Mbostrom2's Blog

The Mishnah tells us that: “No days were as festive for Israel as the 15th of Av and Yom Kippur.”  Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) symbolizes God’s forgiveness for the Golden Calf and Tu B’Av symbolizes God’s forgiveness for the unbelief of the 10 spies culminating the spread of fear and unbelief that kept the nation of Israel from entering into the Promised Land for 40 years.

The 9th of the Hebrew month of Av is the lowest point in month and the 15th of Av is the highest. Both have historical meanings that carry through to this day. This day has become known as the “Jewish Valentine’s Day“, when unmarried women would become betrothed.

There are multiple negative historical events that have followed the cycle on Tisha B’ Av (9th of Av) which began with the nation of Israel choosing to follow the negative report of 10 of the 12 spies coming out of the Promised Land. There are five major historical events associated with Tu B’ Av (15th of Av).

1. End of the Wilderness deaths- 40 years following God’s decree that those who were 20 years of age and above ended. History teaches that each year on the 9th of Av all those who had been 20 or above would dig graves and lay in those graves on that day. The next morning those who were still alive would get out of the grave and know they had at least another year of life in the Wilderness. On the 40th year no one died. They thought they had the date wrong so they kept changing the date and by Tu B’Av they realized all was forgiven and they could not enter the Promised Land under Joshua’s leadership.
2. This was first precedent of equal rights for women in the Bible. The daughters of  Manesseh’s lineage dared to believe God for a new thing, land given to women. (Numbers 27:1-11 & Numbers 36) Their father Zelophehad died in the wilderness, but not because of his sins- his daughters made sure it was on the record that he did not side with Korah. These women were pushers, not quitters, “Lord I want the blessing! I want it in my body, I want it in my spirit, I want it financially, I want to be blessed in my ministry, I want it for my family, I want my blessing!”  All 5 daughters manifest a balance between the spirit of confrontation and a spirit of cooperation.
3. Benjamin’s Tribe allowed to continue– Following the consequences of the sins of the perverted men from Tribe of Benjamin as recorded in Judges 19-21, only 600 males from the Tribe of Benjamin remained. The other 11 Tribes had taken an oath not to allow marriage from their tribe and now there was great mourning realizing Benjamin’s tribe would cease. On the 9th of Av they allowed the 600 males who were left were allowed to snatch virgins during an annual dance, so that the vow would not be violated and the tribe of Benjamin would continue.
4. Wood for the 2nd Temple – Following the restoration of the Second Temple, wood was needed for the Temple altar and none was available near Jerusalem. Brave men were sent out to bring satisfactory wood before winter set in and the dead line to have the wood in the Temple was Tu B’ Av.
5. Burials allowed during Bar Kochba Revolt, 132 AD– The Hebrew custom for burial was to bury the same day as the death so the bodies could not begin to decompose.   In 135 AD, the army besieged Bethar and on  the 9th of Av, the Jewish fast day commemorating the destruction of the first  and second Holy Temples, the walls of Bethar fell. After a fierce battle,  every Jew in Bethar was killed. Six days passed before the Romans allowed the  Jews to bury their dead.  This was a double miracle, in that, first, the Romans finally gave permission for the burial, and, second, in spite of the long period of time that had elapsed, the bodies had not decomposed. The permission was granted on Tu B’Av.

Let the Bride dance before her King!

July 12, 2006 is a date I will never forget.

Ken and I were in Dallas, TX at a convocation for World Ministry Fellowship at a morning session when someone came in saying, “We need to pray. Israel just went to war with Lebanon.” I could hardly wait to get to a computer to see what date this was on the Hebrew calendar. I knew that if the war began on a date that cycled in Jewish history it would fit into end times prophetic events. I was right! This date was Tammuz 17.

