Thursday, January 2, 2014

The Feast Of Purim Instituted

Esther 9:11-10:32

“On that day the number of those that were slain in Shushan the palace was brought before the king.  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.” (Esther 9:11-12)

Haman had specified that the Jews were to be slain on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month.  Mordecai’s law gave them the right to defend themselves.  Ahasuerus was shocked that they had killed five hundred men in his own administration.  He wondered how bad it was throughout the entire kingdom, but he again offered to do anything else Esther might want.

“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. 

And the king commanded it so to be done: and the decree was given at Shushan; and they hanged Haman's ten sons.  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.” (Esther 9:13-15) 

Esther knew they had not destroyed all the enemies in the palace district the first day and requested that they be allowed to continue on the second, and that they be allowed to hang the bodies of Haman’s sons beside their father as a warning to others.

Ahasuerus agreed and another three hundred were killed in Shushan.  The Jews did not confiscate the belongings of their enemies, allowing others to have them.

“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, 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. 

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.  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. ” (Esther 9:16-19) 

There was no way of spreading the message to continue the fight another day through the empire, so in the other provinces the killing stopped with the thirteenth day of Adar, and the Jews spent the fourteenth day celebrating their deliverance.   A far smaller percentage of people were killed in other areas than in the capital, with only seventy five thousand being killed in the entire hundred twenty seven provinces.   Because they had an extra day of killing the Jews in Shushan did not celebrate until the following day, but it largely eliminated any potential threat from those in positions of power.

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

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

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, 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; 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.” (Esther 9:20-28)

Mordecai recommended that the Jews make the thirteenth through the fifteenth a special holiday to remember how God had delivered them. It would be called Purim to remind them that their fate was to have been decided by casting lots, or Pur, and the Jews formally adopted the recommendation.  

“Then Esther the queen, the daughter of Abihail, and Mordecai the Jew, wrote with all authority, to confirm this second letter of Purim.  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, 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.  And the decree of Esther confirmed these matters of Purim; and it was written in the book.” (Esther 9:29-32)

Esther and Mordecai made an official proclamation for all Jews throughout the Empire that they were to celebrate the holiday in early spring.  It became an official Jewish feast as a result.

“And the king Ahasuerus laid a tribute upon the land, and upon the isles of the sea.  And all the acts of his power and of his might, and the declaration of the greatness of Mordecai, whereunto the king advanced him, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Media and Persia?  For Mordecai the Jew was next unto king Ahasuerus, and great among the Jews, and accepted of the multitude of his brethren, seeking the wealth of his people, and speaking peace to all his seed.” (Esther 10:1-3)

With the destruction of over seventy five thousand of their strongest opponents and the appointment of Mordecai as prime minister, acting to protect the Jews, anti-Semitism went underground during the remainder of Ahasureus’ reign, and the Jews were able to resume construction of Jerusalem and the temple.





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