This was done on the thirteenth day of the month Adar; and on the fourteenth day of that month they rested and made it a day of feasting and gladness. But the Jews who were in Susa assembled together on the thirteenth and on the fourteenth days of the month; and on the fifteenth day of that month, they rested, and made it a day of feasting and gladness. Therefore the Jews of the villages, who live in the unwalled towns, make the fourteenth day of the month Adar a day of gladness and feasting, a good day, and a day of sending presents of food to one another.
Parallel Translations
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This was done on the thirteenth day of the month Adar; and on the fourteenth day of that month they rested and made it a day of feasting and gladness.
But the Jews who were in Susa assembled together on the thirteenth and on the fourteenth days of the month; and on the fifteenth day of that month, they rested, and made it a day of feasting and gladness.
Therefore the Jews of the villages, who live in the unwalled towns, make the fourteenth day of the month Adar a day of gladness and feasting, a good day, and a day of sending presents of food to one another.
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On the thirteenth day of the month Adar; and on the fourteenth day of the same rested they, and made it a day of feasting and gladness.
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.
Therefore the Jews of the villages, that dwelt in the unwalled towns, made the fourteenth day of the month Adar a day of gladness and feasting, and a good day, and of sending portions one to another.
Show all 3 translations
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on the thirteenth day of the month Adar, and on the fourteenth day of the same they rested, and made it a day of feasting and gladness.
But the Jews that were in 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.
Therefore do the Jews of the villages, that dwell in the unwalled towns, make the fourteenth day of the month Adar a day of gladness and feasting, and a good day, and of sending portions one to another.
Cross-references (20)
- Esther 8:17 (v19) In every province, and in every city, wherever the king’s commandment and his decree came, the Jews had gladness, joy, a feast, and a good…
- Deuteronomy 16:14 (v19) You shall rejoice in your feast, you, your son, your daughter, your male servant, your female servant, the Levite, the foreigner, the…
- Nehemiah 8:10-12 (v19) Then he said to them, “Go your way. Eat the fat, drink the sweet, and send portions to him for whom nothing is prepared, for today is holy…
- Esther 9:22 (v19) as the days in which the Jews had rest from their enemies, and the month which was turned to them from sorrow to gladness, and from…
- Revelation 11:10 (v19) Those who dwell on the earth rejoice over them, and they will be glad. They will give gifts to one another, because these two prophets…
Show all 18 cross-references
- Esther 9:1 (vv17–18) Now in the twelfth month, which is the month Adar, on the thirteenth day of the month, when the king’s commandment and his decree came near…
- Esther 9:21 (vv17–18) to enjoin them that they should keep the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month Adar yearly,
- Deuteronomy 16:11 (v19) You shall rejoice before Yahweh your God: you, your son, your daughter, your male servant, your female servant, the Levite who is within…
- Deuteronomy 3:5 (v19) All these were cities fortified with high walls, gates, and bars, in addition to a great many villages without walls.
- Esther 3:12 (v17) Then the king’s scribes were called in on the first month, on the thirteenth day of the month; and all that Haman commanded was written to…
- Esther 8:9 (v17) Then the king’s scribes were called at that time, in the third month, which is the month Sivan, on the twenty-third day of the month; and…
- Esther 9:13 (v18) Then Esther said, “If it pleases the king, let it be granted to the Jews who are in Susa to do tomorrow also according to today’s decree,…
- Esther 9:15 (v18) The Jews who were in Susa gathered themselves together on the fourteenth day also of the month Adar, and killed three hundred men in Susa;…
- Esther 9:18 (v17) But the Jews who were in Susa assembled together on the thirteenth and on the fourteenth days of the month; and on the fifteenth day of…
- Psalms 118:11-16 (v19) They surrounded me, yes, they surrounded me. In Yahweh’s name I indeed cut them off. They surrounded me like bees. They are quenched like…
- Zechariah 2:4 (v19) and said to him, “Run, speak to this young man, saying, ‘Jerusalem will be inhabited as villages without walls, because of the multitude of…
- Luke 11:41 (v19) But give for gifts to the needy those things which are within, and behold, all things will be clean to you.
- Esther 9:11 (v18) On that day, the number of those who were slain in the citadel of Susa was brought before the king.
18 distinct cross-references across this passage (20 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (18 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv17, 19 Meaning, in all places saving in Shushan.
Meaning, in all places saving in Shushan.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv17–19 Est 9:17 On the thirteenth day of the month…
Est 9:17 On the thirteenth day of the month Adar; and on the fourteenth day of the same rested they, and made it a day of feasting and gladness.
Ver. 17. On the thirteenth day of the month Adar] On this day they stood for their lives, that they might rest from their enemies. And accordingly
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On the fourteenth day of the same, rested they] i.e. The very next day after their deliverance. They would not defer it a day longer, but kept a holy rest with psalms and sacrifices of praise (those calves of their lips), the very next day, while the deliverance was yet fresh, and of recent remembrance. This they knew well that God expected, Deu 23:21, and that he construeth delays for denials, Hag 1:2; Hag 1:4. He gave order that no part of the thank offering should be kept unspent till the third day; to teach us to present our praises when benefits are newly received, which else would soon wax stale and putrefy, as fish. "I will pay my vows now, now," saith David, Psa 116:18. Hezekiah wrote his song the third day after his recovery. Queen Elizabeth, when exalted from a prisoner to a princess, and from misery to majesty, before she would suffer herself to be mounted in her chariot, to pass from the Tower to Westminster, she very devoutly lifted up her hands and eyes to heaven, and gave God humble thanks for that remarkable change and turn of things.
And made it a day of feasting and gladness] Exhilarating and cheering up their good hearts (that had long lain low) with a more liberal use of the creatures, that they might the better preach his praises, and speak good of his name; and that, since they could not offer up unto him other sacrifices prescribed in the law, because they were far from the Temple, they might not be wanting with their sacrifice of thanksgiving, which God preferreth before an ox that hath horns and hoofs, saith the psalmist. Words may seem to be but a poor and slight recompense; but Christ, saith Nazianzen, calleth himself the Word; and this was all the fee that he looks for for his cures, Go and tell what God hath done for thee. With these calves of our lips let us cover God’s altar; and we shall find, that although he will neither eat the flesh of bulls, nor drink the blood of goats, Psa 50:13-14, yet if we offer unto God thanksgiving, and pay our vows unto the Most High, it will be looked upon as our reasonable service, Rom 12:1.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv17, 19 On the thirteenth day: this belongs not to the…
On the thirteenth day: this belongs not to the feast, but to the work done before it. The meaning is, This they did, i.e. they slew their foes, as was now said, Est 9:16, upon the thirteenth day.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv17–19 Therefore the Jews of the villages, that dwelt in…
Therefore the Jews of the villages, that dwelt in the unwalled towns, made the fourteenth day of the month Adar a day of gladness and feasting,.... Jarchi observes that those in the villages, who are they that do not dwell in walled towns, observed the fourteenth, and they in towns surrounded with walls the fifteenth, as Shushan; and this circumvallation, he says, must be what was from the days of Joshua; according to the Jewish canons, every place that was walled from the days of Joshua the son of Nun, whether in the land of Israel or out of it, though not now walled they read (i.e. the book of Esther) on the fifteenth of Adar, and this is called a walled town; but a place which was not walled in the days of Joshua, though now walled, they read in the fourteenth, and this is called a city; but the city Shushan, though it was not walled in the days of Joshua, they read on the fifteenth, because in it was done a miracle (m) and each of these was kept as a day of public rejoicing for their great deliverance and freedom from their enemies:
and a good day: as the Jews usually call the several days of the passover, pentecost, and tabernacles:
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and of sending portions one to another: expressive of mutual joy, and congratulating one another upon the happiness they shared in; see Rev 11:10, and particularly this may respect sending gifts to the poor, who had not that to rejoice and make merry with others had; see Neh 8:10, though these seem to be distinct from them, Est 9:22.
