The Book of Esther
Esther 9
Chapter IX · Vol. II, pp. 934–935
1 The Jews (the rulers, for fear of Mordecai, helping them) slay their enemies, with the ten sons of Haman. 12 Ahasuerus, at the request of Esther, granteth another day of slaughter, and causeth Haman's sons to be hanged. 20 The two days of Purim are made festival.
1 Now, in the atwelfth month, (that is, the month Adar,) on the thirteenth day of the same, when the king's commandment and his decree drew near to be put in execution, in the day that the enemies of the Jews hoped to have power over them, (though it bwas turned to the contrary, that the Jews had rule over them that hated them),
2 The Jews cgathered themselves together in their cities, throughout all the provinces of the king Ahasuerus, to lay hand on such as sought their hurt:1 and no man could withstand them; for dthe fear of them fell upon all people.
c ch.8.11; ver.15,16. Jos.11.20. Pr.11.8; 21.18. Da.6.7,24.
d ch.8.17. Ge.35.5; 21.22. Ex.23.27. De.11.2. Jos.2.9.
1 To the honour of the Jews it is recorded that they injured none but their assailants, in strict accordance with the terms of the decree, ch. 8. 11. C.——As the Jews were not charged with exceeding the limits assigned them in the king's edict, it may be concluded that they assaulted none except such as appeared in arms against them. The 16th verse, indeed, seems plainly to indicate that they stood on the defensive. It is not unnatural to suppose that Haman had a great party throughout the empire who, enraged at his fall, would be unable to suppress their hatred against those who had been the occasion of it.—I.
3 And all the rulers of the provinces, and the lieutenants, and the deputies, and officers of the king,e helpedf the Jews; because the fear of Mordecai fell upon them.
e Heb. those which did the business that belonged to the king.
f Pr.16.7.
4 For Mordecai was great in the king's house, and his fame went out throughout all the provinces: for this man Mordecai gwaxed greater and greater.
5 Thus the 2Jews smote all their enemies with the stroke of the sword, and slaughter, and destruction, and did what they would3 unto those that hated them.
6 And in Shushan the palace the Jews slew and destroyed five hundred men.
7 And Parshandatha, and Dalphon, and Aspatha,
8 And Poratha, and Adalia, and Aridatha,
9 And Parmashta, and Arisai, and Aridai, and Vajezatha,
10 Theh ten sons of Haman the son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews, slew they; but ion the spoil laid they not their 4hand.
h Ex.17.14. De.25.17,19. 1 Sa.15.3. Job 27.14. Ps.21.10.
i ver.15,16. Col.4.5. 1 Co.10.32. Ro.12.17. Phi.4.8. Ge.14.23, with ch.8.11.
4 In this they forbore to act up to the terms of the decree, which commissioned them not only to repel their assailants, but to take their spoil, ch.8.11.—C.
11 On that day the number of those that were slain in Shushan the palace was 5brought before the king.
5 Heb. came.
12 And the king said unto Esther the queen, The Jews have slain and destroyed five hundred men in Shushan6 the palace, and the ten sons of Haman; what have they done in the rest of the king's provinces? now, kwhat is thy petition? and it shall be granted thee: or what is thy request further? and it shall be done.
6 'Shushan the palace,' i.e. Shushan the royal city, in which the palace was. The total number slain there was 800. These are generally supposed to have been Amalekites, of Haman's faction, who, enraged at his disgrace and death, and headed by his sons, had taken advantage of the decree to avenge him.—I.
k ch.5.6; 7.2.
13 Then said Esther, lIf it please the king, let it be granted to the Jews which are in Shushan to do to-morrow also according unto this day's decree, and mlet Haman's ten sons be hanged upon the gallows.
14 And the king commanded it so to be done: and the decree was given at Shushan; and they hanged Haman's ten sons.7
7 How could this be, seeing they were already slain? ver.10. Their dead bodies were hanged up, according to a custom of the Jews (Jos 10. 26), and a practice still found in Persia and other countries. C.——They had been slain on the previous day, and the request was that their dead bodies should be hung up for the greater infamy, and for the purpose of deterring others.—I.
