What is happening in this passage about the Jews and their enemies?

This passage tells how a set day, first planned for the Jews’ ruin, became the day they defended themselves and overcame their enemies. The Jews gathered in all the provinces, and no one could stand against them because fear fell on the people and leaders helped them. In the capital city they defeated many, including the ten sons of Haman, who had plotted their destruction. They acted to save their lives, not to gain wealth, and did not touch the spoil. God turned a day of expected sorrow into a day of rescue.

Why did the Jews not lay their hands on the spoil after winning?

Three times the passage says they did not touch the spoil. This shows they were not fighting out of greed or trying to enrich themselves. They were acting in self-defense, carrying out just punishment on those who wanted to destroy them. By refusing the goods of their enemies, they made it clear this was not a raid or a grab for property. It was about survival, justice, and God’s judgment on those who had sought to wipe them out.

Who are Esther and Mordecai in this passage, and what do they do?

Mordecai is a Jew whom God has raised to high rank in the king’s house. The rulers fear him and so stand with the Jews, which helps bring about their safety. Esther is the Jewish queen. The king tells her about the defeat of the enemies in the capital and asks what more she desires. She asks for one more day of defense in the city and for Haman’s ten sons to be hanged. Later, Mordecai and Esther together write and send letters that fix the feast of Purim for all future generations.

What is Purim in this passage, and why is it celebrated?

Purim is the name given to the two days the Jews set aside each year to remember this rescue. The name comes from “Pur,” the lot that Haman had cast when he planned the day to destroy them. God turned that plan around, so the month became one of joy instead of sorrow. The Jews agreed that every year they would keep the fourteenth and fifteenth days of this month with feasting, joy, sending food to one another, and gifts to the poor, so that the memory of God’s deliverance would never fade.

Why did Esther ask for a second day of defense in the city of Shushan?

After the first day, the king reports to Esther how many enemies have been killed in the palace city and asks what more she seeks. Esther asks that the Jews in Shushan be allowed to act again the next day under the same law, and that Haman’s ten sons be hanged. This is not presented as personal revenge, but as a desire to make sure the threat in the capital is fully removed and that God’s judgment on this wicked plan is clear. It helps bring full rest from their enemies in that place.

Why are Haman’s ten sons named and then hanged in this passage?

The ten sons of Haman are listed by name to show the end of the family that had plotted to destroy the Jews. They are killed in the fighting and then hanged on the gallows, as Esther requested. Their hanging is a public sign that Haman’s plan has been overturned and that his house will not rise again to threaten God’s people. It shows that the evil scheme returns on the heads of those who devised it, just as the king’s letters had said about Haman himself.

What does this passage teach about God’s providence and justice?

The whole story shows God quietly working behind the scenes. Enemies planned a day to wipe out the Jews, even casting lots to fix the time, but the day is “turned to the contrary.” Those who hoped to rule over the Jews are instead defeated, while the Jews gain rest. The fear that falls on others, the rise of Mordecai, and the unity of the people all show God arranging events. Justice is seen as the wicked plot backfires, Haman’s house falls, and those who sought harm are judged while God’s people are preserved.

How is the feast of Purim meant to be kept according to this passage?

The passage says Purim should be kept every year on the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month when the Jews found rest from their enemies. It is to be a time of feasting, joy, and “a good day.” They are to send portions of food to one another and gifts to the poor. These customs build memory, love, and care inside the community. The Jews bind themselves, their children, and all who join them to keep these days so that the story of their rescue will be remembered in every generation.

How can this passage about Purim speak to believers today?

This passage shows that God can turn what looks like certain defeat into rescue and joy. It also shows the value of remembering and marking God’s past help with shared meals, giving, and care for the needy. For believers today, this can encourage trust in God’s unseen hand during hard times and a habit of looking back on times when God has helped. It also points to the goodness of standing together as a community, sharing with one another, and including the poor in our times of joy.

Esth.9.1

Esther 9:1

KJV

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;)

The Jews Destroy Their Enemies

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.

Haman’s Sons Hanged

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.

The Feast of Purim Instituted

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.

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.

Cross References

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