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Commentary on Esther 9 verses 1–19
We have here a decisive battle fought between the Jews and their enemies, in which the Jews were victorious. Neither side was surprised; for both had notice of it long enough before, so that it was a fair trial of skill between them. Nor could either side call the other rebels, for they were both supported by the royal authority.
I. The enemies of the Jews were the aggressors. They hoped, notwithstanding the latter edict, to have power over them, by virtue of the former (Est 9:1), and made assaults upon them accordingly; they formed themselves into bodies, and joined in confederacy against them, to seek their hurt, Est 9:2. The Chaldee paraphrase says that none appeared against the Jews but Amalekites only, who were infatuated, and had their hearts hardened, as Pharaoh's against Israel, to take up arms to their own destruction. Some had such an inveterate implacable malice against the Jews that Haman's fall and Mordecai's advancement, instead of convincing them, did but exasperate them, and make them the more outrageous and resolute to cut all their throats. The sons of Haman, particularly, vowed to avenge their father's death, and pursue his designs, which they call noble and brave, whatever hazards they run; and a strong party they had formed both in Shushan and in the provinces in order hereunto. Fight they would, though they plainly saw Providence fight against them; and thus they were infatuated to their own destruction. If they would have sat still, and attempted nothing against the people of God, not a hair of their head would have fallen to the ground: but they cannot persuade themselves to do that; they must be meddling, though it prove to their own ruin, and roll a burdensome stone, which will return upon them.
II. But the Jews were the conquerors. That very day when the king's decree for their destruction was to be put in execution, and which the enemies thought would have been their day, proved God's day, Psa 37:13. It was turned to the contrary of what was expected, and the Jews had rule over those that hated them, Est 9:1. We are here told,
1.What the Jews did for themselves (Est 9:2): They gathered themselves together in their cities, embodied, and stood upon their defence, offering violence to none, but bidding defiance to all. If they had not had an edict to warrant them, they durst not have done it, but, being so supported, they strove lawfully. Had they acted separately, each family apart, they would have been an easy prey to their enemies; but acting in concert, and gathering together in their cities, they strengthened one another, and durst face their enemies. Vis unita fortior - forces act most powerfully when combined. Those that write of the state of the Jews at this day give this as a reason why, though they are very numerous in many parts, and very rich, they are yet so despicable, because they are generally so selfish that they cannot incorporate, and, being under the curse of dispersion, they cannot unite, nor (as here) gather together, for, if they could, they might with their numbers and wealth threaten the most potent states.
2.What the rulers of the provinces did for them, under the influence of Mordecai. All the officers of the king, who, by the bloody edict, were ordered to help forward their destruction (Est 3:12, Est 3:13), conformed to the latter edict (which, being an estopel against an estopel, had set the matter at large, and left them at liberty to observe which they pleased) and helped the Jews, which turned the scale on their side, Est 9:3. The provinces would generally do as the rulers of the provinces inclined, and therefore their favouring the Jews would greatly further them. But why did they help them? Not because they had any kindness for them, but because the fear of Mordecai fell upon them, he having manifestly the countenance both of God and the king. They all saw it their interest to help Mordecai's friends because he was not only great in the king's house, and caressed by the courtiers (as many are who have no intrinsic worth to support their reputation), but his fame for wisdom and virtue went out thence throughout all the provinces: in all places he was extolled as a great man. He was looked upon also as a thriving man, and one that waxed greater and greater (Est 9:4), and therefore for fear of him all the king's officers helped the Jews. Great men may, by their influence, do a great deal of good; many that fear not God will stand in awe of them.
3.What God did for them: he struck all people with a fear of them (Est 9:2), as the Canaanites were made afraid of Israel (Jos 2:9, Jos 5:1), so that, though they had so much hardiness as to assault them, yet they had not courage to prosecute the assault. Their hearts failed them when they came to engage, and none of the men of might could find their hands.
