End Times and Current Events

MIDDLE EAST

Iran revises story of Esther, labels Purim a day of mourning
Monday, January 10, 2011 | Ryan Jones



In a couple of months, Israelis and Jews around the world will celebrate Purim, marking the deliverance of the Jews of the Persian Empire from extinction 2,300 years ago. In Iran, the center of the ancient Persian Empire, the date will be marked with mourning and anger.

For years already, Iran has been teaching schoolchildren that Purim marks the massacre of 75,000 Persians by the Jews under the command of Queen Esther. It is presented today as an ancient Iranian holocaust perpetrated by the Jews.

The Iranian version leaves out the part where Haman, the royal advisor, convinces the Persian king to sign a decree permitting the wholesale slaughter the Jews of the empire. When Esther reveals her Jewish background to the king and reveals that Haman was tricking him, the king issues a second decree, allowing the Jews to defend themselves. By God’s grace, the Jews are largely spared, while their enemies are slaughtered.

This year, Iran may go further than simply revising the biblical account. Iranian authorities have decided to downgrade the status of the “Tomb of Esther and Mordechai the Jews” in the city of Hamadan in central Iran. The tomb had previously enjoyed that status of an official pilgrimage site.

Following the downgrading, the Iranian news agency Fars began pushing the idea that Esther and her uncle Mordechai were responsible for a massacre of Iranians, and that their burial place had merely been tolerated until now.

The Iranian news agency MEHR reported reported that a couple of weeks ago, a group of 250 militant Iranian students gathered at the tomb and threatened to tear it down.

 

 

Esther and Mordechai's Tombs Still Standing 2,500 Years Later

Iran is an unlikely place to find the remains of two of Israel's most revered heroes.

The Shia Muslim country isn't shy about its mission to wipe Israel and the Jewish people off the map but thousands of years ago it was the place where Esther and her uncle Mordechai saved Israel.

Today, their tombs are tucked away in the city of Hamadan in what many believe was the ancient capital city of Persia.

Here, the country's Jewish population come to remember the queen that saved their ancestors.

"The Jews are very proud of the site as part of their 2,700-year history in Iran," Swedish writer and activist Annika Hernroth-Rothstein told Breaking Israel News. "The tomb is prominent, very accessible and very well-kept."

Although the tomb stands proudly today, there have still been attempts to erase a Jewish connection.

Anti-Israel protestors have also surrounded the tomb and threatened to take it down. The Iranian government has even gone so far to say that Purim, the Jewish holiday that celebrates Esther's victory for the Jewish people, is actually a holiday about a Jewish massacre of Iranians.

The tombs are quiet in recent days and stand as a message that Israel will survive despite being surrounded by hate.

http://www.charismanews.com/world/63586-esther-and-mordechai-s-tombs-still-standing-2-500-years-later