The Book of Esther

[alon]

This is a bit long, so I will break it up.

Book of Esther

While the name of God is not mentioned, His hand is evident throughout the Book of Esther. One of the main lessons here is that God is sovereign in all the nations of the world. We, His people, are to surrender to His will. This account is a reminder that God keeps His covenant promises (Gen 12:1-3)

The megillat ester, or the Scroll of Esther, is inextricably bound up in the holiday of Purim. It gives us the etiology of the holiday, authorizes annual observance, and models its’ celebration. The Book of Esther is traditionally read in synagogue on Erev Purim and on Purim.

The holiday, often erroneously called the Jewish Mardi Gras, almost has a carnival air to it. The noisy stomping out Haman’s name, costumes, reenactments, partying, masquerades and general frivolity are uncharacteristic of Jewish festivals.

Esther 1:1 (ESV) Now in the days of Ahasuerus, the Ahasuerus who reigned from India to Ethiopia over 127 provinces,

Esther is commonly criticized as being a work of fiction. However it is historically supported by its being entrenched in history and specifically dated (1:1, 15; 2:1, 10,20), said to be in the reign of Ahasuerus, who is Xersies 1 (468-465 BCE). Also there is the authors familiarity with Persian life and politics (1:5-8; 2:11, 21-23; 4:11; 5:5; 7:8,9; 8:11-18), archaeological evidence, especially at Susa, and in cuneiform texts refering to Marduka (Mordechai), an official at Susa under Xerxes.

Esther presents the failings of an otherwise great king in comical form. He is often concerned with the exercise of power while exercising little of his own. He is extremely beholden to policy.

Esther 1:2 (ESV) in those days when King Ahasuerus sat on his royal throne in Susa, the citadel,

Shusan (Susa) was the winter capital of Persia.

Esther 1:7 (ESV) Drinks were served in golden vessels, vessels of different kinds, and the royal wine was lavished according to the bounty of the king.

This was theculmination of six months of feasting and displaying of the wealth of Persia. Persian parties known for their drinking.

Esther 1:9 (ESV) Queen Vashti also gave a feast for the women in the palace that belonged to King Ahasuerus.

The queen hosted separate party for women, as it was considered indecent for wives (especially of nobility) to attend male drinking parties.

Esther 1:11 (ESV) to bring Queen Vashti before the king with her royal crown, in order to show the peoples and the princes her beauty, for she was lovely to look at.

The drunken king, after displaying his wealth, wanted to display his queen like a common possession.

Esther 1:12 (ESV) But Queen Vashti refused to come at the king's command delivered by the eunuchs. At this the king became enraged, and his anger burned within him.

Vashti was trying to protect both her honor and that of the kings, but she had to disobey a royal command to do so. Xerxes had a tendency to act in anger and in haste, and he also listened to the counsel of evil men who were no more than political hacks.

Esther 1:13,15 (ESV) Then the king said to the wise men who knew the times (for this was the king's procedure toward all who were versed in law and judgment, … “According to the law, what is to be done to Queen Vashti, because she has not performed the command of King Ahasuerus delivered by the eunuchs?”

Always concerned with the propriety, the king consults these “sages,” learned in procedure but ignorant in truth and honor.

Esther 1:16-19 (ESV) Then Memucan said in the presence of the king and the officials, “Not only against the king has Queen Vashti done wrong, but also against all the officials and all the peoples who are in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus. For the queen's behavior will be made known to all women, causing them to look at their husbands with contempt, … This very day the noble women of Persia and Media who have heard of the queen's behavior will say the same to all the king's officials, and there will be contempt and wrath in plenty. If it please the king, let a royal order go out from him, and let it be written among the laws of the Persians and the Medes so that it may not be repealed, that Vashti is never again to come before King Ahasuerus. And let the king give her royal position to another who is better than she.

Predictably, these petty bureaucrats blow a minor domestic incident up into a national crises. Their reasoning is preposterous, a typical slippery slope argument.

Esther 2:2 (ESV) Then the king's young men who attended him said, “Let beautiful young virgins be sought out for the king.”

Between Vashti’s demotion and Xerses remarriage to Esther he was gone on his ill-fated invasion of Greece. it is likely his advisors wanted to find a replacement quickly so he would not take Vashti back.

