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PURIM
The festival of Purim is
based on the book of Esther, one of the five Magilot, or scrolls, of the
Bible. Biblical scholars and
historians believe that Esther was a contemporary of Ezra and Nehemiah,
and these events took place during the beginnings of the Persian Empire.
This great empire was developed by Cyrus and passed to his son,
Cambyses and later to other relatives such as Darius and Xerxes, known
also as King Ahasuarus.
The hero of the story is
Mordeci, a Jewish exile who served in the king's court.
His young cousin, Esther (Hadassah) had become his ward, since her
parent’s death. The king of
Persia, whose capital was in the city of Susa, was Ahasuarus.
He was a braggart and a drunkard, carousing for days at a time with
his fellows. The book of
Esther opens as the king is ending a six-month party with a seven-day
blowout of eating and drinking. His
wife, Queen Vashti, was having a big seven-day bash for the women, while
King Ahasuarus was partying with all the men.
The King ordered the Queen to appear before him, wearing her royal
crown. Some Rabbis say that
he wanted her to appear wearing ONLY her royal crown and she refused.
Others say that she was so intoxicated herself that she was not capable of
appearing at all. Regardless
of the reason, she did not obey. She knew what the rules were, and she chose to disregard
them. Because of her
disobedience, she was not allowed to enter the king's presence again. Eventually he became lonely and his ministers encouraged him
to search throughout the land to find a young girl who could be trained to
be the next queen. The search
began and all the available young girls were brought to the palace to
begin their year of beauty treatments and training.
Mordeci insisted that Esther take part in this and forbade her to
tell of her Judaism. She was
obedient to him. During this
year, Esther took all the advise of the king's eunuchs, who were in charge
of the girls. Whatever they
instructed her, she learned. Whatever
advise they gave her, she took. She
was a submissive and obedient trainee.
It was Mordeci's habit to
sit at the entrance of the courts. He
overheard a plot to kill the king and he made it known to those in
authority, thus saving Ahasuarus' life.
This was written in the court records of the time.
In the meantime, the villain
of the story makes himself known. Way
back in the time of King Saul, G-d ordered him to wipe out all of the
Amalekites that were left after a battle won by the Israelites.
Saul took matters into his own hands and did not kill all of them.
Thus we have the prime minister in the citadel of Susa, the next in
line under the king, Haman the Agagite, a descendent of the Amalekites.
He was very wicked. He
ordered that all people bow down to him.
When Mordeci refused, because Jews do not bow down to any mere man,
Haman was furious. He went to
the king, who was probably suffering from a hangover, and manipulated him
into signing a decree to destroy all of the Jews on the fourteenth of the
month of Adar. Lots, or Pur,
were thrown to choose the date, thus the name of the feast, Purim.
When Mordeci heard of this
evil plot he contacted Esther and told her that she was placed in her
current position for such a time as this.
She was very frightened, because to enter the presence of the king
without being called could mean death.
She asked for her community to fast and pray for G-d's direction
and strength.
Queen Esther cautiously
approached the king's throne room. When
he received her she asked for his presence, and that of Haman, at a
special dinner. Haman was so
full of pride that he ran home to brag to his family and friends.
In the meantime, Haman was
relishing in his evil ways, bragging how he will hang Mordeci on a gallows
and how all the Jews would be killed. He
entered the court in time for the king to order him to honor Mordeci.
This was to repay Mordeci for saving the king’s life when there
was an assassination attempt. He went home to complain to his wife when he was summoned to
the second dinner in Queen Esther's quarters.
At this time, the queen disclosed the horrible plot to destroy her
people and herself, a Jewish woman, to the king. She accused Haman of being the author of this evil.
Eventually, Haman and his family were hanged on the very gallows
built for Mordeci. The Jews
were given the right to defend themselves, and a great tragedy was
averted.
In all this, the name of G-d
is not mentioned even once throughout the entire book of Esther.
One can see, however, the hand of the L-rd guiding lives and
kingdoms.
There is the 'god-incidence'
of Vashti refusing the king even though she knew it could cost her life.
At this time, the Jewish people, even though in exile, were well
integrated into the life style of those around them.
The books of Ezra and Nehemiah indicate that many of the Jews were
quite well off materially and held high positions in the kingdom.
By another "god-incidence" Esther, a naive, young, Jewish
girl, listened to her cousin Mordeci and hid her Jewishness from those in
authority over her during her training to eventually become the next queen
of the land. She became a
shrewd student, learning the ins and outs of palace etiquette.
Even so, she maintained her love for her people and her G-d.
Mordeci brought her up in the fear and admonition of the L-rd.
When the time came for her to take a stand, she was the one who had
Mordeci and her people pray and fast for her before she went before the
king. She was willing to
perish for this high call.
The very nature of G-d is
shown in this book. Even
though there is an adversary who desires to destroy our Jewish people, G-d
always sends someone to stand in the gap, to lay down his, or her, own
life for the people of the L-rd. Esther
did this in her time, with Mordeci acting as her Ruach Ha Kodesh giving
her guidance and comfort as she did what was right.
We have our advocate, standing at the right hand of the Most High,
even now, Messiah Yeshua. John
10:15-18 states that He was willing to lay down His life for the sake of
His people, so that we would have everlasting life.
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