Esther 9:20-22 Then Mordecai recorded these events, and he sent letters to all the Jews who were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near and far, obliging them to celebrate the fourteenth day of the month Adar, and the fifteenth day of the same month, annually, because on those days the Jews rid themselves of their enemies, and it was a month which was turned for them from sorrow into gladness and from mourning into a holiday; that they should make them days of feasting and rejoicing and sending portions of food to one another and gifts to the poor.
The celebration is to take place in the Hebrew month of Adar on the 14th and 15th day. In the Gregorian year of 2024, the event starts on sundown Saturday, March 23rd and ends the next day on Sunday, March 24th. Scripture tells us the holiday is to be celebrated annually.
Esther 2:16 And when Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus, into his royal palace, in the tenth month, which is the month of Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign…
So a Persian wanted to eliminate the Jewish people. This is a real historical event. The setting of the story is in the book of Esther. The events of the story took place from 483-473 BC. The location is Susa of the Persian Empire. This would be modern day Iran.
History knows King Ahasuerus as Xerxes I.
We don’t know for sure who wrote the book of Esther. Jewish tradition holds Esther was written by Mordecai.
But whatever happened to Xerxes I and Persia after these events in the Bible? History tells us his attention was clearly divided during the time period of Esther.
Xerxes followed Darius in 485 B.C. Darius had been smoked by the Greeks. So naturally, Xerxes was going to reclaim Persian glory from the Greeks. He wanted to conquer all of Greece. Xerxes’ plan did not work out well either and the Greeks essentially destroyed the Persians in 479 B.C. This pretty much ended any ambitions Xerxes had planned. Xerxes was assassinated by servants in 464 B.C. The Heart of Hebrew History, H.I. Hester, p. 301, 1949.
King Xerxes was not buried with his Queen, Esther. He was buried in Naqsh-e Rostam outside of modern day Shiraz.
Esther 9:3-4 And all the officials of the provinces, the satraps, the governors, and the king’s administrators helped the Jews, because the fear of Mordecai had fallen upon them. For Mordecai exercised great power in the palace, and his fame spread throughout the provinces as he became more and more powerful.
Esther 10:3 For Mordecai the Jew was second only to King Xerxes, preeminent among the Jews and highly favored by his many kinsmen, seeking the good of his people and speaking peace to all his countrymen.
Historical evidence shows it was Queen Esther and the Prime Minister Mordecai who were buried together. Today in the 21st century, Hamadan, Iran is home to the tombs of Esther and Mordecai.
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The Jewish people were ultimately preserved and spared. God always has a remnant of His people.
