Esther 9:22 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

As the days wherein the Jews rested They did not keep the days on which they fought, but those on which they rested. On the fourteenth day the country Jews rested, and on the fifteenth those in Shushan, and these days they kept. The sabbath was appointed, not on the day when God finished his work, but on the day he rested from it. The month which was turned unto them from mourning into a good day A day of cheerfulness, praise, and thanksgiving. And of sending portions one to another In token of mutual respect, and their being knit by this, and other public common dangers and deliverances, so much the closer to each other in love. And gifts to the poor Which they were wont to give also on other days of thanksgiving, of which see Nehemiah 8:10. It is not to our kinsmen and rich neighbours only that we ought to send tokens of our love and friendship at such times, but also and especially to the poor and the maimed, Luke 14:12-13. Thus they that have received mercy, must, in token of their gratitude, show mercy; and there never wants occasion, for the poor we have always with us. Thanksgiving and almsgiving should go together, that, when we are rejoicing and blessing God, the hearts of the poor may rejoice with us, and their loins may bless us.