g hangs k7i. e To kill their implacable Enemies. For it is not impro- bable that the greateſt and worſt ofthem had politickly withdrawn or hidden theinſelves for that day 3 after which, the Commiſſion granted to tne Jews being expired. they confidently returned ro their .omes 3 where they were taken and ſlain by virtue of this Private and unexpected decree. / They were ſlain before : now let their bodies be hanged upon their Father's Gallows, for their greater infamy, and the rerrour of all others who thatl preſume to abuſe the king in like manner, or to perſwade him to execute ſuch crueJties upon his own Subje&ts.This cuſtom of hanging up the bo- dies of MajefiQtors after their death, was frequent among the Jews and Perſians alſo, as 1s well known.
14 And the king commanded ir fo to be done ; and the decree was given at Shuſhan, and they hanged Ha- mans ten ſons,
15 For the Jews that were in Shuſban gathered them- ſelves 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.
15 But the other Jews that were in the kings pro- vinces gathered themſelves together , and ſtood for their lives, and had reſt from their enemies, and flew of their foes ſeventy and five thouſand ; bur they laid not their
hand on the prey :
17 On the thirteenth day ws of the month Adar, and onthe fourteenth day Þ of the ſame reſted they, and made it a day of feaſting and glagneſs.
m This belongs not to the Feaſt, but to the work done before it. The meaning is, This they did, 5. e- they flew their Foes, as was now ſaid, wv. +6- upon the thirrgenth day.
18 But the Jews that were at Shuſhan, aſſembled to- gether on the thirteenth day thereof, and on the four- . teenth thereof . and on the fifreenth day of the ſame they reſted, and made ita day of feaſting and giadnels.
19 Therefore » the Jews of che viliages, that dwelt in the unwalled towns o, made the fourteenth day of
the month Adar, a day of gladneſs and feaſting, and a
good day, and of ſendicg portions one to another,
» To wit, becauſe they did their whole work up-n the thirteenth day, as was noted verſe i7. to which this manifeitly relates, the 18th verſe coming in as it- were by way of Parentheſts. o Heb. the cuties of the villages, i.e. in the leſſer Cities and Villages; which are here oppoſed to the great City S»uſbay, & thoſe who dwelt in ir.
20 And Mordecai wrote cheſe things p,. and ſent let- ters unto all the Jews that ere in all the provinces of the King Ahaſnerus, both nigh and far ;
p Either, 1. The Letters here following. But that is diſtinQly mentioned in the next words. Or, 2. The Hiſtory of theſe things which was the ground of the Feaſt : which Mordzcaz knew very well ought to be had in remembrance,and to be told to their Chit- dren and Poſterity, through all ages, according to the many Com- mands of God to that purpoſe,and the conſtant Prattice of the holy Men of God in ſuch caſes. |
21 To ſtablith this among them, that they ſhould keep the ſourceenth day of the month Adar, and the fifteenth day of the ſame q yearly :
q Becauſe both theſe days had been ſer apart this Year, the latter at Shuſhan, the former in other parts : and becauſe the great Work of God, which was the ground of this Solemnity, had been done both upon the thirteenth and the fourteenth day. :
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 jthould make them days of feaſting and joy, and of ſending portions one to another, and gifts to the poor. = ;
r Which they uſed to give upon days of Thankſgiving ; of which ſee Nehem: 8: 10.
23 And the Jews undertook / to do as they had be- zun, and as Mordecai had written untothem,
f Having by this means opportunity to gather rhemſelves toge- ther vpon any occaſion, the chief of them aſſembled together, gnd freely and unanimouſly conſented to Mordeca:'s delire in this matter, and b-und it vpon themſelves and Poſterity. -
24 Becauſe Haman the fon of Hammedatha the Aga-
i, ire, che enemy of all the Jews, had deviſed againſt the t Het” Jews to deſtroy them, and * had caſt Pur (that is, the lot ) to + conſume them, and todeſtroy them,
fHeb.in it
ous; THeb 25 But + when Eher came before the King, he com-
manded by letters that his wicked device which he de- viſed againſt the Jews, ſhould return upon his own head, and that he and his ſons ſhould be hanged on the gallows. _ :
Th: 26 Wherefore they called theſe days Purimy after the 15 name of || Pur ; therefore for all the words of this let- ter, and of that which they had ſeen : concerning this
matter, and which had come unto them, 2 £ 5, e, Bur for the reſpe& which they juſtly bare to Mordeca!'s let-
B RK. Chap. X: |
p . ;
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 THe>22f. would keep theſe two days, according to their writing
x, and according to their appointed time every year: .|
ive, Gentile Proſelites 3 who were obliged to ſubmir to other ' of the Jewiſh Laws, and therefore to this alſo; the rather becauſe they enjoyed the benefit, of this days deliverance 3 without which the Jewiſh Nation and Religion had been in a great meaſure,ifnor wholly, extin& in the World. x i. e. According to that writing which was drawn up by Mordecai with Efhers content, v.23.29.and atterwands confirmed by the content of all che Jews in the ſeveral
places.
28 And that theſe days ſheuld be remembred, and kepr throughout every generation, every family, every province, and every City ; and that theſe days of Purim _ ſhould not # fail fromamong the Jews, nor the memo- tHeb. 2aſs. rial of them Þ periſh from their ſeed. tHeb.mg-
29 Then Eſther the queen, the daughter of Abihai and Mordecai the Jew, wrote with + all authority y, to #Heb. ;y confirm the ſecond letter of Purim. | frength, 3 The former Letter, wv: 20: did only recommend, but this en- joins the obſervation of this Solemnityz becauſe this was not only Moraecai s Att, who yet had by the King's Grant a great power and Authority over the Subje&ts of that Kingdom, and conſcquently over the ſews, bur it was the A& of all the Jews, binding them- {elves and Poſterity ro it, V: 27: Or, with all might or efficxcy, and as that word uſually ſignifies ; He preſſed ic with all earneſtneſs and venemency. | o" |