Violence, Numbers and Purim

"Now in the twelfth month, that is, the month Adar, on the thirteenth day of the same… in the day that the enemies of the Jews hoped to have power over them, (though it was turned to the contrary, that the Jews had rule over them that hated them)." The Jews gather in their cities "to lay hand on such as sought their hurt: and no man could withstand them." The officials help them, "because the fear of Mordecai fell upon them."

"And in Shushan the palace the Jews slew and destroyed five hundred men. And Parshandatha, and Dalphon, and Aspatha, and Poratha, and Adalia, and Aridatha, and Parmashta, and Arisai, and Aridai, and Vajezatha, the ten sons of Haman… slew they; but on the spoil laid they not their hand."

The king tells Esther the number and asks her further request. "Let it be granted to the Jews which are in Shushan to do to morrow also according unto this day's decree, and let Haman's ten sons be hanged upon the gallows." On the 14th they kill three hundred men in Susa, "but on the prey they laid not their hand." In the provinces they "stood for their lives, and had rest from their enemies, and slew of their foes seventy and five thousand, but they laid not their hands on the prey."

In the provinces they rest on the 14th and make it a day of feasting and gladness; in Susa on the 15th. "Mordecai wrote these things, and sent letters unto all the Jews… to establish this among them, that they should keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar, and the fifteenth day of the same, yearly… days of feasting and joy, and of sending portions one to another, and gifts to the poor."

"Wherefore they called these days Purim after the name of Pur." The Jews take it upon themselves, their descendants and all who join them, that these days should be remembered in every generation. "Then Esther the queen… and Mordecai the Jew, wrote with all authority, to confirm this second letter of Purim… And the decree of Esther confirmed these matters of Purim; and it was written in the book."

What the text says

The Jews act "on such as sought their hurt" (9:2) and "them that hated them" (9:1, 5) on the day appointed for their own destruction. The deaths reported are men (9:6, 12, 15). Three times the text says they took no plunder (9:10, 15, 16), though the decree allowed it (8:11). It reports 500 + 300 in Susa and 75,000 elsewhere, plus the ten sons.

The numbers in different texts

Hebrew, Vulgate and KJV: 75,000. The library's Greek (Giguet, at its 9:15): 15,000. The Alpha Text is reported to give 70,100. Such large figures may be hyperbole or symbolic, or reflect the narrator's view of the scale of the threat. No independent record of such a massacre exists for Xerxes' reign.

Plunder

The Hebrew stresses no plunder, a contrast with Saul, who took Amalek's spoil (1 Samuel 15:9, 19). The library's Greek (Giguet, its 9:9) says the Jews of Susa "plundered their houses" (the sons' houses), a striking difference.

The ten sons

Hebrew scrolls of Esther write the ten names in a special layout, two columns of large letters; the custom of reading them in one breath is later. Hanging the already-dead sons (9:13–14) is public display, a known ancient practice (1 Samuel 31:10).

Moral questions

Readers ask whether the story celebrates vengeance; whether self-defense against an announced massacre justifies such killing; how to read it after centuries in which Jews were the victims of pogroms (Esther was often read as a story of survival in those times); and how to read it when it has been misused. Jewish tradition kept the gifts to the poor and the joy, and also the line "Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth" (Proverbs 24:17). The site sets out the text, the numbers and the questions; it does not give a single verdict.

Two letters

9:20–32 reports two letters, Mordecai's and then Esther's "second letter" confirming it with fasting and lamentation (9:31). Some scholars see editorial additions establishing the festival's authority, perhaps where Purim was not yet universally kept.