(m) Maimon. Hilchot. Megillah, c. 1. sect. 4. 5. T. Bab. Megillah, fol. 2. 2.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv18–19 Verse 18. The Jews - assembled - on the…
Verse 18. The Jews - assembled - on the thirteenth - and on the fourteenth] These two days they were employed in slaying their enemies; and they rested on the fifteenth.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv17, 19 Est 9:17-18. On the thirteenth day of the month…
Est 9:17-18. On the thirteenth day of the month Adar — This is to be referred to the foregoing words, and the meaning is, the slaughter was made in the provinces on the thirteenth day of this month, when they had reason to expect they should have been destroyed themselves. On the fifteenth day of the same they rested — That is, the Jews in the city of Shushan made the fifteenth day a festival, because they had liberty to avenge themselves of their enemies, not only on the thirteenth, but also on the fourteenth day, which were both days of slaughter, and therefore they rested not till the fifteenth day.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv18–19 See Est 3:13 note.
See Est 3:13 note.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv17, 19
CHAPTER IX.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On v19 a day of . . . feasting . .…
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.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On v19 19. Therefore… the fourteenth day — Because the Jews…
19. Therefore… the fourteenth day — Because the Jews outside of Shushan did all their fighting on the thirteenth, and rested on the fourteenth, as stated in Est_9:17, therefore they made the latter day their day of feasting and joy; but the Jews in Shushan, having fought both on the thirteenth and fourteenth, made the fifteenth their feast day, Est_9:18. See also Est_9:21.
Jews of the villages — Rather, of the country places, that is, as distinguished from those who dwelt at the capital, Shushan. They are further defined as those that dwelt in cities of the country, (not unwalled towns, as our version has it, for some of these country towns may have had walls.) The writer of this was evidently a citizen of Shushan, and seems to have regarded the whole Persian empire outside of this capital city as country.
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Sending portions — Comp. Neh_8:10, note.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv18–19 18. The inability of the Jews dwelling in Shushan…
18. The inability of the Jews dwelling in Shushan to make their festival synchronize with that of their countrymen elsewhere brought about the custom that both the fourteenth and the fifteenth days should be kept. Such is the habit of the Jews to this day, except that the former day is held to be the chief one in the observance (see note on Est_3:13). In 2Ma_15:36 the 14th of Adar is called ‘the day of Mordecai.’
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv18–19 (18) On the fifteenth day . . . they…
(18) On the fifteenth day . . . they rested.—Both the fourteenth and fifteenth days are now kept as the festival of Purim, the former day being the chief.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv17–19 FESTIVAL HELD, AND FEAST OF PURIM INSTITUTED. (Est_9:17-32) A…
FESTIVAL HELD, AND FEAST OF PURIM INSTITUTED. (Est_9:17-32) A natural instinct led the Jews, so soon as their triumph was accomplished, to indulge themselves in a day of rest and rejoicing (ver. 17). After toil there is need of repose; and escape from a great danger is followed, almost of necessity, by "gladness." The writer of the Book of Esther, practising his usual reticence, says nothing of the character of the "gladness;" but we can scarcely be wrong in believing it to have been, in the main, religious, and to have included gratitude to God for their deliverance, the ascription of praise to his name, and an outpouring of the heart before him in earnest and prolonged thanksgiving. The circumstances of the struggle caused a difference, with regard to the date of the day of rejoicing, between the Jews of the capital and those of the provinces. The metropolitical Jews had two days of struggle, and could not "rest" until the third day, which was the 15th of Adar (ver. 18); the provincial Jews began and ended their work in one day, the 13th, and so their thanksgiving-day was the 14th, and not the 15th of the month (ver. 17). The consequence was, that when Mordecai and Esther determined on commemorating the wonderful deliverance of their time by an annual festival, analogous to that of the passover, to be celebrated by all Jews everywhere throughout all future ages, some hesitation naturally arose as to the proper day to be kept holy. If the 14th were kept, the provincial Jews would be satisfied, but those of Susa would have cause of complaint; if the 15th were the day selected, the two parties would simply exchange feelings. Under these circumstances it was wisely resolved to keep both days (ver. 21). Nothing seems to have been determined as to the mode of keeping the feast, except that both days were to be "days of feasting and joy," and days upon which the richer members of the community should send "portions" and "gifts" to the poorer ones (ver. 22). The name, "feast of Purina," was at once attached to the festival, in memory of Haman"s consultation of the lot, the word "Pur" meaning "lot" in Persian (ver. 24). The festival became a national institution by the general consent of the Jews everywhere (ver. 27), and has remained to the present day among the most cherished of their usages, it falls in early spring, a month before the passover, and occupies two days, which are still those fixed by Mordecai and Esther, the 14th and 15th of Adar. The day preceding the feast is observed as a fast day, in commemoration of Esther"s fast before going in uninvited to the king. (Est_4:16)
HOMILIES BY W. DINWIDDLE
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Vers. 17-32.
The effects of deliverance.
Our narrative closes with a bright picture, in which all clouds are scattered; it is as sunshine after rain. Among the results of Israel"s triumph we notice
I REST. All the Jews in the empire, except those in Shushan, rested on the 14th of Adar. The Jews in Shushan, after their two days" conflict, rested on the 15th of Adar. Then all had rest. So utterly broken was the power of their enemies that they had rest not only from a past fear, but from anxiety as to the future. How sweet is rest after the agitation of a long-threatened peril to the soldier when the battle is fought and won; to the nation when the foes who sought to destroy it are bereft of power. The soul-rest of a victory over sin and death is the gift of Christ to those who follow hint (Mat_11:28-30; Joh_14:27) and when all the conflicts of earth are over, "there remaineth a rest to the people of God," an eternal heaven. (Heb_4:9-11)
II Joy. It is natural that joy in its inward emotion and outward manifestations should be proportionate to the benefit that has occasioned it. The wonderful deliverance of the Jews filled them with a wonderful joy; their hearts ran over with gladness. So also to the man who appropriates Christ and his redemption there is a "joy of salvation," "a joy which is unspeakable and full of glory". (1Pe_1:8) John the Baptist"s "joy was fulfilled" at the hearing of "the Bridegroom"s voice". (Joh_3:29) Jesus explained his object, in teaching his disciples the truth, as being "that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full". (Joh_15:11) The religion of God is a religion of joy. It slays fear and banishes gloom. It turns all things into channels of a joy that is heaven-born. Sackcloth may be the symbolic garb of the penitent, but robes washed white and shining are the symbolic clothing of the true believer. "Songs of deliverance" encompass the saved (Psa_32:7; Php_4:4; 1Th_5:16)
III UNITY. Common trials and common triumphs have great power in binding men together. Both in their grief and in their joy the Jews became as one family. Heart flowed into heart, and all stood up and drew close in compact oneness. The deliverance would add immensely to the sense of brotherhood which the common terror had excited. In presence of such experiences minor differences in opinion and practice vanish. The more that Christians realise their own need, and God"s mercy in Christ, the more readily will they regard each other as brethren of the "household of faith." The history of the Church of God shows in a signal way how God often sends alternate tribulations and triumphs just to bring his people closer to himself, and thereby closer to each other against their common foes.
