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Feasts and festivals
Purim
Hebrew purim, “lots” · 14–15 Adar, February or March · from the Book of Esther
Purim takes its name from the pur, the lot that Haman cast to choose the day for destroying the Jews of the Persian Empire (Esther 3:7). The word comes from Akkadian puru, “lot”, and a small inscribed clay cube used for casting lots in Assyria in the 9th century BC has survived. The Book of Esther sets the story under King Xerxes, who ruled Persia about 486–465 BC. Scholars differ on the book: by one view it records real events at the Persian court, by another it is a story set at that court to explain the feast.
After the threatened day, the 13th of Adar, the Jews rested and feasted: in the villages on the 14th, in Susa on the 15th (Esther 9:17–19). Mordecai wrote that both days should be kept every year as days “of feasting and joy, of sending gifts to one another and to the poor” (Esther 9:22). Unlike the older feasts, Purim is not commanded in the law of Moses. By Jewish custom the scroll of Esther is read aloud, the listeners make noise at Haman’s name, and cities walled in ancient times keep the 15th.
Key verses
In the twelfth year of King Xerxes, in the first month, the month of Nisan, the Pur (that is, the lot) was cast before Haman to determine a day and month. And the lot fell on the twelfth month, the month of Adar.This was done on the thirteenth day of the month of Adar, and on the fourteenth day they rested, making it a day of feasting and joy. The Jews in Susa, however, had assembled on the thirteenth and the fourteenth days of the month. So they rested on the fifteenth day, making it a day of feasting and joy. This is why the rural Jews, who live in the villages, observe the fourteenth day of the month of Adar as a day of joy and feasting. It is a holiday for sending gifts to one another.as the days on which the Jews gained rest from their enemies and the month in which their sorrow turned to joy and their mourning into a holiday. He wrote that these were to be days of feasting and joy, of sending gifts to one another and to the poor.Therefore these days are called Purim, from the word Pur. Because of all the instructions in this letter, and because of all they had seen and experienced,the Jews bound themselves to establish the custom that they and their descendants and all who join them should not fail to celebrate these two days at the appointed time each and every year, according to their regulation. These days should be remembered and celebrated by every generation, family, province, and city, so that these days of Purim should not fail to be observed among the Jews, nor should the memory of them fade from their descendants.Sources
Adapted and shortened from the Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary · CC BY-SA 4.0
Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary © 2023 Tyndale House Publishers · CC BY-SA 4.0 — Feasts and Festivals of Israel: Postexilic Festivals; Purim; Calendars, Ancient and Modern: Jewish Festivals
Adapted from Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary: articles chosen, shortened and retold in our own words (history, nature and daily life only) and, in languages other than English, machine-translated. The original work by Tyndale House Publishers is available for free at tyndaleopenresources.com.