For several years I had been teaching on Jewish history, the Feasts of the Lord and Hebrew holy days. Because nobody really seemed interested, I began to put that study aside. July 12, 2006 is when I woke up to the assignment that I had been given. My emails and phone calls were very active with everyone wanting to know why this date was important.  This began my email teachings on the Hebrew calendar.

Several historic events happened on Tammuz 17 throughout history.   Zechariah 8:19 calls the 17th of Tammuz the ‘fast of the fourth month’.

1. Moses broke the tablets at Mount Sinai, in response to the building of the Golden Calf. (Exodus 32:19) This was 4o days after Shavuot (Feast of Pentecost). In biblical study, the number 40 always stands for a time of testings, trials. The Hebrew children flunked the test, forgetting how God saved their first born, delivered them from Egypt, parted the Red Sea for them and drowned Pharaoh and his army, turned the bitter water into sweet, flowing abundant water from a rock and rained manna from heaven 6 days a week. How soon they forgot Almighty God.
2. The daily offerings in the First Temple were suspended during the siege of Jerusalem in the 586 BC. Three weeks later Solomon’s Temple was destroyed and the Jewish children were taken to Babylon.
3.  Jerusalem’s walls were breached, prior to the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 AD three weeks later.
4.  132 AD, prior to the Great Revolt with Bar Kokhba, the Roman general Apostamos burned a Torah scroll — setting a precedent for the horrific burning of Jewish books throughout the centuries.
5. During the time of Roman persecution, an idolatrous image was placed in the Holy Temple — a brazen act of blasphemy and desecration.
6. The Crusades were inaugurated during this period. Over a period of 200 years the Jewish population of England, France and Spain were exiled during this time period. The 1648 Khmelnitski massacres and many Holocaust decrees were also initiated during this three-week time frame.
7. On 1391, more than 4000 Jews were murdered in Toledo and Jaen, Spain
8. On 1559, the Jewish quarter of Prague was looted and burned
9. 2005, the day after the 17th of Tammuz, Jews began to forcefully remove Jews from their homes in the Gaza Strip. They ended three weeks later, before the 9th of Av.
10. July 12, 2006-  Lebanon War, also called the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah War, Second Lebanon War and known in Lebanon as the July War. Hezbollah (means ‘Party of God’), began ‘Operation True Promise’  and the war continued for 34 years until the United Nations brokered an agreement for a cease fire.

This begins a 3 week period of mourning until the 9th of Av, the most dreaded day on the Hebrew calendar. Both Solomon’s Temple (stood 410 years) and Herod’s Temples (stood 420 years) were destroyed on the 9th of Av. (I encourage you to check this blog in 3 weeks for the full story, or check on last year’s teachings of Tisha B’ Av). I also have a 2 CD teaching of this three-week period for sale on our product page on our web site- http://www.kenbostromministries.org/.

This three-week period is called Bein haMetzarim (between the straits) and  the ‘Time of the Dire Straits’ from Lamentations 1:3.  It is also known as the period of  ‘Mourning the Destruction’.

The custom for the ‘fast of the fourth month’ is to fast from sunup to sundown. During Bein HaMetzarim, there are no weddings, no eating of meat, pastries and drinking of wine.  During this time cutting of hair is forbidden. Many abstain from cinemas, theatres, concert halls  or any type of entertainment. This is a very serious time when they are reflecting on how God wants them to live and how they had been living. This is a time when many repent and change their ways, coming back to God.

This year’s Dire Straits will be a serious time for Israel as the surrounding nations are gathering to ‘push her into the sea’. Psalms 122:6 urges us to “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.” Genesis 12:3 still stands, ‘who blesses Israel God will bless”

Pesach Sheni means the Second Passover, or the Passover celebrated on the 14th day of the Second month, Iyar,  instead of the 14th day of the First month, which is the month of Nisan. This is the only holy day recorded for the month of Iyar, the Second month, in the Torah. Now Israel celebrates Israel Memorial Day and Israel Independence Day, but those are memorials from 1948, not the time of the Torah.