IV LARGE-HEARTEDNESS. A true joy enlarges the heart; a sense of goodness received excites a desire to do good. Grace is communicative. If we love Christ, we shall love all whom Christ loves. If we have joy in God, we shall long to impart that joy to others. The gladness of a God-saved soul diffuses itself like the light. This effect of deliverance was shown by the Jews in three ways:
1. In their "feasting" together. Social gatherings in connection with greatevents or interests, when wisely conducted, afford a good opportunity for mutual encouragement and edification.
2. In their "sending portions one to another." Not content with words ormessages, they exchanged presents, as tokens of thankful congratulation and sympathy. A sense of the Divine favour should make the heart generous and liberal.
3. In their presenting "gifts to the poor." It was remembered that therewere many who had not the means of celebrating the common deliverance; so the poor received gifts, that all might rejoice together. "Freely ye have received, freely give". (1Jn_3:17)
Memorials:
1. A written record. "Mordecai wrote these things" (ver. 20). Some haveinferred from this sentence that Mordecai was the author of the Book of Esther. It is as likely, however, that the book was composed by another from writings left by Mordecai. In any case, a suitable record of the events in which the Jew played so important a part was made to become, through its insertion in the sacred canon, the best and most enduring monument of the deliverance of Israel from the wiles of Haman.
2. An annual festival. Esther and Mordecai ordained that the Jewseverywhere should celebrate yearly the victory over Haman by a three days" feast. From that day to this the feast of Pur, or Purim, has held its place among the other established festivals of Israel. At the present time its observance is attended by much excess. Memorial institutions have a great evidential value. Just as the Lord"s Supper and the Lord"s day at once commemorate and attest the facts of our Lord"s death and resurrection, so the feast of Purim is a testimony to the truth of the narrative contained in the Book of Esther. Memorials of past deliverances should
(1) Keep alive our sense of gratitude.
(2) Teach us our dependence on God.
(3) Strengthen our faith in God.
(4) Warn us against the temptations and dangers of sin, and constrain us to lead a holy and God-fearing life.
To have our "names written In heaven" is a better memorial than any that could be fashioned on earth. D.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v17 On the thirteenth day of the month Adar.
Est_9:17-28
On the thirteenth day of the month Adar.
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A national memorial
This national memorial--
I. Was established by supreme authority.
II. Was approved by a grateful people.
III. Was sanctioned by the marvellous nature of the events celebrated.
IV. Was hallowed by the manner of its celebration.
V. Was preserved by a wise method.
VI. Is perpetuated with good result. (W. Burrows, B. A.)
The memorial
It would--
1. Keep in remembrance an interposition of the Almighty, without which the Jewish nation and religion had been in a great measure, if not wholly, extinct in the world.
2. Mark a striking fulfilment of prophecy in the destruction of the Amalekites, who were the hereditary enemies of the Jews.
3. Stimulate confidence in God in the most critical circumstances, and refusal to pay such homage to the creature as is due to God only.
4. Foster that recognition of God in history and providence which men are ever liable to overlook and forget. In these respects it was an institution which should prove as advantageous to after-generations, and even more so, than to the people of God who were then living. The Lord God omnipotent reigneth. (T. McEwan.)
Memorial days, their obligation and manner of observance
I. Take a view of the reasons here assigned for the establishing the observation of the days mentioned in the text.
1. They were delivered from the entire extirpation of themselves and their religion out of the dominions of the Persian king.
2. The destruction with which they were threatened was in all human appearance inevitable.
3. The Jews might plainly discern a special hand of God in the deliverance which was granted them.
4. As this was a signal instance of Gods special favour towards them, so it was but one instance among many others which they continually had from one generation to another.
II. Consider the manner in which the Jews are here commanded to observe their festival. It includes three parts.
1. The natural. Feasting, rejoicing, etc.
2. The religious. Thanksgiving and praise.
3. The charitable. Sending portions one to another.
If our gratitude to God on memorial days be sincere, we shall go on to express our sense of great deliverances.
1. By living as becomes those who have received such great favours from the hands of God.
2. We shall be zealous to maintain and secure the inestimable blessings hitherto continued to us. (Samuel Bradford.)
A national memorial
The feast instituted by Mordecai was designed to be--
I. A memorial of rest.
II. A memorial of joy.
III. A memorial of triumph. (J. S. Van Dyke, D. D.)
The Feast of Purim
Looking at the establishment of Purim, we are struck--
I. With the historical value of a feast of this sort.
II. There is also an educational value in such a feast. All the education of a child is not comprised in what he receives at school. He learns much in the home. He is greatly affected by what he sees on the streets. Dr. Andrew Reid tells us how profoundly he was moved by the sight of the statue of John Howard in St. Pauls Cathedral, and traces to that the benevolent purpose of his life, which ended in the establishment of so many asylums for orphans and imbeciles. So we ought to be careful what sort of men those are whom we allow to be honoured in that way. For every one who looks upon a statue is moved to ask, Whose is it? what was his character? what was his history? and why has he been honoured thus? And the answers will be a part of the education of those who put the questions, stirring their ambition or firing their enthusiasm. It is the same with national holidays. The Passover, etc. (W. M. Taylor, D. D.)
Different means of commemorating great events
Different means have been employed by different nations and in different ages to perpetuate the memory of great events. We are told (Gen_31:45): Jacob took a stone and set it up for a pillar. Again (Gen_35:14). Achan and his family. The king of Ai. Absalom. Alexander the Great caused a tumulus to be erected over the grave of his friend Hephaestion, costing million and a half of dollars. Virgil makes mention of memorial stones, as does also Homer. Standing-stones, or menhirs, were also erected in memorial of particular events; and stone circles, constructed with the same design most probably, were so numerous that they may be found even yet in almost every country--in the Orkneys, in Russia, in Hindustan, in Africa, in Greenland, in America, in all parts of Europe. The most remarkable are Stonehenge and Abury, in England. As a means of transmitting events to succeeding generations, a simple ceremony committed to those who sympathise with the cause in which the observance originated is far more effective than even the most imposing monumental structure which art has devised, strength erected, or wealth adorned. The latter is dumb; the former has loving hearts and living tongues to perpetuate the memory of deeds that once stirred human souls and distilled blessings upon the world. The celebration of the 4th of July is likely to prove more satisfactory, as a memorial of a national birthday, than any other monument which the energy and liberality of the American people could have reared. In the rites connected with the Feast of Purim, Mordecai and Esther have a more enduring monument than the Egyptian monarch who erected the pyramid of Gizeh, or the Pharaoh who constructed the marvellous labyrinth. In confirmation of the theory that ceremony is more effective as a memorial than dolmens, cromlechs, etc., I have only to remind you that the touching incidents connected with the life and death of Christ have been conveyed to the human family in a most remarkable way by the Eucharist. (J. S. Van Dyke, D. D.)
