In the first month, which is the month of Nisan, in the twelfth year of King Ahasuerus, they cast Pur (that is, they cast lots) before Haman day after day; and they cast it month after month till the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar.
Haman wanted a whole nation dead, not just the one man who would not bow to him. He needed a date first — and the lots thrown before him landed on the last month of the year, eleven months away.
The month called Nisan
The verse dates the scene in the first month of the Jewish year. That month carried two names, and it marked Israel's rescue out of slavery.
Arno Clemens GaebeleinThe rescue out of slavery makes a new beginning. The past is left behind and blotted out. This is a picture of the new birth of a person. The month which marks this new beginning is Abib, the "green ear" month, because the grain was then in the ear. After the captivity it was called Nisan (Nehemiah 2:1; Esther 3:7). It is our April.
Casting Pur
Throwing lots was not a game here. Day by day and month by month, it was Haman's way of asking a power outside himself to name the best month for murder.
Arno Clemens GaebeleinAnd now Haman waits on his unseen master, the devil. He wanted to find out the month which would be best suited for the execution of his wicked plot. Fortune-telling, contacting spirits and asking the dead flourished among the Egyptians, the Babylonians, the Persians and every other pagan nation. So did reading the future from the flight of birds or from the liver of a killed animal. So did forecasters and astrologers. Behind it all is the Devil and his fallen angels. And these things are still practised... right among people who call themselves Christians.
The day that fell furthest away
Of the twelve months the lot could have chosen, it chose the last one. One writer asks why.
H. L. RossierVashti had rebelled in the third year of Ahasuerus' reign. Esther became the king's wife in the seventh year. The lot is cast at the beginning of the twelfth year of his reign, and it 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 "oppressor of the Jews" do in the face of the secret counsels of Providence? He must obey the lot he has consulted, and right there his rapid course to death and judgment begins.
A whole nation in view
The lot only fixed a date. What Haman wanted went far past one man.
J. G. BellettHe must have the blood of all the Jews. The life of the one man who refused to bow to him will not satisfy his heart. He must have the lives of the whole nation... The Amalekite and his company cast the lot, the Pur, only to fix the day for carrying out this act of extermination. But, as we know, the lot may be "cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD" (Proverbs 16:33). And so it was here. Eleven long months are given: from the day the lot was cast to the day the lot fixed for the slaughter of the nation. They are given so that God would ripen His purposes towards both His people and their adversaries.
Why the delay mattered
No one could change or cancel a Persian decree. The only answer was a second decree, and that needed time — which the lot had just handed over.
William KellySo the enemy turned to casting lots for a day that suited his murderous plan. In the end, divine providence saw to it that the day was put off for a long time. Since no change or cancelling of the decree was possible, that delay left room for a fresh decree, letting the Jews stand in self-defence and destroy their enemies. At first no outcome looked more unlikely. In the end Satan defeated himself, as he always does.
From Pur to Purim
The word left behind in this verse became the name of a yearly celebration.
Morrish Bible DictionaryA feast, meaning 'lot or lots.' Haman cast lots to find a favourable day for the destruction of the Jews. When that danger was turned aside, a yearly feast marked their deliverance. Esther 3:7; Esther 9:24-32. It fell on the 14th and 15th of Adar... The Jews still keep the feast. They read the Book of Esther, they curse Haman and his wife, and they bless Mordecai and Harbonah.
Summary
- Pur. The word means "lot." Haman threw lots to pick a favourable day, and that pagan word ends up naming Israel's feast of rescue.
- Fate. Haman went to the lot the way others go to a spirit. Writers see the devil behind such practices, and they warn that these things go on today.
- Delay. The lot named the twelfth month, not the third. That left eleven months for God to ripen His purposes toward both His people and their enemies.
- Reversal. No one could revoke a Persian decree. Only that long gap left room for a second one, so the enemy's own ritual set the trap he fell into.
- Feast. Haman meant to set the date of a massacre. He set the date of a celebration instead — the lot fell where the LORD decided.