Esther 9:26
Ver. 26. Wherefore they called these days Purim, after the name of Pur,.... The lot; because of the lots cast by Haman; see Es 3:7,therefore for all the words of this letter; in obedience to what Mordecai wrote in his letter to the Jews, and because of the things contained in it:and of that which they had seen concerning this matter; with their own eyes, in the several provinces where their enemies rose up to assault them, but were destroyed by them:and what had come unto them: by report; as the fall of Haman, and advancement of Mordecai, and the favours shown to Esther and her people; all this belongs to the following verse, containing the reasons of the Jews' appointment and engagement to observe the days of Purim. Esther 9:27Ver. 27. The Jews ordained, and took upon them, and upon their seed, and upon all such that joined themselves unto them,.... Who became proselytes to their religion; that is, they appointed the above two days as festivals, and engaged for themselves, for their children, and all proselytes, to observe them as such; and one of their canons {s} runs thus,"all are obliged to read the Megillah (the book of Esther, which they always read on those days), priests, Levites, Nethinims, Israelites, men, women, and proselytes, and servants made free, and they train up little ones to read it:''so as it should not fail; of being observed, so as no man should transgress it, or pass it over:that they should keep these two days; the fourteenth and fifteenth of the month Adar or February:according to their writing; in this book, the book of Esther, which was to be read, as Aben Ezra; written in the Hebrew character, as the Targum; that is, in the Assyrian character, as Jarchi; the square character, as they call it:and according to their appointed time every year; whether simple or intercalated, as Aben Ezra observes: in an intercalary year the Jews have two Adars, and, though they keep the feast of Purim on the fourteenth of the first Adar, yet not with so much mirth, and call it the lesser Purim; but in the second Adar they observe it with all its ceremonies {t}; so, in their canon, they do not keep Purim but in Adar that is next to Nisan or March, that redemption might be near redemption; the redemption of Mordecai near the redemption of Moses {u}.{s} Lebush & Schulchan, ib. (par. 1.) c. 689. sect. 1. {t} Vid. Buxtorf. Synagog. Jud. c. 29. p. 563. {u} Lebush, par. 1. c. 6, 7. sect. 1. Esther 9:28Ver. 28. And that these days should be remembered, and kept throughout every generation, every family, every province, and every city,.... And accordingly these days are commemorated by them now, and by all their families, and all in their families capable of it; and these words, "every province", and "every city", are used, as Aben Ezra observes, lest a man should think he was not bound to keep this feast where there were no Jews; for, let him be where he may, he is obliged to keep it:and that these days of Purim should not fail among the Jews; or the observance of them be neglected and cease:nor the memorial of them perish from their seed; neither the memorial of them, nor of the reason of keeping them; wherefore on those days they read the whole book of Esther, fairly written on a roll of parchment, and are careful that none omit the reading of it; rather, they say {w}, the reading and learning the law should be omitted, and all commands and service, than the reading this volume, that so all might be acquainted with this wonderful deliverance, and keep it in mind.{w} Lebush & Schulchan, ib. (par. 1.) c. 687. sect. 2. Esther 9:29Ver. 29. Then Esther the queen, the daughter of Abihail, and Mordecai the Jew, wrote with all authority,.... Strongly pressing the observance of this festival; before, Mordecai only recommended it, but now the queen gave a sanction to it, and laid her obligation on the Jews to observe it; perhaps some of the Jews were backward to it, or neglected to observe it, and therefore Esther and Mordecai joined in a letter to them, to press them to it; the Jewish chronologer {x} says, this was written the year following; the former Targum is, they wrote this whole volume, and the strength of the miracle, or set the miraculous deliverance in the strongest light, with this view,to confirm this second letter of Purim; that it might have its weight and influence upon them, to engage them to keep it, as the latter Targum adds; that when it was an intercalary year, they might not read the Megillah (or book of Esther) in the first Adar, but in the second Adar.{x} Seder Olam Rabba, c. 29. p. 87. Esther 9:30Ver. 30. And he sent letters unto all the Jews,.... That is, Mordecai did, signed in the queen's name, and his own:to the hundred twenty and seven provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus; among which was Judea, that was become a province, first of the Chaldean, now of the Persian empire, see Ezr 5:8 to whom also these letters were sent, directing and ordering the Jews there to observe these days, who were also concerned in the deliverance wrought:with words of peace and truth exhorting them to live in peace with one another, and their neighbours, and to constancy in the true religion; or wishing them all peace and prosperity in the most loving and sincere manner. Esther 9:31Ver. 31. To confirm these days of Purim in their times appointed,.... The fourteenth and fifteenth of Adar:according as Mordecai the Jew and Esther the queen had enjoined them; in the letters written and signed by them both:and as they had decreed for themselves, and for their seed; see Es 9:27,the matters of their fastings and their cry; in commemoration of their deliverance from those distresses and calamities which occasioned fastings and prayers during the time of them; and to this sense is the former Targum; though it is certain the Jews observe the thirteenth day, the day before the two days, as a fast, and which they call the fast of Esther {y}, and have prayers on the festival days peculiar to them; but the sense Aben Ezra gives seems best, that as the Jews had decreed to keep the fasts, mentioned in Zec 7:5, so they now decreed to rejoice in the days of Purim.{y} Lebush & Schulchan, ut supra, (par. 1.) c. 686. sect. 1. Esther 9:32Ver. 32. And the decree of Esther confirmed these matters of Purim,.... As a festival to be observed by the Jews in future generations:and it was written in the book; either in this book of Esther; or in the public acts and chronicles of the kings of Persia; or in a book by itself, now lost, as Aben Ezra thinks, as many others are we read of in Scripture, as the books of the chronicles of the kings of Israel and Judah, &c.
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