Esther 9 Study Notes

9:1 The theme of reversal comes to its culmination on an empire-wide scale. Note the clause: just the opposite happened.

9:2-5 These verses explain how the Jews overpowered those who hated them.

9:6-10 Haman’s anti-Semitism, and the resentment of those who lost positions of influence when Mordecai replaced Haman, may explain why the Jews in the fortress of Susa had to kill five hundred men. Haman had taken pride in his ten sons (5:11); now they shared his fate.

9:11-15 The king seemed unconcerned about the death of five hundred of his subjects. After asking for a casualty report from the rest of the kingdom, he offered Esther any additional help she needed (v. 12). Apparently the struggle within the royal fortress was not finished because Esther requested an additional day for the Jews to battle their enemies (v. 13). Her request to hang the bodies of Haman’s ten sons seems vindictive, but this was a common practice in the Persian period, especially for those who were convicted of insurrection (see Herodotus, Hist. 3:125). Moreover, the display of Haman’s sons on the gallows would serve as a powerful deterrent to any who might contemplate further attacks against the Jewish people. Again, as in vv. 10 and 16, the text emphasizes that the Jews were not out to pillage and enrich themselves, but only to defend their lives.

9:16-17 The phrase gained relief from is based on the Hebrew verb nuach, meaning “to rest.” The death of seventy-five thousand of those who hated them seems unusually high, but the text itself is not certain. The Greek text (LXX) lists the number killed as fifteen thousand, while the Alpha Text (Gk) has 10,107. The fourteenth day of Adar was not a day of fighting for the Jews in the provinces; instead, they rested (Hb noach) and proclaimed a holiday.

9:18-19 A holiday is literally “a good day” (Hb yom tov).

9:20-22 Mordecai’s letter appears to be commanding a two-day celebration for all Jews, an order that seems to conflict with vv. 16-18,31, as well as later Jewish practice. However, he may have intended whatever day was appropriate for their location—the fourteenth in a walled city and the fifteenth in an open village—an interpretation probably supported by v. 27.

9:23-28 The days of Purim continue to be celebrated, with the first day a day of fasting, and the second a day of feasting and celebrating. Note the book begins with the Persians celebrating and ends with the Jews celebrating.

9:29-32 The meaning of v. 29 is uncertain. The sense is that both Esther and Mordecai confirmed the authority of the first letter (vv. 20-22), as well as placed their authority on the second letter (vv. 29-32), which, while odd, makes sense of the difficult syntax. Commentators come to differing conclusions about the practices of fasting and lamentation. Some maintain that this authorized certain fasts in the past (Zch 8:19) that were not commanded by the law but had become part of Jewish practice. But it is more likely that it stipulated a commemorative fast modeled on the time when the Jews mourned, fasted, and lamented (Est 4:3) after hearing of Haman’s edict. That Esther’s command was written into the record (Hb seypher) meant it became a permanent, official requirement for the Jewish people.