Esther 9 Devotional

Sorrow Turned to Feasting

“as the days on which the Jews gained rest from their enemies and the month in which their sorrow turned to joy and their mourning into a holiday. He wrote that these were to be days of feasting and joy, of sending gifts to one another and to the poor.”Esther 9:22 (BSB)

Esther 9 is hard to read. On the day Haman had chosen for the Jews' destruction, the plan is overturned, and the Jews strike those who hated them (9:1-5). In Susa they kill five hundred men and Haman's ten sons. At Esther's request a second day is granted, three hundred more die, and the sons' bodies are hung on the gallows (9:12-15). Across the provinces 75,000 are killed (9:16). The text presents this as defense against those seeking their harm, and repeats three times that they did not touch the plunder (9:10, 15-16). It does not explain everything, nor does it ask us to cheer.

What it does celebrate is rescue. The enemies of God's people did not have the last word. Mordecai and Esther establish Purim, a yearly feast remembering the month when sorrow became joy and mourning became a holiday, marked by gifts to one another and to the poor (9:20-22). Those God has rescued, then and now, respond with gladness and open hands.

To think about: How could you mark what God has rescued you from with gratitude and generosity toward someone else this week?