It has been observed that many Sabbatarian congregations and Sacred Names assemblies have been able to discern the pagan origins of Christian holy days. But there appears to be blindness when it comes to purely Jewish/Judaic holy days and festivals. Referring, in other words, those days which are considered holy or required by Jewish or Judaic custom and not found among the commandments of Yahweh. One of these is Purim, so let’s take a look at it and then see what Yahweh has to say.
SOURCES
To Be A Jew, Rabbi Hayim Halevy Donin –
Page 261 – “The most prominent ritual feature in the observance of the holiday is to attend the synagogue on Purim eve to listen to the reading of the Scroll of Esther, more popularly called the Megillah.”
“Both men and women are required to listen to the reading of the Megillah.”
Page 262 – “Since Talmudic times, Purim has been the day when the usual restraints against excessive drinking of intoxicating beverages were relaxed. ‘A person is required to drink on Purim until he does not know the difference between ‘cursed be Haman’ and ‘blessed be Mordechai’’ (Megillah 75), said the Sages."
“…nothing spoken by a later prophet could in any way be in conflict with, and add to or detract from, the writings of Moses. ‘Forty-eight prophets and seven prophetesses spoke prophecies for Israel, and they neither deducted from nor added to what was written in the Torah, with the exception of the law to read the book of Esther on the Feast of Purim’ (Meg.14a).”
Purim is “The feast which commemorates the escape of the Jews of Persia from the plot of Haman. All the laws of Judaism are traced to the Mosaic legislation, but obviously the regulation that the Book of Esther should be recited annually must be a later addition.”
Page 378 – “The book of Esther informs us that it was Mordechai who established the holiday of Purim, to commemorate the destruction of Haman and of his plot to annihilate the Jews (9:20-23).”
Page 491 – “Later rabbinic authorities, who did add extra ordinances to those already legislated in the Torah, felt compelled to justify doing so with two rationales: First, gratitude to God necessitated establishing additional holidays (e.g., Purim and Hannuka) to express appreciation for God’s delivering His people from post-Torah dangers. Second, additional regulations were needed to guard against the possible violation of Torah laws.”
Jewish Days, Francine Klagsbrun, Page 106 –
“But wait! Did any of this Purim story really happen? Plenty of historians say it didn’t. They point out that while King Ahasuerus may have been the Persian king Xerxes I, who reigned from 486 to 465 C.C.E., no references to the events described in the Scroll of Esther exist in Persian sources. Furthermore, the names Esther and Mordechai sound suspiciously like those of the Babylonian gods Ishtar and Marduk, making it likely that our story is a retelling, maybe a parody, of some ancient folklore or myth. Some scholars argue that the whole megillah was invented, possibly during the Second Temple era, to give a Jewish slant to an old, popular spring festival.”
“The sages had their own problems with the Purim saga. What was this Jewish woman doing in a Persian king’s harem, changing her name from Hadassah to Esther, paying no attention to dietary laws, and hiding her identity? Worse still, why is there no reference to God in the entire Book of Esther – not a prayer for salvation when Esther calls for a public fast, not a prayer of thanksgiving when salvation does arrive?”
“They argued the matter back and forth, and finally agreed to accept Purim as a legitimate festival, although a minor one, on which work is permitted. They concluded that though the book appears to be secular, it was actually divinely inspired, perhaps more than any other biblical book. The only reason God is not mentioned in it is because God’s presence is hidden, working behind the scenes.”
“Without worrying about the holiday’s origins, Jews have accepted the rabbinic injunction and celebrated in high spirits, with carnivals, masquerades, and Purim shpiels – plays and poems that satirize the story and its characters. Even cross-dressing, men as women and women as men, is permitted on this day. Families gather on Purim afternoon to eat a Purim se’udah, a hearty meal that in Ashkenazic homes may include triangular meat-filled pastries called kreplah, and end with the festival’s favorite delicacy, hamantaschen.”
