Esther 9:20-32

IV. THE JEWS’ REJOICING 9:20-32

The tables having been turned, the tables could now be spread. [Note: Wiersbe, p. 746.]

Evidently Mordecai issued the decree establishing the Feast of Purim some time after the slaying of the Jews’ enemies (Esther 9:20). His proclamation united the two days on which the Jews had defended themselves (Adar 13 and 14) into one holiday. During the inter-testamental period the Jews called Adar 14 "Mordecai Day" (2 Maccabees 15:36, RSV), but they discarded this special designation later. Modern Jews celebrate Purim on the evening of Adar 14 (in March). It is their most festive and popular holiday. Esther is the only Old Testament book not found among the texts used by the Essene community at Qumran, probably because this community did not observe Purim. [Note: Bush, p. 273.]

"Purim" is the plural form of the Persian word pur, meaning the "lot" (cf. Esther 3:7). The name "Purim" became a symbolic reminder to the Jews of how God used circumstances, specifically casting the lot (cf. Esther 3:7), to deliver them in 473 B.C.

Probably Esther sent her decree (Esther 9:29), confirming Mordecai’s previous declaration of the official Jewish holiday (Esther 9:20-21), to encourage its firm establishment. Her letter evidently began, "Words of peace and truth" (Esther 9:30). [Note: Gordis, pp. 57-58.] There was probably considerable resistance within the conservative Jewish community to adding another national festival to those prescribed in the Torah.

"The book" (Esther 9:32) must be the one in which Mordecai recorded all these events (Esther 9:20), that most scholars have concluded may have been a source the writer of Esther used. This document was probably not the Book of Esther itself, assuming the writer of Esther was someone other than Mordecai. [Note: E.g., Whitcomb, p. 124.]