The Chosen Key Word in this Chapter is “Destruction” it comes from the Hebrew Word “shmad” which means “destruction, annihilation.”
The Jews successfully defend themselves, and a new annual celebration is born. Welcome to Bible Life Basics Chapter Reviews, I am Chris and this is Esther 9.
On the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the very day Haman’s original decree had appointed for the Jews’ destruction, the tables turn completely, and the Jews instead gain rule over those who hated them. Throughout every province, the Jews gather to defend their lives, and no one can withstand them, since the fear of them falls upon all people, and officials throughout the provinces help the Jews, since the fear of Mordecai has fallen upon them, as he grows increasingly great throughout the king’s house, his fame spreading through every province.
The Jews defeat their enemies with the sword, slaughter, and “destruction,” “shmad” in Hebrew, doing as they please to those who hate them, including killing Haman’s ten sons, though they take no plunder from the spoil, even though the earlier decree permitted it. The king tells Esther of the numbers slain in Shushan alone, and asks what further request she has, and Esther asks that the Jews in Shushan be allowed one additional day, and that Haman’s ten sons be hanged, both of which the king grants.
Mordecai writes letters to all the Jews throughout Ahasuerus’s provinces, establishing that they should keep the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month Adar yearly as days of feasting, joy, and sending portions to one another and gifts to the poor, since these were the days on which the Jews rested from their enemies, and their sorrow was turned into joy. This celebration, called Purim after the “pur,” the lot Haman had cast, becomes a permanent, joyful memorial observed by Jewish generations ever afterward, commemorating this remarkable, unlikely deliverance.
The Jews’ deliberate refusal to take plunder, even though legally permitted, shows their victory was understood as self-defense and justice rather than opportunistic revenge or greed. The establishment of Purim as a lasting annual celebration ensured this remarkable deliverance would be actively remembered and retold by every subsequent generation, rather than fading quietly into forgotten history.
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