And that these days should be remembered.
Days to be remembered
I. Our birthdays.
II. Days of awakening and conversion.
III. Days of darkness.
1. Days of bereavement.
2. Days of mental depression.
3. Days of perplexity.
IV. Days of deliverance.
V. Times of refreshing and seasons of communion with God.
VI. The day of death and the day of judgment. (J. Bolton, B. A.)
A memorial day
In these words we have an account of the founding of the Jewish national memorial day. It was not so much a religious as a national memorial day. It celebrated a day of victory and triumph; and they made it memorable by annual observance.
I. Let us think of it as a memory day. There are those who think it unkind to recall the memory of the dead, or even to speak to the bereaved of their losses. There are some who think that the only way to console is by diverting the thoughts from all memory of that which occasioned pain. There is no more mistaken treatment for the human heart than to prescribe oblivion for its cure. The very memory of the loved one blesses us and makes us more gentle and tender toward the living. It is neither manly nor womanly nor human to be either hard-hearted or forgetful. Then, do you think that the heart of our nation is softened, and that sympathy, sensibility, and true greatness are promoted by our observance of a national memorial day?
II. That our memorial day is a day with very important lessons.
1. It teaches Christian patriotism. Love of country is not only a natural sentiment in every true heart, but it is right in the sight of God. No man can ignore his relation to his country and not sin against God.
2. Again, our memorial day teaches the value of peace. Memorial day is a constant reminder of the terrible price paid.
3. The day also brings lessons of gratitude and hope. Memory is the mother of gratitude. So when we recall our national blessings how much cause we have for gratitude to God! The Lord hath done great things for us whereof we are glad. (Southern Pulpit.)
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The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v17 Est_9:17-19. Therefore … the fourteenth day] Because the Jews…
CRITICAL NOTES.]
Est_9:17-19. Therefore … the fourteenth day] Because the Jews outside of Shushan did all their fighting on the thirteenth, and rested on the fourteenth, as stated in Est_9:17, Therefore] they made the latter day their day of feasting and joy; but the Jews in Shushan, having fought both on the thirteenth and fourteenth, made the fifteenth their feast day (Est_9:18). Jews of the villages] Rather of the country places, that is, as distinguished from those that dwell in cities and the country (not unwalled towns, as our version has it, for some of these country towns may have had walls). The writer of this was evidently a citizen of Shushan, and seems to have regarded the whole Persian empire outside of this capital city as country.—Whedon’s Com. And of sending portions one to another] According to Est_9:22, one made presents in these feasts, similar to the sacrificial feasts, to those less wealthy, but also to others to whom one desired to signify a joyous mind.—Lange.
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Est_9:20. Mordecai wrote these things] Namely, the things or occurrences that transpired throughout the Persian empire on the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth of Adar. He wrote a report of the matter as of something worthy to be chronicled for everlasting remembrance, and with this record he also sent letters unto all the Jews throughout the empire of Ahasuerus, proposing to them what is stated in the next two verses. Mordecai’s official position in the Persian court enabled him to establish this festival as no other Jew could have done. He could issue orders with royal authority, and use the posts and agents of the empire to facilitate his plans. The statement here made, that Mordecai chronicled these events and wrote letters to all the Jews, will not warrant the conclusion that he was the author of this Book of Esther, but is sufficient to show that such a conclusion is not therefore improbable.—Whedon’s Com.
Est_9:21.] To establish a matter, to authorize it.
Est_9:23. The Jews undertook to do as they had begun, and as Mordecai had written to them] They had begun, as Est_9:22 tells us, by keeping both days, and Mordecai wrote to them that they should make this an annual custom. This they agreed to do, in consequence of Mordecai’s letters. The reason for their so doing is given in Est_9:24-25, and the name of this festival is explained in Est_9:26, by a brief recapitulation of the events which gave rise to it.—Keil.
Est_9:25. When Esther came before the king] As the word Esther is not in the Hebrew text, and is not mentioned in the context, it is better to translate “when it came before the king,” that is, when Haman’s wicked device came before the king.—Whedon’s Com.
Est_9:26.] They evidently chose the name Purim in ironical reference to the fact that Haman’s lucky day (designated by lot) was so fortunate for his enemies, and so unlucky for himself.
Est_9:27.] The Jews established and took upon themselves, their descendants, and all who should join themselves unto them (proselytes), so that it should not fail (i.e. inviolably), to keep (to celebrate) these two days according to the writing concerning them and the time appointed thereby year by year—Keil.
Est_9:28. And that these days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation, every family, every province, and every city; and these days of Purim are not to pass away among the Jews, nor their remembrance to cease among their seed] The continued observance of Purim to this day is a monumental proof of the truth of this history.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH. Est_9:17-28
A NATIONAL MEMORIAL
There are some who appear to frown upon all national memorials, as savouring of the Old Testament dispensation, and as belonging to the childhood of the race. But all childishness has not been yet eliminated from humanity. And we do not know that it would be well for us to put away all that belongs to the child-nature. Our Saviour teaches that we must become as little children. If the custom of observing national memorials belongs to primitive and less enlightened ages it is certainly one that does not easily pass away. We see no reason why it should. The family has its memorials, the nation has its memorials. All religions, the simplest as well as the most elaborate, have their memorials. They are founded upon the instincts of our humanity. They serve most useful purposes. They tend to keep alive the memory of great public events in a way that could not be so successfully accomplished by any other method. This national memorial of the Purim has not been without its beneficial influences.
I. This national memorial was established by supreme authority. Mordecai was now the prime minister, and he wrote these things and sent letters to stablish this among them that they should keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar, and the fifteenth day of the same, yearly. This was done on the concurrence of Esther the queen and Ahasuerus the king. Those that are in high places in the kingdom should set themselves to establish wise customs and salutary memorials. Such a custom and such a memorial was that of the feast of Purim. Even modern rulers are not always wise in this respect. They ought to be cautious in all their proceedings. Let them not establish any memorial, nor sanction any custom, that does not tend to the welfare of the people. Let them remember how the influence of those in high places percolates through all classes of society, and acts either injuriously or beneficially. How awfully responsible is the position of those who are placed on high either in Church or in State! Well may we earnestly pray for God’s guidance and blessing to and upon all the great ones of earth.
II. This national memorial was approved by a grateful people. The Jews undertook to do as they had begun, and as Mordecai had written unto them. We can easily understand and picture to ourselves the gratitude of these people on account of their great deliverance, and how readily they would concur in the establishment of this feast of Purim. Happy is it when rulers find a ready response to a wise decision in the feelings of their subjects. Decrees and customs in order to be permanently beneficial must be heartily received by an enlightened and virtuous people. And if the people do not at first readily receive, and do not see the propriety of any measure, they must be taught and educated up to the proper standard. It may be correct that some few of the Jewish elders objected to this memorial. But this is only what often occurs. Where was the good custom and good doctrine yet that did not meet with opponents? However, we must hold on our way till all enemies are overcome. If the thing be good and true it must finally stand and be victorious. Be sure you are right, and then stand to the right in the face of all enemies, and triumph must ultimately arrive.
