19 Therefore the Jews of the villages, who live in the rural towns, hold the fourteenth day of the month of Adar as a day for gladness and feasting, as a holiday, and as a day on which they send gifts of food to one another.
20 And Mordecai recorded these things and sent letters to all the Jews who were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near and far, 21 obliging them to keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar and also the fifteenth day of the same, year by year, 22 as the days on which the Jews got relief from their enemies, and as the month that had been turned for them from sorrow into gladness and from mourning into a holiday; that they should make them days of feasting and gladness, days for sending gifts of food to one another and gifts to the poor.
23 So the Jews accepted what they had started to do, and what Mordecai had written to them. 24 For Haman the Agagite, the son of Hammedatha, the enemy of all the Jews, had plotted against the Jews to destroy them, and had cast Pur (that is, cast lots), to crush and to destroy them. 25 But when it came before the king, he gave orders in writing that his evil plan that he had devised against the Jews should return on his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows. 26 Therefore they called these days Purim, after the term Pur. Therefore, because of all that was written in this letter, and of what they had faced in this matter, and of what had happened to them, 27 the Jews firmly obligated themselves and their offspring and all who joined them, that without fail they would keep these two days according to what was written and at the time appointed every year, 28 that these days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation, in every clan, province, and city, and that these days of Purim should never fall into disuse among the Jews, nor should the commemoration of these days cease among their descendants.
29 Then Queen Esther, the daughter of Abihail, and Mordecai the Jew gave full written authority, confirming this second letter about Purim. 30 Letters were sent to all the Jews, to the 127 provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus, in words of peace and truth, 31 that these days of Purim should be observed at their appointed seasons, as Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther obligated them, and as they had obligated themselves and their offspring, with regard to their fasts and their lamenting. 32 The command of Esther confirmed these practices of Purim, and it was recorded in writing.
10 King Ahasuerus imposed tax on the land and on the coastlands of the sea. 2 And all the acts of his power and might, and the full account of the high honor of Mordecai, to which the king advanced him, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the kings of Media and Persia? 3 For Mordecai the Jew was second in rank to King Ahasuerus, and he was great among the Jews and popular with the multitude of his brothers, for he sought the welfare of his people and spoke peace to all his people.
Section Overview
Purim is instituted to commemorate the change in the Jews’ fortunes. The story closes with the permanently safe and happy situation of the Jews living in Persia.
Section Outline
Response
The OT frequently shows a deep connection between great actions of God and the festivals and rituals commemorating them. Although the new covenant equivalents of these are fewer and simpler (baptism and Eucharist), they are not unimportant. Even though Christians do not celebrate Purim, baptism and Eucharist are an opportunity to enter joyfully into the salvation the Lord has worked for his church.
And yet, once again, one cannot help but see a contrast between the Lord’s constant presence in the rituals of the Pentateuch and his absence from Purim. All the festivals of Exodus and Deuteronomy are focused on the Lord as acts of worship for what he has done for Israel. God has been at work in the book of Esther, but Purim could be celebrated and gifts given without a single mention of his name. And yet, perhaps the Christian can find, in the joy and relief of Purim, a hint, imperfect but unmistakable, of the joy that grips all the saints (Rev. 19:6–8) after God delivers us from the spiritual Babylon that hates God and oppresses his people (Revelation 18).
The book ends by speaking to the greatness of Mordecai (Est. 10:2–3). Many other acts of deliverance by God are followed by praise (Exodus 15; Judges 5), yet here the lack of any praise to God for the series of coincidences no human could have engineered is saddening. Although the secure position of the Jews in Persia after so serious a threat is reason for genuine celebration, it is appropriate for Christians to ponder what opportunities we might have to speak of the God who fulfills his purposes and works on our behalf as we make our way in the world.