End of [Ibarya] Year Feasts: The Feast of Purim & The Feast of the Defeat of Nicanor, Israel's Enemy

Now is the time that we Israelites began to remember and memorialize the Feasts that come in the 12th Month of the Ibarya or Hebrew calendar; the month of Adar. A few times during the year, we come together as a family, community and nation to blow the shofar and share a festive meal while enjoying the company of our family and praising YAHAWAH for His glorious acts of mercy and deliverance shown towards our nation down through the years.

I don't believe that all Holy feast days are celebrated by eating a festive meal; such as Day of Atonement, Day of Pentecost and Feast of Tabernacles just to quickly name a few, but there are few times when we would come together in such a festive way such as during the New Moon/Month celebrations (1 Samuel 20:5-27 KJV) that take place on the first day of every month as well as the Feast of Purim (Esther 9:21-22 KJV), one of the last Feasts to be kept in the Ibarya year.

There are two Feasts that come in the 12th month or the month of Adar every year. These Feasts are not listed with the commanded Feasts given to us from YAHAWAH through Moses in the Law of God (see Leviticus 23 KJV), but they are however Feasts that were later instituted and are still recognized by our people to this day. Those feasts are the Feast of Purim during the days of Queen Hadassah (Esther) and the Feast of the defeat of Nicanor during the time of the Maccabees. These feasts actually come one right behind the other with the Feast of Nicanor taking place on the 13th day of Adar and the Feast of Purim on the 14th and 15th days of Adar.

Both feasts memorialize the defeat of staunch enemies of Israel.

The Feast of the Defeat of Nicanor

You can read about this feast in the First book of the Maccabees chapter seven (7) starting particularly at verse 26 in the Apocrypha (1 Maccabees 7:26 KJVA). What happens in this historical account is that wicked and ungodly Israelites led by Alcimus; an evil Israelite desiring to be the high priest, plotted against Judah the Maccabean and his bretheren, accusing them to the King; King Demetrius, of killing all of the king's friends and of driving them out of their own land. After hearing this, King Demetrius sent another one of his friends, Bacchides along with Alcimus; whom he had made a high priest, and a great host of men to take vengeance on the children of Israel.

The Israelites thought that they were coming in peace because they believed Alcimus to be an honorable high priest of the seed of Aaron. They came into the land under false pretenses and began to battle the Israelites. Once it was realized by Judas and his bretheren what these men were doing, they began to fight them and they overtook them. After this, Alcimus fled back to King Demetrius and began to slander Judas and his bretheren even more than before. It was at this time that King Demetrius sent Nicanor, one of the King's honorable princes. The scripture says that Nicanor was, "a man that bare deadly hate unto Israel, with commandment to destroy the people" (v. 26).

He too came in deceptively but was discovered to be seeking to deceive. After a few exchanges between Nicanor and Judas and his bretheren, they came to the final battle on the 13th day of Adar, in which Nicanor became the first casualty. After seeing their leader dead, his army turned and began to flee to which Judas, his bretheren and all those in Judea chased after them, encompassed them and slew all of them. After this the Israelites took the spoil of Nicanor and his army. They also cut off the head and right hand of Nicanor. Lastly, they proclaimed that this day; the 13th of Adar, be remembered as a day of great joy and gladness throughout Israel for ever! HalalwaYAH! (Hallelujah).

The Feast of Purim

This story is one that many may be more familiar with. It takes place in the book of Esther (KJV) and the Book of Esther Additions (Apocrypha) starting with Mordecai, Esther's (Hadassah) cousin and caregiver being placing Hadassah among the fair virgins of the land to be selected to be the new wife of King Ahasuerus. Long story short, King Ahasuerus selects Hadassah; a Jewess woman, to be his new wife. Her cousin Mordecai over hears of a plot to assassinate the King which he tells to Hadassah who then tells her husband the King. After an investigation, the perpetrators were both hanged. After this, Haman the Persian was promoted by King Ahasuerus above all the other princes. All the people were commanded to bow before Haman but Mordecai bowed not because it was/is unlawful to do so for a man that is a Jew/Israelite. This made Haman full of wrath which in turn caused him to devise a plot against all of the Jews throughout the 120 Providences of King Ahauserus from Ethiopia to India.

