turned the memorial into something else:
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?" (Isaiah 2:22). Judaism, and Christendom where Christ is ignored, both sink into the driest ditch of heathenism. Both dare to sanction a drunken carnival where there had been a holy feast.
One writer reads this lasting feast as a signpost to what comes after deliverance:
The memorial of these days is carried on from age to age. This book mentions only one feast, the feast of Purim. It is a new feast which will last for ever, in memory of the deliverance of God's earthly people... So ends this account. It leads us to the dawn of the glorious time that follows deliverance, and leads us prophetically to the threshold of the millennial reign of Christ.
- Threat — The days are named after Pur, the lot Haman cast to pick a day to destroy the Jews. The name of the weapon became the name of the celebration.
- Rescue — Behind the lot stood the Lord. His decision overturned Haman's. Yet God kept His own name out of public view.
- Record — The Jews bound themselves and their children to keep these days every year. The memory of the rescue must not fade.
- Reach — Letters went out to 127 provinces. The feast has been kept ever since, wherever the people were scattered. The book, read aloud, held up their hope under persecution.
- Reign — Commentators weigh Purim differently. It is a feast "of the Jews," not one the Lord appointed, and it later slid into a drunken carnival. Yet it is also read as a memorial that points on to the reign of Christ.
And queen Esther the daughter of Abihail, and Mordecai the Jew, wrote with all authority to confirm this second letter of Purim.
Chapter 9 ends not with a battle but with a letter from Queen Esther and Mordecai, fixing the feast of Purim for every generation. Why is the feast named after the enemy's lot, and why does this book never name God?
Mordecai had already written once. Here the queen's authority stands behind his instruction too.
The final part of this chapter tells of a message that Mordecai sent to the Jews in the provinces of the Persian kingdom. He told them to observe these days, the feast of Purim. Queen Esther also wrote with all authority confirming this second letter of Purim.
The weight of the letter rests on who sent it. Mordecai had once been ignored by everyone; now the nation bows to his written word.
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 to the written word of a man who had been unknown and ignored by everyone, including themselves. God had now exalted him in the sight of all.
The name of the feast comes from the enemy's own method.
A feast, meaning 'lot or lots.' Haman cast lots to find a good day to destroy the Jews. When that plan came to nothing, a yearly feast marked their deliverance instead. It fell on the 14th and 15th of Adar. The Jews still keep the feast. They read the Book of Esther, curse Haman and his wife, and bless Mordecai and Harbonah.
The book of Esther never mentions God, and the letter of Purim does not correct that. Yet the lot Haman trusted was not neutral.
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 saw that the Lord had stepped in with His own clear decision. The Jews surely did recognise the Lord's hand in this. Yet God still did not allow His name to be mentioned in public at all.
Queen, Mordecai, and the people were of one mind about keeping the day.
This book mentions only one feast, the feast of Purim. It is a new feast that will last forever in memory of the deliverance of God's earthly people. Esther, Mordecai, and the people are in perfect harmony. What Esther and Mordecai set up, the people set up for themselves. So this account ends. It leads us to the dawn of the glorious time that follows deliverance, and points us on to the threshold of the millennial reign of Christ.
Commentators see a picture in each of these two names. The verse gives Esther her father's name, and Mordecai is still called "the Jew."
Mordecai is a Jew who acts fully in the king's interest, and in the end the king exalts him. He represents Christ… Esther represents the true bride: the future faithful Jewish remnant.
A day can be kept for centuries and still lose its meaning. One writer sets God's silence in the book beside what people later made of the feast.
Here again the book keeps to its character. Even now it does not name Him whom it would normally be the highest duty to proclaim. Yet man's word makes the full difference plain. The Talmud lays it down that at the feast of Purim a man should drink until he does not know the difference between "Blessed be Mordecai" and "Cursed be Haman." … Judaism, and Christendom where Christ is ignored, each sink to the lowest depths of paganism. Both dare to approve a drunken carnival where there had once been a holy feast.
- Letter. Mordecai wrote first. Here Esther adds her full authority to confirm that second letter of Purim.
- Lot. "Purim" means 'lot or lots.' Haman cast lots to pick a day to destroy the Jews, so the feast carries the name of his failed plan.
- Hidden. God is never named in the book or in the letter. Yet every decision of the lot came from Him, and He worked for His people unseen.
- Lasting. Queen, Mordecai, and people agreed. What the two set up, the nation took up — a memorial that points on to the deliverance and reign still to come.
- Warning. A commanded day can still be spoiled. Tradition turned a holy feast into a drunken carnival, in Judaism and in Christendom alike.
And he sent letters to all the Jews, to the hundred and twenty-seven provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus, words of peace and truth,
Esther 9:30 records the closing act of the whole story: not a battle, but a letter. Mordecai and Esther send word to all 127 provinces of the empire, and their message is one of peace and truth. Why did a rescue already won need to be written down and carried so far?
