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Matthew Henry |
E S T H E R
CHAP. IX.
We left two royal edicts in force, both given at the court of Shushan,
one bearing date the thirteenth day of the first month, appointing that
on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month then next ensuing all the
Jews should be killed; another bearing date the twenty-third day of the
third month, empowering the Jews, on the day appointed for their
slaughter, to draw the sword in their own defence and make their part
good against their enemies as well as they could. Great expectation
there was, no doubt, of this day, and the issue of it. The Jews’ cause
was to be tried by battle and the day was fixed for the combat by
authority. Their enemies resolved not to lose the advantages given them
by the first edict, in hope to overpower them by numbers; the Jews
relied on the goodness of their God and the justice of their cause, and
resolved to make their utmost efforts against their enemies. The day
comes at length; and here we are told,
I. What a glorious day it was, that year, to the Jews, and the two days
following–a day of victory and triumph, both in the city Shushan and in
all the rest of the king’s provinces,
II. What a memorable day it was made to posterity, by an annual feast,
in commemoration of this great deliverance, called “the feast of
Purim,”
| The Jews Avenged. | B. C. 509. |
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1 Now 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;)
2 The 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.
3 And 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.
4 For 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.
5 Thus 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.
6 And in Shushan the palace the Jews slew and destroyed five
hundred men.
7 And Parshandatha, and Dalphon, and Aspatha,
8 And Poratha, and Adalia, and Aridatha,
9 And Parmashta, and Arisai, and Aridai, and Vajezatha,
10 The ten sons of Haman the son of Hammedatha, the enemy of
the Jews, slew they; but on the spoil laid they not their hand.
11 On that day the number of those that were slain in Shushan
the palace was brought before the king.
12 And 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.
13 Then 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.
14 And the king commanded it so to be done: and the decree was
given at Shushan; and they hanged Haman’s ten sons.
15 For 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.
16 But 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,
17 On 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.
18 But 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.
19 Therefore 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.
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
(v. 1),
and made assaults upon them accordingly; they formed themselves into
bodies, and joined in confederacy against them, to seek their
hurt,
v. 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,
It was turned to the contrary of what was expected, and the
Jews had rule over those that hated them,
v. 1.
We are here told,
1. What the Jews did for themselves
(v. 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
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,
v. 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
(v. 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
(v. 2),
as the Canaanites were made afraid of Israel
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
(v. 2),
but they did what they would to those that hated them,
v. 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
(v. 6)
and the ten sons of Haman,
v. 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,
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
(v. 11),
and told Esther
(v. 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
(v. 13),
and it was done accordingly,
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,
If all these were Amalekites (as the Jews say), surely now it was that
the remembrance of Amalek was utterly put out,
Exod. xvii. 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,
The king’s commission had warranted them to take the spoil of
their enemies for a prey
(ch. viii. 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,
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,
ch. viii. 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
(v. 17),
and made that a thanksgiving day,
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,
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.
| The Feast of Purim. | B. C. 509. |
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20 And 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,
21 To stablish this among them, that they should keep the
fourteenth day of the month Adar, and the fifteenth day of the
same, yearly,
22 As 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.
23 And the Jews undertook to do as they had begun, and as
Mordecai had written unto them;
24 Because 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;
25 But 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.
26 Wherefore 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,
27 The 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;
28 And 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.
29 Then Esther the queen, the daughter of Abihail, and Mordecai
the Jew, wrote with all authority, to confirm this second letter
of Purim.
30 And 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,
31 To 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.
32 And the decree of Esther confirmed these matters of Purim;
and it was written in the book.
We may well imagine how much affected Mordecai and Esther were with the
triumphs of the Jews over their enemies, and how they saw the issue of
that decisive day with a satisfaction proportionable to the care and
concern with which they expected it. How were their hearts enlarged
with joy in God and his salvation, and what new songs of praise were
put into their mouths! But here we are told what course they took to
spread the knowledge of it among their people, and to perpetuate the
remembrance of it to posterity, for the honour of God and the
encouragement of his people to trust in him at all times.
