Sunday, November 1, 2009

Jewish Tradition Setting Thirty Days Before Passover as the 'Day of Vengeance' (Isaiah 61:2)

Back at home. Here it is folks. It couldn't be plainer. The fourteenth of Adar was envisioned as 'the day of vengeance' (Isa. 61.2) As Pinchas Stolper notes in his Purim in a New Light:

I have set a day for revenge in my heart.

'My heart anticipates the day of final retribution and vengeance.' (Isaiah 63.4) Concerning this quote our Sages taught 'the heart of God has not yet revealed its intentions to the mouth' (Medrash Sochar Tov, Psalms 9:2)

The day on which the Holy One will avenge Israel is hidden within the folds of the Lord's heart. The day is so deeply concealed that we have no hint when that day will be and when God's intention will be revealed. All of this is true on all the other days of the year, with the exception of Purim, 'the day on which the Jews gathered together to take vengeance against their enemies" (Esther 9:2). This vengeance also became the vengeance of the Holy One.

On this day the curtain that separated God's heart and God's mouth metaphorically parted. On Purim the heart of the Holy One is close to his mouth. This is one of the tastes that we are able to savor in the midst of the drinking of the Purim feast. Imbibing liquor brings about the removal of the partition between the mouth and the heart. The heart reveals itself to the mouth.

We know that on that day this will again happen! And experiencing this day each year assures us that day will happen soon.


And a modern confirmation of this tradition:

We even have a day for vengeance. It's called Purim. The Book of Esther tells us of the Jews slaughtering thousands of enemies and celebrating. Although few Americans Jews and certainly no American Christians, understand this, Purim is a celebration and slaughtering your enemies. In the past when people actually understood the significance of vengeful acts on Purim we had some great days. Did you know we got you Americans to execute some top Nazis at Nuremberg?

And finally the Jewish Encyclopedia article on Purim which explains how it is both 'redemption' and 'vengeance' AND the day on which many proselytes were baptized:

Before the day set for the slaughter arrived a great number of persons, in order to avoid the impending disaster, became Jewish proselytes, and a great terror of the Jews spread all over Persia.

The Jews, assisted by the royal officers who feared the king, were eminently successful in slaying their enemies but refused to avail themselves of their right to plunder. The queen, not content with a single day's slaughter, then requested the king to grant to her people a second day of vengeance, and begged that the bodies of Haman's ten sons, who had been slain in the fray, be hanged on the gibbet. Esther and Mordecai, acting with 'all authority', then founded the yearly feast of Purim, held on the fourteenth and fifteenth of Adar as a joyous commemoration of the deliverance of their race.


I think we have developed the framework for understanding 'the day of recompense' (Isa. 61.2) as the day on which Mark was baptized by Jesus (LGM 1 day). All the rest of you have to do is actually THINK about this new evidence. I have prevented you from going in circles regurgitating 'accepted beliefs.'


Email stephan.h.huller@gmail.com with comments or questions.


 
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