Esther 2:5-7 (ESV) Now there was a Jew in Susa the citadel whose name was Mordecai, … a Benjaminite, who had been carried away from Jerusalem among the captives carried away with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away. He was bringing up Hadassah, that is Esther, the daughter of his uncle, for she had neither father nor mother. The young woman had a beautiful figure and was lovely to look at, and when her father and her mother died, Mordecai took her as his own daughter.

Mordechai was a prominent Jew who had an oblique link to King Saul. He was probably a eunuch gatekeeper, being closely connected to the harem (11, 19, 21). So he was a minor official in the kings court. His being part of the exile was a sign of authentic Jewish pedigree in the diaspora.

H3064 יהוּדי yehûdı̂y yeh-hoo-dee' Patronymic from H3063; a Jehudite (that is, Judaite or Jew), or descendant of Jehudah (that is, Judah): - Jew

This was the beginning of the useage of the term Jew as we now know it.

Mordechai was NOT Esther’s uncle, as so many commentators mistakenly say. He was her cousin. Esther (Ishtar) is Persian for star. Hadassah, her Hebrew name, means myrtle.

Esther 2:10 (ESV) Esther had not made known her people or kindred, for Mordecai had commanded her not to make it known.

Esther was not told to deny her race, only not to tell it.

Esther 2:12a (ESV) Now when the turn came for each young woman to go in to King Ahasuerus,

Each of these young women were to become lesser wives of Xerxes.

Esther 2:21-23 (ESV) In those days, as Mordecai was sitting at the king's gate, Bigthan and Teresh, two of the king's eunuchs, who guarded the threshold, became angry and sought to lay hands on King Ahasuerus. And this came to the knowledge of Mordecai, and he told it to Queen Esther, and Esther told the king in the name of Mordecai. When the affair was investigated and found to be so, the men were both hanged on the gallows. And it was recorded in the book of the chronicles in the presence of the king.

Impalement (or possibly hanging) on stakes was an act of public disgrace through display.

Esther 3:1 (ESV) After these things King Ahasuerus promoted Haman the Agagite, the son of Hammedatha, and advanced him and set his throne above all the officials who were with him.
Xerxes again shows his tendency to listen to unwise council and act too quickly, as Haman is promoted without apparent reason while Mordechai is not rewarded. This didn’t trouble Mordechai. He acted out of a sense of duty, not for recognition. However his faithful actions were registered in heaven as well as on earth, and they later bore fruit.

Haman was an Agagite, or a descendant of Agag, the Amalekite king over who Saul lost his kingship. The relationship between Haman and Mordechai is shaped by the ancient enmity between Israel and Amalek.

Esther 3:2 (ESV) And all the king's servants who were at the king's gate bowed down and paid homage to Haman, for the king had so commanded concerning him. But Mordecai did not bow down or pay homage.

This personal enmity between Haman and Mordechai is now taking on national overtones. It is generally said by commentators that Mordechai refused to bow on religious grounds. Not so. Jews always bowed to superiors (Gen 23:7; 43:28; Ex 18:7; 1 Kings 1:23). His refusal was on ethnic grounds, as he did not want to give honor to an enemy of Israel.

Esther 3:5 (ESV) And when Haman saw that Mordecai did not bow down or pay homage to him, Haman was filled with fury.

here we first witness the mercurial mood swings of Haman. He desires honor, but he is a wicked man. When you promote him, he becomes proud. Ignore him and he becomes angry, make him rich and he uses wealth to destroy rather than to build or do good. Everything about him is hateful to the Lord:

Proverbs 6:16-19 (KJV) These six things doth the Lord hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.

Many were probably asking why God did not interfere with Haman’s evil deeds. That evil occurs in the world does not mean God doesn’t care. He always accomplishes His purposes, often through the acts of evil men.

Esther 3:6 (ESV) But he disdained to lay hands on Mordecai alone. So, as they had made known to him the people of Mordecai, Haman sought to destroy all the Jews, the people of Mordecai, throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus.

Haman was motivated by both personally and ethnically.

Esther 3:7 (ESV) In the first month, which is the month of Nisan, in the twelfth year of King Ahasuerus, they cast Pur (that is, they cast lots) before Haman day after day; and they cast it month after month till the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar.

