Esther 9:27 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Esther 9:27
The Jews ordained, and took upon them, and upon their seed, and upon all such as joined themselves unto them, so as it should not fail, that they would keep these two days according to their writing, and according to their appointed time every year;
to cross over · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
keep
עֹשִׂ֗ים'o.Sim
H6213
to do or make · verb, qal active participle, masculine plural absolute
two
שְׁנֵ֤יshe.Nei
H8147
two · cardinal number, both genders dual construct
days
הַיָּמִים֙hai.ya.Mim
H3117
a day (as the warm hours) · definite article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
writing
כִּכְתָבָ֖םkikh.ta.Vam
H3791
something written · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
time
וְכִזְמַנָּ֑םve.khiz.ma.Nam
H2165
an appointed occasion · conjunction + preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
year
שָׁנָ֖הsha.Nah
H8141
a year (as a revolution of time) · noun, common feminine singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Isaiah 56:6 Also the sons of the stranger, that join themselves to the LORD, to serve him, and to love the name of the LORD, to be his servants, every o…
Zechariah 2:11 And many nations shall be joined to the LORD in that day, and shall be my people: and I will dwell in the midst of thee, and thou shalt know…
Esther 8:17 And in every province, and in every city, whithersoever the king’s commandment and his decree came, the Jews had joy and gladness, a feast a…
Isaiah 56:3 Neither let the son of the stranger, that hath joined himself to the LORD, speak, saying, The LORD hath utterly separated me from his people…
Deuteronomy 5:3 The LORD made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day.
Deuteronomy 29:14-15 Neither with you only do I make this covenant and this oath;
Joshua 9:15 And Joshua made peace with them, and made a league with them, to let them live: and the princes of the congregation sware unto them.
1 Samuel 30:25 And it was so from that day forward, that he made it a statute and an ordinance for Israel unto this day.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Esther 9:20–end
We may well imagine how much affected Mordecai and Esther were with the triumphs of the Jews over their enemies, and how they saw the issue of that decisive day with a satisfaction proportionable to the care and concern with which they expected it. How were their hearts enlarged with joy in God and his salvation, and what new songs of praise were put into their mouths! But here we are told what course they took to spread the knowledge of it among their people, and to perpetuate the remembrance of it to posterity, for the honour of God and the encouragement of his people to trust in him at all times.
I. The history was written, and copies of it were dispersed among all the Jews in all the pro…
they called these days Purim after the name of Pur--"Pur," in the Persian language, signifies "lot"; and the feast of Purim, or lots, has a reference to the time having been pitched upon by Haman through the decision of the lot. In consequence of the signal national deliverance which divine providence gave them from the infamous machinations of Haman, Mordecai ordered the Jews to commemorate that event by an anniversary festival, which was to last for two days, in accordance with the two days' war of defense they had to maintain. There was a slight difference in the time of this festival; for the Jews in the provinces, having defended themselves against their enemies on the thirteenth, devot…
They called these days Purim - That is from pari, the lot; because, as we have seen, Haman cast lots to find what month, and what day of the month, would be the most favorable for the accomplishment of his bloody designs against the Jews. See on Est 3:7 (note).
And of that which they had seen - The first letter to which this second refers, must be that sent by Mordecai himself. See Est 9:20.
John Gill on Esther 9:27
The Church Fathers
The fateful days in which God gives the victory over the enemies to his true confessors must never be forgotten but must be celebrated all over the world by every generation, because the remembrance of the future rest of souls and of the resurrection of the bodies on the day of judgment must be kept alive with firm hope among all the faithful. And no church of Christ in the whole world must be deprived of this religious celebration but, always remembering this truly saving rite, must be ready at any moment and make herself worthy of receiving future blessings so that what she now celebrates in this world with faith and hope she may possess there forever in true reality and eternal blessedness. In the meantime, while we journey as pilgrims, the zeal of the teachers and the admonishment of the church must lead us to follow the example of Esther and Mordecai in doctrine and zeal so that we may be always devout in observing this rite which is to be celebrated and performed.
So the days of lots—on which God gives his true followers victory over their enemies—will never fall into oblivion, but will be celebrated throughout the world in every generation since each of the faithful must declare, with firm hope, the coming rest of souls and the resurrection of bodies on the day of judgment; nor should any of the Churches of Christ throughout the world be bereft of this faith, but should be always mindful of this most salutary rite and be prepared at every moment, and should make themselves fit to receive the coming good so that what they celebrate here in this world they may possess there forever in faith and hope, in the truth of the thing itself and in eternal happiness. And for the present, while we are journeying through this life the ingenuity of the teachers, and the Church's adherence to the precedent of Esther and Mordecai, ought to accomplish this along with us through teaching and exhortation, so that we are always devoted to the celebration and the cultivation of this faith.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Festivals, Religious — There were daily (Lev. 23), weekly, monthly, and yearly festivals, and great stress was laid on the regular observance of them in every particular (Num. 28:1-8; Ex. 29:38-42; Lev. 6:8-23; Ex. 30:7-9;…
Pur, Purim — A lot, lots, a festival instituted by the Jews (Esther 9:24-32) in ironical commemoration of Haman’s consultation of the Pur (a Persian word), for the purpose of ascertaining the auspicious day for…
Feast Of Purim, Or Lots, The · The Jews bound themselves to keep — The Jews bound themselves to keep
Purim · from the plot of Haman — from the plot of Haman
Years · Divided into: Days — Divided into: Days
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
The Jews ordained, and took upon them, and upon their seed, and upon all such that joined themselves unto them,.... Who became proselytes to their religion; that is, they appointed the above two days as festivals, and engaged for themselves, for their children, and all proselytes, to observe them as such; and one of their canons (s) runs thus,"all are obliged to read the Megillah (the book of Esther, which they always read on those days), priests, Levites, Nethinims, Israelites, men, women, and proselytes, and servants made free, and they train up little ones to read it:"
so as it should not fail; of being observed, so as no man should transgress it, or pass it over:
that they should keep…
Wherefore they called these days Purim after the name Pur. This first על־כּן refers to what precedes and states the reason, resulting from what has just been mentioned, why this festival received the name of Purim. With the second על־כּן begins a new sentence which reaches to Est 9:28, and explains how it happened that these feast-days became a general observance with all Jews; namely, that because of all the words of this letter (of Mordochai, Est 9:20), and of what they had seen concerning the matter (על־כּכה, concerning so and so), and what had come upon them (therefore for two reasons: (1) because of the written injunction of Mordochai; and (2) because they had themselves experienced thi…
This paragraph justifies Purim as an approved Jewish festival even though Moses did not authorize it along with other festival days.
Rashi on Esther 9:27
Anyone associated with them. Proselytes who are destined to convert to Judaism.9They too were affected by Haman’s decree because he tried to destroy the nation they would embrace at a future time.
As written. That the Scroll [of Esther] should be written in the Ashuri script.10Ibid.
