Adar

Occurrences in Scripture

Adar is the biblical name for the twelfth month. In the Old Testament it appears in only two books, both of which deal with the period after the return from exile.

• Ezra 6:15: The Temple in Jerusalem was finished "on the third day of the month Adar, which was in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king." This was the Temple rebuilt in the time of Zerubbabel, a subject treated in the article Rebuilding of the Temple.
• Esther 3:7: In Nisan, the first month of the twelfth year of King Ahasuerus, "they cast Pur, that is, the lot, before Haman." The lot fell on the twelfth month, Adar, as the time for destroying the Jews. Esther 3:13 specifies the date as the thirteenth day of Adar.
• Esther 8:12; 9:1: The day on which the Jews were permitted to defend themselves was likewise the thirteenth of Adar.
• Esther 9:15–21: The Jews in Shushan fought on the thirteenth and fourteenth days and rested on the fifteenth, while the Jews in the provinces fought on the thirteenth and rested on the fourteenth. Mordecai sent letters directing that the fourteenth and fifteenth days of Adar be kept every year, and this marked the beginning of Purim.

Background

Before the Babylonian exile, Israel generally referred to the months by number, as in "the first month" or "the second month." Some Canaanite names, such as Abib and Zif, were also used. During the exile the Jews adopted the month names of the Babylonian calendar. Names such as Nisan and Chislev (KJV "Chisleu") came into use at this time, and Adar is likewise understood to derive from a Babylonian month name (Adaru). The original meaning of the word is disputed and remains uncertain.

Adar corresponds roughly to February–March in the modern calendar. The Jewish calendar is based on the phases of the moon, so an additional month is inserted every few years to keep dates aligned with the seasons. In later Jewish reckoning this intercalary month is placed after Adar and called "Second Adar" (Adar II). In leap years Purim is observed in Second Adar. This is a custom of later Judaism, not a regulation found in the biblical text.

Meaning and Interpretation in the Whole of Scripture

In the book of Esther, Adar is the point toward which the tension of the narrative builds. Nearly eleven months separate Nisan, when the lot was cast before Haman, from Adar. Because this interval left room for the situation to be reversed, many interpreters see in it the working of God's providence in a book where the name of God never appears.

The name Adar does not occur in the New Testament. Some identify "a feast of the Jews" in John 5:1 with Purim, but others take it to be Passover or another feast, and the question remains unsettled.

The biblical text should be distinguished from later tradition. The "Fast of Esther," which Judaism today observes on the thirteenth of Adar, is a custom that became established later. The biblical text (Esther 9:31) mentions "the matters of the fastings and their cry" but does not fix a date. Adar also appears in the Greek additions to Esther and in the apocryphal books of Maccabees, which the Catholic and Orthodox churches accept. Protestants do not include these books in the canon.

In the Korean Church

Korean Protestant churches do not observe Adar as a sacred season. Adar is mentioned chiefly when the date of Purim is explained in sermons or Bible studies on the book of Esther.