This letter brings no fresh news. It confirms a yearly feast, and one writer traces how far that feast has since travelled:
Mordecai sent letters to all the Jews in the 127 provinces of the kingdom of Persia. His aim was to confirm that the Feast of Purim would be kept each year at the set time. Esther was joined with him in this decree. From that time on, Israel has kept the Feast of Purim, even where Jews live scattered in other lands.
The Jews are now ruled by what Mordecai has written. One writer notes whom he resembles, and how the people answer him:
It is Mordecai who, like the future Messiah, orders joy and rest. The Jews took up what they had begun, and what Mordecai had written to them. They put themselves under the written word of a man who had been unknown and ignored by everyone, including themselves — the man God had now lifted high in the sight of all.
Haman's death warrant had reached every province. The letters of peace now travel the same roads, and with the same completeness:
And Mordecai writes and sends letters to all the provinces, and so the joy spreads throughout the whole earth. More than that, the Jews, as we are told, based a feast on this remarkable intervention of God's providence.
The people take up for themselves what the letters ask, and this one feast is given no end date:
The memory of these days is kept alive from age to age. Only one feast, the feast of Purim, is named in this book. It is a new feast, and it will last forever as a reminder of the deliverance of God's earthly people. Esther, Mordecai and the people are in perfect agreement: what Esther and Mordecai set up, the people set up for themselves. … So this account ends by leading us to the dawn of the glorious time that follows deliverance, and in prophecy it brings us to the threshold of the thousand-year reign of Christ.
The letters are full of instruction, yet they never name the One who did the rescuing. One writer explains the silence:
In all of these instructions it seems strange that God is not mentioned, though it is clear that God's protecting hand had been over the Jews to deliver them from their enemies. Very likely the Jews did use God's name in their celebration, but Scripture says nothing of this. The state of the Jews at that time showed no real sign of obedience to God. In effect He was disowning them in public, while caring for them behind the scenes.
One writer sets the restraint of Scripture beside what later Jewish teaching made of the day:
Here again the book keeps to the character stamped on it. Even here it does not name the One whom it would be the highest duty to proclaim. Man's word shows the complete difference. 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." … Judaism, and Christendom where Christ is ignored, both sink into the driest ditch of paganism, and both dare to approve a wild carnival where there had been a holy feast.
- Letters — Words of peace and truth go out to all 127 provinces. The rescue is written down, not left to memory or rumour.
- Word — The people submit to the written word of a man once unknown and ignored, whom God has now lifted high. Like the Messiah to come, he orders joy and rest.
- Reach — The joy travels as far as the death sentence had. It spreads through the whole empire.
- Memorial — This is the one feast of the book. Mordecai, Esther and the people agree on it, and it is meant to last from age to age — on to the reign of Christ.
- Silence — The letters never name God. He cared for His people behind the scenes without owning them in public. Where His name is dropped for good, a holy feast can sink into a carnival.
to confirm these days of Purim in their fixed times, according as Mordecai the Jew and queen Esther had enjoined them, and as they had decreed for themselves and for their seed, as to the matters of the fastings and their cry.
Esther 9:31 turns a rescue into a calendar. Two days in the month of Adar are set at a fixed time each year. Mordecai and Queen Esther confirm them, and the people take them up for themselves and their children. The verse carries an odd note too. The fasting and the crying of the crisis go into the record beside the feasting. And God is never named.
The obligation runs in two directions. Mordecai and Esther lay it down, and the people accept it as their own — not for one generation, but for every one that follows.
The Jews set up the feast of Purim and laid it on themselves and their descendants. They took on the urgent responsibility of celebrating these days every year. The feast continued in every family of the Jews, wherever they were, so that the memory of this great occasion would not fade from their minds.
These days also keep alive the fasting and the crying, not only the rescue. And the account ends by looking forward.
Esther and Mordecai are in perfect harmony with the people. What Esther and Mordecai establish, the people establish for themselves (v. 31). Every generation celebrates what was "written in the book" (v. 32) on the occasion of their fasting and their cry. So ends this account. It leads us to the dawn of the glorious time that follows deliverance, and it leads us in prophecy to the threshold of the millennial reign of Christ.
By this point in the book the Persian king has faded from view. The letters that fix the feast carry Mordecai's name, and the people submit to them.
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. "The Jews undertook to do as they had begun, and as Mordecai had written to them." They submit to the written word of a man who had been unknown and ignored by everyone, including themselves. God had now exalted him in the sight of all.
Purim was not one of the feasts of the law. It grew out of a rescue that came with no miracle at all.
How this danger was turned aside by secret providence, without a miracle, and even turned into the destruction of their enemies, is the story of this book… So here is the ground of a feast, added to the original feasts of the law. That feast carried its own special record of a merciful intervention, on a day so evil that everything most excellent and cherished by faith went unmentioned.
