Est 9:32 | KingComments | STEP | Mordecai recorded the celebration of salvation in writing, and informed all the Jews in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, “both near and far” ( ). No Jew, no matter how far away he lives from Susa, is excluded from this feast, but hears of it. The Purim feast is for all Jews. Just as he commanded the salvation, so he commands the remembrance of it. The establishment of days of remembrance also took place during the exodus from Egypt. The LORD commanded that salvation be remembered in the month of Abib, the first month ( ). For this the yearly celebration of the Passover is prescribed ( ). The Passover finds for us its counterpart in Christ: “For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed” ( ). The Supper is a meal of remembrance, in which we remember the death of Christ to Whom we owe salvation ( ). The Passover and other days of remembrance are prescribed in the law of Moses ( ). There is nothing in the law of Moses about the Purim Feast as a feast of remembrance. The Purim Feast appears for the first time in the Bible here. It is a new feast. The earlier feasts all take place in the first seven months of the year. The Purim Feast takes place in the last month of the year and therefore does not conflict with any other feast. Mordecai points out in his writing that the days to be celebrated are to be held as days on which the Jews have received rest from their enemies ( ). The month in which the days are celebrated is also emphasized. It was the “month which was turned for them from sorrow into gladness and from mourning into a holiday”. In this way he declares that it is not just two days, but that the whole month, the last month of the year, bears the stamp of the great reversal for the better. The feasting and rejoicing that are taking place on those days are exuberantly expressed by sending gifts to one another and by “sending ... gifts to the poor”. The latter is intended to enable those who are not able to feast to participate in it. The sending of gifts to each other is an exchange of gifts. You give something and you get something. That is not so with giving gifts to the poor. It’s just giving. The people here learn to give without expecting anything in return. That is what the Lord Jesus teaches us ( ). What Mordecai commands is in line with what the people have already started to do ( ). Therefore, this command is not a hard thing. Every command of the Lord Jesus corresponds to the desires of those who belong to Him. Celebrating the Supper, of which He has said “do this in remembrance of Me” ( ), is not an unpleasant duty, but a great desire of all who love Him. It is therefore incomprehensible that there are groups in Christianity that say that celebrating the Supper every week is a little too much of a good thing. In there follows a summary of the events that led to the establishment of the Purim Feast. It is a summary of what is described in Esther 3-8. Haman is here called “the adversary of all the Jews” ( ), which connects with the letter of Mordecai, which is also addressed “to all the Jews” ( ). Haman devised the plan to kill the Jews and to do so by casting “Pur, that is the lot”. He did this “to disturb them and destroy them”. Here the word “Pur” is used for the second time ( ). It occurs six more times in the next section, five of them in the plural (“Purim”). Next, Esther is mentioned to the king as an advocate for the Jews ( ). At her request, the king lets out letters that have the effect that the evil that Haman has devised has landed on his own head. The result is that Haman and his sons have been hanged on the gallows. Mordecai is not mentioned, nor is the defense of the Jews. The main theme of the summary is Haman, his plan and his end. With the death of Haman and his sons all fear has come to an end. The Purim Feast contains God’s promise that He will completely redeem His people. It is the certainty that God will save His people in the greatest need. The people will have this experience again in the end time, in what is called “the time of Jacob’s distress” ( ) from which God will deliver His people. The summary forms the background of the name given to these feast days. This is apparent from the word “therefore” with which begins. The word ‘Purim’ is the plural of ‘Pur’. The days are called Purim because they are several days. The words of Mordecai’s letter and what they themselves saw and experienced lead the Jews to decide to celebrate this Purim Feast of two days “according to their appointed time annually” ( ). They celebrate this feast not only because Mordecai ordered it in writing, but also because they experienced what is remembered in this feast. This shows us in picture the beautiful combination of the written Word of God and our feelings. Reading and studying God’s Word should not be a purely intellectual matter, but should touch our hearts. The obligation to celebrate this feast is not just for themselves, but is also “for their descendants and for all those who allied themselves with them”. The rule is imperative for every next “generation, every family, every province and every city” ( ). The Purim Feast is permanent (at all times) and valid everywhere (all places). Time and space are unlimited. The double denial for maintaining the celebration underscores the prohibition of ever ceasing. It means that the Purim Feast may never be skipped by them and their offspring and may never end. The feast must be celebrated annually by the Jews from generation to generation in memory of this miracle work that God has done for them. It should be a lasting remembrance that each generation passes on to the next, so that each new generation is led to place its hope in God ( ). The portion of begins with a letter from Mordecai and ends here with a common letter from “Queen Esther, daughter of Abihail, with Mordecai the Jew” ( ). In this letter they confirm with all their authority the establishment of the Purim Feast. The Jews throughout the empire receive this letter. No one should be ignorant of the fact that these days have been established and are to be held ( ). This is the second time Esther has been called “the daughter of Abihail”. The first time is when she is a candidate to take the place of Vashti ( ). Then she is completely unknown. Now she is queen and gives the people the precept concerning the Purim Feast. The addition of her father’s name makes it clear where her ancestry lies; she is part of her own people. The same goes for the addition of “Jew” to the name “Mordecai”. He is great in the world empire of the Medes and Persians, but belongs to his own people. The same goes for Christ to Whom we owe our salvation. Of Him we read: “For salvation is from the Jews” (John 4:22). We must never forget this. The letter also contains “words of peace and truth”. The “words of peace” refer to the state of peace and rest that arose on the fourteenth Adar after the violence on the thirteenth Adar. The “words of … truth” refer to the faithful observance of the precepts of the Purim Feast. The application for us is that words of peace and words of truth enter our hearts when the Lord Jesus and His people, the church, have their place in our hearts. The letter also writes about fasting and the accompanying loud lamentations. What is written about fasting is consistent with the fasting to which Esther called the Jews before her visit to the king ( ). The lamentation is consistent with the lamentation of Mordecai and the other Jews when the command of Haman became known ( ). Finally, Esther’s order concerning the Purim Feast is established and written in a book ( ). This means that a copy of the letter is included in the historical annual reports or chronicles of the kings of Media and Persia, underlining its great importance. God does not do miracles for a single day, but to be kept in eternal remembrance. We may say with the Ecclesiastes: “I know that everything God does will remain forever; there is nothing to add to it and there is nothing to take from it, for God has so worked that men should fear Him” ( ).

