Esther 9:20-22 Then Mordecai recorded these events, and he sent letters to all the Jews who were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near and far, obliging them to celebrate the fourteenth day of the month Adar, and the fifteenth day of the same month, annually, because on those days the Jews rid themselves of their enemies, and it was a month which was turned for them from sorrow into gladness and from mourning into a holiday; that they should make them days of feasting and rejoicing and sending portions of food to one another and gifts to the poor.
This is the decree for the celebration of the holiday Purim. The celebration is to take place in the Hebrew month of Adar on the 14th and 15th day. Adar is the last month of a Hebrew year. In the Gregorian year of 2018, that starts on the evening Wednesday, February 28 and ends the next day on the evening of Thursday, March 1. Scripture tells us the holiday is to be celebrated every year.
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The setting of the story is in the book of Esther. The author of the book is unknown. Celebration of Purim is not part of the Mosaic Law. The events of the story took place from 483-473 BC. God’s name is never mentioned in the book. The location is Susa of the Persian Empire. This is modern day Iran.
Haman is a source of evil. His name means tumult or noise. Haman was the prime minister for King Ahasuerus. He answered to only the king.
Esther 3:1 After these things King Ahasuerus promoted Haman the Agagite, the son of Hammedatha, and advanced him and set his throne above all the officials who were with him.
Haman lays out his plan to destroy the Jewish people in Esther 3. Haman’s plan was the result of Mordecai refusing to bow to him. Haman was on a power trip and frequently angry.
Esther 3:5-6 And when Haman saw that Mordecai did not bow down or pay homage to him, Haman was filled with fury. But he disdained to lay hands on Mordecai alone. So, as they had made known to him the people of Mordecai, Haman sought to destroy all the Jews, the people of Mordecai, throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus.
Haman was deceitful and manipulative to the king regarding the need to rid the kingdom of the Jews.
Esther 3:8-9 Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom. Their laws are different from those of every other people, and they do not keep the king’s laws, so that it is not to the king’s profit to tolerate them. If it please the king, let it be decreed that they be destroyed, and I will pay 10,000 talents of silver into the hands of those who have charge of the king’s business, that they may put it into the king’s treasuries.”
In the end, Haman’s plans were his undoing. What he prepared for Mordecai was ultimately for himself.
Esther 7:9 Then Harbona, one of the eunuchs in attendance on the king, said, “Moreover, the gallows that Haman has prepared for Mordecai, whose word saved the king, is standing at Haman’s house, fifty cubits (approximately 75 feet) high.” And the king said, “Hang him on that.”
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