Esther 9:1-10
Esther 9:1-10. Overthrow of the Jews" enemies The story, omitting the intermediate months of preparation, now passes to the date fixed by the decree for the Jews" overthrow.... [ Continue Reading ]
Esther 9:1-10. Overthrow of the Jews" enemies The story, omitting the intermediate months of preparation, now passes to the date fixed by the decree for the Jews" overthrow.... [ Continue Reading ]
_when the king's commandment_ Beginning with these words, and extending to the end of this long verse, is a series of clauses, thus postponing the actual narrative. The writer's motive for this lengthened protasis may well be the literary effect of suggesting thereby the suspense which prevailed dur... [ Continue Reading ]
_to lay hand on such as sought their hurt_ Thus it was open to the Jews to assume the offensive, and not necessarily await an attack. They would no doubt be guided by their familiarity with the circumstances of each locality and consequently with the most advisable tactics to adopt. _the fear of th... [ Continue Reading ]
_they that did the king's business_ See on Esther 3:9.... [ Continue Reading ]
_in Shushan the palace_ The word seems to have a somewhat wider sense here than earlier in the Book (see note on Esther 1:2), meaning perhaps _royal city_. Bloodshed within the palace proper would not have been permitted, and even in the fortress connected with it this number would scarcely have bee... [ Continue Reading ]
Most if not all of these names are apparently of Persian origin, and this circumstance is against the supposition that this was not Haman's nationality as well. The Heb. text exhibits peculiarities in arrangement and orthography. The ten names are placed vertically. According to Jewish tradition thi... [ Continue Reading ]
_on the spoil they laid not their hand_ although according to the terms of the edict (Esther 8:11) they had a legal right to do this. Their desire was deliverance and also vengeance, but not material gain. Cp. the case of Abraham, when he refused to make himself liable to the imputation that he had... [ Continue Reading ]
Institution of memorial celebrations 12. _what then have they done in the rest of the king's provinces!_ It is best to take this, not, with A.V., as an actual question, but as meaning, It is superfluous to enquire how extensive the slaughter must be throughout the Empire as a whole, when Shushan al... [ Continue Reading ]
There may have been special reasons why the extension of time was needed in Susa in order to ensure the Jews" complete success in exterminating their foes there. The attitude of Esther and Mordecai towards the whole question of the permissibility of revenge was naturally that of their contemporaries... [ Continue Reading ]
The inability of the Jews dwelling in Shushan to make their festival synchronize with that of their countrymen elsewhere brought about the custom that both the fourteenth and the fifteenth days should be kept. Such is the habit of the Jews to this day, except that the former day is held to be the ch... [ Continue Reading ]
_the Jews of the villages, that dwell in the unwalled towns, make etc._ not -dwelt" and -made" as in the A.V. The writer is describing the custom of his own day as arising out of the circumstances here recounted. He implies that in his time the Jews who did not come under the above description follo... [ Continue Reading ]
Mordecai's injunctions for the keeping of Purim 20. _And Mordecai wrote these things_ Mordecai's position as a Jew, who had attained to the office of grand vizier, seems to have been regarded as giving him, under the circumstances, a right to impose upon the Jews within the king of Persia's dominio... [ Continue Reading ]
_as the days … a good day_ This has the character of a parenthesis, the preceding clause being taken up again in the words -that they should make them" etc.... [ Continue Reading ]
_undertook_ assumed the obligation. _to do as they had begun_ to continue to keep the celebration on the fourteenth day of Adar. _and as Mordecai had written unto them_ i.e. to keep the celebration on the following day as well.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Pur, that is, the lot_ See on Esther 3:7.... [ Continue Reading ]
the matter] A.V. inserts Esther as the subject of the verb. In the original it is simply the feminine pronoun, which however in Heb. may also stand for the neuter.... [ Continue Reading ]
The Feast of Purim comes in early spring, a month before Passover. The previous day is kept as a fast in memory of the Shushan Jews" fast (Esther 4:16). _Purim, after the name of Pur_ i.e. they gave the Persian word a Hebrew plural. _letter_ The original (_"iggereth_) is a late Heb. word, probably... [ Continue Reading ]
_upon all such as joined themselves unto them_ i.e. proselytes.... [ Continue Reading ]
_the daughter of Abihail_ She was probably thus designated in the letter itself. _letter_ See on Esther 9:26.... [ Continue Reading ]
Further injunctions on the part of Esther and Mordecai The Jews having readily agreed to the directions which Mordecai had given in the first letter, and expressed their readiness (Esther 9:28) to accept the obligation of keeping the annual festival as a perpetual one, a second communication is sen... [ Continue Reading ]
_to confirm_ It has been suggested that the former communications from Mordecai were only a recommendation, while this joint letter from him and Esther was intended to render the matter obligatory. Against such a view, however, is the fact that the word in the original here rendered -to confirm" is... [ Continue Reading ]
_in the book_ not meaning the Book of Esther, but most likely the book from which the compiler drew this part of his materials.... [ Continue Reading ]