God's Miraculous Salvation

The Feast of Purim and the Lot of the Jew

The lot is cast into the lap; but the whole disposing thereof is of the LORD.—Proverbs 16:33

Donald Holliday

"And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces. In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram" (Genesis 15:17,18). Before the seed of Abraham came into existence, the process leading to their ultimate bonding with the Lord was portrayed in terms of "smoking furnace" experiences. Such has been the history of this ancient people of God to this day. The Jew has been likened to the bush that burned but was not consumed. The story is all but told. The final chapter is now before us.

Although it lies outside the seven months of the religious feasts of the Lord established in the Law, Purim is a feast highly regarded by the Jews. It commemorates deliverance from the attempted genocide of the Jewish race through the faith and courage of Mordecai and Esther (Esther 9:16-32). Purim derives its name from the "lot" (pur) which Haman cast in order to decide when he should carry into effect the decree issued by the king for the extermination of the Jews (Esther 9:24). It was to be celebrated on the fourteenth day of Adar (March) by those in villages and unwalled towns and on the fifteenth day by those in fortified cities (Esther 9:18,19). The Book of Esther is read in the synagogue on this day. It became a time for rejoicing and distribution of food and presents. Dramatic representations of the events in the account have accompanied this feast, none so dramatic as the scenes which began it, nor the scenes which will fulfil it in our times.

The Story of Esther

The story of Esther occurs at an interesting time in Bible history. It concerns not the land of Israel, but rather the Jews of the dispersion, revealing the Lord’s watch-care even for these.

The Jewish millennium from Moses to Jeremiah ended with disaster. After repeated warnings and disciplines the full judgment of the Lord fell upon a wayward people. Their covenant was broken, their temple destroyed, and the people scattered as captives in the Babylonian empire. There they were to remain until the coming of Cyrus. However, after the first painful years, many Jews became accustomed to their foreign surroundings and some even began to prosper in Babylon. A new generation was rising. When the empire fell before the incoming Persian king, Cyrus, the opportunity to return to their own land was announced. But many were reluctant to leave their comforts in Babylon to face the unknown privations that would accompany the rebuilding of their former land now lying desolate.

So it was in the times of Esther, some 60 years after the decree of Cyrus, that many Jews remained scattered in what was then the Persian empire. Some held respectable positions in the Persian world and Mordecai was one of them.

Mordecai’s uncle died in Persia leaving his motherless daughter, Hadassah (Esther), to the care of Mordecai. Employed in the royal palace at Susa, he attracted the favorable notice of the monarch, Xerxes, because he discovered a plot to assassinate the king. Eventually Mordecai became the grand vizier of the Persian empire.

Haman was the villain as he plotted to destroy all the Jews. Haman was a descendant of the Amalekites, the archenemies of the Jews(compare Esther 3:1 with Deuteronomy 25:17-19; Exodus 17:8-16; and 1 Samuel 15). In Deuteronomy 25:17-19 the Lord warned his people to have nothing to do with Amalek forever. They were to recall their peril at that old enemy’s hands.

In the language of types, the battle with the Amalekites as the Israelites came out of Egypt represented their fight against doubt and that sad lack of trust in their God which so soon beset the people he had so mightily delivered. (Their success in the battle depended upon the up-reaching arms of Moses.) Nor was the battle over then, as king Saul was later to learn at his cost (1 Samuel 15:8-23—see also Hebrews 3:17 to 4:2).

Haman had worked his way into the king’s confidence. He expected everyone to honor him, but Mordecai knew Haman’s origin. Mordecai remembered the warning words of his God and refused to bow down to him. This so enraged Haman that he determined to wipe out the entire race of Jews throughout the Persian domain (Esther 3:6-11).