We find the laws of the Second Passover in Numbers 9. The Hebrew nation was celebrating the Passover in the Wilderness, but certain men were defiled because of touching a dead body and could not celebrate the Passover.

Numbers 9:7, “And those men said to him, “We [became] defiled by a human corpse. Why are we kept from presenting the offering of the LORD at its appointed time among the children of Israel?” (8) And Moses said to them, “Stand still, that I may hear what the LORD will command (9) Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, (10) Speak to the children of Israel, saying: ‘If anyone of you or your posterity is unclean because of a corpse, or [is] far away on a journey, he may still keep the LORD’s Passover. concerning you.” (11) ‘On the fourteenth day of the second month, at twilight, they may keep it. They shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.”

One of God’s names is “All Merciful God”, El malei Rachamim. God called Himself merciful when He passed by Moses, who was in the cleft of the rock in Exodus 34. Vs 6 reads, “And the LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, (7) “keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing [the guilty], visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.”  He is the God of a Second Chance, and proves it by extending mercy to the Second month to those who were not ready.

Pesach Sheni reveals to those in Covenant with the Almighty God,  that there is ‘always a second chance’, ‘never a lost case’, ‘nothing is impossible’ and ‘God is never to late’.

We see this truth revealed in 2 Chronicles 29-30 with King Hezekiah. When Hezekiah  became king he determined to ‘do right in the sight of God’, but preparation needed to be done and it was already the first month of the biblical calendar.

1. The priests needed to sanctify themselves unto God, purifying themselves.
2. They had to ‘carry out the filthiness out of the holy place. Can you imagine rubbish & garbage in the Holy Place? The Holy Place is also called the Inner Court, where the Seven-Branched Golden Candlestick (Menorah), Golden Altar of Incense and the Table of Shewbread were located. The Outer Court had the natural light and where all priests were allowed. The Inner Court has the light of the Menorah, representing revelation of God and the Kohathites (Kohen lineage) were the only priests allowed to enter.  The Holy of Holies had the light of the Glory of God and only the High Priest was allowed to enter once a year,  on the Day of Atonement.
3. They had to make repairs to the Temple.
4. They had to give sin offerings, because of the sins of wicked King Ahaz.
5. Worship with singing and instruments continued throughout the sacrifices and when the sacrifices were finished they sang praises with gladness, bowed their heads and worshiped.
6. Thanks offerings were given unto God in abundance.

So what does this have to do with us? I am glad you asked.

1. Just as the priests had to sanctify themselves, we need to separate ourselves unto God, return to Him.
2. Just as they had to carry the filthiness, rubbish and garbage out of the Holy Place we need to forgive, forget and turn our thoughts unto the Word of God.
3. Just as they had to repair the Temple, we need to repair relationships with each other, seek restoration. Just as the Passover brings us reconciliation unto God by the precious Blood of Jesus, we need to become ministers of reconciliation. The Temple is not just our physical body, but the Body of Christ as a whole.
4. Just as they sacrificed, worshiped and gave thanksgiving offerings to God, we need to be obedient and follow what the Holy Spirit shows us to do.

Hezekiah keeps the Passover in the Second Month

The leaders and Hezekiah agreed to keep the Passover and sent our a proclamation throughout all Israel, encouraging them to ‘return to the Lord’,  to come to the Temple in Jerusalem and to yield themselves to God so that the wrath on the nation would be turned back.

2 Chronicles 30:9 reads, “”For if you return to the LORD, your brethren and your children will be treated with compassion by those who lead them captive, so that they may come back to this land; for the LORD your God is gracious and merciful, and will not turn His face from you if you return to Him.”

The priests sprinkled the blood of the lambs on those who were not sanctified! This speaks volumes to me of the goodness of God, to pardon by the Blood! We as priests are to stand in the gap between our Holy God and a sinful nation and ask for mercy, sprinkling the Blood of Jesus in prayers.

