![]() ![]() Such freedom is a result of victory gained along the lines set forth in this book. That which we all long to come to is the freedom to enjoy what the New Testament calls the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, meekness, faithfulness, self-control, the virtues of a truly Christian experience. We have been drawing a continual parallel between the conflict of this book and the problem in the Christian's life to gain victory over the evidences and manifestations of the flesh. To you who have been following with us in this book it should be evident that this is the enjoyment of the fruit of the Spirit. All this indicates the results of the victory that was accomplished. It was a day of showing generosity and deep concern for others, of sending gifts to the poor. ![]() It was a day in which they obtained relief from their enemies. It was to be a day of holiday making, of enjoying what was accomplished. It was to be a day of feasting and gladness and this is mentioned in Verses 17, 18, 19, and twice again in Verse 22. Let your eye run back over that and note how frequently you find emphasized the character of the celebration of this day. Therefore the Jews of the villages, who live in the open towns, hold the fourteenth day of the month of Adar as a day for gladness and feasting and holiday-making, and a day on which they send choice portions to one another.Īnd Mordecai recorded these things, and sent letters to all the Jews who were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near and far, enjoining them that they should keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar and also the fifteenth day of the same, year by year, as the days on which the Jews got relief from their enemies, and as the month that had been turned for them from sorrow into gladness and from mourning into a holiday that they should make them days of feasting and gladness, days for sending choice portions to one another and gifts to the poor. But the Jews who were in Susa gathered on the thirteenth day and on the fourteenth, and rested on the fifteenth day, making that a day of feasting and gladness. This was on the thirteenth day of the month of Adar, and on the fourteenth day they rested and made that a day of feasting and gladness. The first of them is the fruits of victory: There are four things in this latter part that God wants us to remember. The lessons of this book, once learned, mark the day of the beginning of deliverance in a Christian's experience, and it is never to be forgotten. This is also true in the spiritual application of the story. It is to be forever a very important day in their history. It is celebrated to this day because God wants the Jewish people never to forget this deliverance. All of this is in remembrance of the deliverance accomplished by Esther and Mordecai in the days of the Persian Empire, some 500 years before Christ. ![]() It is a most interesting service to attend! The second day is set aside for feasting and merrymaking, and for exchanging of gifts, very much as we would celebrate Christmas. They bring noise makers, little drums and horns to the service, and whenever the name of Haman is mentioned, they blow the horns and pound on the drums, booing and hissing through the reading of the book wherever Haman is mentioned. This is the day when all Jewish children come into their own. On the first evening they read through the story of Esther. ![]() They set aside two days for holiday, feasting, gladness and merrymaking. It is designed to teach us the need to remember.Įven today the Jews celebrate this story of Esther in the Feast of Purim. But the last section of the book serves a very important purpose. Our last study together unfolded the mighty victory that came to the king of Persia when Mordecai, now installed as prime minister of the kingdom, accomplished the deliverance of the Jews and thus saved the kingdom from destruction. This closing study in Esther may seem an anticlimax to many, for the exciting part of the story is over. ![]()
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