I. The history was written, and copies of it were dispersed among all
the Jews in all the provinces of the empire, both nigh and far,
v. 20.
They all knew something of the story, being nearly concerned in
it–were by the first edict made sensible of their danger and by the
second of their deliverance; but how this amazing turn was given they
could not tell. Mordecai therefore wrote all these things. And
if this book be the same that he wrote, as many think it is, I cannot
but observe what a difference there is between Mordecai’s style and
Nehemiah’s. Nehemiah, at every turn, takes notice of divine Providence
and the good hand of his God upon him, which is very proper to
stir up devout affections in the minds of his readers; but Mordecai
never so much as mentions the name of God in the whole story. Nehemiah
wrote his book at Jerusalem, where religion was in fashion and an air
of it appeared in men’s common conversation; Mordecai wrote his at
Shushan the palace, where policy reigned more then piety, and he wrote
according to the genius of the place. Even those that have the root of
the matter in them are apt to lose the savour of religion, and let
their leaf wither, when they converse wholly with those that have
little religion. Commend me to Nehemiah’s way of writing; that
I would imitate, and yet learn from Mordecai’s that men may be truly
devout though they do not abound in the shows and expressions of
devotion, and therefore that we must not judge nor despise our
brethren. But, because there is so little of the language of Canaan in
this book, many think it was not written by Mordecai, but was an
extract out of the journals of the kings of Persia, giving an account
of the matter of fact, which the Jews themselves knew how to comment
upon.
II. A festival was instituted, to be observed yearly from generation to
generation by the Jews, in remembrance of this wonderful work which God
wrought for them, that the children who should be born might
know it, and declare it to their children, that they might set their
hope in God,
Ps. lxxviii. 6, 7.
It would be for the honour of God as the protector of his people, and
the honour of Israel as the care of Heaven, a confirmation of the
fidelity of God’s covenant, an invitation to strangers to come into the
bonds of it, and an encouragement to God’s own people cheerfully to
depend upon his wisdom, power, and goodness, in the greatest straits.
Posterity would reap the benefit of this deliverance, and therefore
ought to celebrate the memorial of it. Now concerning this festival we
are here told,
1. When it was observed–every year on the fourteenth and fifteenth
days of the twelfth month, just a month before the passover,
Thus the first month and the last month of the year kept in remembrance
the months that were past, even the days when God preserved
them. They kept two days together as thanksgiving days, and did not
think them too much to spend in praising God. Let us not be niggardly
in our returns of praise to him who bestows his favours so liberally
upon us. Observe, They did not keep the day when they fought, but the
days when they rested, and on the fifteenth those in Shushan, and both
those days they kept. The sabbath was appointed not on the day that God
finished his work, but on the day that he rested from it. The
modern Jews observe the thirteenth day, the day appointed for their
destruction, as a fasting-day, grounding the practice on
the matters of their fastings and cry. But that refers to what
was in the day of their distress
which was not to be continued when God had turned their fasts into
joy and gladness,
Zech. viii. 19.
2. How it was called–The feast of Purim
(v. 26),
from Pur, a Persian word which signified a lot, because
Haman had by lot determined this to be the time of the Jews’
destruction, but the Lord, at whose disposal the lot is, had determined
it to be the time of their triumph. The name of this festival would
remind them of the sovereign dominion of the God of Israel, who served
his own purposes by the foolish superstitions of the heathen, and
outwitted the monthly prognosticators in their own craft
frustrating the tokens of the liars and making the diviners mad,
Isa. xliv. 25, 26.
3. By whom it was instituted and enacted. It was not a divine
institution, and therefore it is not called a holy day, but a
human appointment, by which it was made a good day,
v. 19, 22.
(1.) The Jews ordained it, and took it upon themselves
(v. 27),
voluntarily undertook to do as they had begun.
v. 23.
They bound themselves to this by common consent.
(2.) Mordecai and Esther confirmed their resolve, that it might be the
more binding on posterity, and might come well recommended by those
great names. They wrote,
[1.] With all authority
(v. 29),
as well they might, Esther being queen and Mordecai prime-minister of
state. It is well when those who are in authority use their authority
to authorize that which is good.