III. This national memorial was sanctioned by the marvellous nature of the events celebrated. These were the days when the Jews rested from their enemies, and this was the month which was turned unto them from sorrow to joy, and from mourning into a good day. Here was fitting reason for celebration. Well might they feel grateful for the great benefits conferred. These events were marvellous. The deliverance could only have been effected by Divine interposition. They would not merely celebrate the fact that a month of expected sorrow was turned into a month of joy, but also the marvellous manner by which it was brought about. We too may celebrate the month which has been turned for us from sorrow to joy, and from mourning to a good day, and the marvellous manner by which it was accomplished. We have our Christmas memorial which rings its joy bells through time, and tells the advent of our great Deliverer. We have our Good Friday memorial which rings its mournful and yet hopeful sounds. We have our Easter memorial which tells of the once crucified but now risen and triumphant Redeemer. Let us penitently and believingly celebrate these great events of Gospel history.
IV. This national memorial was hallowed by the manner of its celebration. They were to be days of feasting and joy, but not we presume of gluttony and of drunkenness. This is too often the modern notion of feasting, and modern fashion of observing festal occasions. Very, very sad it is to see that our most sacred, religious festivals are desecrated by extravagant and sinful licentiousness. Religious people must check this not by ascetic austerity but by joy. It was a month of joy. Let us show that moderation and religious sobriety are helpful to a joy that is lasting and that spreads itself through all life’s trials and difficulties. But the most attractive part of this celebration is found in the fact that it was a time of sending portions one to another, and gifts to the poor. What a wide diffusion of happiness! What a season for the expansion of the spirit of benevolence! What a time for the holy enlargement of the nature! Here is a blessed communism that cannot be productive of evil results! It is to all a celestial feast. The rich taste the luxury of doing good. The poor taste the rich wine of benevolence. The rich sent both to the rich and the poor, and thus the poor are not pauperized. They do not lose a sense of their proper manhood.
V. This national memorial was preserved by a wise method. The Jews took methods to have this feast of Purim made known and observed to and by every family, every province, every city, and every generation. Here we have on this subject home-missionary work. Let us teach our own people. The Jews may be considered as too exclusive. However, while we look to the nations beyond we must not neglect our own nation. In these days we may reasonably feel that our own beloved nation is not growing more religious. How vast the heathenism of our large towns and cities! Yea, how much of ignorance in our rural districts! Here we have our duty towards the children enforced. The seed are to be instructed. The institution is to be made known from generation to generation. It is by the wise and prayerful training of children that we must hope to improve the nation, and leave behind a better and more glorious England than that which we found. Let us gird ourselves afresh to the holy and benevolent enterprise.
VI. This national memorial is perpetuated with a good result. These days of Purim had not failed from among the Jews, nor has the memorial of them perished from their seed. However much the Jews may be degenerated in the manner in which they celebrate this memorial, yet the fact that it is celebrated speaks to us of the antiquity and authenticity of these wonderful records. The public observance of certain customs is a more convincing argument and a more powerful and more easily understood demonstration than the ablest books on the evidences. A memorial does not require much studying. A book requires much studying, and sometimes in certain classes of minds raises more doubts than it settles. We do not under-rate good books. Both books and memorials have their place. Let us wisely perpetuate good institutions. Let each one raise the irresistible memorial of a holy life. This can never be refuted. Ye are our epistles. Oh that the Lord would write more and more of these glorious epistles.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON Est_9:17-28
And of sending portions one to another. To the rich they sent in courtesy, to the poor in charity, and both these to testify their thankfulness to God for their lives, liberties, and estates, so lately and graciously restored unto them.—Trapp.
We can well receive or retain good church ceremonies, if only they are not opposed to the Word of God, in view of our Christian freedom. Even the holidays ordered by the authorities of one’s country should be celebrated in a becoming manner.—Starke.
The festivals that the people of the Lord as such celebrate, have quite a different purpose from those of heathendom. Ahasuerus aimed to show the riches of his glorious kingdom. God’s people desire first of all to praise God’s grace. They would give thanks for the gifts bestowed upon them. They would secure and keep what they already had by rendering thanks and praise to God as its author. Theirs are feasts of gratitude. Hence these also have a different character from the others. The pious cannot manifest their spirit of gratitude to God for all his benefits without also proving this by benefaction to their brethren in the faith. The love of God has kindled love to their fellows in their hearts; this would prove itself in deeds of kindness and benevolence. They would confess their allegiance to God as to one mild and kindly; they would else deny him were they not to give way, on their part, to mildness and kindliness. Their festivals, therefore, are seasons of refreshing, but especially so to the poorer brethren among them. At the same time there is joined to their spirit of rejoicing one of great seriousness. They cannot enjoy their deliverance without also looking back upon the sorrows that preceded it. They can only appreciate the former by taking a full view of the latter. They do not forget that though salvation is theirs, still there are even yet abundant cause for sorrow and grief. The chief cause of this is the remains of sin in them. As the Mazzoth (unleavened) days are followed by the serious Paschal sacrifice, and as the joy of the feast of tabernacles is preceded by the repentance of the fast of the day of atonement, so also here the joyous feast of Purim is connected in a preparation of fasting and mourning. In eternity also will this transition hold true.—Lange.
Now the feast of Purim was to be observed. And of this let us see—
I. What was here enjoined, which was very good, that they should make it—
1. A day of cheerfulness, a day of feasting and joy; and a feast was made for laughter. When God gives us cause to rejoice, why should we not express our joy?
2. A day of generosity, sending portions one to another, in token of their pleasantness and mutual respect, and their being knit by this and other public common dangers and deliverances so much the closer to each other in love. Friends have their goods in common.
3. A day of charity, sending gifts to the poor. It is not to our kinsmen and rich neighbours only that we are to send tokens, but to the poor and the maimed. Those that have received mercy must, in token of their gratitude, show mercy; and there never wants occasion, for the poor we have always with us. Thanksgiving and almsgiving should go together, that, when we are rejoicing and blessing God, the heart of the poor may rejoice with us, and their loins may bless us.
II. What was added to this, which was much better. They always, at the feast, read the whole story over in the synagogue each day, and put up three prayers to God: in the first of which they praise God for counting them worthy to attend this Divine service; in the second they thank him for the miraculous preservation of their ancestors; in the third they praise him that they have lived to observe another festival in memory of it. So Bishop Patrick.
III. What it has since degenerated to, which is much worse. Their own writers acknowledge that this feast is commonly celebrated among them in gluttony, and drunkenness, and excess of riot. Their Talmud says expressly, that in the feast of Purim a man should drink till he knows not the difference between Cursed be Haman and Blessed be Mordecai. See what the corrupt and wicked nature of man often brings that to which was at first well-intended: here is a religious feast turned into a carnival, a perfect revel, as wakes are among us. Nothing more purifies the heart and adorns religion than holy joy; nothing more pollutes the heart and reproaches religion than carnal mirth and sensual pleasure. What is best becomes, when corrupted, the worst.—Matthew Henry.