Gates of the Seasons – editor – Peter S. Knobel – Central Conference of American Rabbi’s – page 138
“Purim is the one occasion when men and women are permitted to wear each others’ clothes.” - Rama on Orach Chayim 696.8”
http://www.statemaster.com/encyclopedia/Orach-Chayim
Encyclopedia > Orach Chayim -- Orach Chayim is a section of Rabbi Jacob ben Asher's compilation of Halakha (Jewish law)
Celebrate the Holiday, from http://jewishappleseed.org/apple/purim.htm
“Purim is the happiest of all Jewish holidays, when having fun is not only permitted, it is commanded. In fact, we are commanded to become so filled with silliness that we can’t tell the difference between ‘Blessed is Mordechai’ and ‘Cursed is Haman’.”
“But Purim would hardly be complete without its own brand of entertainment, called a spiel (pronounced shpeel). A tradition for hundreds of years, Purim spiels typically include humorous plays, skits, and music. Sometimes the spiel is a comic interpretation of the traditional Purim story using modern characters and settings. Often, members of a particular community use the spiel as an opportunity to poke fun at the people and places around them. The audience may wonder whether the Purim spiel is all in fun or instead, the honest truth. Are the actors merely poking fun, or are they saying what they really mean? Do our masks and costumes conceal who we are, or reveal our true selves? No one really knows. It’s all part of the fun and meaning of Purim.”
The World Holiday Book: Celebrations for Every Day of the Year, by Anneli Rufus –
“With its raucousness, relentless clowning, and borderline-bawdy theatrics and masquerades, Purim is the most unbuttoned of Jewish holidays, inadvertently echoing Mardi Gras and other pre-Lenten carnivals occurring at this same time of year. Some anthropologists hold that Purim is no less than a descendant of the orgiastic Babylonian New Year, on which Marduk and his fellow gods were said to gamble by casting lots (purim in the Babylonian language). The consensus, however, is that Purim commemorates one Queen Esther, who with her cousin Mordecai, thwarted a massacre that had been engineered by the anti-Semitic royal adviser, Haman. (Haman, it is said, ended up on the gallows.)”
Article on Christmas and Easter (No. 236) http://www.logon.org/english/s/p236.html
“They elected a mock king for amusement. This was transferred to the ceremony of Twelfth-night. The Lord of Misrule of the Christian tradition, or the King of Fools or the King of the Bean, found throughout Europe in both Christianity and also in Judaism at Purim, stems from the King of the Saturnalia and appears to have ended in death as we see from the example with the martyr Dasius.” -
Christian Churches of God PO Box 369, WODEN ACT 2606, AUSTRALIA Email: secretary@ccg.org(Copyright ã 1998 Wade Cox)
A NEW QUEEN IS NEEDED
Esther (LITV) 1:10-22 10-In the seventh day, when the heart of the king was merry with wine, he said to Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, and Abagtha, Zethar, and Caracas, the seven eunuchs who served before the face of Ahasuerus the king, 11-to bring Vashti the queen before the king with the royal crown, in order to make known to the people and the princes her beauty. For she was beautiful to look upon. 12-But Vashti the queen refused to come at the king’s command by his eunuchs. And the king was very angry, and his fury burned within him. 13-And the king said to the wise men who knew the times (for so was the king’s manner toward all who knew law and judgment: 14 - and the ones next to him were Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena, and Memucan, the seven rulers of Persia and Media who saw the king's face, who sat first in the kingdom), 15-What shall be done with Queen Vashti according to law, because she has not done the command of King Ahasuerus by the eunuchs? 16-And Memucan answered before the king and rulers, Vashti the queen has not only done wrong to the king, but also to all the rulers, and to all the people who are in the provinces of Ahasuerus the king. 17-For the matter of the queen shall go out to all women, to make their husbands despised in their eyes, in their saying that King Ahasuerus said to bring in Vashti the queen before him, but she did not come. 18-And this day the princesses of Persia and Media who have heard the queen’s word shall say the same to all the king’s rulers and there shall be contempt and strife. 19-If it please the king, let there be a royal decree from him, and let it be written among the laws of Persia and Media so that it shall not pass away, that Vashti come no more before King Ahasuerus. And let the king give her royal power to a neighbor who is better than she is. 20-And when the king’s decree which he shall make shall be published throughout all his empire, for it is great, all the wives shall give their husbands honor, both the small and the great. 21-And the saying pleased the king, and the rulers. And the king did according to the word of Memucan. 22-And he sent letters into all the king’s provinces, into every province according to its writing, and to people and people, according to their language, so that every man should be ruling in his house; and speaking according to the language of his people.
