A Jewish Memorial Day

Esther 8

• The king confiscated the house of Haman and gave it to Esther (v. 1). What became of Haman’s wife?
• The king took back his ring from (the now departed Haman) and gave it to Mordecai (v. 2). Esther appointed Mordecai over her new-found wealth.
• Esther appealed to the king for the lives of her people (v. 3-6).
• Instead of repealing the order to kill the Jews, the king granted Jews the right to defend themselves (v. 7-17). The proclamation was made throughout the kingdom in the languages of all the people. (Why didn’t he just repeal the first order? Because repeal is admission of error; and Persian kings never make errors.)

Esther 9

• Jews throughout the land did defend themselves (v. 1-5).
• In the palace they killed 500 men, along with the 10 sons of Haman (v. 6-11).
• Esther asked that the Jews might have another day to defend themselves, and another 300 men were killed at the palace (v. 12-15).
• Outside the capital, 75,000 were killed in one day; and then the Jews celebrated (v. 16-19).
• The feast of Purim was established by Esther and Mordecai (v. 20-32). Excuse me, did God order the feast?

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