M N¹ c¹ 1-4. Assemblage.
d¹ 5-10-. Slaughter.
e¹ -10. Abstention from plunder.
O i 11. King. Receives report.
k 12,13. Esther's request.
i 14. King. Makes another decree.
N² c² 15-. Assemblage.
d² -15-. Slaughter. Shushan. City.
e² -15. Abstention from plunder.
c³ 16-. Assemblage.
d³ -16-. Slaughter. Provinces.
e³ -16. Abstention from plunder.
O l 17. Feasting. Provinces. One day.
m 18. Feasting. Shushan. 3 days.
l 19. Feasting. Villages. One day.
N³ f 20. Letters to Mordecai.
g 21,22. Days. Commemoration.
h 23,24. Observance.
f 25. Letters of king.
g 26. Days. Names [Purim].
h 27,28. Observance.
461 B.C.
Esther 9)
1 Now in the twelfth month, that is, the month Adar, on the thirteenth day of the same (see 3:12), when the king's commandment and his decree drew near to be put in execution, in the day that the enemies of the Jews hoped to have mastery over them, (though it was turned to the contrary, that the Judeans themselves had rule over them that hated them;)
2 The Judeans (i.e. tribe of Judah) gathered themselves together in their cities throughout all the provinces of the king Ahasuerus, to lay hand on such as sought their hurt: and no man could stand before them; for the fear of them fell upon all the peoples.
3 And all the rulers of the provinces, and the lieutenants, and the deputies, and officers of the king, helped the Judeans; because the fear of Mordecai fell upon them.
4 For Mordecai was great in the king's house, and his fame went out throughout all the provinces: for this man Mordecai (greatly emphasizing the person. Cp. Num. 12:3. 1 Kings 11:28. Dan. 9:21) waxed greater and greater.
5 Thus the Judeans smote all their enemies with the stroke of the sword, and slaughter, and destruction, and did what they would to those that hated them.
6 And in Shushan the palace the Judeans slew and destroyed five hundred men. (note that they took no advantage of the permission given in 8:11)
7 And Parshandatha, and Dalphon, and Aspatha,
8 And Poratha, and Adalia, and Aridatha,
9 And Parmashta, and Arisai, and Aridai, and Vajezatha,
10 The ten sons of Haman the son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Judeans (see 3:10), they slew (see 2:5. Each Hebrew character is a number as well as a letter, the numerical value of these names [regarded as an addition sum] amounts to 10,244, or 13 x 788; while Haman the Agaite = 117 [13 x9], Zesh = 507 [13 x 39], and the whole family = 10,868 [13 x 836]. on the other hand, 'Eth Hadassah hī' Esther [2:7] adds up to 1,152 - 8 x 12, which is new beginnings x governmental perfection, and "Modecai", son of Jair, son of Shimei, Son of Kish, a Benjamite [2:5], adds up to 1,912 = [8 x 239] ); but on the spoil laid they not their hand. (Cp. note on "take the spoil" [3:13]. They probably remembered taking the spoil instead of obeying in 1 Sam. 15. Hence the emphasis on this in vv.10,15,16)
11 On that day the number of those that were slain in Shushan the palace was brought before the king.
12 And the king said to Esther the queen, "The Judeans have slain and destroyed five hundred men in Shushan the palace, and the ten sons of Haman; what have they done in the rest of the king's provinces? now what is thy petition? and it shall be granted you: or what is your request further? and it shall be done."
13 Then said Esther, "If it please the king, let it be granted to the Judeans which are in Shushan to do tomorrow also according to this day's decree, and let Haman's ten sons be hanged upon the tree. (1 of the 10 deaths occasioned or obtained by women. See Judg. 4:21. They were not hanged alive, but hanged up after death. They were slain in conflict 1st. See vv,6,7)
14 And the king commanded it so to be done: and the decree was given at Shushan; and they hanged Haman's ten sons.
15 For the Judeans that were in Shushan gathered themselves together on the fourteenth day also of the month Adar, and slew three hundred men at Shushan; but on the prey they laid not their hand.
16 But the other Judeans that were in the king's provinces gathered themselves together, and stood for themselves, and to avenge themselves upon their enemies, and slew of their foes seventy and five thousand, but they laid not their hands on the prey,
17 On the thirteenth day of the month Adar; and on the fourteenth day of the same rested they, and made it a day of feasting and gladness.
March 5th-7th, 461 B.C.
18 But the Jews that were at Shushan assembled together on the thirteenth day thereof, and on the fourteenth thereof; and on the fifteenth day of the same they rested, and made it a day of feasting and gladness.
19 Therefore the Judeans of the villages, that dwelt in the unwalled towns, made the fourteenth day of the month Adar a day of gladness and feasting, and a good day, and of sending portions one to another.
20 And Mordecai wrote these things, and sent letters to all the Judeans that were in all the provinces of the king Ahasuerus, both nigh and far,
21 To ordain this among them, that they should keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar, and the fifteenth day of the same, yearly,
22 As the days wherein the Judeans rested from their enemies, and the month which 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.
23 And the Judeans undertook to do as they had begun, and as Mordecai had written to them;
24 Because Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of all the Judeans, had devised against the Judeans to destroy them, and had cast Pur, that is, the lot, to consume them, and to destroy them;
25 But when Esther came before the king, he commanded by letters that his great devise, against the Judeans, should return upon his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the tree.
26 Wherefore they called these days Purim (= lots. The name of the feast to this day) after the name of Pur (see 3:7). Therefore for all the words of this letter, and of that which they had seen concerning this matter, and which had come to them,
27 The Judeans ordained, and took upon them, and upon their seed, and upon all such as joined themselves to them, so as it should not fail, that they would keep these two days according to their writing, and according to their appointed time every year;
28 And that these days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation, every family, every province, and every city; and that these days of Purim should not fail from among the Judeans (this sounds like a prophecy, and sets a seal on the inspiration of this book), nor the memorial of them come to an end from their seed. (See 3:15)
C4 n 29-. Esther. Authority.
o -29-31-. Confirmation.
n -31. Esther. Authority.
o 32. Confirmation.
29 Then Esther the queen, the daughter of Abihail (see 2:15), and Mordecai the Judean, wrote with all authority, to confirm this second letter of Purim.
30 And he sent the letters to all the Judeans, to the hundred twenty and seven provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus (see 1:1), with words of peace and truth,
31 To confirm these days of Purim in their times appointed, according as Mordecai the Judean and Esther the queen had ordained them, and according as they had ordained for their souls and for their seed, the matters of the fastings and their cry.
32 And the command of Esther confirmed these matters of Purim; and it was written in the book.