Esther 2:1-8 (LITV) 1-After these things, when King Ahasuerus’ wrath had calmed down, he remembered Vashti, and what she had done, and what he had decreed against her. 2-And the king’s servants who served him said, Let beautiful young virgins be sought for the king. 3-And let the king choose officers in all the provinces of his kingdom, so that they may gather together every beautiful young virgin to Shushan the palace, to the house of the women to the hand of Hegai the king’s eunuch, keeper of the women, to give their purifications. 4-And let the young woman who pleases the king rule instead of Vashti. And the thing pleased the king, and he did so. 5-In Shushan the palace there was a certain Jew, and his name was Mordecai, the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjamite, 6-who had been exiled from Jerusalem with the captivity which had been led away with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had exiled. 7-And he was rearing Hadassah (she is Esther) his uncle’s daughter, for she had no father nor mother. And the young woman was fair of appearance and beautiful of form. And at the death of her father and mother, Mordecai took her for his daughter. 8-And it happened, when the king’s command and his order was heard, and when many young women had been gathered to Shushan the palace, into the hand of Hegai, Esther was taken into the king’s house, into the hand of Hegai, keeper of the women.
Now, keeping in mind what is here in Scripture, look at these quotes from The Artscroll Children’s Megillah, by Shmuel Blitz. And consider that this is what Jewish children are being taught!
Page 8 – “Did You Know? All the gold and silver that Nebuchadnezzar stole from the Beis HaMikdash” (the temple in Jerusalem) “was shown off at the party.”
Page 10 – “A Closer Look. After the six-month party was over, everyone in Shushan, including the Jews, were invited to a special seven-day celebration. Achashveirosh” (the king’s name in Hebrew) “and Haman planned this second party in order to make the Jews sin. They hoped the Jews would eat the nonkosher food, violate the Shabbos” (Sabbath), “and do bad things. This would make Hashem” (God) “angry at the Jewish people, and then Haman and Achashveirosh would be able to kill all the Jews.”
“Hashem became angry at the Jewish people for enjoying this seven-day feast. Their leader, Mordechai, had told them not to go, but they didn’t listen to him. Hashem also became angry at Achashveirosh for using the holy vessels of the Beis HaMikdash.”
Page 12 – “A Closer Look. The seventh day of this feast was Shabbos.”
Page 13 – “A Closer Look. Vashti did not want to go to the king because her father was a king. She thought she was much greater than Achashveirosh. Hashem made her grow a tail and her body became full of sores. ‘I cannot let anyone see me like this,’ she thought. She did not go to see the king.”
Page 14 – “A Closer Look. Vashti was the last royal descendant of Nebuchadnezzar, who destroyed the First Beis HaMikdash. Her death was Nebuchadnezzar’s final punishment.”
“Vashti was executed on Shabbos because she forced Jewish girls to work on Shabbos.”
Page 17 – “Did You Know? Mordechai was a member of the Sanhedrin, the High Court of the Jews.”
Page 18 – “Did You Know? Esther used a different maid for each day of the week. This way, she was able to keep track of when it was Shabbos. The maids who saw Esther on weekdays did not realize that she rested on Shabbos. The maid who came only on Shabbos saw Esther resting all day and not doing any work. She assumed that this was what Esther did everyday. This way no one suspected that Esther was Jewish.”
