Esther On The Accounts Of Mordechai’s Preeminence

The Jews are exalted.

From sorrow to gladness, mourning to festival, … v. 22

G-d’s word comes to pass… especially when hope seems to fade.

“Purim Is Proclaimed”

… The Jews prevailed over their adversaries.
9:1
Mordechai was now preeminent in the royal palace and his fame was spreading throughout all the provinces, for the man Mordechai grew increasingly greater.
:4
Esther replied, “If it pleases the king, let tomorrow also be given to the Jews… and let Haman’s ten sons be hanged on the gallows.”
:13
… and they hanged Haman’s ten sons.
:14
The rest of the Jews that were in the king’s provinces assembled and defended themselves gaining relief from their foes, slaying seventy-five thousand of their enemies, but they did not lay their hand on the spoils,
:16
on the thirteenth day of the month of Adar. And they gained relief on its fourteenth [day], making it a day of feasting and gladness.
:17
But the Jews that were in Shushan assembled on both its thirteenth [day] and its fourteenth, and they gained relief on its fifteenth, making it a day of feasting and gladness.
:18
Therefore, Jewish villagers who live in unwalled towns celebrate the fourteenth day of the month of Adar as an occasion of gladness, feasting and festival, and for sending delicacies to one another.
:19
[charging them] to observe annually the fourteenth day of the month of Adar and its fifteenth day.
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… from one of sorrow to gladness, and from mourning to festival; to observe them as days of feasting and gladness, and sending delicacies to one another, and gifts to the poor.
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For Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, enemy of all the Jews, had plotted to annihilate the Jews and had cast a pur (that is, the lot) to terrify and to annihilate them.
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Therefore, they called these days “Purim” from the word “pur.” …
:26
The Jews confirmed and undertook upon themselves, and their posterity, and upon all who might join them, without fail, to observe their prescribed manner, and in their proper time each year.
:27
And these days should be remembered and celebrated by every generation, every family, every province, and every city; and these days of Purim should never cease among the Jews, nor shall their remembrance perish from their descendants.
:28
Esther’s ordinance confirmed these regulations for Purim; and it was recorded in the book.
:32

1 And in the twelfth month-which is the month of Adar-on the thirteenth day thereof, when the king’s order and his edict drew near to be put into execution, on the day that the Jews’ enemies looked forward to ruling over them, it was reversed,the Jews should rule over their enemies.
2 The Jews assembled in their cities, in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, to lay hand on those who sought to harm them, and no one stood up before them, for their fear had fallen upon all the peoples.
3 And all the princes of the provinces and the satraps and the governors and those that conduct the king’s affairs elevated the Jews, for the fear of Mordecai fell upon them.
4 For Mordecai was great in the king’s house, and his fame went forth throughout all the provinces, for the man Mordecai waxed greater and greater.
5 And the Jews smote all their enemies with the stroke of the sword and with slaying and destruction, and they did to their enemies as they wished.
6 And in Shushan the capital, 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 Vaizatha:
10 The ten sons of Haman the son of Hammedatha, the adversary of the Jews, they slew, but on the spoil they did not lay their hands.
11 On that day, the number of those slain in Shushan the capital came before the king.
12 And the king said to Queen Esther, “In Shushan the capital the Jews slew and destroyed five hundred men, and the ten sons of Haman; in the rest of the king’s provinces what have they done! Now what is your petition, and it shall be granted you, and what is your request, and it shall be done.”
13 And Esther said, “If it please the king, let tomorrow too be granted to the Jews to do as today’s decree, and let them hang Haman’s ten sons on the gallows.”
14 Now the king ordered that it be done so, and a decree was given in Shushan, and they hanged Haman’s ten sons.
15 Now the Jews who were in Shushan assembled on the fourteenth day of Adar as well, and they slew in Shushan three hundred men, but upon the spoils they did not lay their hands.
16 And the rest of the Jews who were in the king’s provinces assembled and protected themselves and had rest from their enemies and slew their foes, seventy-five thousand, but upon the spoil they did not lay their hands
17 on the thirteenth of the month of Adar, and they rested on the fourteenth thereof, and made it a day of feasting and joy.
18 And the Jews who were in Shushan assembled on the thirteenth thereof and on the fourteenth thereof, and rested on the fifteenth thereof, and made it a day of feasting and joy.
19 Therefore, the Jewish villagers, who live in open towns, make the fourteenth day of the month of Adar [a day of] joy and feasting and a festive day, and of sending portions to one another.
20 And Mordecai inscribed these things and sent letters to all the Jews who were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near and far,
21 to enjoin them to make the fourteenth day of the month of Adar and the fifteenth day thereof, every year,
22 as the days when the Jews rested from their enemies, and the month that was reversed for them from grief to joy and from mourning to a festive day-to make them days of feasting and joy, and sending portions one to another, and gifts to the poor.
23 And the Jews took upon themselves what they had commenced to do and what Mordecai had written to them.
24 For Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the adversary of all the Jews, had devised to destroy the Jews, and he cast the pur-that is the lot-to terrify them and destroy them.
25 And when she came before the king, he commanded through letters that his evil device that he had devised against the Jews return upon his own head, and to destroy him and his sons on the gallows.
26 Therefore, they called these days Purim after the name pur; therefore, because of all the words of this letter, and what they saw concerning this matter, and what happened to them.
27 The Jews ordained and took upon themselves and upon their seed and upon all those who join them, that it is not to be revoked to make these two days according to their script and according to their appointed time, every year.
28 And these days shall be remembered and celebrated throughout every generation, in every family, every province, and every city, and these days of Purim shall not be revoked from amidst the Jews, and their memory shall not cease from their seed.
29 Now, Queen Esther, the daughter of Abihail, and Mordecai the Jew wrote down all [the acts of] power, to confirm the second Purim letter.
30 And he sent letters to all the Jews, to one hundred twenty-seven provinces, the realm of Ahasuerus, words of peace and truth,
31 to confirm these days of Purim in their appointed times, as Mordecai the Jew and Esther the queen had enjoined them, and as they had ordained for themselves and for their seed, the matters of the fasts and their cry.
32 Now Esther’s order confirmed these matters of Purim, and it was inscribed in the book.