15 For the nJews that were in Shushan gathered themselves together on the fourteenth day also of the month Adar, and slew three hundred men at Shushan: but oon the prey they laid not their hand.
n He.11.33. Ps.118.7-13.
16 But the other Jews that were in the king's provinces gathered themselves 8together, and pstood for their lives, and had rest from their enemies, and slew of their foes seventy and five thousand (but they laid not their hands on the prey)
8 They gathered themselves, not into an army, but into local bands. And as none of them all laid their hands on the prey, there can be little question that Mordecai had given them warning to manifest, by this universal abstinence, that they sought protection and not plunder. The previous exercises of fasting and prayer in which they had been engaged would render their minds peculiarly accessible to such admonition.—C.
p ch.8.11. Le.26.7,8. Ps.18.34-48.
17 On the thirteenth day of the month Adar: and on the fourteenth day of the 9same rested they, and made it a day qof feasting and gladness.
9 Heb. in it.
q Ne.8.10. Ec.10.19. Ge.21.6. Ps.118.11-29. Ex.15.1-22. De.16.11,14.
18 But the Jews that were at Shushan assembled together on the thirteenth day thereof, and on the fourteenth thereof; and on the fifteenth day of the same they rested, and made it a day of feasting and gladness.1
1 History is found in books, the evidence of history generally in institutions. Independently, therefore, of the higher evidence of Scripture, it is always accompanied by such institutional evidence as no other history can furnish. This yearly festival, which the Jews still celebrate, gives witness to the history of this book as distinct and undeniable as if Esther, Mordecai, and Ahasuerus were to rise from the dead to confirm it.—C.
19 Therefore the Jews of the villages, that dwelt in the unwalled towns, made the fourteenth day of the month Adar a day rof gladness and feasting, and a good day, and of sending portions one to another.
A.M. 3495 B.C. 509
r Ne.8.10,12. ver.22; ch.8.17.
20 And Mordecai swrote these things,2 and sent letters unto all the Jews that were in all the provinces of the king Ahasuerus, both nigh and far,
s The history of this memorable deliverance, 1 Ch.16.12. Ps.145.4-12; 124.1,2; 126.1-5. 2 Co.1.10,11. Col.1.10.
2 Mordecai wrote 'these things,' that is, this book or history, and not merely the letters that accompanied it.—C.
21 To stablish this among them, that they shouldt keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar, and the fifteenth day of the same, yearly,3
22 Asu the days wherein the Jews rested from their enemies, and the month which was turned unto them from sorrow to joy, and from mourning into a good day; that they should makex them days of feasting and joy, and of sending portions4 one to another, and gifts to the poor.
u ch.3.12,13, with ver.2-16. Ps.9.1,2; 34.1,4; 103.2; 116.13-18.
x Ne.3.10-12. ver.17-19; ch.6.17.
4 The Orientals not only invite their friends to feasts, but usually send a portion of the banquet to those that cannot conveniently come, especially their relatives and those in a state of mourning.—I.
23 And the Jews undertook to do as they had begun, and as Mordecai had written unto them;
24 Because yHaman the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, had devised against the Jews to destroy them, and had cast zPur, (that is, the lot,) to consume5 them, and to destroy them:
y ch.3.5-13.
z ch.3.7; ver.26,28.
5 Heb. crush.
25 But awhen Esther came before the king, he commanded by letters, that his wicked device, which he devised against the Jews, should return upon his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows.
a Heb. when she came, ch.7.5-10; 8.1-14; 9.1-14.
