This is the very last in the studies of Esther I've been doing with the CU. Due to their short attention span and the length of these chapters, I've decided to stick to picking out particular verses (the highlighted ones) rather than getting them to read the whole thing out loud however feel free to read the whole passage yourself. =)
Esther 9-10
9 1 On the thirteenth day of the twelfth month,
the month of Adar, the edict commanded by the king was to be carried out. On
this day the enemies of the Jews had hoped to overpower them, but now the tables were turned and the
Jews got the upper hand over those who hated them.
2 The Jews assembled in their cities in all the provinces of King Xerxes to
attack those seeking their destruction. No-one could stand against them, because the people of
all the other nationalities were afraid of them.
3 And all the nobles of the provinces, the
satraps, the governors and the king's administrators helped the Jews, because
fear of Mordecai had seized them.
4 Mordecai was prominent in the palace; his
reputation spread throughout the provinces, and he became more and more
powerful.
5 The Jews struck down all their enemies with
the sword, killing and destroying them, and they did what they pleased to those
who hated them.
6 In the citadel of Susa, the Jews killed and
destroyed five hundred men.
7 They also killed Parshandatha, Dalphon,
Aspatha,
8 Poratha, Adalia, Aridatha,
9 Parmashta, Arisai, Aridai and Vaizatha,
10 the ten sons of Haman son of Hammedatha, the
enemy of the Jews. But
they did not lay their hands on the plunder.
11 The number of those slain in the citadel of
Susa was reported to the king that same day.
12 The king said to Queen Esther, The Jews have
killed and destroyed five hundred men and the ten sons of Haman in the citadel
of Susa. What have they done in the rest of the king's provinces? Now what is
your petition? It will be given you. What is your request? It will also be
granted.
13 If it pleases the king, Esther answered, give
the Jews in Susa permission to carry out this day's edict tomorrow also, and
let Haman's ten sons be hanged on gallows.
14 So the king commanded that this be done. An
edict was issued in Susa, and they hanged the ten sons of Haman.
15 The Jews in Susa came together on the
fourteenth day of the month of Adar, and they put to death in Susa three
hundred men, but they did
not lay their hands on the plunder.
16 Meanwhile, the remainder of the Jews who were
in the king's provinces also assembled to protect themselves and get relief
from their enemies. They killed seventy-five thousand of them but did not lay
their hands on the plunder.
17 This happened on the thirteenth day of the
month of Adar, and on the fourteenth they rested and made it a day of feasting
and joy.
18 The
Jews in Susa, however, had assembled on the thirteenth and fourteenth, and then
on the fifteenth they rested and made it a day of feasting and joy.
19 That is why rural Jews— those living in
villages— observe the fourteenth of the month of Adar as a day of joy and
feasting, a day for giving presents to each other.
20 Mordecai recorded these events, and he sent
letters to all the Jews throughout the provinces of King Xerxes, near and far,
21 to have them celebrate annually the
fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month of Adar
22 as the time when the Jews got relief from
their enemies, and as the month when their sorrow was turned into joy and their
mourning into a day of celebration. He wrote to them to observe the days as
days of feasting and joy and giving presents of food to one another and gifts
to the poor.
23 So the Jews agreed to continue the
celebration they had begun, doing what Mordecai had written to them.
24 For Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the
enemy of all the Jews, had plotted against the Jews to destroy them and had
cast the pur (that is, the lot) for their ruin and destruction.
25 But when the plot came to the king's
attention, he issued written orders that the evil scheme Haman had devised
against the Jews should come back on to his own head, and that he and his sons
should be hanged on the gallows.
26 (Therefore these days were called Purim, from
the word pur.) Because of everything written in this letter and because of what
they had seen and what had happened to them,
27 the Jews took it upon themselves to establish
the custom that they and their descendants and all who join them should without
fail observe these two days every year, in the way prescribed and at the time
appointed.
28 These days should be remembered and observed
in every generation by every family, and in every province and in every city.
And these days of Purim should never cease to be celebrated by the Jews, nor
should the memory of them die out among their descendants.
29 So Queen Esther, daughter of Abihail, along
with Mordecai the Jew, wrote with full authority to confirm this second letter
concerning Purim.
30 And Mordecai sent letters to all the Jews in
the 127 provinces of the kingdom of Xerxes— words of goodwill and assurance—
31 to establish these days of Purim at their
designated times, as Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther had decreed for them,
and as they had established for themselves and their descendants in regard to
their times of fasting and lamentation.
32 Esther's decree confirmed these regulations
about Purim, and it was written down in the records.
101 King
Xerxes imposed tribute throughout the empire, to its distant shores.
2 And all his acts of power and might, together
with a full account of the greatness of Mordecai to which the king had raised
him, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Media and
Persia?
3 Mordecai
the Jew was second in rank to King Xerxes, pre-eminent among the Jews, and held
in high esteem by his many fellow Jews, because he worked for the good of his
people and spoke up for the welfare of all the Jews.
Esther 9-10
This is the last part of Esther and it would be easy to sum
it up saying there was a big battle, lots of people died but at the end of the
day, the Jews won. However, as you can see from the length of these chapters,
the Jews’ victory was not overlooked as quickly as that.
If we beginning with the first 17 verses we see that we are
not told if there were any Jewish fatalities. Instead, the most important thing
is clearly that the Jews most definitely triumphed. Look at the second half of 9v2. How come others were so
scared to stand up against them? How did they win so convincingly?
It was because God was undoubtedly on their side. Without
Him, it would have been a completely different and most likely a very tragic
story.
Now, if you only look quickly at chapter 9, it may look like
the Jews had gone about killing as many people as possible however, if we look
closer, we can see that the Jews only killed those who came to attack them.
Look at verses 1 and 2.
It was all in self-defence and there is no mention of women or children being
put to death. The Jews obviously had compassion and only killed the men who
were actually attacking them.
Look at verses
10 and 15: Despite being given permission in the order sent by Mordecai,
no plunder was taken. That is, no possessions or goods were taken by force from
those attacking them. This emphasises again that the killing was purely in
self-defence, no other motive such as money.
Although the numbers of men killed seems like a large
amount, we have to remember that it could have been a lot worse. Think about
how many more would have been killed if the Jews had not been allowed to defend
themselves at all or had gone ahead and killed anyone they pleased, not just
those attacking them.
Of course, it wasn’t all doom and gloom. If we look at the
last verses of Esther, we see a celebration! If we look at 10v3, we see that
Mordecai was promoted and after the trouble was over, he wrote letters to all
the Jews all over the province to recommend that they make remembering these
events a yearly celebration. It may seem morbid of them to celebrate after so
many lives were lost however they were celebrating their rescue from certain
death.
It’s like us celebrating at Easter. It may seem odd that we
celebrate the horrible crucifixion of Jesus however we’re celebrating what His
death led to. Jesus dying on the cross meant that He took the punishment for
sin that we deserve. His death means that instead of facing a certain death
because of our sin, we can face eternity in heaven. If we trust in Jesus, we
can celebrate being free from the certain death of sin, just as the Jews
celebrated being free from the order of certain death.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
End note: For the last weeks before Easter I'm going to get them to come up with some questions for me to find answers too however, just in case they don't come up with any sensible ones, it would be nice to have a few suggestions. Thank you =)
DFTBA