Pur is the casting lots using a small stone die. By God’s providence, their lot fell on 12 months, giving Mordechi and Esther ample time to prepare and oppose the plan. Haman was a powerful and devious man, but God is sovereign. He will not allow the wicked their reign forever, nor will their devious plots come to fruition against His people.

Esther 3:8 (ESV) Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom. Their laws are different from those of every other people, and they do not keep the king's laws, so that it is not to the king's profit to tolerate them.”

Haman’s accusation here against the Jews is essentially what would later grow into the classic anti-Semitic argument- that the Jews were scornful of, hated and mistrusted everyone else. He implies the Jews are therefore guilty of treason because do not acknowledge the sovereignty of the king. The irony is Mordechai has already shown his loyalty while Haman has shown only his foolish ambition.

Warren Wiersby says “Prejudice is the dislike for all that is unlike.” There is no perfect race, however no race should be singled out for oppression. Samuel Clements called anti-Semitism “the swollen envy of pigmy minds.” Regardless, from Pharoah to Hitler, every leader who has tried to destroy the Jews has seen God’s wrath.

Jews are generally the most compliant of anypeople, obeying any laws which do not violate . Even then they do not preach disobedience by the general population.

Esther 3:10 (ESV) So the king took his signet ring from his hand and gave it to Haman the Agagite, the son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews.

This was a transfer of authority to Haman. It was an extremely foolish thing for king to do. he had just authorized the extermination of his most loyal subjects without ever checking out the veracity of the claims Haman made. He didn’t find out who these people were he was condemning to death, and potentially deprived himself of a large tax base.

Moving to chapter four, we see the presence of God most strongly felt while still not mentioned by name.

Esther 3:15-4:3 (ESV) The couriers went out hurriedly by order of the king, and the decree was issued in Susa the citadel. And the king and Haman sat down to drink, but the city of Susa was thrown into confusion. When Mordecai learned all that had been done, Mordecai tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the midst of the city, and he cried out with a loud and bitter cry. He went up to the entrance of the king's gate, for no one was allowed to enter the king's gate clothed in sackcloth. And in every province, wherever the king's command and his decree reached, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting and weeping and lamenting, and many of them lay in sackcloth and ashes.

The city of Shusan was dumbfounded, yet the king sits down to drink with Haman as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. However Jews throughout the land were terrified, in mourning and supplication.

It is said ‘a crises does not make a person, it shows what a person is made of.’ Mordechai publically displayed his grief In spite of the danger, thus revealing his position to everyone.

Mordechai and Esther communicate by way of intermediaries because he can’t enter the kings gates in sackcloth while in mourning.

Esther 4:8,11 (ESV) Mordecai also gave him a copy of the written decree issued in Susa for their destruction, that he might show it to Esther and explain it to her and command her to go to the king to beg his favor and plead with him on behalf of her people. … “All the king's servants and the people of the king's provinces know that if any man or woman goes to the king inside the inner court without being called, there is but one law—to be put to death, except the one to whom the king holds out the golden scepter so that he may live. But as for me, I have not been called to come in to the king these thirty days.”

Note here our typical “happy ever after” fairytale ending is not the case. From this moment on, her life, and indeed that of her people were in the hands of a pagan king; a man who was both a pig and a fool. Her lot was loneliness interspersed with use by this oafish brute. he literally presented herself a living sacrifice for her people; a female type of Yeshua.

Romans 12:1 (ESV) I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

[alon]

Naturally, at first she was reluctant, but her love of God and duty to Israel won out.

Esther 4:13-14 (ESV) Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, “Do not think to yourself that in the king's palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father's house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”

The phrase “from another place,” “mi’makom aher” is interpreted as a reference to God. He is called “Ha’Makom” or “Omnipresent” in rabbinic writings. This is as close as the author comes to claiming divine intervention in this book which so studiously avoids the mention of God.

Esther 4:16-17 (ESV) “Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my young women will also fast as you do. Then I will go to the king, though it is against the law, and if I perish, I perish.” 17 Mordecai then went away and did everything as Esther had ordered him.

The roles are now reversed (a common theme in this book) and Esther now gives the orders, which Mordechai obeys. Esther is resolved to act, even though she may be killed. Esther was God’s servant, who He used in this time of need.

