Esther 9:20-28 | The Way of Scripture

Esther 9:20-28

What does Purim ask the community to remember and share?

Berean Standard Bible

20 Mordecai recorded these events and sent letters to all the Jews in all the provinces of King Xerxes, both near and far, 21 to establish among them an annual celebration on the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month of Adar 22 as the days on which the Jews gained rest from their enemies and the month in which their sorrow turned to joy and their mourning into a holiday. He wrote that these were to be days of feasting and joy, of sending gifts to one another and to the poor. 23 So the Jews agreed to continue the custom they had started, as 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) to crush and destroy them. 25 But when it came before the king, he commanded by letter that the wicked scheme which Haman had devised against the Jews should come back upon his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows. 26 Therefore these days are called Purim, from the word Pur. Because of all the instructions in this letter, and because of all they had seen and experienced, 27 the Jews bound themselves to establish the custom that they and their descendants and all who join them should not fail to celebrate these two days at the appointed time each and every year, according to their regulation. 28 These days should be remembered and celebrated by every generation, family, province, and city, so that these days of Purim should not fail to be observed among the Jews, nor should the memory of them fade from their descendants.

What is the context?

Mordecai writes to establish an annual celebration of the days of relief, when sorrow becomes joy. The instructions include feasting, gifts to one another, and gifts to the poor.

The account recalls Haman’s lot and the reversal of his plan, explaining the name Purim from Pur. The people commit their families, descendants, and those joining them to remembering the days.

Memory is expressed through shared joy and material generosity. The poor are included in the celebration rather than left outside while those with resources commemorate their rescue.

How is this passage commonly understood?

Wesley understands those joining the Jews as sharing the benefits of the deliverance and the obligation to remember it. The BSB explains the festival’s name through the lot in this very passage. The account establishes the commemorative practice among the Jews without issuing a command that every later Christian church must adopt the festival.

Where does this fit in God's plan?

1 Corinthians 11:17–34 joins remembrance of Jesus’ death with a rebuke of gatherings that humiliate those who have nothing. This develops the wider theme that remembering deliverance should shape a community’s treatment of its members. Paul is directly discussing the Lord’s Supper, not deriving it from Purim or making the two celebrations the same ordinance.

What is our position?

We don't have a position on this passage yet. When our study reaches a conclusion the text supports, it will appear here.

Where can I study this further?

No deeper study linked yet.

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