Ester 3:7

Filipino Cebuano Bible

7 Sa nahaunang bulan, nga mao ang bulan sa Nisan, sa ikanapulo ug duha ka tuig ni hari Assuero, ilang gihimo ang Pur, nga mao ang rifa, sa atubangan ni Aman adlaw-adlaw, ug bulan-bulan, ngadto sa ikapulo ug duha ka bulan nga mao ang bulan sa Adar.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

the first month: Nehemiah 2:1

in the twelfth: Esther 1:3, Esther 2:16

they cast Pur: Esther 9:24-26, Proverbs 16:33, Ezekiel 21:21, Ezekiel 21:22, Matthew 27:35

Adar: Esther 9:1, Esther 9:5, Esther 9:17-19, Esther 9:21, Ezra 6:15

Reciprocal: Exodus 12:2 - General Proverbs 24:2 - General Jonah 1:7 - and let Mark 6:21 - when Acts 12:4 - intending

Gill's Notes on the Bible

In the first month, that is the month Nisan,.... Which was the first month of the sacred year of the Jews, by divine appointment,

Exodus 12:2, and there called Abib, and answers to part of February and part of March; from hence it is clear this book was written by a Jew, and very probably by Mordecai:

in the twelfth year of King Ahasuerus; four years and near two months after his marriage of Esther, Esther 2:16,

they cast Pur, that is, the lot, before Haman; being a Persian word, it is explained in Hebrew a lot, the word signifying "steel" in the Persian language. Reland p conjectures that this was that sort of lot called "sideromantia". Who cast this lot is not said; whether Haman himself, or one of his servants: perhaps a diviner. The latter Targum calls him Shimshai the scribe:

from day today, and from month to month, to the twelfth month, that is the month Adar; which answers to part of January and part of February; so that the lot was cast for every month and every day of the month throughout the year, to find out which was the most lucky month, and which the most lucky day in that month, to destroy the Jews in and none could be found till they came to the last month, and the thirteenth day of that month, Esther 3:13, the providence of God so overruling the lot, that there might be time enough for the Jews, through the mediation of Esther to the king, to prevent their destruction; so in other nations the Heathens had their lucky and unlucky days q.

p Antiqu. Heb. par. 4. c. 12. sect. 1. q Vid. Macrob. Saturnal l. 1. c. 16. Alex. ab Alex. Genial. Dier. l. 4. c. 20.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

In the first month ... - i. e. in March or April of 474 B.C.

“Pur” is supposed to be an old Persian word etymologically connected with the Latin “pars”, and signifying “part” or “lot.” The practice of casting lots to obtain a lucky day still obtains in the East, and is probably extremely ancient. A lot seems to have been cast, or a throw of some kind made, for each day of the month and each month of the year. The day and month which obtained the best throws were then selected. Assyrian calendars note lucky and unlucky days as early as the eighth century B.C. Lots were in use both among the Oriental and the Classical nations from a remote antiquity.

“Adar,” the twelfth month, corresponds nearly to our March. It seems to have derived its name from “adar”, “splendor,” because of the brightness of the sun and the flowers at that time.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Esther 3:7. The first month — That is, of the civil year of the Jews.

The month Nisan — Answering to a part of our March and April.

The twelfth year of king Ahasuerus — According to the chronology in our Bibles, about five hundred and ten years before Christ.

They cast Pur, that is, the lot — This appears to be the Hebrew corruption of the pure Persian word [Persian] pari, which signifies any thing that happens fortuitously. There is an addition here in the Greek text that was probably in the original, and which makes this place very plain. I shall set down the whole verse, and give the Greek in a parenthesis, that it may be read consecutively with what is in the Hebrew: "In the first month, that is, the month Nisan, in the twelfth year of King Ahasuerus, they cast Pur, that is, the lot, before Haman, from day to day, and from month to month." (ὡστε απολεσαι εν μιᾳ ἡμερᾳ το γενος Μαρδοχαιου, και επεσεν ὁ κληρος εις την τεσερακαιδεκατην του μηνος ὁς εστιν Αδαρ, "that they might destroy in one day the people of Mordecai; and the lot fell on the fourteenth day of the month Adar.")

We see plainly intimated by the Hebrew text that they cast lots, or used a species of divination, to find which of the twelve months would be the most favourable for the execution of Haman's design; and, having found the desired month, then they cast lots, or used divination, to find out which day of the said month would be the lucky day for the accomplishment of the enterprise. But the Hebrew text does not tell us the result of this divination; we are left to guess it out; but the Greek supplies this deficiency, and makes all clear. From it we find that, when they cast for the month, the month Adar was taken; and when they cast for the day, the fourteenth (Heb. thirteenth) of that month was taken.

Some have questioned whether Pur may not have signified also some game of chance, which they played before or with Haman, from day to day, to divert him from his melancholy, till the lucky time came in which he was to have the gratification of slaying all the people who were objects of his enmity; or they cast lots, or played, who should get the property of such and such opulent families. Holinshed, one of our ancient historians, informs us that, previously to the battle of Agincourt, the English army, under Henry V., were so thinned and weakened by disease, and the French army so numerous, that "Frenchmen, in the mean while, as though they had been sure of victory, made great triumphe, for the captaines had determined before how to divide the spoil; and the souldiers, the night before, had plaied the Englishmen at dice." To this the chorus of Shakspeare alludes: -

"Proud of their numbers, and secure of soul,

The confident and over-lusty French

Do the low-rated English play at dice.

_____________ The poor condemned English,

Like sacrifices by their watchful fires,

Sit patiently and inly ruminate

The morning's danger; and their gestures sad,

Investing lank-lean cheeks, and war-worn coats,

Presenteth them unto the gazing moon

So many horrid ghosts. HEN. V.

Monstrelet, who is an impartial writer, does not mention this.

Did Haman and his flatterers intend to divide the spoils of the designed-to-be-massacred Jews in some such manner as this?