Okay, there’s no need to continue this. But these comments continue all the way through the entire ten chapters of Esther. How many of these comments can be corroborated in the book of Esther? Why all the embellishments?
PURIM IN SCRIPTURE
Esther (LITV) 9:17-32 17-On the thirteenth day of the month Adar, and on the fourteenth day of the same, they rested and made it a day of feasting and gladness. 18-And the Jews at Shushan assembled on the thirteenth day of it, and on the fourteenth day of it, and to rest on the fifteenth of the same, and to make it a day of feasting and gladness. 19-On account of this the Jews of the villages who lived in the unwalled villages made the fourteenth day of the month Adar a day of gladness and feasting, and a good day, and a day of sending portions to one another. 20-And Mordecai wrote these things, and sent letters to all the Jews in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, near and far, 21-to cause to rise among them to make a feast the fourteenth day of the month Adar, and the fifteenth day of the same, yearly; 22-as the days in which the Jews rested from their enemies, and the month which was turned to them from sorrow to joy, and from mourning into a good day, to make them days of feasting and joy, and of sending portions to one another, and gifts to the poor. 23-And the Jews undertook to do as they had begun, and as Mordecai had written to them, 24-because Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the one distressing all the Jews, had plotted against the Jews to destroy them, and had cast Pur, that is, the lot, to torment them and to destroy them. 25-But when Esther came to the king, he commanded by the letter, Let this evil plot which he plotted against the Jews return on his own head; and they hanged him and his sons on the wooden gallows. 26-On account of this they called these days Purim, after the name of Pur. For on account of this all the words of this letter, and what they saw concerning this matter, and what had touched them, 27-the Jews rose up and took on themselves and on their seed, and on all joining themselves to them, even not to pass, to be keeping those two days according to their writing, and according to their time every year; 28-and that these days should be remembered and acted upon in generation and generation, every family, every province, and every city; and that these days of Purim should not pass from among the Jews, and their memory not perish from their seed. 29-And Esther the queen, the daughter of Abihail, and Mordecai the Jew, wrote with all authority to confirm this second letter of Purim. 30-And he sent the letters to all the Jews, to the hundred and twenty seven provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus words of peace and truth, 31-in order to confirm these days of Purim in their set times, according as Mordecai the Jew and Esther the queen had caused to rise up on them, and as they caused to rise up on themselves and on their seed, the matters of the fastings and of their cry. 32-And the decree of Esther made rise these matters of Purim. And it was written in the book.
A MORE ANCIENT IDEA?
Did You Know? Facts, Figures and Folklore about the Jewish Holiday of Purim, from http://www.holidays.net/purim/didyouknow.htm
“Did you know that Purim is one of the only Jewish holidays not commanded in the Torah? The holiday can trace its roots to the Talmudic period. The earliest known celebration of Purim was in the 2nd century CE.”
http://seforim.blogspot.com/2007/02/eliezer-brodt-origins-of-hamentashen-in.html
“The earliest source I have located so far is in a liturgical parody from the seventeenth century, where it includes a reference to eating hamentashen.[2] In an 1846 cook book called The Jewish Manual by Lady Judith Cohen Montefiore we find a recipe for “Haman fritters.”[3]”The Origin Of Hamentaschen Hayyim Schauss, The Jewish Festivals http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN1419136763&id=3syD677-MiMC&pg=PP1&lpg=PP1&ots=hB6Noxkosl&dq=Schauss,+The+Jewish+Festivals sig=I34cLLihsDyqcXQi_4YJG3U9uv0#v=onepage&q=&f=false
page 270 - “[T]he hamentashen are also of German origin. Originally they were called mohn-tashen, mohn meaning poppy seed and tashen meaning pockets and also signified dough that is filled with other food stuffs. The people therefore related the cake to the book of Esther and changed the mahn to Haman [due to its similarity]. In time the interpretation arose that the three cornered cakes are eaten because Haman wore a three cornered hat when he became prime minister to Ahasuerus. The three corners were also interpreted as a symbolic sign of the three patriarchs whose merit aided the Jews against Haman.”