The plan was that on the 13th day of Adar (ironically, the same day as the defeat of Nicanor!), that all of the Jews were to be massacred by all "others" living in the same Providences. A decree was written up and sent to all of the people living in King Ahasuerus's kingdom. This brought fear in the hearts of all Israelites throughout the kingdom. Mordecai than approached Queen Hadassah and asked her to petition her husband the King to seek for mercy for her people, the Israelites. For Mordecai perceived that she had been placed in that position as Queen for such a time as they were facing then. Queen Hadassah then proclaimed a 3 days and 3 nights fast eating neither food nor drinking drink.

Afterwards, Hadassah held a banquet to which she requested for Haman to be present which the King obliged. Haman began to boast because he felt above everyone else because only he was invited to the Queen's banquet out of all the other men of the court. But Haman's hatred for Mordecai and the Jews was still brewing, so much so that his wife demanded that gallows be made to hang Mordecai just before he attended the banquet. Later that night, the King had trouble sleeping so he began reading through his records to which he read about how Mordecai had uncovered and exposed the assassination plot against him some time before.

He then inquired of a way to honor Mordecai for his noble deeds. He asked Haman to determine the best way to honor a noble man, without Haman knowing that Mordecai was the man the King was speaking of! He determined for the man to be dressed in royal apparel and paraded throughout the streets of the city on the King's horses wearing a royal crown. The king then ordered Haman to perform his words on Mordecai, to which he did but soon after left quickly in shame and proceeded to tell his wife and friends of his embarrassment.

After this, the banquet that Queen Hadassah put on commenced. At this banquet, she proceeded to tell her husband the King that someone had taken a strong dislike to her people and desired to kill them and her. This thing troubled the King greatly so he asked her who was this person that desired to do such a thing, to dare to kill off the Queen and all of her people? She then answered him saying, the wicked man desiring to do this evil thing is Haman. Haman was overcome with fear for his life and began to beg Hadassah for mercy upon the bed that she was sitting upon.

The King, who had left the banquet in wrath, came back and saw Haman upon the bed with the Queen to which he thought that Haman was behaving inappropriately with his wife. This thing angered him even more. He wondered if Haman was trying to force himself upon the Queen. As he uttered these words, the King's men placed a bag upon his head and led him to the gallows that he had made for Mordecai to be hanged upon, but instead he himself was hanged there! After this, Hadassah informed the King of her relation to Mordecai. Upon learning this, the King then promoted and honored Mordecai. He also wrote and declared a decree stating that on the day that the Jews were supposed to be slaughtered by their enemies (the 13th day of Adar), that they could instead stand and defend themselves against their enemies. This decree spread throughout all the land making the Jews extremely happy!

The day came, (13th of Adar) that the enemies of the Israelites rose up against them but the Jews were ready to defend themselves! The Most High delivered all of our enemies into our hands that day and delivered us from slaughter and death! HalalwaYAH! (Hallelujah). It was after this that the Feast or days of Purim were established; on the 14th and 15th days of Adar, the days that the Jews rested after the defeat of their enemies! Also note that Haman's ten sons were also hanged upon the gallows! The snare that he set up for Mordecai the righteous was turned back on himself!

These stories are great stories in our history that show the Mighty hand of YAHAWAH on display! The scripture says that He is Mighty to save (Isaiah 63:1 KJV) and that He is!! What I also find interesting is that both of these historical events happened on the exact same day! The 13th day of Adar! Which is actually today! (Feb. 21st but Hebraically, the day starts/begins on the evening before; Feb. 20th). Nicanor and his wicked army rose up against our ancestors on the 13th day of Adar and were defeated! And our enemies throughout the provinces that we lived in during the days of Queen Esther (Hadassah) sought to destroy us on the 13th day of Adar (Esther 9:1 KJV) but our ancestors were ready for them and overcame them!

On this day, and the days of Purim that follow right after (Esther 9:18-28 KJV), we are to be happy, joyous and festive! Take time to reflect and read through these stories. Spend time with family and friends who also celebrate these honorable historic events of Israelite (Black) History and give portions (food) one to another and gifts to the poor (Esther 9:19,22 KJV). If you are the only one you know that celebrates these days, that's ok! You can still be happy and joyous with yourself singing songs of praise to YAHAWAH (James 5:13 KJV) and perhaps even doing some volunteer work in your community! Also, feel free to shoot me a message via the "Contact" on the homepage! I would love to hear from you!

Happy Feast Days!!! -- Happy Feast of the Defeat of Nicanor! // Happy Purim!!

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Shalawam,

Yawanah.