What was the result? Vs 26, “So there was great joy in Jerusalem, for since the time of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel, there had been nothing like this in Jerusalem.” (27b) and the prayers came up to His holy dwelling place, in heaven.”

Wow! What a God! What a Savior! They had such a great time they extended the 7 day feast to 14 days!

Isaiah 61:7 promises us beautiful insteads: “Instead of shame you shall have double honor, and instead of confusion they shall rejoice in their portion. Therefore in their land they shall possess double; everlasting joy shall be theirs.”

Once the Temple and people came back to God, they were able to go out throughout the land and bring the land back to God.

2 Chronicles 31:21 records Hezekiah’s success as king, “And in every work that he began in the service of the house of God, in the law and in the commandment, to seek his God, he did it with all his heart. So he prospered.”

This sounds like a good plan for a great awakening!

By the way, there will be a full moon on Pesach Sheni.

Esther, Chapter 2 ‘The first recorded beauty pageant’

Yesterday we saw the key figures in the Book of Esther. King  Ahasuerus & Queen Vashti from the Royal Family, Esther & Mordecai who were Jews in captivity and Haman who was an outright Jew hater.

Esther 2:1, begins with ‘after these things’– but does not tell ‘what things’. History records this came 4 years later after coming back from another great defeat with Greece. He comes back and no harem women could satisfy him
because he could only share his heart with an equal, a queen. But there was no longer a Queen Vashti.

What to do? Let’s go throughout all 127 provinces and bring back the most beautiful virgins. So 400 virgins were taken to the harem to begin preparations for a night with the King, to possibly be chosen as the next queen. The Hebrew
verb, ‘was taken’ is a verb used elsewhere as ‘taken by force’. Can you blame them? Taken from their family to be put in a harem with hundreds of women, maybe never to get married and have a family. One of those virgins was Esther, a Jew. She was orphaned and living with her uncle Mordecai. Neither of them revealed their Jewish bloodline.

All the 400 virgins went through 6 months of bitter herb treatment for cleansing and then 6 months of sweet odors. They would be taught the art of sensual techniques in love making, art of seduction, pampering bodies, art of
applying costumes & makeup. Esther gained favor with the keeper of the women, Hegai. In Hebrew it reads, ‘she lifted up grace before his face’. All the other virgins had to guess what would please the king, but Esther was graced with the only one that knew what pleased the king.

Hegai is likened to the work the Holy Spirit does in our lives when we first come to the Lord. The Holy Spirit knows what pleases our King Jesus and for a period begins the bitter work of working things out of our lives that keep us from His perfect plan. The next period the Holy Spirit brings us into the sweet presence of God through prayer and His Word so that we can be used of God. She was also given 7 choice maidservants (representing the 7 spirits around the throne of God)

When it came time to come before the king, they other women probably used lots of makeup, too much perfume, incredibly elaborate costumes. Hegai knew what the king wanted, simple beauty. More favor was found, because she was chosen to be the next queen in the 7th year of the king’s reign. Such a party! A month long feast was thrown to celebrate the wedding.

Mordecai discovered a plot to kill the king and he revealed it to Esther to tell the king. The 2  conspiriators were found and hanged. This was recorded in the chronicles of the king.

Wicked Haman, whose name means ‘magnificient’, was a descendant of Amelek, an Agagite. King Saul of the tribe of Benjamin) had been ordered to kill the the line of Amelek, but did not complete his assignment (Exodus 16:16; I Samuel 15; Deuteronomy 25:17-19). Haman had an inherited blood-line hatred for the Jews.

Mordacai would not bow down to anyone except God and that infuriated Haman so much he devised a plot to kill all the Jews. He chose the appointed day by casting lots, called purim. This method of choosing a date was determined also according to astrology, which is foretelling their future by the stars. (Note: Hitler had astrologers on his staff to tell him the best time to kill Jews & go to war; Sadam Hussein consulted astrologers as to when to go to war) Astrology is witchcraft, and should never be confused with astronomy- the science of stars. Larry Huch said he was studying with a Rabbi who told him the numbers of the purim (dice) came up with the numbers 133, which is the numeric number of Agag’s name. However, on the bottom of those purim was the number 644, which is the numeric of King David!

