Esther 9

Es 9:1-19.

THE

JEWS

SLAY

THEIR

ENEMIES WITH THE

TEN

SONS OF

HAMAN.

1. in the twelfth month, . . . on the thirteenth day of the same--This

was the day which Haman's superstitious advisers had led him to select

as the most fortunate for the execution of his exterminating scheme

against the Jews

[Es 3:7].

2. The Jews gathered themselves . . . no man could withstand them--The

tables were now turned in their favor; and though their enemies made

their long meditated attack, the Jews were not only at liberty to act

on the defensive, but through the powerful influence enlisted on their

side at court together with the blessing of God, they were everywhere

victorious.

the fear of them fell upon all people--This impression arose not alone

from the consciousness of the all-powerful vizier being their

countryman, but from the hand of God appearing so visibly interposed to

effect their strange and unexpected deliverance.

5-16. Thus the Jews smote all their enemies--The effect of the two

antagonistic decrees was, in the meantime, to raise a fierce and bloody

war between the Jews and their enemies throughout the Persian empire;

but through the dread of Esther and Mordecai, the provincial governors

universally favored their cause, so that their enemies fell in great

numbers.

13. let it be granted to the Jews which are in Shushan to do

to-morrow also according unto this day's decree--Their enemies

adroitly concealing themselves for the first day might have returned on

the next, when they imagined that the privilege of the Jews was

expired; so that that people would have been surprised and slain. The

extension of the decree to another day at the queen's special desire

has exposed her to the charge of being actuated by a cruel and

vindictive disposition. But her conduct in making this request is

capable of full vindication, on the ground (1) that Haman's sons having

taken a prominent part in avenging their father's fall, and having been

previously slain in the melee, the order for the exposure of

their dead bodies on the gallows was only intended to brand them with

public infamy for their malice and hatred to the Jews; and (2) the

anti-Jewish party having, in all probability, been instigated through

the arts or influence of Haman to acts of spiteful and wanton

oppression, the existing state of feeling among the natives required

some vigorous and decisive measure to prevent the outbreak of future

aggressions. The very circumstances of their slaying 800 eight hundred

Jews in the immediate vicinity of the court

(v. 6, 15)

is a proof of the daring energy and deep-rooted malice by which

multidues were actuated against the Jews. To order an extension,

therefore, of the permissive edict to the Jews to defend themselves,

was perhaps no more than affording an opportunity for their enemies to

be publicly known. Though it led to so awful a slaughter of

seventy-five thousand of their enemies, there is reason to believe that

these were chiefly Amalekites, in the fall of whom on this occasion,

the prophecies

(Ex 17:14, 16;

De 25:19)

against that doomed race were accomplished.

19. a day of . . . feasting . . . of sending portions one to

another--The princes and people of the East not only invite their

friends to feasts, but it is their custom to send a portion of the

banquet to those who cannot well come to it, especially their

relations, and those who are detained at home in a state of sorrow or

distress.

Es 9:20-32.

THE

TWO

DAYS OF

PURIM

MADE

FESTIVAL.

20. Mordecai wrote these things--Commentators are not agreed what is

particularly meant by "these things"; whether the letters following, or

an account of these marvellous events to be preserved in the families

of the Jewish people, and transmitted from one generation to another.

26. they called these days Purim after the name of Pur--"Pur," in the

Persian language, signifies "lot"; and the feast of Purim, or lots, has

a reference to the time having been pitched upon by Haman through the

decision of the lot. In consequence of the signal national deliverance

which divine providence gave them from the infamous machinations of

Haman, Mordecai ordered the Jews to commemorate that event by an

anniversary festival, which was to last for two days, in accordance

with the two days' war of defense they had to maintain. There was a

slight difference in the time of this festival; for the Jews in the

provinces, having defended themselves against their enemies on the

thirteenth, devoted the fourteenth to festivity; whereas their brethren

in Shushan, having extended that work over two days, did not observe

their thanksgiving feast till the fifteenth. But this was remedied by

authority, which fixed the fourteenth and fifteenth of Adar. It became

a season of sunny memories to the universal body of the Jews; and, by

the letters of Mordecai, dispersed through all parts of the Persian

empire, it was established as an annual feast, the celebration of which

is kept up still. On both days of the feast, the modern Jews read over

the Megillah or Book of Esther in their synagogues. The copy read

must not be printed, but written on vellum in the form of a roll; and

the names of the ten sons of Haman are written on it a peculiar manner,

being ranged, they say, like so many bodies on a gibbet. The reader

must pronounce all these names in one breath. Whenever Haman's name is

pronounced, they make a terrible noise in the synagogue. Some drum with

their feet on the floor, and the boys have mallets with which they

knock and make a noise. They prepare themselves for their carnival by a

previous fast, which should continue three days, in imitation of

Esther's; but they have mostly reduced it to one day

[JENNINGS, Jewish Antiquities].