Esther 9

CHAPTER 9

Triumph of the Jews (9:1–17)

1–10 Almost nine months after Mordecai’s edict was issued, the fateful day set by Haman arrived. As it turned out, the Jews did have many enemies, and they did attack; but the Jews were able to overcome them. All over the kingdom the king’s officials sided with the Jews, because fear of Mordecai had seized them (verse 3). In the citadel of Susa the Jews killed five hundred men and also the ten sons of Haman; however, they took no plunder (verses 6–10).

11–15 When Xerxes learned that five hundred men had been killed in the citadel, he inquired what had happened in the rest of his kingdom. But then, without waiting for an answer, he asked Esther if she had any further requests (verse 12).

Esther requested that Mordecai’s edict be extended by one day so that the Jews could kill their enemies in the rest of the city of Susa outside the citadel. She also requested that the bodies of Haman’s ten sons be displayed in public by hanging them on gallows. The king granted Esther’s requests; and an additional three hundred men were killed in the city the next day. Xerxes was clearly more interested in pleasing his wife than in stopping the killing.

16–17 Throughout the kingdom, the Jews killed seventy five thousand of their enemies on that one day, the thirteenth day of Adar. On the fourteenth day they rested and celebrated.

Purim Celebrated (9:18–32)

18–19 Because the Jews of Susa had been given an extra day to kill their enemies, they celebrated their triumph on the fifteenth of Adar instead of the fourteenth. And so it has been up until the present time: the Jews of Jerusalem (as did the Jews of Susa) celebrate this event one day later than Jews living everywhere else.

20–28 In these verses, the writer describes how Mordecai established the Jewish festival called Purim¹⁴ (verse 26), which continues to be celebrated by faithful Jews to this day. He established the festival by sending letters to all the Jews throughout the Persian Empire (verse 20).

29–32 Next the writer relates how Queen Esther, together with Mordecai, wrote a second letter confirming Mordecai’s first letter (verses 20–22). In the second letter, something new is added: times of fasting and lamentation (verse 31). Accordingly, the Jews began to set aside the thirteenth day of Adar—the actual day of destruction that Haman had selected—as a time of mourning and fasting one day before the main celebration of Purim took place.

Purim was to be celebrated with feasting and joy (verse 17). In one sense, it might seem as if the Jews were gloating over the killing of seventy five thousand of their enemies. On the other hand, we must remember that the Jews in Esther’s time were essentially an exiled and persecuted people. Yes, many of them had gained positions of influence in the Persian Empire, but they were never without enemies. For the Jews, then, Purim was not so much a time of gloating as it was a time of thanksgiving, a time to remember how they had obtained relief from their enemies and how their sorrow [had] turned into joy (verse 22). God’s people must never have a spirit of gloating, of vengefulness or vindictiveness; our spirit must be one of thanksgiving and joy—and, above all, of forgiveness toward our enemies.