The celebration of the victory necessarily took place on different days in the city of Shushan and in the provinces. As there were two days of slaughter in Shushan, the triumph was not celebrated till the fifteenth day; but as in the lesser cities and villages of the empire, the permission granted by the king of a second day was not known, it was celebrated on the fourteenth day of Adar. They rested from labour. Some must have been in mourning; for, though no mention is made of the losses of the Jews in the fierce warfare, it is too much to suppose that they could all have escaped. But even those who had suffered the loss of relatives and friends would find compensation for it in the great and general deliverance which had been wrought, and would hardly refrain from joining with their kinsfolk and neighbours in their joy. They feasted one with another, and gave expression to the gladness which filled their hearts in thanksgiving and praise. The day was observed as “a good day,” not in the sense of mere worldly mirth and jollity; but, along with “feasting and gladness,” there would be the remembrance of the Lord, who had so marvellously and mightily interposed for their own preservation and the destruction of their enemies. The Jews were always ready to give God the praise of their success in war, and as, in this instance, they had sought the Lord in their perplexity and sorrow, so would they now yield to him the glory of their triumph. In proof of their gratitude to him they extended their generosity to the poor, and such as were not in circumstances to make a feast for themselves. They sent “portions one to another”—meat from their tables to such as were in need,—that no one might be wanting in the means of enjoyment. Even to the present day, the Jews have a rule, that a collection of money should be made, at this time of the year, for the benefit of the poor, that they may provide for themselves the things necessary to make a feast. Verily, that is “a good day” on which the hearts of the people of God are warmed with gratitude and praise to him who is the dispenser of all good, and feel themselves so bound together as to be interested in the supply of each other’s wants and comforts. After a different fashion from this the world celebrates its victories. It may expend large sums of money in the roar of cannon and magnificent display, whilst the poor are left struggling in penury and want. But the Church of God, through all her members, should feel knit one to another by the ties of a common kindred and fraternal affection, prompting kindness to the poor and the suffering, and an honest benevolence for their relief. In our feasting and gladness, because of some signal victory in providence, we should remember those who, on account of their need, cannot rejoice with us in our joy. So are we now presented with a scene which is widely separated from the world—men regarding themselves as members of the same family, concerned for each other’s happiness, ministering to each other’s wants, and as though surrounding a common table:—“A day of gladness and feasting, and a good day, and of sending portions one to another.”
Now, it does appear strange that the people of God should be represented here and elsewhere in Scripture—notably after the destruction of Pharaoh and his hosts in the Red Sea—rejoicing over the slaughter and destruction of thousands of their fellow-creatures. One might have supposed that the scene would rather have been contemplated with subdued silence and regret. If the rejoicing was occasioned simply by the satisfaction afforded by national and personal revenge, it would only have merited reproof; but when we reflect that these same feelings of jubilation and gladness are shared in and loudly expressed by the redeemed in heaven, at the overthrow of God’s enemies, we touch upon a very solemn and awful aspect of the subject. The will of man becomes so thoroughly harmonized and identified with the will of God, as actually to rejoice in the darkest providences and heaviest judgments. We cannot now, indeed, venture to interpret all events, which are beneficial to ourselves and disastrous to others, as the judgment of God upon them for our sakes. It was different in the days of the prophets, when a Divine intimation was given to this effect. But the redeemed will have such a clearness of apprehension in this respect as shall prevent the possibility of mistake. Accordingly, in the terrible events of the latter days, and in the final judgment itself, they are depicted in the Book of Revelation as bursting forth into song and rejoicing in the God of judgment. Most thoroughly do they identify their own cause with God’s glory, and are constrained to rejoice over all which promotes the exhibition of it. As the judgments of God upon his enemies, as well as his goodness toward his people, are for the manifestation of his glory, they are moved thereby to adoring song. The tempest moves our adoration of God as well as the calm; the thunder, roaring among the mountains, as well as zephyr breezes gently shaking the leaves of the forest; the whirlwind, with its terror, as well as the dew with its refreshing. And when we pass from the physical to the moral, it is only our present sympathy with sin which leads us to rejoice more in God, in those dealings which are smooth and pleasant, than in those which are crushing and retributive.
There is nothing which so fills the believing soul with adoration as the cross of Christ. There do we see the flood-gates of Divine wrath opened wide, that the penalty of sin may be exhausted on our Divine Surety and Redeemer. And because that stupendous interposition was for the fullest display of the Divine perfections and glory, we surround that cross with our praises.
What we now see, however, only as through a glass, darkly, the redeemed see clearly in the light of immortality; so that, when those who are at deadly war with God upon the earth, who have spurned at offered mercy, and turned a deaf ear to all the entreaties of redeeming love, and who would deny the name of God, and bid defiance to his government, are met by the Lord of Hosts on their own terms, and utterly discomfited, it cannot be wondered at that the redeemed, who had pleaded for this very thing upon the earth, and waited for it in hope in heaven, should join their hearts and voices in the praise of God. There must have been something resplendent and mighty in the angels who fell, and were cast out of heaven; but yet, on the putting down of this rebellion in their ranks, there must have been joy and gladness in the breasts of those who stood firm in their allegiance to God and holiness. And when the wicked are at last destroyed, and consigned to their own place, the regrets of the redeemed at the absence of some whom they had known upon the earth shall be silenced, and more than counterbalanced, in the maintenance of God’s throne, and the uneclipsed splendour of his glory. We have our war-songs, recording our victories in battle, and delight in singing them; and shall it not be that the followers of the Lamb shall find delight in singing those songs which shall record the Redeemer’s triumph over sin and Satan, and all his and our enemies?
Ah! the thought of that day does involve contingencies and consequences which we cannot help now contemplating with fear and trembling. It shall be the celebration of the grandest victory which perhaps the universe shall ever have witnessed. But on which side shall we individually stand? In every Amalekite’s and enemy’s home through the Persian empire there would be lamentation and mourning during those days when the Jews were jubilant; and whilst the redeemed are rejoicing in the victory of their Lord, and their own triumph through faith in his name, in the ranks of the wicked and finally lost there shall only be weeping and wailing, remorse and despair. It is now left for us to determine whether or no we are on the Lord’s side. The opportunity is given to us, and according to the improvement which we make of it shall be our place and portion on that great and terrible day of the Lord. To be numbered among the redeemed, and have a part in the celebration of their victory, should be enough to fire our ambition, quicken our zeal, and call into action all our energies. Then shall that day, with all its terrors and partings, be to us “a day of joy and gladness, and a good day.”—McEwen.
As 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 make them days of feasting and joy, and of sending portions one to another, and gifts to the poor. All things work together for good to the people of God, by promoting their happiness, as well as their holiness. Their toils sweeten the rest which succeeds them. The sleep of the labouring man is sweet, although he should sup sparingly before he retires to rest. The tears which the Christian must often shed are remembered with joy, when they are wiped away by returning prosperity. Mordecai wished the Jews to be ever mindful of their sorrows, that their joy might be full.
The days of Purim were intended to be days of feasting and gladness. In the season of their distress they would scarcely be able to eat that bread which was necessary to the preservation of their life; when they thought of their deliverance, and of the mercy of God in their deliverance, they would eat their bread with gladness, and drink their wine with a merry heart.