4.What execution they did hereupon: No man could withstand them (Est 9:2), but they did what they would to those that hated them, Est 9:5. So strangely were the Jews strengthened and animated, and their enemies weakened and dispirited, that none of those who had marked themselves for their destruction escaped, but they smote them with the stroke of the sword. Particularly, (1.) On the thirteenth day of the month Adar they slew in the city Shushan 500 men (Est 9:6) and the ten sons of Haman, Est 9:10. The Jews, when on the feast of Purim they read this book of Esther, oblige themselves to read the names of Haman's ten sons all in one breath, without any pause, because they say that they were all killed together, and all gave up the ghost just in the same moment. - Buxt. Synag. Jud. c. 24. The Chaldee paraphrase says that, when these ten were slain, Zeresh, with seventy more of his children, escaped, and afterwards begged their bread from door to door. (2.) On the fourteenth day they slew in Shushan 300 more, who had escaped the sword on the former day of execution, Est 9:15. This Esther obtained leave of the king for them to do, for the greater terror of their enemies, and the utter crushing of that malignant party of men. The king had taken account of the numbers that were put to the sword the first day (Est 9:11), and told Esther (Est 9:12), and asked her what more she desired. "Nothing," says she, "but commission to do such another day's work." Esther surely was none of the blood-thirsty, none of those that delight in slaughter, but she had some very good reasons that moved her to make this request. She also desired that the dead bodies of Haman's ten sons might be hanged up on the gallows on which their father was hanged, for the greater disgrace of the family and terror of the party (Est 9:13), and it was done accordingly, Est 9:14. It is supposed that they were hanged in chains and left hanging for some time. (3.) The Jews in the country kept to their orders, and slew no more of their enemies than what were slain the thirteenth day, which were in all, among all the provinces, 75,000, Est 9:16. If all these were Amalekites (as the Jews say), surely now it was that the remembrance of Amalek was utterly put out, Exo 17:14. However, that which justifies them in the execution of so many is that they did it in their own just and necessary defence; they stood for their lives, authorized to do so by the law of self-preservation, as well as by the king's decree. (4.) In these several executions it is taken notice of that on the prey they laid not their hand, Est 9:10, Est 9:15, Est 9:16. The king's commission had warranted them to take the spoil of their enemies for a prey (Est 8:11), and a fair opportunity they had of enriching themselves with it; if Haman's party had prevailed, no doubt, they would have made use of their authority to seize the goods and estates of the Jews, Est 3:13. But the Jews would not do so by them, [1.] That they might, to the honour of their religion, evidence a holy and generous contempt of worldly wealth, in imitation of their father Abraham, who scorned to enrich himself with the spoils of Sodom. [2.] That they might make it appear that they aimed at nothing but their own preservation, and used their interest at court for the saving of their lives, not for the raising of their estates. [3.] Their commission empowered them to destroy the families of their enemies, even the little ones and the women, Est 8:11. But their humanity forbade them to do that, though that was designed against them. They slew none but those they found in arms; and therefore they did not take the spoil, but left it to the women and little ones, whom they spared, for their subsistence; otherwise as good slay them as starve them, take away their lives as take away their livelihoods. Herein they acted with a consideration and compassion well worthy of imitation.
5.What a satisfaction they had in their deliverance. The Jews in the country cleared themselves of their enemies on the thirteenth day of the month, and they rested on the fourteenth day (Est 9:17), and made that a thanksgiving day, Est 9:19. The Jews in Shushan, the royal city, took two days for their military execution, so that they rested on the fifteenth day, and made that their thanksgiving-day, Est 9:18. Both of them celebrated their festival the very day after they had finished their work and gained their point. When we have received signal mercies from God we ought to be quick and speedy in making our thankful returns to him, while the mercy is fresh and the impressions of it are most sensible.
