that these days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation, in every clan, province, and city, and that these days of Purim should never fall into disuse among the Jews, nor should the commemoration of these days cease among their descendants.
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 Name Behind the Days
The days carry the name of the weapon the enemy used against the Jews. A dictionary entry gives the facts:
Morrish Bible DictionaryA 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:
Leslie M. GrantThe 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.
A Duty Passed to the Children
The verse describes a duty the Jews took on and handed to their children:
Leslie M. GrantSo 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).
Kept Wherever the People Were Scattered
The verse names every province and city. That reach was the whole empire — and the keeping went further still:
Leslie M. GrantMordecai 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:
Arend RemmersThe 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.
A Feast of the Jews, Not a Feast of the Lord
Purim is not listed among the feasts God appointed. Commentators note the distinction and see something telling in it:
Leslie M. GrantSo 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:
William KellyThe 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.
A Memorial Pointing Forward
One writer reads this lasting feast as a signpost to what comes after deliverance:
H. L. RossierThe 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.
Summary
- 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.