The Feast of Purim

18 But the Jews who were at 9Shushan assembled together ron the thirteenth day, as well as on the fourteenth; and on the fifteenth of 1the month they rested, and made it a day of feasting and gladness. 19 Therefore the Jews of the villages who dwelt in the unwalled towns celebrated the fourteenth day of the month of Adar swith gladness and feasting, tas a holiday, and for usending presents to one another.

20 And Mordecai wrote these things and sent letters to all the Jews, near and far, who were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, 21 to establish among them that they should celebrate yearly the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month of Adar, 22 as the days on which the Jews had rest from their enemies, as the month which was turned from sorrow to joy for them, and from mourning to a holiday; that they should make them days of feasting and joy, of vsending presents to one another and gifts to the wpoor. 23 So the Jews accepted the custom which they had begun, as Mordecai had written to them, 24 because Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, xhad plotted against the Jews to annihilate them, and had cast Pur (that is, the lot), to consume them and destroy them; 25 but ywhen 2Esther came before the king, he commanded by letter that 3this wicked plot which Haman had devised against the Jews should zreturn on his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows.

26 So they called these days Purim, after the name 4Pur. Therefore, because of all the words of athis letter, what they had seen concerning this matter, and what had happened to them, 27 the Jews established and imposed it upon themselves and their descendants and all who would bjoin them, that without fail they should celebrate these two days every year, according to the written instructions and according to the prescribed time, 28 that these days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation, every family, every province, and every city, that these days of Purim should not fail to be observed among the Jews, and that the memory of them should not perish among their descendants.

29 Then Queen Esther, cthe daughter of Abihail, with Mordecai the Jew, wrote with full authority to confirm this dsecond letter about Purim. 30 And Mordecai sent letters to all the Jews, to ethe one hundred and twenty-seven provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus, with words of peace and truth, 31 to confirm these days of Purim at their appointed time, as Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther had prescribed for them, and as they had decreed for themselves and their descendants concerning matters of their ffasting and lamenting. 32 So the decree of Esther confirmed these matters of Purim, and it was written in the book.

Mordecai’s Advancement

10 And King Ahasuerus imposed tribute on the land and on athe islands of the sea. 2 Now all the acts of his power and his might, and the account of the greatness of Mordecai, bto which the king 1advanced him, are they not written in the book of the cchronicles of the kings of Media and Persia? 3 For Mordecai the Jew was dsecond to King Ahasuerus, and was great among the Jews and well received by the multitude of his brethren, eseeking the good of his people and speaking peace to all his 2countrymen.

Job

Job and His Family in Uz

1 There was a man ain the land of Uz, whose name was bJob; and that man was cblameless and upright, and one who dfeared God and 1shunned evil. 2 And seven sons and three daughters were born to him. 3 Also, his possessions were seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred female donkeys, and a very large household, so that this man was the greatest of all the 2people of the East.

4 And his sons would go and feast in their houses, each on his appointed day, and would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. 5 So it was, when the days of feasting had run their course, that Job would send and 3sanctify them, and he would rise early in the morning eand offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, “It may be that my sons have sinned and fcursed 4God in their hearts.” Thus Job did regularly.

Satan Attacks Job’s Character

6 Now gthere was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and 5Satan also came among them. 7 And the Lord said to 6Satan, “From where do you come?”

So Satan answered the Lord and said, “From hgoing to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it.”

8 Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you 7considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and 8shuns evil?”

9 So Satan answered the Lord and said, “Does Job fear God for nothing? 10 iHave You not 9made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side? jYou have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. 11 kBut now, stretch out Your hand and touch all that he has, and he will surely lcurse 1You to Your face!”

12 And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your 2power; only do not lay a hand on his person.”

So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.

Summarized Bible

Complete Summary of
the New Testament

By KEITH L. BROOKS

Author of

“Simple Studies in Bible Marking”

Published by

Bible Institute of Los Angeles

536–558 South Hope Street

Los Angeles, Cal.

Copyright 1919

keith l. brooks

How Shall I Study My Bible?

by frederic w. farr, d. d.

PEOPLE are always asking, how shall I study the Bible? What is the best method? There is no short cut, no royal road, no magic method. Say to such an inquirer, “Read the Bible over and over again—not once, nor twice, nor thrice, but many, many times.” And that is all any one can do. Read it until you become familiar, cognizant of its contents, until you are so familiar with your Bible, be it Bagster or Oxford, that you can close your eyes and visualize the passage by locating it upon a particular page just where it belongs.

In riding upon a railroad train, you hear the trainmen call out the stations, and you refer to your time card to verify the call as each station is passed, and you wonder at the trained memory of the man who can repeat that long list of way stations without a mistake, and you ask him how he ever does it, and he smiles and replies that he has done it so long it is automatic, done without thought and without effort; and so the best product of Bible study becomes spontaneous and involuntary. You have read the Bible so frequently, so thoughtfully, so earnestly, so prayerfully that it comes to you without direct effort on your part where to locate a passage and you label it instinctively. And when the facts of Scripture are all in your head and heart, you can safely trust the Holy Spirit to interpret those facts, and you need not that any man teach you, and therefore the only thing to seek and to secure is to become familiar with the contents of the Word—thoroughly cognizant of all the facts of Scripture, and read them so often that you see them on the page where they occur, even with closed eyes. In that way, a man with one book, if that book be the Bible, has a large and liberal culture and an education that will serve manifold purposes in solving the problems and bearing the burdens and discharging the duties of daily life.

Christian workers must be taught and trained. To teach is to cause to know; to train is to cause to do; knowing and doing are related as a means to an end, as a cause and effect. “If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.” Theory precedes practice. How could a man ever do anything unless he knows how it ought to be done? We not only have to be taught, we have to be trained. We must learn the theory, we must acquire the practice and knowledge as a means to an end. I shall briefly mention seven conditions under which Bible study may be prosecuted with success.