Ephesians 2:10 (ESV) For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Unlike Xerxes, Esther did not act hastily. Her response was carefully prepared; as was the king’s reception of her through national prayer and fasting. In crises we are reminded we never serve God alone.

Esther 5:2-3 (ESV) And when the king saw Queen Esther standing in the court, she won favor in his sight, and he held out to Esther the golden scepter that was in his hand. Then Esther approached and touched the tip of the scepter. And the king said to her, “What is it, Queen Esther? What is your request? It shall be given you, even to the half of my kingdom.”

“Even to the half of my kingdom” is an idiom for a very large gift. But Esther invites the king and Haman to a feast, at which he repeats his offer to grant her wish. She then requests he and Haman come to another feast the next day; and the king again accepts.

Esther had a sense this was not the right time to reveal her nationality. The delay gives Haman time to erect a gallows, the height of which seems exaggerated. Just read it is a very high gallows. Esther sensed that this was not the right time to reveal her nationality. The delay gives Haman time to erect a gallows, the height seems an exaggeration. This will turn out to be ill advised , though Haman quickly accepts it.

Esther 5:9 (ESV) And Haman went out that day joyful and glad of heart. But when Haman saw Mordecai in the king's gate, that he neither rose nor trembled before him, he was filled with wrath against Mordecai.

Once again we see Haman’s moodiness, as he leaves happy at being honored, but the sight of Mordechai completely changes his state of mind. Still full of himself, he brags on his promotion, wealth and his being honored at feasts with the king and queen.

Esther 5:13 (ESV) Yet all this is worth nothing to me, so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king's gate.”

He has so much, but his joy is destroyed by the existence of one man.

Esther 5:14 (ESV) Then his wife Zeresh and all his friends said to him, “Let a gallows fifty cubits high be made, and in the morning tell the king to have Mordecai hanged upon it. Then go joyfully with the king to the feast.” This idea pleased Haman, and he had the gallows made.

Esther 6:1-4 (ESV) On that night the king could not sleep. And he gave orders to bring the book of memorable deeds, the chronicles, and they were read before the king. And it was found written how Mordecai had told about Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king's eunuchs, who guarded the threshold, and who had sought to lay hands on King Ahasuerus.And the king said, “What honor or distinction has been bestowed on Mordecai for this?” The king's young men who attended him said, “Nothing has been done for him.” And the king said, “Who is in the court?” Now Haman had just entered the outer court of the king's palace to speak to the king about having Mordecai hanged on the gallows that he had prepared for him.

So again we see the hand of God moving and the comedy of human endeavors begins. God is working on our behalf behind the scenes, so trust Him.

Romans 8:28 (ESV) And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

Esther 6:6 (ESV) So Haman came in, and the king said to him, “What should be done to the man whom the king delights to honor?” And Haman said to himself, “Whom would the king delight to honor more than me?”

The king speaks first, as is proper, and Haman never gets to say why he came in early. Haman, his ego unchecked, thinks it is he who is to be honored.

Philippians 2:3-4 (ESV) Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

A proud man sees himself in a mirror of his own design; while a humble man has a window through which to see others.

Esther 6:8-9 (ESV) let royal robes be brought, which the king has worn, and the horse that the king has ridden, and on whose head a royal crown is set. And let the robes and the horse be handed over to one of the king's most noble officials. Let them dress the man whom the king delights to honor, and let them lead him on the horse through the square of the city, proclaiming before him: ‘Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to honor.’”

This was tantamount to asking for the throne of Persia! Haman was probably lucky the king was not asking of him, otherwise he might have been killed then and there.

Esther 6:10-11 (ESV) Then the king said to Haman, “Hurry; take the robes and the horse, as you have said, and do so to Mordecai the Jew, who sits at the king's gate. Leave out nothing that you have mentioned.” So Haman took the robes and the horse, and he dressed Mordecai and led him through the square of the city, proclaiming before him, “Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to honor.”

How this must have rankled! Mordechai, the last we saw, was in sackcloth and ashes. Now Haman must parade Mordechai through the streets and give him the high honors which he himself had so badly coveted. And now, directly after this ignominy, he is brought to the second banquet. He does not yet suspect, but his permanent end is near.

