Evening Bible Study Esther 9:17-32 20150124 Est 9:17 They did this on the thirteenth day of Adar and rested on the fourteenth day, making it a day of feasting and joy. Est 9:18 The Jewish people in Susa assembled on the thirteenth day and again on the fourteenth, and then rested on the fifteenth day and made it a day of feasting and joy. Est 9:19 Therefore the Jewish people in the rural areas who live in unwalled towns make the fourteenth day of the month Adar a holiday for joy and feasting, and people send presents to one another. Est 9:20 Mordecai wrote these instructions and sent letters to all the Jewish people in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near and far, Est 9:21 establishing that they should celebrate the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month Adar every year, Est 9:22 as the days on which the Jewish people enjoyed relief from their enemies. It was a month when things turned around for them, from sorrow to joy and from mourning to a holiday. They were to celebrate these days as days of feasting and joy, and they were to send presents to one another and gifts to the poor. Est 9:23 So the Jewish people made a tradition out of what they had begun to do and of what Mordecai had written to them, Est 9:24 since Hammedathas son Haman, the enemy of the Jewish people, had plotted against the Jewish people to destroy them, and he had cast the pur (that is, the lot) to determine when to confuse and destroy them. Est 9:25 But when Esther came before the king, he ordered through a letter that the evil plot that Haman had devised against the Jewish people be rescinded, and that he and his sons be hanged on poles. Est 9:26 Therefore these days were called Purim, from the word pur. Because of all that was written in this letter, because of what they experienced in this matter, and because of what happened to them, Est 9:27 the Jewish people established this celebration, making it a tradition for themselves, for their descendants, and for all who joined with them that they should not fail to observe these two days each year, based on the written instructions, and at the prescribed time. Est 9:28 These days should be remembered and observed in every generation by each family in every province and town. These days of Purim should not be neglected by the Jewish people, and that they should not be forgotten by their descendants. Est 9:29 Queen Esther, the daughter of Abihail, and Mordecai the Jew wrote with full authority confirming this second letter about Purim. Est 9:30 Letters containing wishes for peace and stability were sent to all the Jewish people, to the 127 provinces of Ahasuerus kingdom, Est 9:31 establishing these days of Purim at the prescribed time, just as Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther had established, and just as the Jewish people had established for themselves and for their descendants. The letter included instructions for their fasting and lamentations. Est 9:32 The order of Esther established these instructions for Purim, and it was officially recorded. International Standard Version® Words of the Messiah in Red Version 2.0.0 Copyright © 1996-2010 The ISV Foundation ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INTERNATIONALLY. The trademarks “ISV,” “International Standard Version,” and the ISV triglyph device are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by the ISV Foundation. Use of either trademark requires written permission of the ISV Foundation. Esther 9:18-19 The Jews in Susa, on the other hand, who were both on the 13th and 14th Adar still fighting against their enemies, and did not rest till the 15th, made this latter their day of rejoicing. - In Est_9:19 it is again stated that the Jews in the country towns and villages made the 14th their day of gladness, and this statement is appended by עַל־כֵּן to make this appear the result of what precedes. The Chethiv הַפְּרֹוזִים is perhaps an Aramaic expression for פְּרָזִים, Deu_3:5 and 1Sa_6:18. פְּרֹוזִי means the inhabitants of the open, i.e., unfortified, towns and villages of the plains in contrast to the fortified capital; see on Deu_3:5. On פְּרָזֹות, compare Eze_38:11; Zec_2:8. וגו מָנֹות מִשְׁלֹוחַ, and of mutual sending of gifts, i.e., portions of food; comp. Neh_8:10, Neh_8:12. Esther 9:20-22 The feast of Purim instituted by letters from Mordochai and Esther. Est_9:20. Mordochai wrote these things, and sent letters to all the Jews, etc. הָאֵלֶּה הַדְּבָרִים does not mean the contents of the present book but the events of the last days, especially the fact that the Jews, after overcoming their enemies, rested in Susa on the 15th, in the other provinces on the 14th Adar, and kept these days as days of rejoicing. This is obvious from the object of these letters, Est_9:21 : וגו עֲלֵיהֶם לְקַיֵּם, to appoint among them “that they should keep the 14th day of the month Adar and the 15th day of the same yearly, as the days on which the Jews rested from their enemies, and as the month which was turned unto them from sorrow to joy, and from mourning into a glad day, that they should keep them as days of feasting and joy, and of mutual sending of portions one to another, and gifts to the poor.” יֹום עָשָׂה, to keep, to celebrate a day. The עֹשִׂים לִהְיֹות, Est_9:21, is after long parentheses taken up again in אֹותָם לַעֲשֹׂות. קַיֵּם, to establish a matter, to authorize it, comp. Rth_4:7. Both the 14th and 15th Adar were made festivals because the Jews on them had rest from their enemies, and celebrated this rest by feasting, some on the former, some on the latter day. Esther 9:23 And the Jews undertook to do as they had begun, and as Mordochai had written to them. They had begun, as Est_9:22 tells us, by keeping both days, and Mordochai wrote to them that they should make this an annual custom. This they agreed to do in consequence of Mordochais letters. The reason of their so doing is given in Est_9:24 and Est_9:25, and the