These days were to be “days of sending portions one to another.” Their common danger and their common deliverance would endear them one to another, and open their hearts to mutual kindness. How much more ought our common salvation by Christ from our general misery bind the hearts of Christians to one another! We were all involved in guilt and ruin by sin, and the same sin was the source of misery to us all. We are all redeemed by the same precious blood; we are all saved by the same Almighty arm. Let our common joy in Christ’s salvation overflow in mutual love. If we are penetrated with the love of Christ, will we not love all those who are the objects of the same exceeding riches of grace?
“Sending of gifts to the poor,” was to be another of the duties of this happy day. There might be many poor Jews who were not able to afford an entertainment for this day of joy. But Mordecai would have the poor rejoice as well as the rich. Although we find our circumstances unprosperous, we must not, on that account, reckon that we have no right, or that we are not bound, to rejoice in public mercies. That the poor may not be tempted to repine when others rejoice, as if they were cut off from the public happiness, we should be ready to communicate to them a share of our blessings, especially when our hearts overflow with joy in God’s goodness to ourselves. Why should the rich eat their morsel alone, whilst others are pining with hunger? If you desire the continuance of your own happiness from Divine mercy, endeavour to diffuse it by wise liberality. Every expression of Divine goodness to ourselves is a new obligation laid upon us to do good, to those especially who have most need of our bounty. Above all, the redemption by Christ binds us to be merciful.*
And the Jews undertook to do as they had begun, and as Mordecai had written unto them. They cheerfully promised to comply with Mordecai’s wishes, both from a regard to his authority, and from a lively sense of the mercy bestowed upon them. It is a happy thing when superiors require nothing from their inferiors but what themselves see to be just and reasonable.
Mordecai’s letters could not but have a mighty influence upon a nation who were indebted to him for their lives. He could not be blamed for bringing them into the dangers which they had escaped, because it was his steadfast adherence to his duty which provoked Haman’s wrath. But he deserved no less praise than Esther herself for their preservation. Gratitude will induce us to do many things for those who have been the instruments of preserving our lives. What shall we render to the Author of our lives, and to him who hath redeemed our lives from destruction?
Because Haman, the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, had devised against the Jews to destroy them, and had cast Pur, that is, the lot, to consume them, and to destroy them. The remembrance of Haman’s fearful plot against all the Jews powerfully instigated them to observe those days of joy that were appointed by Mordecai. When they considered how formidable the enemy was, and how bent upon their destruction, they could not think of their deliverance without surprise, and joy, and thankfulness.
It would be useful to us for increasing our joy in the Lord, to think upon those enemies of the Church that have often brought her into extreme dangers, that we may see the glory of that grace and power to which she is indebted for existence. If we think upon the Pharaohs, the Hamans, the Sennacheribs, the Antiochuses, the Diocletians, the beast with seven heads and ten horns, that have opened their mouths like dragons to swallow up the people of God, will we not see good reason still to sing that song of ancient times? “Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth, may Israel now say; many a time have they afflicted me from my youth, yet they have not prevailed against me.”
Haman was the cause of much terror to the Jews, but this terror ended in triumphs and joyful feasts. Unhappy are the enemies of the people of God. They labour for the profit of those whom they hate. Amongst those things that are made subservient to the advantage of the people of God, are to be ranked all the devices of their most malicious enemies, Satan himself, their greatest enemy, not excepted. Sennacherib was a tremendous enemy of Judah, and struck terror into the minds of the most valiant of the inhabitants of Jerusalem. But what was the event of his formidable invasion? Disgrace and ruin to himself, gladness and joyful feasts to the Jews; as Isaiah foretold, when he was marching along in all the pride of his heart at the head of his innumerable army, collected from his extended dominions: “They had a song, as in the night, when an holy assembly is kept; and gladness of heart, as when one goeth with a pipe to come into the mountain of the Lord, to the mighty One of Israel.”
But when 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. In Mordecai’s letters he puts the Jews in mind, not only of Haman’s plot against them, but of the means also by which it was disconcerted. Let us observe and call to mind the procedure of the providence of God in the works which he accomplishes for his Church, or for ourselves in particular. Every step of his going of majesty deserves to be remarked and admired. They are all beautified with wisdom and grace.
Who could have expected that Esther, whom the king had not desired to see for thirty days, should obtain such favour in his eyes as to turn his wrath against his favourite Haman, whose face he saw every day with smiles? Yet, when Esther came before the king, the mischief of Haman was turned upon himself, and he and his sons were hanged on the gallows. Let us do our duty, and leave the consequence to God. Without the protection of his providence Esther might have fallen under the sentence of that cruel law, which made the king inaccessible to his subjects. But her life was preserved by that God to whom she had poured out her soul in fasting. She did great things and prevailed; and her name shall live to the latest posterity in the records of those heroes and heroines who “wrought righteousness, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, and turned to flight the armies of the aliens.”
“Wherever this gospel is preached,” said Jesus, “there shall also this that this woman (who poured precious ointment on his head) hath done be told for a memorial of her.” Mordecai hoped that what Esther had done would be told in every succeeding generation, to her honour, and for the encouragement of women, as well as men, to do every thing in their power to promote the interests of the Church. Women are too ready to say, What can we do to serve the public interest? our mode of life confines us to our own families. But Esther is not the only woman that has gained just praises by her public spirit. Lemuel’s mother taught her son to be a blessing to his people, and has left lessons behind her, by which women, to the end of the world, will be taught to excel in virtue. To Priscilla, as well as to Aquila, all the Churches of the Gentiles gave thanks for what she did for Paul; and many of them had reason to thank her for what she did to Apollos likewise. Males and females are one in Christ Jesus. They are equally saved by his grace; they are equally obliged to promote his interests in the exercise of virtue, and the practice of duties suited to their respective situations: and women, as well as men, have sometimes found singular opportunities of service to their generation, which they could not safely neglect to improve.
Wherefore they called these days Purim, after the name of Pur. The very name of these days afforded an useful lesson to the people of God, and might have afforded an useful lesson to their enemies. It appeared from the event of the lots, which gave name to this day, that although time and chance happen to all men, yet nothing is contingent to God. Chance is under his management, and those things which to us appear most accidental, are managed by his providence to accomplish his designs of mercy to them that love him, and of vengeance to his enemies. Why, then, should the friends of God give themselves any anxious trouble about the most uncertain events? The whole disposal of the lot is of him. Haman’s lots directed his measure to his own destruction, and the salvation of Judah.—Lawson.
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTERS 9, 10
The Alpine Travellers. Three tourists were ascending the Alps. After they had gone a considerable distance, and were getting nearer to the eternal snows, and thus the danger increased, it was considered necessary to attach the company by ropes to one another and to the guides. But one of the tourists, an old traveller, was self-confident and self-reliant. He carried the doctrine of self-help too far, and refused to help his neighbours. He fell down the precipice and lost his life. We often best help ourselves by helping others.
Mutual help, need of. As an apple in the hand of a child makes other children run after and consort with him and share his sports, so does he convert affliction, and the need we have of each other’s aid, into a girdle of love, with which to bind us all together; just as no one country produces all commodities, in order that the different nations, by mutual traffic and commerce, may cultivate concord and friendship. How foolish they are who imagine that all the world stands in need of them, but they of nobody; that they know and understand all things, but others nothing; and that the wit of all mankind should be apprenticed to their wisdom.—Gotthold.