‏ Esther 9:32

Establishment of Purim

Mordecai recorded the celebration of salvation in writing, and informed all the Jews in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, “both near and far” (Est 9:20-21). No Jew, no matter how far away he lives from Susa, is excluded from this feast, but hears of it. The Purim feast is for all Jews. Just as he commanded the salvation, so he commands the remembrance of it.

The establishment of days of remembrance also took place during the exodus from Egypt. The LORD commanded that salvation be remembered in the month of Abib, the first month (Exo 13:3-4). For this the yearly celebration of the Passover is prescribed (Exo 12:1-14). The Passover finds for us its counterpart in Christ: “For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed” (1Cor 5:7). The Supper is a meal of remembrance, in which we remember the death of Christ to Whom we owe salvation (1Cor 11:23-26).

The Passover and other days of remembrance are prescribed in the law of Moses (Lev 23:4-43). There is nothing in the law of Moses about the Purim Feast as a feast of remembrance. The Purim Feast appears for the first time in the Bible here. It is a new feast. The earlier feasts all take place in the first seven months of the year. The Purim Feast takes place in the last month of the year and therefore does not conflict with any other feast.

Mordecai points out in his writing that the days to be celebrated are to be held as days on which the Jews have received rest from their enemies (Est 9:22). The month in which the days are celebrated is also emphasized. It was the “month which was turned for them from sorrow into gladness and from mourning into a holiday”. In this way he declares that it is not just two days, but that the whole month, the last month of the year, bears the stamp of the great reversal for the better.

The feasting and rejoicing that are taking place on those days are exuberantly expressed by sending gifts to one another and by “sending ... gifts to the poor”. The latter is intended to enable those who are not able to feast to participate in it. The sending of gifts to each other is an exchange of gifts. You give something and you get something. That is not so with giving gifts to the poor. It’s just giving. The people here learn to give without expecting anything in return. That is what the Lord Jesus teaches us (Lk 6:33-35).

What Mordecai commands is in line with what the people have already started to do (Est 9:23). Therefore, this command is not a hard thing. Every command of the Lord Jesus corresponds to the desires of those who belong to Him. Celebrating the Supper, of which He has said “do this in remembrance of Me” (1Cor 11:24-25), is not an unpleasant duty, but a great desire of all who love Him. It is therefore incomprehensible that there are groups in Christianity that say that celebrating the Supper every week is a little too much of a good thing.