On the 1st month of the year, the month of Nissan, the day was chosen 11 months later (Adar 13) to kill all the Jews. Now in 127 provinces, there was no hope for the future of the Jews. No reason to get married, plant a field, have a
baby. No hope. Mordecai who was forced to write this death verdict, tore his clothes, put on sack cloth and sat outside the king’s gates wailing loudly. A message was sent to Queen Esther to go to the king and plead for the people. Esther replied that according to law, no one could approach the king without being called. Men stood by the king with axes, ready to kill anyone who approached the king. Mordecai’s reply was: “Do not think in your heart that you will escape in the king’s palace any more than all the other Jews. For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”

Patrick Henry said “Give me liberty or give me death”; Nathan Hale said, “I only regret that I have but one life to live for my country.” David said, “Is there no cause?”

So Esther chose a new life:

She went from being a beauty queen to a Jewish saint

She went from being a sex symbol to intercessor

She chose to leave the idle life to find high risk adventure

The call of God is anything but dull and boring.  She told Mordecai to have the Jewish people fast for 3 days, complete fast, day and night. On the 3rd day, she went with fear and trembling before the king. Instead of finding death, she
found favor.

She invited the King and wicked Haman to a dinner she had prepared in their honor.

Acrostic #2, (YHWH) 5:4, ‘let the king and Haman come this day’ (name YHWH, showing it was God’s plan, not hers)

As the evening went on, the king asked her the same question that got John the Baptist’s head cut off. “What is your petition? It shall be granted you. What is your request, up to half the kingdom? It shall be done!” Her answer was to invite them to a second feast the next night.

Haman went home so proud of being honored by Queen Esther with the same honor as the king. However, his joy bubble was burst when he passed Mordecai who refused to worship him. He went home dejected and told everything to his wife.

Acrostic #3,  (YHWH)  5:13, ‘this avails me nothing’ (showing God burst Haman’s joy)

Haman’s wife helped devise a plan to kill Mordecai by building a gallow 50 cubits high (7 1/2 stories high). At the same time, God was keeping the king awake and decided to have some of his chronicles read to him. God chose to have
the incident of Mordecai saving his life from death. When he discovered that no reward was given Mordecai, in walk Haman.  The king asked Haman, “”What shall be done for the man whom the king delights to honor?” Now
Haman thought in his heart, “Whom would the king delight to honor more than me?”

Haman, thinking he was going to be honored suggested “let a royal robe be brought which the king has worn, and a horse on which the king has ridden, which has a royal crest placed on its head. Then let this robe and horse be delivered to the hand of one of the king’s most noble princes, that he may array the man whom the king delights to honor. Then parade him on horseback through the city square, and proclaim before him: ‘Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to honor!'”

But Haman was trapped into honoring Mordecai in this fashion and went home defeated and angry. First time he went home to his wife he was bragging, now he is whining. Immediately he was summoned to Queen Esther’s 2nd banquet.

After the meal, the king asked Esther again, “What is your petition, Queen Esther? It shall be granted you. And what is your request, up to half the kingdom? It shall be done!”

Esther answered, If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it pleases the king, let my life be given me at my petition, and my people at my request. For we have been sold, my people and I, to be destroyed, to be killed, and to be annihilated. Had we been sold as male and female slaves, I would have held my tongue, although the enemy could never compensate for the king’s loss.”

4th acrostic, 7:5, (EHYH, I AM) ‘who is he and where is he’, uttered by the king. (God revealing His rule over Kings &
Pharoahs; the same Deliverer as in Egypt) As the king went into the garden to settle his wrath, Haman began to beg
Esther, pleading for his life.

