Adar II 4

In the fortress Shushan the Jews killed a total of five hundred men. They also killed Parshandatha, Dalphon, Aspatha, Poratha, Adalia, Aridatha, Parmashta, Arisai, Aridai, and Vaizatha, the ten sons of Haman son of Hammedatha, the foe of the Jews. But they did not lay hands on the spoil. When the number of those slain in the fortress Shushan was reported on that same day to the king, the king said to Queen Esther, "In the fortress Shushan alone the Jews have killed a total of five hundred men, as well as the ten sons of Haman. What then must they have done in the provinces of the realm! What is your wish now? It shall be granted you. And what else is your request? It shall be fulfilled." "If it please Your Majesty," Esther replied, "let the Jews in Shushan be permitted to act tomorrow also as they did today; and let Haman's ten sons be impaled on the stake." The king ordered that this should be done, and the decree was proclaimed in Shushan. Haman's ten sons were impaled: and the Jews in Shushan mustered again on the fourteenth day of Adar and slew three hundred men in Shushan. But they did not lay hands on the spoil. Esther 9:6-15. The Writings--Kethubim: A new translation of The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic text, Third Section, The Jewish Publication Society of America, Philadelphia, 1982. Crayon on cardstock, edited on IrfanView.

Haman's plans and his family are unraveling. No mention of Zeresh but things are getting rather violent. To their credit, the Jews left the spoils untouched even though the king gave them rights to the spoils. Esther's request for more violence is a bit scarey but it's important to remember how this all started. This pop gun links today's world of guns to these ancient acts of violence and Purim's tradition of playing opposites against one another -- the gore of so many deaths and the giddiness inspired by the surprise of a loud pop! 9" expanding to 12.5"