Esther 7:3-4 (ESV) Then Queen Esther answered, “If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it please the king, let my life be granted me for my wish, and my people for my request. For we have been sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be killed, and to be annihilated. If we had been sold merely as slaves, men and women, I would have been silent, for our affliction is not to be compared with the loss to the king.”

The queens responds to the third offer of a grant from the king is in formal language. She builds her case, basing it on her personal relationship to the king. She equates her life with that of her people, though she does not name them. And she implies someone is taking over the kings’ affairs, which is an act of treason. This is ironic, as treason was one of the charges Haman brought against the Jews.

The wise person knows what to say and how and when to say it:

Proverbs 15:28 (ESV) The heart of the righteous ponders how to answer, but the mouth of the wicked pours out evil things.

Esther gave no names when building her case, rather waiting to see the kings reaction. God gives us wisdom when we need it:

James 1:5 (ESV) If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.

Esther 7:5-6 (ESV) Then King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther, “Who is he, and where is he, who has dared to do this?” And Esther said, “A foe and enemy! This wicked Haman!” Then Haman was terrified before the king and the queen.

Haman is named as not only an adversary to the Jews, but of the queen and hence the king!

Esther 7:7-8 (ESV) And the king arose in his wrath from the wine-drinking and went into the palace garden, but Haman stayed to beg for his life from Queen Esther, for he saw that harm was determined against him by the king. And the king returned from the palace garden to the place where they were drinking wine, as Haman was falling on the couch where Esther was. And the king said, “Will he even assault the queen in my presence, in my own house?” As the word left the mouth of the king, they covered Haman's face.

Proverbs 11:8 (ESV)The righteous is delivered from trouble, and the wicked walks into it instead.

Proverbs 16:14 (ESV) A king's wrath is a messenger of death, and a wise man will appease it.

In the face of the kings wrath, Haman prostrates himself most unfortunately on the very couch the queen had been sitting on. And as the farce continues, the king returns and misinterprets Haman’s intentions!

Proverbs 17:13-16 (KJV) Whoso rewardeth evil for good, evil shall not depart from his house. The beginning of strife is as when one letteth out water: therefore leave off contention, before it be meddled with. He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, even they both are abomination to the Lord. Wherefore is there a price in the hand of a fool to get wisdom, seeing he hath no heart to it?

Esther 7:9-10 (ESV) Then Harbona, one of the eunuchs in attendance on the king, said, “Moreover, the gallows that Haman has prepared for Mordecai, whose word saved the king, is standing at Haman's house, fifty cubits high.” And the king said, “Hang him on that.” So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the wrath of the king abated.

In another touch of reversal, the stake prepared for Mordechai will ironically be used for Haman himself. Haman could be said to have been hung on his own hatred. And now again a position left vacant by the wrath of Xerxes was left vacant, needing to be filled.

Esther 8:2 (ESV) And the king took off his signet ring, which he had taken from Haman, and gave it to Mordecai. And Esther set Mordecai over the house of Haman.

And now the role reversal between Haman and Mordechai is completed, however the decree remains in effect.

Esther 8:3 (ESV) Then Esther spoke again to the king. She fell at his feet and wept and pleaded with him to avert the evil plan of Haman the Agagite and the plot that he had devised against the Jews.

Esther here fulfills the instructions given her by Mordechai.

Esther 8:8 (ESV) But you may write as you please with regard to the Jews, in the name of the king, and seal it with the king's ring, for an edict written in the name of the king and sealed with the king's ring cannot be revoked.”

So a new decree is to be written, countering but not countermanding the first. This continues the type of Esther as Yeshua. This is exactly how God solved the sinners plight- we were under the law of sin and death:

Romans 6:23 (ESV) For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

But God did not revoke His law, he obeyed it!

John 3:16 (ESV) “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Romans 8:2 (ESV) For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.

Esther 8:11 (ESV) saying that the king allowed the Jews who were in every city to gather and defend their lives, to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate any armed force of any people or province that might attack them, children and women included, and to plunder their goods,

The Jews were given permission to take defensive measures only. “To kill, and to annihilate any armed force of any people or province that might attack them, children and women included, and to plunder their goods,” echoes the language of Haman’s order.

Esther 8:17 (ESV) And in every province and in every city, wherever the king's command and his edict reached, there was gladness and joy among the Jews, a feast and a holiday. And many from the peoples of the country declared themselves Jews, for fear of the Jews had fallen on them.

