Exposition

 I. GOD'S PREPARATIONS 1:1--2:20

 II. HAMAN'S PLOT 2:21--4:3

 III. ESTHER'S INTERVENTION 4:4--9:19

 IV. THE JEWS' REJOICING 9:20-32

Evidently Mordecai issued the decree establishing the feast of Purim some time after the slaying of the Jews' enemies (v. 20). His proclamation united the two days on which the Jews had defended themselves (Adar 13 and 14) into one holiday. During the inter-testamental period the Jews called Adar 14 "Mordecai Day"(2 Maccabees 15:36, RSV), but they discarded this special designation later. Modern Jews celebrate Purim on the evening of Adar 14 (March 8). It is their most festive and popular holiday.⁹⁹

"Purim"is the plural form of the Persian word pur, meaning the "lot"(cf. 3:7). The name "Purim"became a symbolic reminder to the Jews of how God used circumstances, specifically casting the lot (cf. 3:7), to deliver them in 473 B.C.

Probably Esther sent her decree (v. 29) confirming Mordecai's previous declaration of the official Jewish holiday (vv. 20-21) to encourage its firm establishment. Her letter evidently began, "Words of peace and truth"(v. 30).¹⁰⁰There was probably considerable resistance within the conservative Jewish community to adding another national festival to those prescribed in the Torah.

"The book"(v. 32) must be the one in which Mordecai recorded all these events (v. 20) that most scholars have concluded may have been a source the writer of Esther used. This document was probably not the Book of Esther itself, assuming the writer of Esther was someone other than Mordecai.¹⁰¹

 V. MORDECAI'S GREATNESS ch. 10

Perhaps the writer mentioned Ahasuerus' tax (v. 1) because Mordecai had something to do with it, or perhaps this tax reflects God's blessing on the king for preserving the Jews (Gen. 12:3).

Appeal to the official chronicles (v. 2) claimed historicity for the events recorded in Esther (cf. 1 Kings 14:19; et al.). These documents are not available to us today. They may have been Persian¹⁰²or Jewish¹⁰³archives.

Mordecai was one of several biblical characters whom God elevated to a position of high government rank (cf. Joseph, Daniel, and Nehemiah).¹⁰⁴He used his position of influence to benefit his people (v. 3). However, there is no evidence that either Mordecai or Esther had any desire to return to Jerusalem and become part of God's theocratic program there. No one prevented them from doing so either (cf. Neh. 2:5).