26 Wherefore they called these days bPurim,6 after the name of Pur:7 therefore for all the words of this letter, and of that which they had seen concerning this matter, and which had come unto them,
6 The way in which the feast of Purim is now kept by the Jews is as follows:—The 13th of Adar is kept as a fast, and is called the fast of Esther. It is a time of humiliation and prayer. At sunset the festival commences by a public service in the synagogue, after which the whole book of Esther is read from a special roll containing it alone. The passage containing the names of Haman and his sons (9.7-9) is read very rapidly, to indicate that they were hanged at once. In the MS. roll the names are placed underneath each other, each one occupying an entire line, and the whole ten being on a page by themselves. On the morning of the 14th there is another public service in the synagogue, after which the roll of Esther is again read through as before. The rest of the festival is spent in feasting and rejoicing—too often in revelry and drunkenness.—P.
7 Supposed to be a word of Persian origin, and signifying lot.—C.
27 The Jews ordained, and ctook upon them, and upon their seed, and upon all such as joined themselves unto them, so as it should not fail,8 that they would keep these two days according to their writing, and according to their appointed time every year;
c De.5.3; 29.14,15. Jos.9.15, with 2 Sa.21.1,2.
8 Heb. pass.
28 And dthat these days should be remembered, and kept throughout every generation, every family, every province, and every city; and that these days of Purim should not 9fail from among the Jews, nor the memorial of them perish1 from their seed.2
A.M. 3495 B.C. 509
d Ex.12.17. Le.23.43. Ju.5.11. Job 19.23,24. Ps.103.2.
9 Heb. pass.
1 Heb. be ended.
2 Accordingly this book is twice read by the Jews in the synagogue during the feast of Purim; once on the evening of the first day of the feast, and again the next morning. At every mention of the name of Haman the congregation make a noise, by stamping on the floor and beating on the seats, and exclaiming, 'Cursed be Haman! let his memory rot,' &c. In some countries the feast is a species of carnival, on which the bounds of temperance are entirely overpast; and even where these boundaries are more respected, an extraordinary degree of indulgence is still conceded. So little, alas! can human nature call up the joy of the feast, without laying up in store some sorrow for the future. See Allen's Modern Judaism, p. 419.—C.
29 Then Esther the queen, the daughter of Abihail, and Mordecai the Jew, wrote with all authority,3 to confirm this second letter of Purim.
3 Heb. all strength.
30 And he sent the letters unto all the Jews, to ethe hundred twenty and seven provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus, with fwords of peace and truth,
31 To confirm these days of Purim4 in their times appointed, according as Mordecai the Jew and Esther the queen had enjoined them, and as they had decreed for themselves,5 and for their seed, the matters of the gfastings and their cry.
4 That the Jews scattered through so many provinces should have so universally concurred in adopting the feast, furnishes an additional evidence to the history. The rabbins, however, say that thirty-five elders protested against the institution (Lightfoot on Jn.20.22), as an unauthorized addition to the law of Moses.—C.
5 Heb. for their souls.
g ch.4.16. Jonah 2.9, with 3.8.
32 And the decree of Esther confirmed these matters of Purim; and it was written in the book.
Notes
Reflections.—How strangely sinners are infatuated to their own destruction; and obstinate revenge is deaf to all admonition. Fight they will, though both the hand of God and men be lifted up against them! But great numbers are friends or enemies to the people of God, just as the smiles of great men wind about: and pitiful is the work which the wicked have in hand when the terrors of God and the terrors of great men concur to dismay them. We may make the boldest attempts when not only great men favour us but the great God fights for us. And it is glorious when, in the most desperate war, the laws of self-denial, humanity, and pity are strictly regarded. Never should the people of God appear selfish, worldly, or covetous. And if we receive signal mercies from God, our thankful returns ought to be quick and speedy: while they are yet fresh in our minds, and the impressions of them most sensible. Nor ought astonishing deliverances and their circumstances ever to be forgotten. Remembrance of such ought to encourage us in every subsequent distress. Yet there is great need to beware, lest what is well intended at first should by degrees become an occasion of wickedness. Nothing more purifies the heart and adorns religion than holy joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ. And nothing more pollutes the heart, and reproaches religion, than carnal mirth and sensual pleasure.