Holiday is actually, “yom tov,” or “good day.” Esther is the only place in the Bible where yom tov is used in the contemporary sense of a set festival.

Esther 9:1 (ESV) Now in the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar, on the thirteenth day of the same, when the king's command and edict were about to be carried out, on the very day when the enemies of the Jews hoped to gain the mastery over them, the reverse occurred: the Jews gained mastery over those who hated them.

There were many enemies of the Jews throughout the provinces of Persia. Had Hamansucceeded, the nation would have been destroyed. However the day of their reckoning had come. God, as always, had kept His covenant promises to Israel.

Genesis 12:1-3 (ESV) Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

“Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.” Corrie Ten Boom.

Esther 9:2 (NASB) The Jews assembled in their cities throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus to lay hands on those who sought their harm; and no one could stand before them, for the dread of them had fallen on all the peoples.

The Jews prevailed in their own defense, not in revenge.

Esther 9:6-10 (NASB) At the citadel in Susa the Jews killed and destroyed five hundred men, and Parshandatha, Dalphon, Aspatha, Poratha, Adalia, Aridatha, Parmashta, Arisai, Aridai and Vaizatha, the ten sons of Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Jews’ enemy; but they did not lay their hands on the plunder.

Haman’s glory is further diminished by the killing of his sons. This also insures his house will no more rise up against Israel. In reading the book on Purim, it is customary to try to read all the names of Haman’s’ sons in one breath.

Note: taking spoil was a normal practice in war, and it was permitted in the decree. That the Jews did not take spoils reinforces the connection with 1 Samuel 15. The Jews of Persia, led by Mordechai, who is apparently a descendant of King Saul, “correct” Saul’s error. Thus the descendants of Saul finally triumph over the descendants of Agag.

Esther 9:22-23, 26-28 (ESV) as the days on which the Jews got relief from their enemies, and as the month that had been turned for them from sorrow into gladness and from mourning into a holiday; that they should make them days of feasting and gladness, days for sending gifts of food to one another and gifts to the poor. So the Jews accepted what they had started to do, and what Mordecai had written to them. … Therefore they called these days Purim, after the term Pur. Therefore, because of all that was written in this letter, and of what they had faced in this matter, and of what had happened to them, the Jews firmly obligated themselves and their offspring and all who joined them, that without fail they would keep these two days according to what was written and at the time appointed every year, that these days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation, in every clan, province, and city, and that these days of Purim should never fall into disuse among the Jews, nor should the commemoration of these days cease among their descendants.

And so the Biblically (though not in ) commanded feast of Purim was established; along with its manner of observance.

Esther 10:3 (ESV) For Mordecai the Jew was second in rank to King Ahasuerus, and he was great among the Jews and popular with the multitude of his brothers, for he sought the welfare of his people and spoke peace to all his people.

Mordechai has achieved the highest honor possible in a story where honor is everything. He foretells of Jewish success, even in the diaspora. And one again we see the Jewish community is secure in the hands of an all-powerful God.


Dan C

Sources: Rav S, JPS TNK, Wiersby, Unger, Meyer, my father and others

[/a]

[alon]

Since Friday was Shushan Purim, and we get together each Erev Shabbat anyhow, we met at a brothers house and read this together. It may be a stretch, but we decided that since his property is fenced (much of it with hog-wire, no less ... and no, he doesn't raise hogs); but we decided the fences constituted a walled city and so we were ok on the Shushan Purim thing. We finished this before sundown (just), so I think we were ok with the "letter of the law," so to speak. We are commanded to hear the book of Esther read, and this seemed a good twist on it, reading and discussing. Everyone enjoyed it anyhow, so it was worth the effort. I always prefer to study rather than just read through, so it is good to know I'm not the only one! Anyhow, it's all in fun but still honoring The Lord on Purim!

(Shushan) Purim Sameach!

Dan C

[jimmie]

Esther (Ishtar) is Persian for star. Hadassah, her Hebrew name, means myrtle.


Read more: theloveofgod.proboards.com/thread/3840/book-esther#ixzz44EiCNcJe

Myrtle has a star-like flower with five petals and sepals, and numerous stamens which appear as rays of light radiating from the flower/star. The flower is usually white.