Kelly finds the same silence at the very point the feast is set up:
Notice again that the book keeps to the character stamped deeply on it. Even now it does not name Him — the One whom it would normally be the highest duty to proclaim.
Grant ties that silence to the state of the people who were keeping the feast.
In all of these instructions it seems strange that God is not mentioned. Yet it is clear that God's hand of protecting care had been over the Jews, to deliver them from their enemies. Very likely the Jews did include God's name in their celebration. But Scripture says nothing of this, because the Jews at that time showed no evidence of obedience to God. In effect He was disowning them in public, while caring for them behind the scenes.
The words chosen for these days say what they mark. They also reach far past Esther's own time.
The language of verse 22 is beautiful and full of meaning. The Jews were to celebrate the 14th and the 15th day "as the days on which the Jews rested from their enemies", "the month that was turned to them from sorrow to joy", and "from mourning into a good day"… Finally, the time of Jacob's trouble (Jer. 30:7) will be over. The Jews — long scattered and persecuted — will "rest from their enemies", and Israel will enter its sabbath rest.
- Rescue — no miracle, and no name of God in the decree, yet His care ran under the whole story.
- Record — the fasting and the crying were written down with the joy, so the feast never forgets the trouble.
- Rhythm — the two days are set at a fixed time, so each generation hands the rescue on instead of letting it fade.
- Received — Mordecai and Esther lay the obligation down, and the people take it up for themselves and their children.
- Rest — the month turned from sorrow to gladness points to a greater rest still ahead for Israel.
And the decree of Esther confirmed these matters of Purim; and it was written in the book.
This verse closes the chapter with a queen's order. Esther fixes Purim for every generation, and the order goes into a book. Two questions follow: whose authority stands behind this new feast, and what the written record is for.
Earlier in the chapter Mordecai writes to the provinces. This verse adds Esther's authority to his. One commentator traces what followed:
Mordecai sent letters to all the Jews in the 127 provinces of the kingdom of Persia. His aim was to confirm that they would keep the Feast of Purim every year at the set time. Esther was joined with this decree too. From that time on, Israel has gone on keeping the Feast of Purim, even where Jews live scattered in other lands.
The feast's name keeps the enemy's method in memory. Haman cast lots to choose a day for destroying the Jews, and one writer reads that against a line from Proverbs:
The Jews set up a two-day feast at this time and called it Purim. The name points to Pur, the lot Haman cast in order to destroy the Jews. The Jews very likely knew Solomon's proverb, "The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord" (Proverbs 16:33). Haman had expected demon power to back him up. The Jews, though, surely saw that the Lord had stepped in with His own clear decision. Yet even so, God did not allow His name to be mentioned in public.
One writer ties the written record back to the fasting and crying of the verse before, and forward past the end of the story:
The memory of these days is carried on from age to age. Only one feast appears in this book, the feast of Purim. It is a new feast, and it will last forever, in memory of the deliverance of God's earthly people. What is "written in the book" (v. 32) after their fasting and their cry is kept in every generation. So this account ends. It brings us to the dawn of the glorious time that follows deliverance, and it points us on in prophecy to the threshold of Christ's thousand-year reign.
Commentators differ on how to value this new feast. Rossier calls it a feast that will last forever. Another writer compares it with the festivals God Himself appointed:
The history here calls Purim a feast of the Jews, not a "feast of the Lord." Leviticus 23:1 speaks of "The Feasts of the Lord." But John 2:13 calls the Passover "the Passover of the Jews." Why? Because the Jews were not chiefly seeking the Lord's honour. They were seeking their own enjoyment. What sad disrespect for the Lord's feasts!
A queen decrees, a people keep a feast, a writer records it — and no one names the God who saved them. Another writer weighs that silence, and what later generations made of the feast:
Here again the book keeps to the character stamped on it. Even now it does not name Him whom it would normally be the highest duty to proclaim. Yet man's own word makes the whole difference plain. 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." … Judaism, and Christendom where Christ is ignored, each sink into the driest ditch of paganism, and both dare to allow a wild celebration where there had been a holy feast.
One writer points to the keeping of the feast as evidence that the story really happened:
The Jews' celebration of the feast of Purim is the evidence that this book is true, with its remarkable story of the great deliverance of part of God's people. If what the book of Esther records had never happened, no one could explain the Purim feast.
- Lot. Haman cast Pur, the lot, to choose a day to destroy the Jews. The feast carries his own word as its name, because the lot's outcome belonged to the Lord.
- Decree. Mordecai's letters reached 127 provinces. Esther's command confirmed them, and her authority joined his.
- Record. Her order went into a book, so the rescue would outlive the generation that saw it.
- Reach. Jews have kept the feast ever since, wherever they live. Its survival is itself an argument that this history happened.
- Reserve. Commentators differ. Some call Purim a new feast that lasts forever and points on to Christ's reign. Others note that it is a feast of the Jews, not of the Lord, and that God is never named, even here.