[2.] With words of peace and truth. Though they wrote with
authority, they wrote with tenderness, not imperious, not imposing, but
in such language as the council at Jerusalem use in their decree
(Acts xv. 29):
“If you do so and so, you shall do well. Fare you well.” Such
was the style of these letters, or such the salutation or valediction
of them: Peace and truth be with you.
4. By whom it was to be observed–by all the Jews, and by
their seed, and by all such as joined themselves to them,
v. 27.
The observance of this feast was to be both universal and perpetual;
the proselytes must observe it, in token of their sincere affection to
the Jewish nation and their having united interests with them. A
concurrence in joys and praises is one branch of the communion of
saints.
5. Why it was to be observed–that the memorial of the great things God
had done for his church might never perish from their seed,
v. 28.
God does not work wonders for a day, but to be had in everlasting
remembrance. What he does shall be forever, and therefore should
for ever be had in mind,
In this affair they would remember,
(1.) Haman’s bad practices against the church, to his perpetual
reproach
(v. 24):
Because he had devised against the Jews to destroy them. Let
this be kept in mind, that God’s people may never be secure, while they
have such malicious enemies, on whom they ought to have a jealous eye.
Their enemies aim at no less then their destruction; on God therefore
let them depend for salvation.
(2.) Esther’s good services to the church, to her immortal honour. When
Esther, in peril of her life, came before the king, he repealed
the edict,
This also must be remembered, that wherever this feast should be kept,
and this history read in explication of it, this which she did might be
told for a memorial of her. Good deeds done for the Israel of
God ought to be remembered, for the encouragement of others to do the
like. God will not forget them, and therefore we must not.
(3.) Their own prayers, and the answers given to them
(v. 31):
The matters of their fastings and their cry. The more cries we
have offered up in our trouble, and the more prayers for deliverance,
the more we are obliged to be thankful to God for deliverance. Call
upon me in the time of trouble, and then offer to God
thanksgiving.
6. How it was to be observed. And of this let us see,
(1.) What was here enjoined, which was very good, that they should make
it,
[1.] A day of cheerfulness, a day of feasting and joy
(v. 22),
and a feast was made for laughter,
Eccl. x. 19.
When God gives us cause to rejoice why should we not express our joy?
[2.] A day of generosity, sending portions one to another, in
token of their pleasantness and mutual respect, and their being knit by
this and other public common dangers and deliverances so much the
closer to each other in love. Friends have their goods in common.
[3.] A day of charity, sending gifts to the poor. It is not to
our kinsmen and rich neighbours only that we are to send tokens, but to
the poor and the maimed,
Luke xiv. 12, 13.
Those that have received mercy must, in token of their gratitude, show
mercy; and there never wants occasion, for the poor we have always with
us. Thanksgiving and almsgiving should go together, that, when we are
rejoicing and blessing God, the heart of the poor may rejoice with us
and their loins may bless us.
(2.) What was added to this, which was much better. They always, at the
feast, read the whole story over in the synagogue each day, and put up
three prayers to God, in the first of which they praise God for
counting them worthy to attend this divine service; in the second they
thank him for the miraculous preservation of their ancestors; in the
third they praise him that they have lived to observe another festival
in memory of it. So bishop Patrick.
(3.) What it has since degenerated to, which is much worse. Their own
writers acknowledge that this feast is commonly celebrated among them
with gluttony, and drunkenness, and excess of riot. Their Talmud says
expressly that, in the feast of Purim, a man should drink till he knows
not the difference between Cursed be Haman, and Blessed be
Mordecai. See what the corrupt and wicked nature of man often
brings that to which was at first well intended: here is a religious
feast turned into a carnival, a perfect revel, as wakes are among us.
Nothing more purifies the heart and adorns religion than holy joy;
nothing more pollutes the heart and reproaches religion than carnal
mirth and sensual pleasure. Corruptio optimi est pessima–What is
best becomes when corrupted the worst.
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