Remembering Deliverance

On the thirteenth day of Adar, the very day the enemies of the Jews hoped to have power over them, it was turned the other way. The Jews gathered in their cities throughout the provinces to defend themselves against those who sought their hurt. No one could withstand them. The princes, governors, and officials helped them, because the fear of Mordecai had fallen on them.

The Jews defended themselves against their enemies, and Haman's ten sons also fell. Three times the writer notes that they did not lay their hand on the plunder. This showed they sought protection, not gain. On the fourteenth day they rested and made it a day of feasting and gladness. In Susa they rested on the fifteenth.

Mordecai recorded these things and wrote to all the Jews. They were to keep both days every year as the days when the Jews had rest from their enemies. These were days of feasting and gladness, sending gifts to one another, and gifts to the needy. The feast was named Purim, after Pur, the lot Haman had cast. Then Esther the queen wrote with all authority to confirm this second letter. These days would be remembered generation after generation. Christians see in them the Lord turning sorrow into joy.