5th & Final acrostic, 7:7, (YHWH), ‘that there was evil determined against him’ (showing God’s ruling over wicked Haman)

As wicked Haman fell across Queen Esther, the king entered the room and Haman’s fate was sealed. He died on the same gallows he had built to hang Mordecai.

Chapter 8:9 is the longest verse in the entire Bible. “So the king’s scribes were called at that time, in the third month, which [is] the month of Sivan, on the twenty-third [day]; and it was written, according to all that Mordecai commanded, to the Jews, the satraps, the governors, and the princes of the provinces from India to Ethiopia, one hundred and twenty-seven provinces [in all], to every province in its own script, to every people in their own
language, and to the Jews in their own script and language.” The law of the Medes and Persians cannot be reversed so a new law was written to override the first proclamation of all the Jews to die on Adar 14. Haman’s law stood 70 days
(symbolic of the Babylonian captivity). Haman sent out runners, King sent out his fastest horses. The Jews would have 9 months to prepare to defend themselves on Adar 13.

Chapter 9 finds a total turnaround. 9:1, “Now in the twelfth month, that is, the month of Adar, on the thirteenth day, the time came for the king’s command and his decree to be executed. On the day that the enemies of the Jews had hoped to overpower them, the opposite occurred, in that the Jews themselves overpowered those who hated them.”

All 10 sons of Haman were killed, 300 enemies of the Jews were killed in Susa, 75,000 of the enemies of the Jews were killed throughout all the 127 provinces. None of their wealth was taken by the Jews, no plunder. By the end of
Adar 13, they had a great feast.

Adar 14 & 15 they celebrated with feasting and great joy; giving presents to each other and gifts to the poor. This has become the Feast of Purim, celebrated throughout generations, still today.

The book ends in 10:3, (Hebrew Bible translation) “For Mordekhai the Yehudi (Jew) was next to king Achashverosh, and great among the Yehudim, and accepted of the multitude of his brothers, seeking the good of his people, and speaking shalom to all his seed.”

Tonight as Purim begins, will you stop and pray for the Peace of Jerusalem? (Psalm 122)

The Feast of Purim is a day of joy, family unity, feasting, giving gifts of food to others and gifts to the poor. No one is allowed to be sad, mourn, have funerals, etc. It is a day that the Jews established and God honors. The Book of Esther records the history behind the Feast.

Esther 8:19, “Therefore the Jews of the villages who dwelt in the unwalled towns celebrated the fourteenth day of the month of Adar with gladness and feasting, as a holiday, and for sending presents to one another.” (it is also celebrated in Jerusalem on the 15th)

The Book of Esther takes place in Persia (modern day Iran) when the Jews were in 70 years captivity after the Temple was destroyed in 586 BC. This was the same time period that Ezra & Nehemiah were written. (somewhere around 500 years before Jesus was born)

The Book of Esther begins with: “And it came to pass in the days of…”. In Hebrew it is, v’yahi bemeyi, and it occurs 6 times in the Bible, always marks a time of trouble ending in blessing.

This book is unique because:

1.   The name of God is not mentioned in the entire book (however, the names of God, Jehovah & I AM were in accrostic in 5
phrases in the book- see link http://www.therain.org/appendixes/app60.html

2.   Esther & Ruth are the only 2 books out of 66 that are named after women

3.   No prophecies, no promises from God, no distinct message from God

4.   No mention of heaven or hell

5.   No prophetic word about Messiah

6.   No reference to worship or faith

7.   Contains the longest verse in the Bible, Esther 8:9

8.   When the 10 sons of Haman are mentioned, 3 of the names have a smaller font of a Hebrew letter included  (taf of Parshandata, the shin of Parmashta and the zayin of Vizata. These three Hebrew letters are the numberic value of 1946, which is the year that 10 of Hitler’s closest leaders were hanged on the 7th day of Tabernacles, when the final judgments are sealed, October 16, 1946. As one named Steichcer was being hung, he screamed, ‘Purim Feast 1946’)