When the whole nation of Israel was about to perish, blessed Esther defeated the tyrant’s anger simply by fasting and praying to God. By faith she changed the ruin of her people into safety. Those days are feast days for Israel; they used to call a feast when an enemy was slain or a conspiracy against the people was broken up and Israel was delivered. That is why Moses established the Feast of the Passover: because Pharaoh was killed and the people were delivered from bondage. So then, especially when tyrants were slain, temporal feasts and holidays were established in Judea. Now, however, the devil, that tyrant against the whole world, is slain. Therefore, our feast does not relate only to time but to eternity. It is a heavenly feast! We do not announce it as a shadow or a picture or a type but as the real thing.
In the face of all this, brothers and sisters, what should we do but give thanks to God, the king of all? Let us start by crying out the words of the psalm, “Blessed is the Lord, who has not let them eat us up.” Let us keep the feast in that way that he has established for our salvation—the holy day of Easter—so that we, along with the angels, may celebrate the heavenly feast. Remember that Israel, coming out of affliction to a state of rest, sang a song of praise for the victory as they kept the feast. And in the time of Esther the people kept a feast to the Lord because they had been delivered from a deadly decree. They called a feast, thanking and praising the Lord because he had changed the situation for them. Therefore, let us keep our promises to the Lord, confess our sins, and keep the feast to him—in behavior, moral conduct, and way of life. Let us keep it by praising the Lord, who has disciplined us so lightly but has never failed us nor forsaken us nor stopped speaking to us.
Now, the Scripture tells us that some of the Jews carried out the killing of their enemies on the thirteenth day of the month of Adar, and stopped their slaughter on the fourteenth day when they held this festival; but that others carried out the killing of their enemies for two days, i.e. the thirteenth and the fourteenth of the aforementioned month, and finally held a formal rest on the fifteenth when they left off the slaughter. And this can only mean that some of the saints, having completed the labors which they carried out in the service of God by performing it according to the proper doctrine and living it properly, now have in their hands—even before the time of universal judgment—the Sabbath rest of eternal peace; while others endure in the flesh until the final day of resurrection, so that once all their enemies have been bested they will be suddenly changed through God’s power, and will attain eternal rest and blessed immortality for both their souls and their bodies. This we know from the statement that the apostle makes when he writes to the Corinthians: “Behold the mystery I am telling you: we will all, it is true, rise again, but we will not all be changed. In a moment, in the blink of an eye, at the final trumpet, the dead will rise up uncorrupted, and we will be changed” (1 Corinthians 15). And to the Thessalonians: “For this we say to you in the word of the Lord: we will not precede those who are sleeping, since the Lord himself—in his command, and in the voice of the archangel, and in the trumpet of God—will come down from Heaven. And the dead who are in Christ will rise up first, and then those of us who are still alive, we who still remain, will be taken up together with those in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so we will be with the Lord always” (1 Thessalonians 4).
After all, the number fourteen, which contains twice seven, symbolizes the rest of souls from labor and worry of every kind; and fifteen, which combines the numbers seven and eight, prefigures the coming rest and the immortality of both souls and bodies; and so, once the mass of the chosen have completed the labors of the present life and victory over every enemy has been achieved, they will rejoice in the kingdom of Heaven in their eternal exultation and their love for one another. And there will be no end to this joy, because there will no longer be any further labors to cause us unhappiness.
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SUMMARY
Esther 9:19 describes the spontaneous and joyous response of the Jewish communities residing in the unwalled towns of the Persian Empire following their miraculous deliverance from annihilation. Having successfully defended themselves against their enemies on the thirteenth day of Adar, these rural inhabitants dedicated the fourteenth day to exuberant celebration, marked by gladness, feasting, and the communal practice of sending food portions to one another. This immediate outpouring of gratitude and relief established a foundational precedent for the annual observance of Purim, highlighting profound themes of divine reversal, communal solidarity, and enduring remembrance of God's faithfulness.
