9:1 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 a turned to the contrary, that the Jews had
rule over them that hated them;)
(a) This was by God's great providence, who turns the joy of
the wicked into sorrow, and the tears of the godly into
gladness.
9:3 And all the rulers of the provinces, and the lieutenants,
and the deputies, and officers of the king, b helped the
Jews; because the fear of Mordecai fell upon them.
(b) Honoured them and befriended them.
9:5 Thus the Jews smote all their c enemies with the stroke of
the sword, and slaughter, and destruction, and did what they
would unto those that hated them.
(c) Who had conspired their death by the permission of the
wicked Haman.
9:6 And in Shushan the palace the Jews slew and destroyed d
five hundred men.
(d) Besides the three hundred that they slew the second day,
(Es 9:15).
9:10 The ten sons of Haman the son of Hammedatha, the enemy of
the Jews, slew they; but e on the spoil laid they not
their hand.
(e) By which they declared that this was God's just
judgment on the enemies of his Church as they fought
not for their own gain, but to execute his vengeance.
9:13 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 f unto this day's decree, and let Haman's ten
sons be hanged upon the gallows.
(f) This she requires not out of a desire for vengeance but
with zeal to see God's judgment's executed against his
enemies.
9:16 But the other Jews that [were] in the king's provinces
gathered themselves together, and stood for g their
lives, and had rest from their enemies, and slew of their
h foes seventy and five thousand, but they laid not their
hands on the prey,
(g) Read (Es 8:11).
(h) Meaning, that they laid hands on no one that was not
the enemy of God.
9:17 On the i 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.
(i) Meaning, in all places saving Shushan.
9:19 Therefore the Jews of the villages, that dwelt in the
unwalled towns, k 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.
(k) As the Jews do even to this day, calling it in the
Persian language Purim, that is, the day of lots.
9:20 And Mordecai wrote l these things, and sent letters unto
all the Jews that [were] in all the provinces of the king
Ahasuerus, [both] nigh and far,
(l) The Jews gather from this that Mordecai wrote this
book, but it seems that he wrote only these letters and
decrees that follow.
9:22 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 m sending portions
one to another, and gifts to the poor.
(m) He sets before our eyes the use of this feast which was
for the remembrance of God's deliverance, the
maintenance of mutual friendship and relief of the poor.
9:24 Because Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy
of all the Jews, had devised against the Jews to destroy
them, and had n cast Pur, that [is], the lot, to consume
them, and to destroy them;
9:25 But when o [Esther] came before the king, he commanded by
letters that his wicked p 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.
(o) That is, Esther.
(p) These are the words of the kings commandment to
disannul Haman's wicked enterprise.
9:27 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 q days
according to their writing, and according to their
[appointed] time every year;
(q) Meaning, the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month
of Adar.
9:30 And he sent the letters unto all the Jews, to the hundred
twenty and seven provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus,
[with] r words of peace and truth,
(r) Which were letters declaring to them quietness and
assurance and putting them out of doubt and fear.
9:31 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 s fastings and their
cry.
(s) That they would observe this feast with fasting and
earnest prayer, which in Hebrew is signified by this
word (they cry).
