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The Histories · Old Testament

Esther 9

Esther 9: the thirteenth of Adar and the founding of Purim

General context

On the thirteenth day of Adar, when the enemies of the Jews hoped to have power over them, the narrator says the matter is turned to the contrary. The Jews gather in their cities to lay hand on those who sought their hurt; no one can withstand them, and the king's officers help them because the fear of Mordecai, now great in the king's house, has fallen on them. The Jews strike their enemies with the sword. In Shushan the palace they kill five hundred men and the ten sons of Haman, who are named one by one, but they do not touch the spoil. The king tells Esther the count and asks her petition; she asks that the Jews in Shushan act the next day as well and that Haman's ten sons be hanged on the gallows. The king commands it, the sons are hanged, and on the fourteenth the Jews in Shushan kill three hundred more men, again taking no spoil. The Jews in the provinces kill seventy-five thousand of their foes on the thirteenth without taking the prey and rest on the fourteenth, while Shushan rests on the fifteenth. Mordecai writes to all the Jews to keep the fourteenth and fifteenth of Adar yearly as days of feasting, sending portions and giving gifts to the poor. The narrator recounts Haman's casting of Pur and says the days are called Purim after it. The Jews take the observance on themselves, their seed and all who join them. Esther the daughter of Abihail and Mordecai the Jew write a second letter to confirm Purim, letters go to the hundred and twenty-seven provinces with words of peace and truth, and the decree of Esther is written in the book.

Cited passages: Esther 9:1, Esther 9:2, Esther 9:3, Esther 9:4, Esther 9:5, Esther 9:6, Esther 9:7, Esther 9:8, Esther 9:9, Esther 9:10, Esther 9:11, Esther 9:12, Esther 9:13, Esther 9:14, Esther 9:15, Esther 9:16, Esther 9:17, Esther 9:18, Esther 9:19, Esther 9:20, Esther 9:21, Esther 9:22, Esther 9:24, Esther 9:25, Esther 9:26, Esther 9:27, Esther 9:28, Esther 9:29, Esther 9:30, Esther 9:32

Esther 9 (KJV)

1Now in the twelfth month, that is, the month Adar, on the thirteenth day of the same, when the king’s commandment and his decree drew near to be put in execution, in the day that the enemies of the Jews hoped to have power over them, (though it was turned to the contrary, that the Jews had rule over them that hated them;)

2The Jews gathered themselves together in their cities throughout all the provinces of the king Ahasuerus, to lay hand on such as sought their hurt: and no man could withstand them; for the fear of them fell upon all people.

3And all the rulers of the provinces, and the lieutenants, and the deputies, and officers of the king, helped the Jews; because the fear of Mordecai fell upon them.

4For Mordecai was great in the king’s house, and his fame went out throughout all the provinces: for this man Mordecai waxed greater and greater.

5Thus the Jews smote all their enemies with the stroke of the sword, and slaughter, and destruction, and did what they would unto those that hated them.

6And in Shushan the palace the Jews slew and destroyed five hundred men.

7And Parshandatha, and Dalphon, and Aspatha,

8And Poratha, and Adalia, and Aridatha,

9And Parmashta, and Arisai, and Aridai, and Vajezatha,

10The ten sons of Haman the son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews, slew they; but on the spoil laid they not their hand.

11On that day the number of those that were slain in Shushan the palace was brought before the king.

12And the king said unto Esther the queen, The Jews have slain and destroyed five hundred men in Shushan the palace, and the ten sons of Haman; what have they done in the rest of the king’s provinces? now what is thy petition? and it shall be granted thee: or what is thy request further? and it shall be done.

13Then said Esther, If it please the king, let it be granted to the Jews which are in Shushan to do to morrow also according unto this day’s decree, and let Haman’s ten sons be hanged upon the gallows.

14And the king commanded it so to be done: and the decree was given at Shushan; and they hanged Haman’s ten sons.

15For the Jews that were in Shushan gathered themselves together on the fourteenth day also of the month Adar, and slew three hundred men at Shushan; but on the prey they laid not their hand.

16But the other Jews that were in the king’s provinces gathered themselves together, and stood for their lives, and had rest from their enemies, and slew of their foes seventy and five thousand, but they laid not their hands on the prey,

17On 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.

18But 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.

19Therefore 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.

20And Mordecai wrote these things, and sent letters unto all the Jews that were in all the provinces of the king Ahasuerus, both nigh and far,

21To stablish this among them, that they should keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar, and the fifteenth day of the same, yearly,

22As 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.

23And the Jews undertook to do as they had begun, and as Mordecai had written unto them;

24Because 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;

25But 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.