In Est 9:24-25 there follows a summary of the events that led to the establishment of the Purim Feast. It is a summary of what is described in Esther 3-8. Haman is here called “the adversary of all the Jews” (Est 9:24), which connects with the letter of Mordecai, which is also addressed “to all the Jews” (Est 9:20). Haman devised the plan to kill the Jews and to do so by casting “Pur, that is the lot”. He did this “to disturb them and destroy them”. Here the word “Pur” is used for the second time (Est 3:7). It occurs six more times in the next section, five of them in the plural (“Purim”).

Next, Esther is mentioned to the king as an advocate for the Jews (Est 9:25). At her request, the king lets out letters that have the effect that the evil that Haman has devised has landed on his own head. The result is that Haman and his sons have been hanged on the gallows. Mordecai is not mentioned, nor is the defense of the Jews. The main theme of the summary is Haman, his plan and his end. With the death of Haman and his sons all fear has come to an end.

The Purim Feast contains God’s promise that He will completely redeem His people. It is the certainty that God will save His people in the greatest need. The people will have this experience again in the end time, in what is called “the time of Jacob’s distress” (Jer 30:7) from which God will deliver His people.

The summary forms the background of the name given to these feast days. This is apparent from the word “therefore” with which Est 9:26 begins. The word ‘Purim’ is the plural of ‘Pur’. The days are called Purim because they are several days.

The words of Mordecai’s letter and what they themselves saw and experienced lead the Jews to decide to celebrate this Purim Feast of two days “according to their appointed time annually” (Est 9:26-27). They celebrate this feast not only because Mordecai ordered it in writing, but also because they experienced what is remembered in this feast. This shows us in picture the beautiful combination of the written Word of God and our feelings. Reading and studying God’s Word should not be a purely intellectual matter, but should touch our hearts. The obligation to celebrate this feast is not just for themselves, but is also “for their descendants and for all those who allied themselves with them”.

The rule is imperative for every next “generation, every family, every province and every city” (Est 9:28). The Purim Feast is permanent (at all times) and valid everywhere (all places). Time and space are unlimited. The double denial for maintaining the celebration underscores the prohibition of ever ceasing. It means that the Purim Feast may never be skipped by them and their offspring and may never end.

The feast must be celebrated annually by the Jews from generation to generation in memory of this miracle work that God has done for them. It should be a lasting remembrance that each generation passes on to the next, so that each new generation is led to place its hope in God (Psa 78:5-7).

The portion of Est 9:20-32 begins with a letter from Mordecai and ends here with a common letter from “Queen Esther, daughter of Abihail, with Mordecai the Jew” (Est 9:29). In this letter they confirm with all their authority the establishment of the Purim Feast. The Jews throughout the empire receive this letter. No one should be ignorant of the fact that these days have been established and are to be held (Est 9:30-31).

This is the second time Esther has been called “the daughter of Abihail”. The first time is when she is a candidate to take the place of Vashti (Est 2:15). Then she is completely unknown. Now she is queen and gives the people the precept concerning the Purim Feast. The addition of her father’s name makes it clear where her ancestry lies; she is part of her own people. The same goes for the addition of “Jew” to the name “Mordecai”. He is great in the world empire of the Medes and Persians, but belongs to his own people. The same goes for Christ to Whom we owe our salvation. Of Him we read: “For salvation is from the Jews” (John 4:22). We must never forget this.

The letter also contains “words of peace and truth”. The “words of peace” refer to the state of peace and rest that arose on the fourteenth Adar after the violence on the thirteenth Adar. The “words of … truth” refer to the faithful observance of the precepts of the Purim Feast. The application for us is that words of peace and words of truth enter our hearts when the Lord Jesus and His people, the church, have their place in our hearts.

The letter also writes about fasting and the accompanying loud lamentations. What is written about fasting is consistent with the fasting to which Esther called the Jews before her visit to the king (Est 4:16). The lamentation is consistent with the lamentation of Mordecai and the other Jews when the command of Haman became known (Est 4:1 ; 3).

Finally, Esther’s order concerning the Purim Feast is established and written in a book (Est 9:32). This means that a copy of the letter is included in the historical annual reports or chronicles of the kings of Media and Persia, underlining its great importance.

God does not do miracles for a single day, but to be kept in eternal remembrance. We may say with the Ecclesiastes: “I know that everything God does will remain forever; there is nothing to add to it and there is nothing to take from it, for God has so worked that men should fear Him” (Ecc 3:14).