From Prehistoric Cave Art to Your Cookie Pan: Tracing the Hamantasch Herstory, Rabbi Susan Schnu, from http://www.lilith.org/pdfs/lilithpurim.pdf
“Purim’s origins, scholars generally agree, derive from an ancient full-moon pre-spring Persian holiday; Esther is descended from the Babylonian Ishtar (who derives from Inanna) and Mordechai from the Babylonian Marduk. (These gods are allied against the Elamite goddess, Vashti, and the god Humman, that is, Haman.) Ishtar, a universal lifecycle goddess, also rules the morning star and evening star, so Esther’s Hebrew name, Hadassah, means ‘myrtle,’ which has star-shaped flowers, and leaves which are vulvate or boat-shaped, again that fertility symbol that goes back over 30,000 years to engravings on cave walls.”
“What is a hamantasch? A sacred vulva filled with black seeds. A food, source of nourishment, which we make with our hands reflecting our (women’s) felt sense of self-containment, of creativity and generativity.”
“Ancient images of goddesses reveal that certain parts of the body – breasts, vulva, belly, buttocks – were believed to be holy, combining biological functions with processes of spiritual transformation. Hamantaschen remind us that the image of the female body was humanity’s first conceptualization of the workings of the cosmos. The Earth was a mother, fecund like us.”
“When do we eat hamantaschen? At Purim, as Earth herself awakens from dormancy and begins again her sacred spring cycle of life. We honor the Earth’s body for it is our own. The sacred is not to be found on a pilgrimage. It is within us. If we treat our bodies as enemies, we doom ourselves to experiences of an amputated God.”
Astarte, from the Spiral Goddess website: http://www.spiralgoddess.com/Astarte.html
“Astarte is also known as Astarat and Astoreth. She is an incarnation of Ishtar and Inanna. This Semitic Goddess was worshipped by the Syrians, Canaanites (today called Palestinians), Phoenicians, Egyptians and other Semitic Tribes. King Solomon built a Temple to Her as Astoreth, near Jerusalem.”
“Astarte was worshipped as many things, to the Egyptians, She was honored as a Goddess of War and tenacity, to the Semites, She was a Goddess of Love and Fertility. Among the Greeks She was transposed into the Goddess of Love Aphrodite. In the Bible, She is referred to as ‘the abomination’. Considering Her widespread devotion in Biblical times, the attempts to discredit the Goddess are not surprising.”
“The Bull and the Dove are especially sacred to Astarte and Astoreth. The Goddess is often pictured wearing horns. Astoreth is sometimes pictured wearing the head of a Bull. The Dove is associated with many Middle-Eastern Goddess rites. A Dove perches atop many Asheras, (tall moon poles) that marked the ‘High Places’ were outdoor Goddess rituals were frequently held.”
Astarte, from http://www.themystica.com/mythical-folk/articles/astarte.html
“Astarte, the ancient Phoenician great goddess of fertility, motherhood, and war, is the counterpart of the Babylonian goddess Ishtar, and is one of the oldest Middle Eastern aspects of the great Goddess, dating to the Neolithic and Bronze Ages. Tammuz also is identified as her son/consort as he is with Ishtar. According to legend Astarate descended to earth as a fiery star, landing near Byblos in a lake at Alphaca, the site where the original Tammuz is said to have died.”
“Her other counterparts are Isis, Hathor of Egypt, Kali of India, and Aphrodite and Demeter of Greece. However, the mother goddess in the Ras Shamra texts appears as Anat, Athirat, and Athtart, or Astrate.”
