Bible in a Year - Women’s Thematic Reading Plan | Day 60

Day 60 of the Women’s Bible Plan: Read Esther Chapter 9 and reflect on Esther, who not only stood courageously in a time of danger, but also helped God’s people remember His deliverance. Through the establishment of Purim, this devotional invites women to consider how God’s saving work should be remembered, shared, and passed on to the next generation. 

🌸  Dear Sister, welcome to Day 60 of our reading journey. 

Some deliverances should not remain only in the memory of those who experienced them. Some graces are not meant to belong to one generation alone. Some joy after tears needs to be spoken of, remembered, and passed down. Because we are quick to forget. We forget how helpless we once were, and we forget how God made a way when the danger felt impossible.

Esther Chapter 9 brings us to the other side of the great reversal. Haman’s plan has been overturned, Mordecai has been honored, the Jews have been protected, and the day that was meant for their destruction has become a day of victory and gladness. Esther was not only the woman who risked her life by going before the king. She also became part of helping God’s people remember His deliverance.

The focus of this chapter is not only, “The crisis is over.” It is also, “Do not forget how God delivered.” Esther and Mordecai established Purim so that the Jews would remember, from generation to generation, how mourning was turned into gladness and how a people standing on the edge of destruction were brought into life. Today, we also consider whether we are willing to record, speak, and pass on the stories of God’s deliverance in our own lives.

A Minute of Grace

Esther Chapter 9 records how the Jews were able to rise and defend themselves on the very day that had once been appointed for their destruction. Through the way God opened by means of Esther, Mordecai, and the new royal decree, the enemies who expected to overpower them were themselves overcome. The day of mourning became a day of gladness, and the shadow of death was filled with the light of deliverance.

One of the most important parts of this chapter is the establishment of Purim. Mordecai wrote these events down and sent letters to all the Jews in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near and far. They were to keep the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month Adar every year, because these were the days when the Jews rested from their enemies, when sorrow was turned into joy, and mourning into a good day. They were to celebrate with feasting, gladness, gifts to one another, and gifts to the poor.

From the perspective of “Women in the Bible,” Esther in this chapter is not only a woman whom God used to save her people. She is also a woman involved in shaping spiritual memory. She did not allow the story to end with the dramatic events inside the palace. Together with Mordecai, she confirmed that this deliverance must be remembered, proclaimed, and observed from generation to generation.

Esther’s life reminds us that women often carry an important role in families, communities, and spiritual heritage: the role of remembering. We remember how God has led us, and we remind others not to forget. We tell children about God’s grace. We share His faithfulness with those around us. We preserve testimonies from valleys we have walked through, so that those who come after us may be strengthened.

Today’s theme, “Esther: Remembering Deliverance,” invites us to reflect: How has God saved, protected, guided, and turned things around in our lives? Do we keep these graces only quietly in our hearts, or are we willing to let them become testimonies that can be remembered and passed on? When the next generation, the people around us, or sisters walking through dark valleys hear these stories, they may be strengthened to believe again: God still reigns, God still shows mercy, and God is still able to turn mourning into joy.

Whispers for the Heart

1 Esther Chapter 9 teaches God’s people to remember how He turned a day of destruction into a day of deliverance. Looking back over your life, are there moments that were once filled with fear, pressure, or tears, but later revealed God’s protection, provision, or reversal? Are you willing to write down these graces so they will not be faded by busyness and time?

2 Purim was not only a private memory, but a shared remembrance among God’s people. In your family, church, small group, or circle of friends, do you have opportunities to share what God has done and help others remember His faithfulness? Could your testimony become encouragement for someone who is weak?

3 Esther took part in passing the story of deliverance to future generations. How do you understand spiritual heritage? Are you willing to tell children, younger believers, new believers, or people around you who are searching for direction how God leads, saves, and upholds people in real life?

As you read Esther Chapter 9 today, do not only notice the victory of the Jews. Also notice how God used remembrance so that His deliverance would not be forgotten. May Esther’s story remind us that after receiving grace, we are also invited to pass grace on.

Take a quiet breath before you begin. Remember how God has shown grace in your own life, and bring before Him the testimonies you may have forgotten, kept silent, or overlooked.

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Esther Chapter 9 (KJV) 

9 Now in the twelfth month, that is, the month Adar, on the thirteenth day of the same, when the king's commandment and his decree drew near to be put in execution, 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;)

2 The Jews gathered themselves together in their cities throughout all the provinces of the king Ahasuerus, to lay hand on such as sought their hurt: and no man could withstand them; for the fear of them fell upon all people.

