Esther 9:21

21 instructing them to observe the fourteenth day of the month of Adar and the fifteenth day, every year,

Esther 9:21 Meaning and Commentary

Esther 9:21

To stablish this among them
That it might be a settled thing, and annually observed in all future generations, what they had now done:

that they should keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar, and the
fifteenth day of the same, yearly;
as the former had been observed by the Jews in the provinces, and both by those in Shushan, ( Esther 9:17-19 )

as festivals in commemoration of their great deliverance; hence the fourteenth of Adar is called the day of Mordecai, being established by him;

``And they ordained all with a common decree in no case to let that day pass without solemnity, but to celebrate the thirtieth day of the twelfth month, which in the Syrian tongue is called Adar, the day before Mardocheus' day.'' (2 Maccabees 15:36)

Esther 9:21 In-Context

19 This is why the Jews of the villages, those who live in unwalled towns, make the fourteenth day of the month of Adar a day for celebrating and rejoicing, a holiday and a time for sending each other portions [of food].

20 Mordekhai recorded these events and sent letters to all the Jews in all the provinces of King Achashverosh, both near and far,

21 instructing them to observe the fourteenth day of the month of Adar and the fifteenth day, every year,

22 [to commemorate] the days on which the Jews obtained rest from their enemies and the month which for them was turned from sorrow into gladness and from mourning into a holiday; they were to make them days of celebrating and rejoicing, sending portions [of food] to each other and giving gifts to the poor.

23 So the Jews took it upon themselves to continue what they had already begun to do, and as Mordekhai had written to them;