as the days on which the Jews got relief from their enemies, and as the month that had been turned for them from sorrow into gladness and from mourning into a holiday; that they should make them days of feasting and gladness, days for sending gifts of food to one 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.
Relief from their enemies
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:
Michael HardtAt 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.
The month that turned
This was a reversal at the point where hope had run out:
The Christian's FriendThe 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.
Sending portions, and gifts to the poor
One writer notes that such giving already had a long history:
Walter ScottThe 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:
J. G. BellettMany 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.
Purim: named after the enemy's lot
The feast took its name from Haman's lot. Notice also what the record leaves unsaid:
Leslie M. GrantThe 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.
A feast that can be spoiled
The book of Esther never names God. Later Jewish teaching turned the day into something Mordecai's letter never described:
William KellyYet 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.
Where the joy points
This is the only feast the book records, and the account closes by looking forward:
H. L. RossierThe 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.
Summary
- 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.