paten— a custom mentioned by Chrysostom I llm/til. in
Epist. ml Ephes. i. Wet/er u. Welte, Kirchen-Lex. s. v. Purifier. See Pcrificatorium.
Pu'rim ("""""E. I'n rim ; Sept. &povpai v. r. <J>poi;-
fiifl, etc.; also ~"-"n *"". days <;/' //,. Purim, Esth. ix. 26, 31 ), the annual festival instituted hy Mordecai, at the suggestion of Esther, to commemorate the won- derful deliverance of the Jews in Persia from the de- struction with which they were threatened through the designs of Hainan i Esth. ix ; Josephus. .1//'. xi. 6, 13). (In the following article we chiefly follow that by (iins- hurg in Kitto's Cyclopaedia, with additions from other sources.) See Festival.
I. Name of the Festival and its Signification. — The name C"~"S (singular ""•■ i. which is derived from the Persian pare, cognate with pars, part, and which is explained in Esther (jii, 7; ix. 24) by the Hebrew ?^"5, lot, has been given to this festival because it re- cords the casting of lots by Haman to ascertain when he should carry into effect the decree which the king issued tor the. extermination of the Jews (Esth. ix. 24). The name <bpovpai, which, as Schleusner {Lex. in /.A' A'. s. v.) and others rightly maintain, is a corruption of <Povpai, is the Greek pronunciation of the Hebrew term. In like manner, the modern editors of Josephus have changed $povpdiot into QovpaXoi {Ant. xi. 6, 13). The old editors imagined that Josephus connected the word with r/iooi'onr. In 2 Mace. xv. 'M\ this festival is denominated ij \lapdo\aiKr) i)pipa.
It was probably called Purim by the Jews in irony. Their great enemy Hainan appears to have been very superstitious ami much given to casting lot- | Esth. iii, 7). They gave the name Purim, or Lois, to the com- memorative festival because he had thrown lots to as- certain what day would he auspicious for him to carry
intO effiBCl the bloody decree which the kill-;' had issued at his instance ( ix. 2 1 i.
Ewald, in support of his theory that there was in pa- triarchal times a religious festival at every new and full moon, conjectures that Purim was originally the full- moon fea-i of Adar, as tin- Passover was that of Nisan, and Tabernacles that of Tisri.
II. '/'hi Minimr iii which tin Feast was ami still is
iihs, i r,J. All that the Bible tell- us ahoiii it is that Mordecai ordered the 1 llh and loth ol Adar to lie k< pi annually by the Jew-, both nigh and alar; that these two days arc to he made day- of feasting and of joy, as well a- of interchange of presents and of Bending gifts to the poor, and that the Jews agreed to continue to observe this festival every year in the same manner as they had begun it (Esth. ix. 17 24), No further di- rection- are given about its observance, and the Bible le re, a- •!-. « hi ie. l. ii tin rites and ceremonii - to de- velop themselves with the circumstances of the nation. It is not ca-y to conjecture what may have been the
PURIM
803
PURIM
ancient mode of observance, so as to have given the oc- I of Haman the congregation stamp on the floor, saying, casion something of the dignity of a national religious j " Let his name be blotted out. The name of the wicked festival. The traditions of the Jews, and their modern shall rot!" while the children spring rattles. The pas- usage respecting it, are curious. It is stated that eighty- j sage in which the names of Haman and his sons occur rive°of the Jewish elders objected at first to the insti- ! (Esth. ix, 7, 9) is read very rapidly, and if possible in tution of the feast, when it was proposed by Mordecai ' one breath, to signify that they were all hanged at the (Jerus. (iem, Megillah; Lightfoot, on John x, 21). A ; same time, the congregation stamping and rattling all preliminary fast was appointed, called " the fast of Es- , the time. It is for this reason that this passage is writ- ther," to be observed on the 13th of Adar, in memory J ten in the MSS. in larger letters than the rest, and that of the fast which Esther and her maids observed, and the names are arranged under one another. After the winch she enjoined, through Mordecai, on the Jews of j Megillah is read through, the whole congregation ex- Shushan (Esth. iv, 16). See Mordecai. j claim, " Cursed be Haman ; blessed be Mordecai. Cursed
The following is the mode in which the festival of i be Zoresh (the wife of Haman) ; blessed be Esther. Purim is kept at the present da)'. The day preced- ! Cursed be all idolaters; blessed be all Israelites, and
in<r i. e. the 13th of Adar — is kept as a fast-day, and ! blessed be Harbonah who hanged Haman." The vol-
is "called "the fast of Esther" (nP3X Pn:"n), in ac- umc is then solemnly rolled up. Lastly, the following
•.i n i cti,;"io;,;.i>f„mniWK«ti, benediction is pronounced hv the reader: "Blessed art
eordauce with the command ot this Jewish queen (hstli. i j .
- n\ i i ,„<.c.:..„ „c ,~,™,,k,.,™ thou, O Lord our Cod, Km;;- ol the universe, who hast