“Athirata, ‘the lady of the sea,’ appears to be the consort of El, the equivalent of the Hebrew god Yahweh. Her role was restricted to fertility. Astarte, ‘the queen of heaven,’ was almost as fierce as Anat abut less remote than Athirat. The Hebrews knew her as the goddess of the Sidonians, whom they worshiped. This angered Yahweh who complained to the prophet Jeremiah. At Mizpah temples of Yahweh and Astarte were erected side by side, while in Upper Egypt the Hebrews considered the goddess the divine consort still in the fifth century BC. The same as in the temples of Ishtar and Inanna, the sacred marriage and temple prostitution were prominent features of the cult, of which Yahweh also complained.”
QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER
- Are these traditions of Purim from Yahweh or from man?
- Who gave the command to read the book of Esther on Purim?
- How does Yahweh look at intoxication?
- Should we be concerned about a holiday’s origins?
- Are the quotes from the children’s book any different than teaching children about Santa Claus or the Easter bunny?
- What were people thinking to allow their daughters to go into the king’s harem? They would never leave it.
- Would the threat of this annihilation have been a possibility if the Jews had returned to their own land at the end of the 70 years of the captivity?
- Is this holiday to commemorate the salvation of the nation by Yahweh? If so, why is he not mentioned?
- Is the holiday for Yahweh or for the people to continue on in their old pagan rituals?
- The sages agreed to accept this holiday as legitimate. Based on what?
- How could Mordechai be a member of the Sanhedrin? That was in Jerusalem, and he was in Babylon.
- Are we supposed to “hide” from the world or to be a light to the world?
- Did Yahweh give the rabbinic authorities instructions to add holidays? Or did they take it upon themselves?
- Do we want to follow the example set by early Israel & Judah? They went into captivity for adding the worship of other gods & traditions in their worship of Yahweh.
YAHWEH SAYS ….
Should the Jews have allowed their daughters to go into the harem or allowed them to have a chance to become the new queen?
Exodus(LITV) 34:15-16 15-that you not cut a covenant with the people of the land, and they fornicate with their elohim, and they call to you, and you eat from his sacrifice; 16-and you take from their daughters for your sons, and their daughters fornicate with their elohim, and they lead your sons to fornicate with their elohim.
Numbers(LITV) 25:1-2 1-And Israel lived in Shittim. And the people began to fornicate with the daughters of Moab. 2-And they called the people to the sacrifices of their elohim. And the people ate and bowed themselves to their elohim.
Deuteronomy(LITV) 7:3 nor shall you intermarry with them; you shall not give your daughter to his son, nor shall you take his daughter to your son.
Deuteronomy(LITV) 12:31 You shall not do so to Yahweh your Elohim; for everything hateful to Yahweh, which He detests, they have done to their elohim. For they have even burned their sons and their daughters in the fire to their elohim.
Deuteronomy(LITV) 23:17 No Israelite woman is to be a cult prostitute, and no Israelite man is to be a cult prostitute.
Matthew(LITV) 19:6,8-9 6-So that they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what Elohim has joined together, let not man separate. 8-He said to them, In view of your hardheartedness, Moses allowed you to put away your wives. But from the beginning it was not so. 9-And I say to you, Whoever shall put away his wife, if not for fornication, and shall marry another, that one commits adultery. And the one who marries her who was put away commits adultery.
Mark(LITV) 10:11-12 11-And He said to them, Whoever may dismiss his wife and marries another commits adultery against her. 12-And if a woman puts away her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.
Numbers(LITV) 25:1-2 1-And Israel lived in Shittim. And the people began to fornicate with the daughters of Moab. 2-And they called the people to the sacrifices of their elohim. And the people ate and bowed themselves to their elohim.
Deuteronomy(LITV) 7:3 nor shall you intermarry with them; you shall not give your daughter to his son, nor shall you take his daughter to your son.
