Post by Woody Williams on Apr 19, 2007 7:07:56 GMT -5
Text for the Day -- Esther 9:18-23
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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. 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, a holiday on which they send gifts of
food to one another.
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 month, year by year, as
the days on which the Jews gained 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 gifts of food to one another
and presents to the poor. So the Jews adopted as a custom what they
had begun to do, as Mordecai had written to them.
Devotional
----------
The verses recall the institution of Purim, a Hebrew festival. This
festival celebrates the deliverance of the Jews while serving in
exile in Babylon. They were saved by Esther, an Israelite woman, who
had become queen. She exhibited great courage in stepping forward to
avert a slaughter of many Israelites. Purim became an annual festival
of the Jews that is still celebrated.
Prayer
------------------
Give me courage like Esther, Lord, so that I may stand up for my
fellow believers. Amen
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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. 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, a holiday on which they send gifts of
food to one another.
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 month, year by year, as
the days on which the Jews gained 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 gifts of food to one another
and presents to the poor. So the Jews adopted as a custom what they
had begun to do, as Mordecai had written to them.
Devotional
----------
The verses recall the institution of Purim, a Hebrew festival. This
festival celebrates the deliverance of the Jews while serving in
exile in Babylon. They were saved by Esther, an Israelite woman, who
had become queen. She exhibited great courage in stepping forward to
avert a slaughter of many Israelites. Purim became an annual festival
of the Jews that is still celebrated.
Prayer
------------------
Give me courage like Esther, Lord, so that I may stand up for my
fellow believers. Amen