Esther 9:20-22
Esther 9:26-28
Esther 9:31,32
But was Purim required, like the festivals prescribed in the Torah? Reading Esther 9, I would be inclined to say that it was. The language doesn't appear to make the festival "optional" at all.
I am left with two options:
If the former, it would appear to follow that festivals ordained by the church are binding upon Christians. Now, I don't think any advocate of Christmas here on the Puritan Board would ever suggest such a thing. However, I would appreciate an explanation for why, apparently, Purim was a requirement, yet Christmas is a matter of liberty.
And Mordecai wrote these things, and sent letters unto all the Jews that were in all the provinces of the king Ahasuerus, both nigh and far,
To stablish this among them, that they should keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar, and the fifteenth day of the same, yearly,
As the days wherein the Jews rested from their enemies, and the month which was turned unto them from sorrow to joy, and from mourning into a good day: that they should make them days of feasting and joy, and of sending portions one to another, and gifts to the poor.
To stablish this among them, that they should keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar, and the fifteenth day of the same, yearly,
As the days wherein the Jews rested from their enemies, and the month which was turned unto them from sorrow to joy, and from mourning into a good day: that they should make them days of feasting and joy, and of sending portions one to another, and gifts to the poor.
Esther 9:26-28
Wherefore they called these days Purim after the name of Pur. Therefore for all the words of this letter, and of that which they had seen concerning this matter, and which had come unto them,
The Jews ordained, and took upon them and upon their seed, and upon all such as joined themselves unto them, so as it should not fail, that they would keep these two days according to their writing, and according to the appointed time every year;
And that these days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation, every family, every province, and every city; and that these days of Purim should not fail from among the Jews, nor the memorial of them fail from their seed.
The Jews ordained, and took upon them and upon their seed, and upon all such as joined themselves unto them, so as it should not fail, that they would keep these two days according to their writing, and according to the appointed time every year;
And that these days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation, every family, every province, and every city; and that these days of Purim should not fail from among the Jews, nor the memorial of them fail from their seed.
Esther 9:31,32
To confirm these days of Purim in their times appointed, according as Mordecai the Jew and Esther the queen had enjoined them, and as they had decreed for themselves and for their seed, the matters of the fastings and their cry.
And the decree of Esther confirmed these matters of Purim; and it was written in the book.
It has been argued that, based on the establishment of Purim among the Jews, that Christians are given permission to make festivals of their own devising. Hence, Christmas and Easter and other such things.And the decree of Esther confirmed these matters of Purim; and it was written in the book.
But was Purim required, like the festivals prescribed in the Torah? Reading Esther 9, I would be inclined to say that it was. The language doesn't appear to make the festival "optional" at all.
I am left with two options:
1. The Jews, without divine appointment, ordained the festival of Purim; and (from the language in Esther 9) participation was required.
2. God ordained the festival of Purim. It was binding on OT saints, but, like Passover, the Feast of Tabernacles, etc., it has passed away.
2. God ordained the festival of Purim. It was binding on OT saints, but, like Passover, the Feast of Tabernacles, etc., it has passed away.
If the former, it would appear to follow that festivals ordained by the church are binding upon Christians. Now, I don't think any advocate of Christmas here on the Puritan Board would ever suggest such a thing. However, I would appreciate an explanation for why, apparently, Purim was a requirement, yet Christmas is a matter of liberty.