9.   The entire book revolves around feasts and wine, covers a time period of 7-9 years

10. The entire book shows the hidden hand of God working in times of trouble for His covenant people

The key figures are:

King Ahasuerus, whose name means “lion-king“. At the time of the first chapter, his territory covered from India to Egypt, 127 provinces in all. He had just gotten back from a defeat against Greece and had a 6 month-long feast for all the leaders of the provinces to get their respect back and form a great army to follow him to form a great army against Greece. It is followed by a 7 day feast for commoners to boost their moral.

Queen Vashti, whose name means “beautiful”. She was queen in the 3rd year of his reign. As the king entertained she had her separate feasts for the women of the nobility of the 127 provinces. When the king sent for her to come she would notbecause the law of the Persians forbid the wives to be seen by strangers. Because she would not come, the king consulted with the 7 leaders of his kingdom and wise men (astrologers). Memucan, one of those princes, suggested that if the king did not punish her that none of the women would respect their husbands. (1st acrostic found in ‘all the wives shall give’). This ends Vashti from being queen.

Mordecai– Jewish scribe from the tribe of Benjamin. His name means “little man”

Esther– her Persian name means ‘star‘, (Jewish name was Hadassah, which means ‘myrtle’) A myrtle treeis a low tree, representing humility. It is covered with shiny green leaves and adorned with snow white flowers (representing purity) bordered with purple (reprsenting royalty) emitting an equisite perfume. In Hebrew it describes her as ‘lovely in form and beautiful to look at’. Josephus records ‘her grace and countenance drew
the eyes of the spectators mainly upon her’.

Wicked Haman, whose name means ‘magnificient’, was a descendant of Amelek, an Agagite. King Saul (of the tribe of Benjamin) had been ordered to kill the the line of Amelek, but did not complete his assignment
(Exodus 16:16; I Samuel 15; Deuteronomy 25:17-19). Haman had an inherited blood-line hatred for the Jews.

Esther 4:16, “Go, gather all the Jews who are present in Shushan, and fast for me; neither eat nor drink for three days, night or day. My maids and I will fast likewise. And so I will go to the king, which is against the law; and if I perish, I perish!”

The observing Jews will have a one-day fast in observance of the three-day fast that led to the saving of the entire Jewish nation. Originally the fast of Esther, Mordecai and the entire Jewish nation was observed on the 14-16th of Nissan, which is the Feast of Passover and into the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

The tradition now is a one-day fast observed on the 13th of Adar, the day before the Festival of Purim which falls on the 14th of Adar. This year, since the 13th of Adar falls on Shabbat (Sabbath Day of Friday evening to Saturday evening), the fast is moved to the day before Shabbat.

Purim observances this year (2011)  are:

• Adar B 11, Fast of Esther from sunup to sundown, Thursday March 17
• Adar B 14, Purim, Sunday March 20
• Adar B 15, Sushan Purim, Monday March 21

The fast is observed by all adults from daybreak to sundown. Pregnant of nursing woman or people in ill health are exempted from fasting. Many Jews follow the original three-day fast, and more may be fasting this year than usual with the treats by the enemies of Israel who have vowed to ‘wipe Israel off the map’.

Isaiah 122:6,  “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: “May they prosper who love you. (7) Peace be within your walls, Prosperity within your palaces. (8) For the sake of my brethren and companions, I will now say, “Peace be within
you. (9) Because of the house of the LORD our God I will seek your good.”

The original word for peace in the verse is ‘shalom‘, which means wholeness, completeness, peace (from war)- nothing missing, nothing broken, whole-not divided.

Also, please pray for mercy on those who are working against God to divide Jerusalem. They are coming against the Most High God, Almighty God and they will lose, and lose big. Not only them, but the nations they are leading.

Genesis 12:2-3 still are God’s words over the nation of Israel, “I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”