name of this festival is explained, Est_9:26, by a brief recapitulation of the events which gave rise to it. Then follows, Est_9:26 and Est_9:27, another wordy statement of the fact, that it was by reason of this letter, and on account of what they had seen, i.e., experienced, that the annual celebration of this feast was instituted for a perpetual memorial to all Jews at all times (Est_9:28 and Est_9:29). Esther 9:24 For Haman, the enemy of all the Jews, had devised against the Jews to destroy them (comp. Est_3:1, Est_3:6.), and had cast Pur, that is the lot (see on Est_3:7), to consume them and to destroy them. הָמַם, mostly used of the discomfiture with which God destroys the enemies, Exo_14:24; Deu_2:15, and elsewhere. Esther 9:25 וּבְבֹאָהּ, and when it (the matter), not when she, Esther, came before the king, - for Esther is not named in the context, - he commanded by letters (Est_8:8), i.e., he gave the written order: let the wicked device which he devised against the Jews return upon his own head; and they hanged him and his sons upon the tree. Esther 9:26-27 Wherefore they called these days Purim after the name Pur. This first עַל־כֵּן refers to what precedes and states the reason, resulting from what has just been mentioned, why this festival received the name of Purim. With the second עַל־כֵּן begins a new sentence which reaches to Est_9:28, and explains how it happened that these feast-days became a general observance with all Jews; namely, that because of all the words of this letter (of Mordochai, Est_9:20), and of what they had seen concerning the matter (עַל־כָּכָה, concerning so and so), and what had come upon them (therefore for two reasons: (1) because of the written injunction of Mordochai; and (2) because they had themselves experienced this event), 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. Esther 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 participles וְנַעֲשִׂים נִזְכָּרִים still depend on לִהְיֹות, Est_9:27. Not till the last clause does the construction change in לִהְיֹות לֹא to the temp. finit. יַעֲבֹור וְלֹא is a periphrasis of the adverb: imperishably, inviolably. כִּכְתָבָם, secundum scriptum eorum, i.e., as Mordochai had written concerning them (Est_9:23). כִּזְמַנָּם, as he had appointed their time. מִן סוּף, to come to an end from, i.e., to cease among their descendants. Esther 9:29-32 A second letter from Queen Esther and Mordochai to appoint fasting and lamentation on the days of Purim. Est_9:29. And Esther the queen and Mordochai the Jew wrote with all strength, that is very forcibly, to appoint this second letter concerning Purim, i.e., to give to the contents of this second letter the force of law. הַזֹּאת refers to what follows, in which the contents of the letter are briefly intimated. The letter is called הַשֵּׁנִית with reference to the first letter sent by Mordochai, Est_9:20. Est_9:30-32 And he (Mordochai) sent letters, i.e., copies of the writing mentioned Est_9:29, to all the Jews in the 127 provinces (which formed) the kingdom of Ahashverosh, words of peace and truth, i.e., letters containing words of peace and truth (Est_9:31), to appoint these days of Purim in their portions of time according as Mordochai the Jew and Esther the queen had appointed, and as they (the Jews) had appointed for themselves and for their descendants, the things (or words = precepts) of the fastings and their lamentations. בִּזְמַנֵּיהֶם, in their appointed times; as the suffix relates to the days of Purim, the זְמַנַּים can mean only portions of time in these days. The sense of Est_9:29-31 is as follows: According to the injunctions of Esther and Mordochai, the Jews appointed for themselves and their descendants times also of fasting and lamentation in the days of Purim. To make this appointment binding upon all the Jews in all provinces of the Persian monarchy, Esther and Mordochai published a second letter, which was sent by Mordochai throughout the whole realm of King Ahashverosh. To this is added, Est_9:32, that the decree of Esther appointed these matters of Purim, i.e., the injunction mentioned vv. 29-31, also to fast and weep during these days, and it was written in the book. הַסֵּפֶר, the book in which this decree was written, cannot mean the writing of Esther mentioned. Est_9:29, but some written document concerning Purim which has not come down to us, though used as an authority by the author of the present book. The times when the fasting and lamentation were to take place in the days of Purim, are not stated in this verse; this could, however, only be on the day which Haman had appointed for the extermination of the Jews, viz., the 13th Adar. This day is kept by the Jews as אֶסְתֵּר תַּעֲנִית, Esthers fast. (Note: According to 2 Macc. 15:36, the victory over Nicanor was to be celebrated on the 13th Adar, but, according to a note of Dr. Cassel in Grimms kurzgef. exeget. Handb. zu den Apokryphen, on 2 Macc. 15:36, the festival of Nicanor is mentioned in Jewish writings, as Megillat Taanit, c. 12, in the Babylonian Talmud, tr. Taanit, f. 18b, in Massechet Sofrim 17, 4, but has been by no means observed for at least the last thousand years. The book Scheiltot of R. Acha (in the 9th century) speaks of the 13th Adar as a fast-day in memory of the fast of Esther, while even at the time of the Talmud the “Fast of Esther” is spoken of as a three days fast, kept, however, after the feast of Purim. From all this it is obvious, that a diversity of opinions prevailed among the Rabbis concerning the time of this fast of Esther.) Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament Johann (C.F.) Keil (1807-1888) & Franz Delitzsch (1813-1890) In honor of these events the Jews now celebrate the Days of Pirum. What a special coupled of days of celebration these are similar to our veterans days and Memorial days. Revelation from God.
Posted on: Sun, 25 Jan 2015 01:18:52 +0000
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