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, demonstrating that the commemorative practice is established specifically to remember the threat posed by Haman and the casting of lots that determined the date for the implementation of his genocidal decree. The theological significance of the name Purim (derived from Pur, the lot) lies in the fact that what appeared to be a matter of chance or fate—the casting of lots—becomes transformed into a commemoration of God's providential protection. The verse shows how the commemoration of deliverance necessarily includes remembrance of the threat and the specific means by which danger was averted.

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