CCF Esther Part 9 Remembering and Celebrating Esther 9–10 Purpose: To learn to become people of thanksgiving, celebrating in tangible, glorifying ways the times when God has provided for us.
It was a beautiful spring day and I was walking along a dirt road that wound through the mountains outside
Bear Trap Ranch in Colorado. I was pouring out my heart to God and wrestling with where he wanted to
take me in my life. As I strolled among the pine trees, God opened my eyes to the abundant life that lay
before me if I would commit my future to his service. It was that moment that changed the course of my
life, and I am eternally grateful to the Lord. Every time I visit Bear Trap Ranch I walk along that very road
and remember that moment and God's faithfulness to me. Remembering helps me keep my perspective and
empowers me to go on in my commitment to his service.
When God does something in our midst it is important to remember it and to celebrate. As we recollect his
goodness, our faith is strengthened and so is our ability to face the next struggle. 1. What is something you or your family commemorated, and how was it celebrated?
2. Read Esther 9–10. Summarize the events of the thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth
3. Describe the people that the Jews actually destroyed on these days in the month of
4. The author mentions three separate times that the Jews did not lay their hands on
their enemies' plunder. Why might the Jews have left the plunder despite the king's permission to take it (9:10, 15–16)?
5. Mordecai and Esther proclaimed and established the celebration of Purim as a holiday
for all the Jews. What was the purpose of the celebration (vv. 20–27)?
6. The wording in verse 28 emphasizes the importance of the celebration for all the Jews. Why is the observation of Purim so crucial?
7. How were the Jews instructed to celebrate Purim (9:22)?
8. How is the celebration of Purim different from most of our celebrations?
9. God has saved his people and blessed Esther and Mordecai for their obedience to him. Summarize what happens to Esther and Mordecai at the end of the story (9:29–10:3).
10. What qualities did Mordecai have that made him a respected leader?
11. Throughout Scripture God instructs his people to commemorate the times when he
acted to provide for and save his people. Why is remembering God's acts of faithfulness
important for us as Christians? 12. What is one thing that God has done for you that you would truly like to remember?
What are some ways you could celebrate it?
Esther 9 9:1 On the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar, the edict commanded
by the king was to be carried out. On this day the enemies of the Jews had hoped to
overpower them, but now the tables were turned and the Jews got the upper hand over those who hated them. 2 The Jews assembled in their cities in all the provinces of King
Xerxes to attack those seeking their destruction. No one could stand against them,
because the people of all the other nationalities were afraid of them. 3 And all the nobles of the provinces, the satraps, the governors and the king's administrators helped the
Jews, because fear of Mordecai had seized them. 4 Mordecai was prominent in the palace;
his reputation spread throughout the provinces, and he became more and more powerful. 5 The Jews struck down all their enemies with the sword, killing and destroying them, and
they did what they pleased to those who hated them. 6 In the citadel of Susa, the Jews
killed and destroyed five hundred men. 7 They also killed Parshandatha, Dalphon, Aspatha, 8 Poratha, Adalia, Aridatha, 9 Parmashta, Arisai, Aridai and Vaizatha, 10 the ten
sons of Haman son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews. But they did not lay their
hands on the plunder. 11 The number of those slain in the citadel of Susa was reported to the king that same
day. 12 The king said to Queen Esther, "The Jews have killed and destroyed five hundred
men and the ten sons of Haman in the citadel of Susa. What have they done in the rest of
the king's provinces? Now what is your petition? It will be given you. What is your request? It will also be granted."
13 "If it pleases the king," Esther answered, "give the Jews in Susa permission to carry
out this day's edict tomorrow also, and let Haman's ten sons be hanged on gallows." 14 So the king commanded that this be done. An edict was issued in Susa, and they
hanged the ten sons of Haman. 15 The Jews in Susa came together on the fourteenth day
of the month of Adar, and they put to death in Susa three hundred men, but they did not lay their hands on the plunder.
16 Meanwhile, the remainder of the Jews who were in the king's provinces also assembled
to protect themselves and get relief from their enemies. They killed seventy-five thousand of them but did not lay their hands on the plunder. 17 This happened on the thirteenth
day of the month of Adar, and on the fourteenth they rested and made it a day of feasting and joy. 18 The Jews in Susa, however, had assembled on the thirteenth and fourteenth, and then
on the fifteenth they rested and made it a day of feasting and joy.
19 That is why rural Jews-those living in villages-observe the fourteenth of the month of Adar as a day of joy and feasting, a day for giving presents to each other.
20 Mordecai recorded these events, and he sent letters to all the Jews throughout the
provinces of King Xerxes, near and far, 21 to have them celebrate annually the fourteenth
and fifteenth days of the month of Adar 22 as the time when the Jews got relief from their enemies, and as the month when their sorrow was turned into joy and their mourning into
a day of celebration. He wrote them to observe the days as days of feasting and joy and
giving presents of food to one another and gifts to the poor. 23 So the Jews agreed to continue the celebration they had begun, doing what Mordecai
had written to them. 24 For Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of all the
Jews, had plotted against the Jews to destroy them and had cast the pur (that is, the lot) for their ruin and destruction. 25 But when the plot came to the king's attention, he issued written orders that the evil scheme Haman had devised against the Jews should
come back onto his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows. 26(Therefore these days were called Purim, from the word pur.) Because of everything
written in this letter and because of what they had seen and what had happened to them,
27 the Jews took it upon themselves to establish the custom that they and their descendants and all who join them should without fail observe these two days every year,
in the way prescribed and at the time appointed. 28 These days should be remembered
and observed in every generation by every family, and in every province and in every city. And these days of Purim should never cease to be celebrated by the Jews, nor should the
memory of them die out among their descendants.
29 So Queen Esther, daughter of Abihail, along with Mordecai the Jew, wrote with full authority to confirm this second letter concerning Purim. 30 And Mordecai sent letters to
all the Jews in the 127 provinces of the kingdom of Xerxes-words of goodwill and
assurance- 31 to establish these days of Purim at their designated times, as Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther had decreed for them, and as they had established for themselves
and their descendants in regard to their times of fasting and lamentation. 32 Esther's
decree confirmed these regulations about Purim, and it was written down in the records. Esther 10 10:1 King Xerxes imposed tribute throughout the empire, to its distant shores. 2 And all
his acts of power and might, together with a full account of the greatness of Mordecai to
which the king had raised him, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings
of Media and Persia? 3 Mordecai the Jew was second in rank to King Xerxes, pre-eminent among the Jews, and held in high esteem by his many fellow Jews, because he worked for
the good of his people and spoke up for the welfare of all the Jews.
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