26Wherefore they called these days Purim after the name of Pur. Therefore for all the words of this letter, and of that which they had seen concerning this matter, and which had come unto them,

27The Jews ordained, and took upon them, and upon their seed, and upon all such as joined themselves unto them, so as it should not fail, that they would keep these two days according to their writing, and according to their appointed time every year;

28And that these days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation, every family, every province, and every city; and that these days of Purim should not fail from among the Jews, nor the memorial of them perish from their seed.

29Then Esther the queen, the daughter of Abihail, and Mordecai the Jew, wrote with all authority, to confirm this second letter of Purim.

30And he sent the letters unto all the Jews, to the hundred twenty and seven provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus, with words of peace and truth,

31To confirm these days of Purim in their times appointed, according as Mordecai the Jew and Esther the queen had enjoined them, and as they had decreed for themselves and for their seed, the matters of the fastings and their cry.

32And the decree of Esther confirmed these matters of Purim; and it was written in the book.

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Historical context

The counts are the narrator's: five hundred men in Shushan the palace on the thirteenth, the ten sons of Haman, three hundred more in Shushan on the fourteenth, and seventy-five thousand in the provinces. The killing is described in plain terms as the stroke of the sword, slaughter and destruction, and the narrator identifies those killed as enemies, those that sought their hurt and those that hated them, without describing them further. Three times the narrator says the Jews did not lay hand on the spoil, though the second decree had allowed it. The ten sons are named and said to be slain on the thirteenth; Esther then asks that they be hanged on the gallows, and this is done, so the text has them killed first and hanged afterward. Esther's request for a second day in Shushan is her own, and no reason for it is given. The two dates of the feast are explained by the different days of rest, the fourteenth in the provinces and the fifteenth in Shushan. The name Purim is explained inside the text as taken from Pur, the lot cast before Haman. The summary in verses 24 and 25 compresses the story, placing Esther's coming before the king at its centre and saying that Haman and his sons were hanged, which combines two events told separately. The reference to the fastings and their cry looks back to the mourning and fast of chapter 4. The rulers' help is attributed by the narrator to fear of Mordecai. Verse 30 says that he sent the letters, which follows the joint writing of Esther and Mordecai in verse 29.

Cited passages: Esther 9:6, Esther 9:10, Esther 9:15, Esther 9:16, Esther 9:5, Esther 9:2, Esther 8:11, Esther 9:13, Esther 9:14, Esther 9:17, Esther 9:18, Esther 9:26, Esther 3:7, Esther 9:25, Esther 7:10, Esther 9:31, Esther 4:3, Esther 9:3, Esther 9:29, Esther 9:30

Literary context

The chapter states its theme in its first verse, that the day was turned to the contrary, and the letters restate it: the month turned from sorrow to joy and from mourning into a good day. It falls into four parts: the fighting on the thirteenth and fourteenth, the explanation of the two dates, Mordecai's letter instituting the feast, and the confirming letter of Esther and Mordecai. The threefold repetition that the Jews did not touch the spoil sets the account against the permission of the decree. The list of ten names in verses 7 to 9 slows the narration, and the hanging of the sons mirrors their father's end. The king's formula, what is thy petition, is heard for the fourth time in the book, now after the killing rather than before it. The retelling in verses 24 and 25 reduces the whole story to Haman's lot and Esther's approach, leaving out the banquets and Mordecai's honour. The chapter closes on written authority, with letters, a decree of Esther and a book, so that the feast is founded on records in the way the king's own acts were recorded earlier. Sending portions one to another and gifts to the poor turn the book's feasting, which began with the king's display, into something shared.

Cited passages: Esther 9:1, Esther 9:22, Esther 9:10, Esther 9:15, Esther 9:16, Esther 9:7, Esther 9:14, Esther 9:12, Esther 5:3, Esther 9:24, Esther 9:25, Esther 9:32, Esther 2:23, Esther 1:4

Key moments

  1. Turned to the contrary (Esther 9:1). On the thirteenth of Adar the expected day of destruction is reversed.
  2. Five hundred in Shushan (Esther 9:6). The Jews kill five hundred men in Shushan the palace.
  3. Haman's ten sons slain (Esther 9:10). The ten named sons of Haman are killed, and the spoil is left untouched.
  4. Esther asks a second day (Esther 9:13). Esther asks that Shushan's Jews act again tomorrow and that Haman's sons be hanged.
  5. Seventy-five thousand (Esther 9:16). The Jews in the provinces kill seventy-five thousand foes and take no prey.
  6. Days of feasting instituted (Esther 9:22). Mordecai's letter sets the days as feasting, sending portions and gifts to the poor.
  7. The decree of Esther (Esther 9:32). Esther's decree confirms the matters of Purim and is written in the book.

For reflection

The narrator says three times that the Jews took no spoil, though the decree allowed it. What does that repeated restraint ask a reader to weigh against the numbers of the dead the same chapter reports?

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