Esther 9:23

23 So the Jews accepted Mordecai’s proposal and adopted this annual custom.

Esther 9:23 Meaning and Commentary

Esther 9:23

And the Jews undertook to do as they had begun, and as
Mordecai had written unto them.
] They engaged to keep these two days as festivals annually, as they had at this time done; not in a religious but in a civil way, not as parts of religious worship, and as additions to and innovations of the law, but by way of commemoration of a civil benefit which they had received; and yet we find in later times that this was scrupled by some as an innovation; for we are told ^F18 that there were eighty five elders, and more than thirty of them prophets, who were distressed about this matter, fearing it was an innovation.

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FOOTNOTES:

F18 T. Hieros. Megillah. fol. 70. 4.

Esther 9:23 In-Context

21 calling on them to celebrate an annual festival on these two days.

22 He told them to celebrate these days with feasting and gladness and by giving gifts of food to each other and presents to the poor. This would commemorate a time when the Jews gained relief from their enemies, when their sorrow was turned into gladness and their mourning into joy.

23 So the Jews accepted Mordecai’s proposal and adopted this annual custom.

24 Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews, had plotted to crush and destroy them on the date determined by casting lots (the lots were called ).

25 But when Esther came before the king, he issued a decree causing Haman’s evil plot to backfire, and Haman and his sons were impaled on a sharpened pole.