Whitfield. An old woman relates, that when she was a little girl Whitfield stayed at her father’s house. He was too much absorbed in his work to take much notice of, and pay much attention to, the little girl. She did not remember any of his eloquent utterances. She was, however, observant, and noticed the great preacher when he did not think that any one was observing his conduct. And the impression made upon her mind by his holy and cheerful demeanour, by his patience under trials and difficulties, and his evident consecration to his work, was of a most lasting and salutary character. Well were it if all great preachers would preach at home! We must be great in the palace of home, and then let our influence work outwards in all directions. Home religion is powerful.
The young Switzer. There was a young man among the Switzers that went about to usurp the government and alter their free state. Him they condemned to death, and appointed his father for executioner, as the cause of his evil education. But because Haman was hanged before, his sons (though dead) should now hang with him. If all fathers who had given an evil education to their sons were punished there would be a large increase of the criminal classes. At the present time the State is doing much in the way of educating; but the State cannot do that which is the proper duty of the parent. By precept, and even by the fear of penalty, should we enforce upon parents the duty of seeing faithfully to the true up-bringing of their children.
Faith of parents. An aged minister of Christ had several sons, all of whom became preachers of the Gospel but one. This one lived a life of dissipation for many years. But the good father’s faith failed not. He trusted God that his wicked son, trained up in the way he should go, in old age should not depart from it. In this sublime faith the aged father passed away. Five years after, this son of many prayers sat at the feet of Jesus.
Influence of parents. The last thing forgotten in all the recklessness of dissolute profligacy is the prayer or hymn taught by a mother’s lips, or uttered at a father’s knee; and where there seems to have been any pains bestowed, even by one parent, to train up a child aright, there is in general more than ordinary ground for hope.—The experience of a Prison Chaplain.
Says the venerable Dr. Spring: “The first afflicting thought to me on the death of my parents was, that I had lost their prayers.”
Great men Just as the traveller whom we see on yonder mountain height began his ascent from the plain, so the greatest man of whom the world can boast is but one of ourselves standing on higher ground, and in virtue of his wider intelligence, his nobler thoughts, his loftier character, his purer inspiration, or his more manly daring, claiming the empire as his right.—Hare.
True greatness. The truly great consider, first, how they may gain the approbation of God; and, secondly, that of their own consciences. Having done this they would willingly conciliate the good opinion of their fellow-men.—Cotton.
The greatest man is he who chooses the right with invincible resolution; who resists the sorest temptations from within and without; who bears the heaviest burdens cheerfully; who is the calmest in storms, and whose reliance on truth, on virtue, on God, is the most unfaltering.—Dr. Chening.
Distinguishing, great men. I think it is Warburton who draws a very just distinction between a man of true greatness and a mediocrist. “If,” says he, “you want to recommend yourself to the former, take care that he quits your society with a good opinion of you; if your object is to please the latter, take care that he leaves you with a good opinion of himself.”—Cotton.
Thus Mordecai was truly great, considering, first, how to gain the approbation of God; and, secondly, that of his own conscience. He rises above others by virtue of his wider intelligence, his nobler thoughts, his loftier character, and his more manly daring.
A good name. A name truly good is the aroma from character. It is a reputation of whatsoever things are honest, and lovely, and of good report. It is such a name as is not only remembered on earth, but written in heaven. Just as a box of spikenard is not only valuable to its possessor, but pre-eminently precious in its diffusion; so, when a name is really good, it is of unspeakable service to all who are capable of feeling its aspiration. Mordecai’s fame went out throughout all the provinces.—Dr. J. Hamilton.
Eastern hospitality. Nehemiah charges the people thus: “Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared.” Also in Esther: “Therefore the Jews made the fourteenth day of the month Adar a day of gladness and feasting, and a good day, and of sending portions one to another.” An Oriental prince sometimes honours a friend or a favourite servant, who cannot conveniently attend at his table, by sending a mess to his own home. When the Grand Emir found that it incommoded D’Arvieux to eat with him, he politely desired him to take his own time for eating, and sent him what he liked from his kitchen at the time he chose. So that the above statements must not be restricted to the poor.—Paxton’s ‘Illustrations.’
The heaviest taxes. “The taxes are indeed heavy,” said Dr. Franklin on one occasion, and if those laid on by the Government were the only ones we had to pay, we might more easily discharge them; but we have many others, and much more grievous to some of us. We are taxed twice as much by our idleness, three times as much by our pride, and four times as much by our folly; and from these taxes the commissioners cannot ease or deliver us by allowing any abatement.
Safeguard of nations. France tried to go on without a God in the time of her first revolution; but Napoleon, for reasons of State, restored the Catholic religion. M. Thiers gives this singular passage in his history: “Napoleon said, ‘For my part, I never hear the sound of the church bell in the neighbouring village without emotion.’ ” He knew that the hearts of the people were stirred by the same deep yearnings after God which filled his own, and so he proposed to restore the worship of God to infidel France. Later, and with deeper meaning, Perrier, successor to Lafayette as prime minister to Louis Philippe, said on his death-bed, “France must have religion” (C. D. Fors). So we may say, the nations, if they are to live, must have religion.
Punishment of nations. It was a sound reply of an English captain at the loss of Calais, when a proud Frenchman scornfully demanded, “When will you fetch Calais again?” “When your sins shall weigh down ours.”—Brooks.
Nations. In one sense the providence of God is shown more clearly in nations than in individuals. Retribution can follow individuals into another state, but not so with nations; they have all their rewards and punishments in time.—D. Custine.
England’s privileges.—It’s the observation of a great politician, that England is a great animal which can never die unless it kill itself; answerable whereunto was the speech of Lord Rich, to the justices in the reign of king Edward VI: “Never foreign power,” said he, “could yet hurt, or in any part prevail, in this realm but by disobedience and disorder among ourselves; that is the way wherewith the Lord will plague us if he mind to punish us.” Polydor Virgil calls Regnum Angliæ, Regnum Dei, the kingdom of England, the kingdom of God, because God seems to take special care of it, as having walled it about with the ocean, and watered it with the upper and nether springs, like that land which Caleb gave his daughter. Hence it was called Albion, quasi Olbion, the happy country; “whose valleys,” saith Speed, “are like Eden, whose hills are as Lebanon, whose springs are as Pisgah, whose rivers are as Jordan, whose wall is the ocean, and whose defence is the Lord Jehovah.” Foreign writers have termed our country the Granary of the Western World, the Fortunate Island, the Paradise of Pleasure, and Garden of God.—Clarke’s ‘Examples.’
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On v19 month Adar
month Adar
i.e. March; Est 9:15; Est 9:17.
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v17 the thirteenth day of the month of Adar
the thirteenth day of the month of Adar
See how you translated a similar phrase in Esther 3:13.
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On the fourteenth day they rested
"On the fourteenth day of Adar the Jews who were in the provinces rested"
the Jews who were in Susa assembled together
Why they assembled together can be stated clearly. AT: "the Jews who were in Susa assembled together to fight against their enemies" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
translationWords
day
rest
feast
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv17, 19 9:17 they rested, celebrating their victory with a day…
9:17 they rested, celebrating their victory with a day of feasting and gladness: God is not mentioned, but surely they thanked God on this day for their rescue. This was the beginning of a new festival, later called Purim (9:19-32).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.