1When the day came for the order of the king to be carried out – the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, Adar, on which the enemies of the Jews had expected to crush them – the reverse happened, for it was the Jews who got the upper hand over those who sought their harm. ① 2In their towns throughout the provinces of King Ahasuerus, the Jews gathered to strike at those who planned their destruction. But no one dared resist them, for they were feared by all the other nations. 3In fact, all the officials of the provinces, the satraps, governors and the king’s administrators supported the Jews out of fear of Mordecai, 4who had become more and more powerful and prominent not only in the palace but throughout the provinces.
5The Jews struck down their enemies, killing them by the sword, doing as they pleased to those who hated them. 6In Susa alone, they killed five hundred men. 7They also killed Parshandatha, Dalphon, Aspatha 8Porathai, Adalia, Aridatha, 9Parmashta, Arisai, Aridai, and Vaizatha, 10the ten sons of Haman, who was Hammedatha’s son and enemy of the Jews. But they laid no hand on the spoils.
11That same day the number of the slain in Susa was reported to the king, 12who in turn told Esther: “The Jews have killed five hundred men and the ten sons of Haman in Susa alone. Imagine what more they have done in the rest of my provinces! But you shall again be granted whatever you ask; whatever you request shall be fulfilled.”
13Esther replied, “If it pleases the king, let the Jews in Susa be permitted again tomorrow to carry out today’s edict, and let Haman’s ten sons be hanged on the gallows.”
14The king then ordered that this be done. The edict was issued in Susa, and the ten sons of Haman were hanged. 15On the fourteenth day of the month of Adar, the Jews in Susa gathered again and put to death three hundred men. But again they laid no hand on the spoils.
16The other Jews in the king’s provinces also assembled to protect themselves and rid themselves of their enemies. They killed seventy-five thousand of their foes, but did not lay hands on the spoils. 17This was on the thirteenth day of the month of Adar, and the Jews rested on the fourteenth, making it a day of feasting and rejoicing.
18The Jews in Susa, however, assembled on the thirteenth and fourteenth and rested on the fifteenth, making this a day of feasting and rejoicing. 19That is why the rural Jews have a different day of rest and celebration: the fourteenth of the month of Adar on which they send presents to each other.
20Mordecai recorded these events and sent letters to all the Jews throughout the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near and far, 21directing them to celebrate annually the fourteenth and fifteenth of the month of Adar 22as the days when the Jews rid themselves of their enemies, and as the month when their sorrow was turned into joy and their mourning into feasting. They were to observe these as days of festivity and rejoicing, days for giving food presents to one another and gifts to the poor.
23The Jews agreed to observe annually this celebration instituted on Mordecai’s written order. 24For Haman, son of Hammedatha the Agagite, enemy of the Jews, had plotted to destroy them and had cast the pur or lot for their ruin. 25Yet through Esther’s intervention, the king ordered in writing that the wicked plan against the Jews should instead be turned against Haman, whom he ordered to be hanged as well as his sons. 26These days, therefore, have been called Purim after the word pur. Because of this written order and of what they had seen and experienced, 27the Jews took upon themselves, their descendants and all who would join them, to celebrate these two days every year without fail, in the manner prescribed and at the time appointed. 28Commemorated and celebrated thus, in every family, province and city, through all generations, these days of Purim were never to fall into disuse among the Jews nor into oblivion among their descendants.
29Queen Esther, daughter of Abihail, along with the Jew Mordecai, wrote with full authority to confirm this second letter concerning Purim. 30Letters were sent to all the Jews in the one hundred twenty-seven provinces of Ahasuerus’ kingdom, in words conveying goodwill and assurance, 31enjoining them to observe these days of Purim at the designated time, as Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther had decreed and just as the Jews had prescribed for themselves and their descendants, with respect to their duty of fasting and lamentation. 32Esther’s decree fixed these practices of Purim, and it was recorded in the book.
- Es 9:1 It is hard for us to understand that the awful things related in this chapter were done in the name of God and at the request of Esther, who seems to have been a pious woman. The fact is that we are accustomed to think of religion in Christian terms and for us it implies love, even of enemies: but that is far beyond people who have not yet been touched directly or indirectly by the Gospel. Whenever people are convinced of being the unique people of God, let them be Jews, Christians or Muslims it is very difficult to refrain them from imposing their God - and themselves - on others. When someone has been chosen by God, it is very difficult for him not to believe he has rights that others do not have. Thus it was that our forefathers in the faith were fanatical and violent. God's pedagogy is seen all throughout the Old Testament, but it seems that even God was not able to conquer violence at that time. The prophets themselves did very little to suppress the violence within their hearts in spite of their close relationship with God. Solidarity and justice only counted inside the group, like everywhere in the world: regarding this point Jesus' words in Mt 5:46 are totally new. See Genesis 34 and the scandal when Jacob's daughter was raped; but there is no condemnation for the massacre that followed in which women and children were part of the spoils. The acknowledgment of universal love, of a neighbor who could be any person near me, and the non-violent religion where God himself accepts rejection are secrets that only the Son of God could teach us.
