Immerse: Chronicles Full Volume - Flipbook - Page 167
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gained relief from their enemies, when their sorrow was turned into gladness and their mourning into joy.
So the Jews accepted Mordecai’s proposal and adopted this annual custom. Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews, had
plotted to crush and destroy them on the date determined by casting lots
(the lots were called purim). But when Esther came before the king, he
issued a decree causing Haman’s evil plot to backfire, and Haman and his
sons were impaled on a sharpened pole. That is why this celebration is
called Purim, because it is the ancient word for casting lots.
So because of Mordecai’s letter and because of what they had experienced, the Jews throughout the realm agreed to inaugurate this tradition
and to pass it on to their descendants and to all who became Jews. They
declared they would never fail to celebrate these two prescribed days at
the appointed time each year. These days would be remembered and kept
from generation to generation and celebrated by every family throughout
the provinces and cities of the empire. This Festival of Purim would never
cease to be celebrated among the Jews, nor would the memory of what
happened ever die out among their descendants.
Then Queen Esther, the daughter of Abihail, along with Mordecai the
Jew, wrote another letter putting the queen’s full authority behind Mor
decai’s letter to establish the Festival of Purim. Letters wishing peace and
security were sent to the Jews throughout the 127 provinces of the empire
of Xerxes. These letters established the Festival of Purim—an annual celebration of these days at the appointed time, decreed by both Mordecai the
Jew and Queen Esther. (The people decided to observe this festival, just
as they had decided for themselves and their descendants to establish the
times of fasting and mourning.) So the command of Esther confirmed the
practices of Purim, and it was all written down in the records.
King Xerxes imposed a tribute throughout his empire, even to the distant
coastlands. His great achievements and the full account of the greatness
of Mordecai, whom the king had promoted, are recorded in The Book of
the History of the Kings of Media and Persia. Mordecai the Jew became the
prime minister, with authority next to that of King Xerxes himself. He was
very great among the Jews, who held him in high esteem, because he continued to work for the good of his people and to speak up for the welfare
of all their descendants.
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