Bible study · Esther 9:1-32
Esther 9: The opposite happened
Read Esther 9:1-32 before you meet.
In a few lines
Esther uses one Hebrew verb for turning only twice: on the day the enemies hoped to conquer the Jews, "it turned out that the opposite happened" (9:1), and Purim keeps "the month which was turned to them from sorrow to gladness" (9:22). And three times the chapter says "they didn’t lay their hand on the plunder", though the king's letters had allowed it (8:11).
The verse to carry
“as the days in which the Jews had rest from their enemies, and the month which was turned to them from sorrow to gladness, and from mourning into a holiday; that they should make them days of feasting and gladness, and of sending presents of food to one another, and gifts to the needy.”
Esther 9:22
To talk about
1. The month "was turned to them from sorrow to gladness, and from mourning into a holiday" (9:22). Think of a time something turned like that for you. How did you mark it, or how do you wish you had?
2. The days of gladness came with "gifts to the needy" (9:22). When things go well for you, who do you make sure shares in it, and who might you be missing?
3. The Jews wanted these days "remembered and kept throughout every generation" (9:28). What in your own story do you want the people after you to remember, and how will you pass it on?