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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Esther 9:20 - 9:20
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The feast of Purim instituted by letters from Mordochai and Esther. Est 9:20. Mordochai wrote these things, and sent letters to all the Jews, etc. הָאֵלֶּה הַדְּבָרִים does not mean the contents of the present book but the events of the last days, especially the fact that the Jews, after overcoming their enemies, rested in Susa on the 15th, in the other provinces on the 14th Adar, and kept these days as days of rejoicing. This is obvious from the object of these letters, Est 9:21 : וגו עֲלֵיהֶם לְקַיֵּם, to appoint among them “that they should keep the 14th day of the month Adar and the 15th day of the same yearly, as the days on which the Jews rested from their enemies, and as the month which was turned unto them from sorrow to joy, and from mourning into a glad day, that they should keep them as days of feasting and joy, and of mutual sending of portions one to another, and gifts to the poor.” יֹום עָשָׂה, to keep, to celebrate a day. The עֹשִׂים לִהְיֹות, Est 9:21, is after long parentheses taken up again in אֹותָם לַעֲשֹׂות. קַיֵּם, to establish a matter, to authorize it, comp. Rth 4:7. Both the 14th and 15th Adar were made festivals because the Jews on them had rest from their enemies, and celebrated this rest by feasting, some on the former, some on the latter day.