Esther 9:23

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

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 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;

24 because Haman the son of Hamdata the Agagi, the enemy of the Jews, had plotted against the Jews to destroy them and had thrown pur (that is, "cast lots") to crush and destroy them;

25 but when Ester came before the king, he ordered by letters that [Haman's] wicked scheme, which he had plotted against the Jews, should recoil on his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows.