Esther 9:20

The new holiday of Purim

20 Mordecai wrote these things down and sent letters to all the Jews in all the provinces, both near and far, of King Ahasuerus.

Esther 9:20 Meaning and Commentary

Esther 9:20

And Mordecai wrote these things
The transactions of those two days, and the causes of them, as well as the following letter; some conclude from hence that he was the penman of the book; and so he might be, but it does not necessarily follow from hence:

and sent letters unto all the Jews that were in all the provinces of
the King Ahasuerus, both nigh and far;
such as were near the city Shushan, and those that were at the greatest distance from it; these were more especially the things he wrote.

Esther 9:20 In-Context

18 The Jews in Susa joined together for self-defense on the thirteenth and fourteenth days of the month. But they rested on the fifteenth day of the month and made it a day of feasts and joyous events.)

19 That is why Jews who live in villages make the fourteenth day of the month of Adar a day of rejoicing and feasts, a holiday. It is a day on which they send gifts of food to each other.

20 Mordecai wrote these things down and sent letters to all the Jews in all the provinces, both near and far, of King Ahasuerus.

21 He made it a rule that Jews keep the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month of Adar as special days each and every year.

22 They are the days on which the Jews finally put to rest the troubles with their enemies. The month is the one when everything turned around for them from sadness to joy, and from sad, loud crying to a holiday. They are to make them days of feasts and joyous events, days to send food gifts to each other and money gifts to the poor.