A feast, signifying 'lot or lots.' Haman cast lots to find an auspicious day for the destruction of the Jews. On this being averted their deliverance was commemorated by an annual feast. Esther 3:7; Esther 9:24-32 . It fell on the 14th and 15th of Adar. This feast is not mentioned by name in the N.T. though some suppose it to be alluded to in John 5:1; but of this there is no intimation, and such a feast did not call the Lord to go to Jerusalem. The feast is still kept by the Jews: the Book of Esther is read, and curses are pronounced on Haman and on his wife; and blessings on Mordecai, and on Harbonah.