3 And all the rulers of the provinces, and the lieutenants, and the deputies, and officers of the king, helped the Jews; because the fear of Mordecai fell upon them.

4 For Mordecai was great in the king's house, and his fame went out throughout all the provinces: for this man Mordecai waxed greater and greater.

5 Thus the Jews smote all their enemies with the stroke of the sword, and slaughter, and destruction, and did what they would unto those that hated them.

6 And in Shushan the palace the Jews slew and destroyed five hundred men.

7 And Parshandatha, and Dalphon, and Aspatha,

8 And Poratha, and Adalia, and Aridatha,

9 And Parmashta, and Arisai, and Aridai, and Vajezatha,

10 The ten sons of Haman the son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews, slew they; but on the spoil laid they not their hand.

11 On that day the number of those that were slain in Shushan the palace was brought before the king.

12 And the king said unto Esther the queen, The Jews have slain and destroyed five hundred men in Shushan the palace, and the ten sons of Haman; what have they done in the rest of the king's provinces? now what is thy petition? and it shall be granted thee: or what is thy request further? and it shall be done.

13 Then said Esther, If it please the king, 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.

14 And the king commanded it so to be done: and the decree was given at Shushan; and they hanged Haman's ten sons.

15 For the Jews that were in Shushan gathered themselves together on the fourteenth day also of the month Adar, and slew three hundred men at Shushan; but on the prey they laid not their hand.

16 But the other Jews that were in the king's provinces gathered themselves together, and 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,

17 On the thirteenth day of the month Adar; and on the fourteenth day of the same rested they, and made it a day of feasting and gladness.

18 But the Jews that were at Shushan assembled together on the thirteenth day thereof, and on the fourteenth thereof; and on the fifteenth day of the same they rested, and made it a day of feasting and gladness.

19 Therefore the Jews of the villages, that dwelt in the unwalled towns, made the fourteenth day of the month Adar a day of gladness and feasting, and a good day, and of sending portions one to another.

20 And Mordecai wrote these things, and sent letters unto all the Jews that were in all the provinces of the king Ahasuerus, both nigh and far,

21 To stablish this among them, that they should keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar, and the fifteenth day of the same, yearly,

22 As the days wherein the Jews rested from their enemies, and the month which was turned unto them from sorrow to joy, and from mourning into a good day: that they should make them days of feasting and joy, and of sending portions one to another, and gifts to the poor.

23 And the Jews undertook to do as they had begun, and as Mordecai had written unto them;

24 Because Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, had devised against the Jews to destroy them, and had cast Pur, that is, the lot, to consume them, and to destroy them;

25 But when Esther came before the king, he commanded by letters that his wicked device, which he devised against the Jews, should return upon his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows.

26 Wherefore they called these days Purim after the name of Pur. Therefore for all the words of this letter, and of that which they had seen concerning this matter, and which had come unto them,

27 The Jews ordained, and took upon them, and upon their seed, and upon all such as joined themselves unto them, so as it should not fail, that they would keep these two days according to their writing, and according to their appointed time every year;

28 And that these days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation, every family, every province, and every city; and that these days of Purim should not fail from among the Jews, nor the memorial of them perish from their seed.

29 Then Esther the queen, the daughter of Abihail, and Mordecai the Jew, wrote with all authority, to confirm this second letter of Purim.

30 And he sent the letters unto all the Jews, to the hundred twenty and seven provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus, with words of peace and truth,

31 To confirm these days of Purim in their times appointed, according as Mordecai the Jew and Esther the queen had enjoined them, and as they had decreed for themselves and for their seed, the matters of the fastings and their cry.

32 And the decree of Esther confirmed these matters of Purim; and it was written in the book.

💡 Closing Thought · Passing Down the Story of Deliverance 

After reading Esther Chapter 9, we see that God’s deliverance was not only a reversal in one crisis, but also a story to be remembered for generations. Purim reminded the Jews not to forget the darkness they had faced, and not to forget how God turned their sorrow into joy and their mourning into gladness. Esther’s life also reminds us that after receiving God’s grace, we must learn to pass grace on.

As we close this page and return to our own lives, perhaps we have also experienced God’s protection, provision, healing, comfort, and guidance, yet as time passes, we slowly stop speaking about it. Remember this: your testimony does not have to be dramatic to be valuable. A prayer truly answered, a valley where you were upheld, or an ordinary provision filled with grace can become a light on someone else’s path of faith.

May today’s Scripture remind you not to let God’s grace stop with your generation. May you learn to remember and to pass on, to count and to share. May the story of God’s deliverance in your life become a window through which the next generation and those around you may see His faithfulness.

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