Deuteronomy(LITV) 12:31 You shall not do so to Yahweh your Elohim; for everything hateful to Yahweh, which He detests, they have done to their elohim. For they have even burned their sons and their daughters in the fire to their elohim.
Deuteronomy(LITV) 23:17 No Israelite woman is to be a cult prostitute, and no Israelite man is to be a cult prostitute.
Matthew(LITV) 19:6,8-9 6-So that they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what Elohim has joined together, let not man separate. 8-He said to them, In view of your hardheartedness, Moses allowed you to put away your wives. But from the beginning it was not so. 9-And I say to you, Whoever shall put away his wife, if not for fornication, and shall marry another, that one commits adultery. And the one who marries her who was put away commits adultery.
Mark(LITV) 10:11-12 11-And He said to them, Whoever may dismiss his wife and marries another commits adultery against her. 12-And if a woman puts away her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.
Does Yahweh have anything to say about cross-dressing?
Deuteronomy(LITV) 22:5 There shall not be the thing of a man on a woman, nor shall a man put on a woman’s garment. For whoever does these things is an abomination to Yahweh your Elohim.
What about Purim’s special foods and rituals?
Jeremiah(LITV) 7:18 The sons gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings to other elohim, that they may provoke me.
Jeremiah(LITV) 44:16-25,29 16-As for the word that you (Jeremiah) have spoken to us (the Jewish/Israelite people) in the name of Yahweh, we will not listen to you. 17-But we will certainly do whatever thing goes out of our own mouth, to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings to her, as we have done, we and our fathers, our kings, and our rulers, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. And we had plenty of food, and were well, and saw no evil. 18-But when we stopped burning incense to the queen of heaven, and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked all things, and have been devoured by the sword and by the famine 19-And when we burned incense to the queen of heaven and poured out drink offerings to her, did we make her cakes to worship her, and pour out drink offerings to her, without our men? 20-Then Jeremiah said to all the people; to the men, and to the women, and to all the people who were answering, 21-The incense that you burned in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, you, and your fathers, your kings, and your rulers, and the people of the land, did not Yahweh remember them? Yea, it came into his heart. 22-And Yahweh could no longer bear because of the evil of your doings, because of the detestable things you have committed. For this reason your land is a waste, and a horror, and a curse, without one living in it, as at this day. 23-Because you have burned incense, and because you have sinned against Yahweh, and have not obeyed the voice of Yahweh, in his law, or in his statues; and because you did not walk in his testimonies, therefore this evil has happened to you, at this day. 24-Jeremiah also said to all the people, and to all the women, Hear the word of Yahweh, all Judah in the land of Egypt. 25 –So says Yahweh of hosts, the Elohim of Israel, saying: You and your wives have both spoken with your mouths, and fulfilled with your hands, saying, Performing we will perform our vows that we have vowed, to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings to her. Lifting up you lift up your vows and performing you perform your vows. 29-And this shall be a sign to you, says Yahweh, that I will punish you in this place, so that you may know that my words standing shall stand against you for evil.
CONCLUSION
Before assuming that everything that is celebrated as a Christian or Jewish/Judaic holy day is according to Torah/Law, first let it be judged by “Yahweh says”. And if Yahweh did not command it, there is a danger that the observance of that holy day or holiday becomes a violation of these following commands of Yahweh.
Deuteronomy(LITV) 4:2 You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take from it, to keep the commandments of Yahweh your Elohim which I command you.
Deuteronomy(LITV) 12:32 All the things that I command you, take heed to do them and you shall not add to it, nor take away from it.
Revelation(LITV) 22:18-19 18-For I testify together with everyone hearing the words of the prophecy of this book, if anyone adds to these things, Elohim will add upon him the plagues having been written in this book. 19-And if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, Elohim will take away his part from the book of life, and out of the holy city, and of the things having been written in this book.
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Congregation of YHWH, Irving, TX.
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P.O. Box 170309
Dallas, Texas 75217-0309
Telephone: 1-800-867-0150
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