Esther 9:27

27 and which things they suffered, and which things were changed afterward, so that it be not leaveful to any man to pass these two days without solemnity, which days the scripture witnesseth, and certain times ask, while the years come continually one after another. (and what things they suffered, and what things happened afterwards, so that it be not lawful for anyone to pass these two days without feasting, yea, the days to which this writing witnesseth, and for which a certain time is ordained, while the years continue to come, one after the other.)

Esther 9:27 Meaning and Commentary

Esther 9:27

The Jews ordained, and took upon them, and upon their seed,
and upon all such that joined themselves unto them
Who became proselytes to their religion; that is, they appointed the above two days as festivals, and engaged for themselves, for their children, and all proselytes, to observe them as such; and one of their canons ^F19 runs thus,

``all are obliged to read the Megillah (the book of Esther, which they always read on those days), priests, Levites, Nethinims, Israelites, men, women, and proselytes, and servants made free, and they train up little ones to read it:''

so as it should not fail;
of being observed, so as no man should transgress it, or pass it over:

that they should keep these two days;
the fourteenth and fifteenth of the month Adar or February:

according to their writing;
in this book, the book of Esther, which was to be read, as Aben Ezra; written in the Hebrew character, as the Targum; that is, in the Assyrian character, as Jarchi; the square character, as they call it:

and according to their appointed time every year;
whether simple or intercalated, as Aben Ezra observes: in an intercalary year the Jews have two Adars, and, though they keep the feast of Purim on the fourteenth of the first Adar, yet not with so much mirth, and call it the lesser Purim; but in the second Adar they observe it with all its ceremonies ^F20; so, in their canon, they do not keep Purim but in Adar that is next to Nisan or March, that redemption might be near redemption; the redemption of Mordecai near the redemption of Moses {u}.

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FOOTNOTES:

F19 Lebush & Schulchan, ib. (par. 1.) c. 689. sect. 1.
F20 Vid. Buxtorf. Synagog. Jud. c. 29. p. 563.
F21 Lebush, par. 1. c. 6, 7. sect. 1.

Esther 9:27 In-Context

25 And after this Esther entered in to the king, and besought, that the enforcings of Haman should be made void by the letters of the king, and that the evil, which he had thought against the Jews, should turn again into his head. Forsooth they hanged on the cross both him and his sons. (But then Esther went in to the king, and beseeched him, that Haman's endeavours should be stopped with new written orders from the king, and that the evil, which Haman had plotted against the Jews, should return onto his own head. And so they hanged him and his sons on the gallows.)

26 And from that time these days were called Purim, that is, (the days) of lots, for pur, that is, (a) lot, was sent, or cast, into a vessel; and the Jews received upon themselves, and upon their seed, and upon all men that would be coupled to their religion, all things that were done, and (that) be contained in the volume of the epistle, that is, of this book, (And from that time, these days were called Purim, that is, the Days of Lots, for pur, that is, a lot, was cast to determine the day that they would die; and the Jews took upon themselves, and upon their descendants, and upon all people who would be coupled to their religion, all the things that were done, and that be contained in this book,)

27 and which things they suffered, and which things were changed afterward, so that it be not leaveful to any man to pass these two days without solemnity, which days the scripture witnesseth, and certain times ask, while the years come continually one after another. (and what things they suffered, and what things happened afterwards, so that it be not lawful for anyone to pass these two days without feasting, yea, the days to which this writing witnesseth, and for which a certain time is ordained, while the years continue to come, one after the other.)

28 These be the days, which never any forgetting shall do away, but by all generations all the provinces, that be in all the world, shall hallow them; neither there is any city, in which the days of Purim, that is, (the days) of lots, shall not be kept of [the] Jews, and of the generation of them, which is bound to these ceremonies. (These be the days, which no forgetting shall do away, that is, they should always be remembered, and all the generations, or the descendants, of the people, who be in all the provinces, in all the world, shall keep and honour them; and there shall be no city, in which the Days of Purim, that is, the Days of Lots, shall not be kept by the Jews, and by their generations, or their descendants, who be bound and obliged to keep these ceremonies.)

29 And Esther, the queen, the daughter of Abihail, and Mordecai, the Jew, wrote also the second epistle, that this solemn day should be hallowed afterward with all busyness. (And Queen Esther, Abihail's daughter, and Mordecai, the Jew, confirmed in writing with a second letter, that these feast days should be kept thereafter with all diligence.)