CONTEXT
Literary Context: Esther 9:19 serves as a crucial bridge, concluding the narrative of the Jews' victorious self-defense and introducing the formal establishment of the Purim festival. Immediately preceding this verse, the book details Haman's genocidal decree against the Jewish people, issued in Esther 3:13, and Queen Esther's courageous intercession that led to King Ahasuerus's counter-decree, empowering the Jews to defend themselves on the very day Haman had chosen for their destruction (Esther 8:11-14). The preceding verses, Esther 9:1-17, recount the widespread victory of the Jewish people over their adversaries across the 127 provinces of the Persian Empire. Specifically, Esther 9:18 notes that the Jews in the capital city of Susa fought for two days (the 13th and 14th of Adar) and only rested on the 15th. In distinct contrast, Esther 9:19 focuses on the Jews in the "unwalled towns," who completed their defense on the 13th and therefore began their celebration on the 14th, establishing a unique pattern for the festival's observance that would later be harmonized.
Historical & Cultural Context: The events of the Book of Esther are set during the reign of Ahasuerus, generally identified as Xerxes I (486-465 BC), who ruled over the vast Persian Empire. This period was characterized by a highly centralized imperial administration, where royal decrees, once issued, were considered irrevocable (Esther 8:8). The Jewish diaspora, scattered throughout this empire, faced a genuine and existential threat. The "unwalled towns" (Hebrew: prazot) refer to rural settlements lacking defensive walls, making their inhabitants more vulnerable to attack compared to those in fortified cities like Susa. Their immediate celebration on the 14th of Adar reflects a direct, unhindered response to their deliverance, as they did not experience the extended conflict seen in the capital. The customs of feasting and sending portions were common in the ancient Near East for celebrating significant events, serving as expressions of communal solidarity, joy, and gratitude. This verse captures the spontaneous, organic genesis of a festival that would later be formally established and codified by Mordecai and Esther in Esther 9:20-22.
Key Themes: This verse powerfully contributes to several overarching themes within the Book of Esther. Firstly, it vividly illustrates the theme of Divine Reversal and Deliverance, where a day meticulously planned for the destruction of God's people is miraculously transformed into a day of exuberant celebration and decisive victory. This transformation underscores God's sovereign and providential care, even in a narrative where His name is conspicuously absent. Secondly, the verse emphasizes Communal Solidarity and Generosity, particularly through the practice of "sending portions one to another." This act fosters unity, ensures that all members of the community, including the less fortunate, can partake in the joy and bounty, and reinforces the bonds of fellowship in the aftermath of shared adversity and triumph. This practice becomes a cornerstone of the Purim observance, as further detailed in Esther 9:22. Thirdly, Esther 9:19 establishes the theme of Remembrance and Gratitude, as the celebration on the 14th of Adar becomes a lasting memorial to God's intervention and the salvation He provided. This ensures that future generations would recall this extraordinary deliverance and offer thanks, solidifying the historical and spiritual significance of the event.
EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
Key Word Analysis
Verse Breakdown
Literary Devices
Esther 9:19 is rich with literary devices that enhance its meaning and impact. Contrast is evident in the distinction drawn between the Jews in the "unwalled towns" and those in the capital, Susa, highlighting their differing experiences of the conflict and the subsequent celebration dates. This contrast ultimately explains the two-day observance of Purim. There is profound Irony at play, as the day originally designated for the Jews' annihilation is miraculously transformed into a day of joyous feasting and celebration, a complete and divinely orchestrated reversal. The phrase "gladness and feasting" functions as a Metonymy, representing the entire spectrum of communal celebration, relief, and gratitude that permeated the day. Furthermore, the spontaneous establishment of this day of celebration, particularly with the inclusion of "sending portions," serves as a clear Foreshadowing of the formal institution of Purim, laying the essential groundwork for the enduring traditions and customs described in the subsequent verses of Esther 9.
THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS
Esther 9:19 stands as a powerful testament to God's providential care for His people, even in a book where His divine name is never explicitly mentioned. The spontaneous outpouring of "gladness and feasting" by the Jews in the villages underscores the profound relief and overflowing joy that accompanies divine deliverance. It vividly demonstrates God's sovereign ability to transform a day of impending doom into a day of exuberant celebration, turning mourning into dancing (Psalm 30:11) and evil intentions into good (Genesis 50:20). The practice of "sending portions one to another" highlights the profound theological importance of communal solidarity, generosity, and the sharing of blessings within the covenant community. It reflects a spirit of unity and mutual care, ensuring that the joy of deliverance is experienced by all, especially the vulnerable and marginalized. This act of sharing foreshadows the New Testament emphasis on Christian fellowship, benevolence, and the communal expression of God's love.
REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
Esther 9:19 offers timeless and profound lessons for believers today, serving as a poignant reminder of the spiritual significance of remembering and celebrating God's enduring faithfulness. Just as the Jews in the unwalled towns spontaneously erupted in "gladness and feasting" after their miraculous deliverance, we too are called to cultivate a spirit of profound gratitude and joy for God's countless interventions in our lives. This verse encourages us to recognize God's sovereign hand, even when unseen or unmentioned, in turning our trials into triumphs and our deepest sorrows into unbridled joy. Furthermore, the emphasis on "sending portions one to another" serves as a powerful and practical reminder of the paramount importance of communal solidarity and generosity within the body of Christ. True spiritual flourishing often occurs within the rich context of shared blessings, mutual support, and compassionate outreach. It challenges us to look beyond our individual circumstances and actively participate in building up our communities, ensuring that the joy of God's grace and provision extends tangibly to all, especially those in need. This act of sharing is not merely a cultural custom but a vital spiritual discipline that fosters unity, deepens compassion, and provides a tangible expression of God's transformative love.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
What is the significance of the "unwalled towns" mentioned in Esther 9:19?
Answer: The "unwalled towns" (Hebrew: prazot) refer to the Jewish communities living in open, rural settlements that lacked defensive walls. This detail is highly significant because it distinguishes their experience from the Jews residing in the capital city of Susa, who were protected by fortifications and faced a more prolonged conflict. While the Jews in Susa fought for two days (the 13th and 14th of Adar) and rested on the 15th (Esther 9:18), the Jews in the unwalled towns completed their self-defense on the 13th. Consequently, they were able to celebrate their deliverance on the very next day, the 14th of Adar. This difference in timing directly led to the establishment of Purim as a two-day festival, with celebrations on the 14th in unwalled towns and on the 15th in walled cities, a distinction that continues to be observed in modern Purim traditions. It highlights the diverse experiences of the Jewish diaspora within the vast Persian Empire and the flexibility in the festival's initial observance.
CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT
Esther 9:19, with its powerful themes of divine reversal, joyous feasting, and communal sharing following a miraculous deliverance, finds profound Christ-centered fulfillment and echoes throughout the New Testament. The "gladness and feasting" of the Jews in the unwalled towns foreshadows the ultimate celebration of salvation wrought by Jesus Christ. Just as a day of intended destruction was turned into a day of life and joy for the Jewish people, so too, through Christ's atoning sacrifice on the cross, humanity's condemnation under sin was transformed into the glorious promise of eternal life and reconciliation with God (Romans 5:8-10). The ultimate "good day" is the day of Christ's resurrection, which turned the sorrow of the cross into the triumph of new life, providing the unshakeable foundation for the believer's enduring joy (John 16:22). Furthermore, the practice of "sending portions one to another" anticipates the communal fellowship, radical generosity, and mutual care inherent in the Christian Church, the very body of Christ. Believers are called to share their spiritual and material blessings, to care for the poor and marginalized, and to celebrate together the divine deliverance they have received through the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. The ultimate feast, toward which all earthly celebrations point, is the glorious marriage supper of the Lamb, where all who have been delivered by Christ will gather in eternal gladness, a perfect and complete fulfillment of every earthly celebration of salvation.