seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Esther 9:20 Mordecai recorded these events, and he sent letters to all the Jews throughout the provinces of King Xerxes, near and far, 21 to have them celebrate annually the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month of Adar 22 as the time when the Jews got relief from their enemies, and as the month when their sorrow was turned into joy and their mourning into a day of celebration. He wrote them to observe the days as days of feasting and joy and giving presents of food to one another and gifts to the poor.
23 So the Jews agreed to continue the celebration they had begun, doing what Mordecai had written to them. 24 For Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, had plotted against the Jews to destroy them and had cast the pur (that is, the lot) for their ruin and destruction. 25 But when the plot came to the king’s attention,[a] he issued written orders that the evil scheme Haman had devised against the Jews should come back onto his own head, and that he and his sons should be impaled on poles. 26 (Therefore these days were called Purim, from the word pur.) Because of everything written in this letter and because of what they had seen and what had happened to them, 27 the Jews took it on themselves to establish the custom that they and their descendants and all who join them should without fail observe these two days every year, in the way prescribed and at the time appointed. 28 These days should be remembered and observed in every generation by every family, and in every province and in every city. And these days of Purim should never fail to be celebrated by the Jews—nor should the memory of these days die out among their descendants.
29 So Queen Esther, daughter of Abihail, along with Mordecai the Jew, wrote with full authority to confirm this second letter concerning Purim. 30 And Mordecai sent letters to all the Jews in the 127 provinces of Xerxes’ kingdom—words of goodwill and assurance— 31 to establish these days of Purim at their designated times, as Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther had decreed for them, and as they had established for themselves and their descendants in regard to their times of fasting and lamentation. 32 Esther’s decree confirmed these regulations about Purim, and it was written down in the records.
a. Esther 9:25 Or when Esther came before the king
This is from the easy English site.
The Jews must always remember how God had saved them. That was very important. Mordecai told the Jews to have two special days every year. On those days the Jews were to give each other presents of food. And they must also give gifts to poor people. Then the poor people too could eat and be happy on the special days.
The Jews agreed to do what Mordecai had written. They were already doing it anyway. They called the holiday Purim, because of Haman’s use of the Purim stones. He had wanted to find a lucky day to kill the Jews. People would tell the story of wicked Haman to their children. Then the Jews would always remember these special days.
The writer wrote this book to tell us why the Jews have special days called Purim. Jews still remember these special days and they read the book of Esther at that time.
This book is almost done and still there is no direct mention of God.... there's also no mention of action by God.... like an earthquake.... or a even a warm breeze. I guess Esther is in the Bible because they were so ordinary and they became so extraordinary.
Anyway.... Purim was established. This is from jewfaq.org.
In leap years, when there are two months of Adar, Purim is celebrated in the second month of Adar, so it is always one month before Passover. The 14th day of the first Adar in a leap year is celebrated as a minor holiday called Purim Katan, which means "little Purim." There are no specific observances for Purim Katan; however, a person should celebrate the holiday and should not mourn or fast. Some communities also observe a "Purim Katan" on the anniversary of any day when their community was saved from a catastrophe, destruction, evil or oppression.
The word "Purim" means "lots" and refers to the lottery that Haman used to choose the date for the massacre.
The Purim holiday is preceded by a minor fast, the Fast of Esther, which commemorates Esther's three days of fasting in preparation for her meeting with the king.
The primary commandment related to Purim is to hear the reading of the book of Esther. The book of Esther is commonly known as the Megillah, which means scroll. Although there are five books of Jewish scripture that are properly referred to as megillahs (Esther, Ruth, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, and Lamentations), this is the one people usually mean when they speak of The Megillah. It is customary to boo, hiss, stamp feet and rattle gragers (noisemakers) whenever the name of Haman is mentioned in the service. The purpose of this custom is to "blot out the name of Haman."
We are also commanded to eat, drink and be merry. According to the Talmud, a person is required to drink until he cannot tell the difference between "cursed be Haman" and "blessed be Mordecai," though opinions differ as to exactly how drunk that is. A person certainly should not become so drunk that he might violate other commandments or get seriously ill. In addition, recovering alcoholics or others who might suffer serious harm from alcohol are exempt from this obligation.
It is customary to hold carnival-like celebrations on Purim, to perform plays and parodies, and to hold beauty contests. I have heard that the usual prohibitions against cross-dressing are lifted during this holiday, but I am not certain about that. Americans sometimes refer to Purim as the Jewish Mardi Gras.
Purim is not subject to the sabbath-like restrictions on work that some other holidays are; however, some sources indicate that we should not go about our ordinary business on Purim out of respect for the holiday.
This year Purim was on March 20th & 21st. Next year it will be March 9th and 10th. So it starts on the sundown of March 9th and will end in the evening of March 10th. Got plans???? There's a recipe for the cookies at the jewfaq.org site. I might make them and give some away.... I've been doing that with Bean Soup lately.... I'll make up a whole bag of beans into bean soup.... I put some in clean jars [I've been using pickle jars lately] and give them to my neighbors. No reason... I got the beans.... they like the beans.... fart.... why not share..... heck I learned that when my neighbor was a kid they liked to call him "Beans"... fart....
I'll be finishing up on Esther tomorrow..... Cinderella meets the Holocaust was interesting.... Oh.... and the difference between sunset and evening has to do with being clean.... if a fly lands on a person they could be unclean..... wow..... Here's a link....