The Nazi Holocaust

"Without faith, it is impossible to please him" (Hebrews 11:6). The typical background is of relevance in the story of Esther when so many ears turned deaf to the cry that the time to favor Zion had come. But the matter does not stop there, for our own generation has witnessed a parallel with those troublous days. Again it is the old enemy Amalek, a disbelief in the promises and power of God, that held back so many Jews on foreign soil when the time to return to their land had come. In Old Testament times the dark cloud was Haman, his own ambitions, and his resentment of the position Jews were gaining in the land. In our day it was Hitler with similar motivations. Furthermore, there is a striking time parallel between the days of Haman’s rise to power with such evil intent, and the rise of Hitler from 1934 onwards.¹

Here lies a remarkable confirmation that we are indeed living in the days of Christ’s return of whom Cyrus was clearly a type (Isaiah 44:28 to 45:1; "anointed" means "Messiah").

The story of Esther’s part is familiar to all who have read the account in the book bearing her name, and it contains timely lessons as much for ourselves as for the natural seed of Abraham. Mordecai himself explains how Esther became queen of Persia and for what divinely overruled purpose. The palace knew the Jewish background of Mordecai (Esther 3:4) but not of Esther (Esther 2:10).

Haman consulted his advisors to determine when fortune would favor his plan to slaughter the Jews (Esther 9:26-31; 3:7). They cast lots to determine the day of execution. For successive days the lot was cast without result until nearly a year in the count passed by. At last the lot fell. Did this point to a late event in their history? In Haman’s mind the lot of the Jew was destruction, but the Lord had yet to have his say as to the lot of his people.

Haman slandered the Jews before the king, and offered the monarch over $25,000,000 in silver if he gave permission to slay them. Haman lied about the evil attributed to the Jews, of course. He was sponsored by Satan, a liar and a murderer from the beginning. Foolishly, Xerxes gave Haman his ring and the authority to carry out his plan, not realizing that the life of his own queen was at stake. Haman wasted no time; that very month he had the decrees written and sent out, ordering the Persians to destroy, kill, and plunder all the Jews in the vast reaches of the kingdom on the appointed day.

A Plot Foiled

"The LORD hath brought you forth out of the iron furnace" (Deuteronomy 4:20). Thus it was that the courage and faith of Mordecai and Esther were put to the test. This trust was rewarded in full. Once the royal decree had gone forth to exterminate the Jewish race Persian law would not allow the decree to be revoked. However, the king could make a counter decree that the Jews could resist this attack and consume their enemies. But to achieve this intervention would require Esther to risk her life.

Mordecai went into mourning at the king’s gate. He was not ashamed to be identified with the people of God although he had wisely counseled Esther not to reveal her race. Esther was deeply concerned on hearing of his sorrowful state, and pleaded that he stop, but he revealed to her his cause for lament. Esther had not seen the king for a month (Esther 4:11) and was probably quite unaware of all that was going on. Mordecai sent her a copy of the king’s decree to bring fully home to her the peril they were in.

In Esther 4:11 the high risks of the situation are faced so far as any attempt at intervention from Esther was concerned. Yet now it must have been dawning upon her why she had been brought to the position she now held as queen of Persia. Mordecai reminded her that her own life was already in jeopardy and that without action her position could not save her. Yet he had faith in God’s covenant arrangement with Abraham and acknowledged his power to deliver even in the darkest hour. He said, "If you hold your peace, God will send deliverance some other way!"

Esther sets an example to all in dire distress by seeking the Lord in prayer. The name of God is never mentioned openly in the account. This account tells of the faith achieved in the unseen God.

Esther knew that to enter the king’s presence uninvited could mean her death. She resolved that she would be, nevertheless, a "living sacrifice" if this was in accordance with God’s perfect will. "If I perish, I perish!" If the attempt to deliver her own race involved her death, so be it. (See Daniel 3:13-18.)

Esther’s Confession

"The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord!" (Proverbs 21:1). Esther was now forced to confess her place among the people of God. For three days she fasted and prayed, and with her all the Jewish people. Then on the third day she entered the throne room standing trembling at the door. The king saw her there and, realizing that something very important must have prompted this act, his heart was touched; he stretched forth his golden scepter to beckon her.

Showing great discretion, Esther did not reveal at once all that was in her heart. Instead, she invited the king and Haman to a banquet that very day. After several courses of food, the time came for the wine course, a time when the king would be exceptionally happy. He knew that Esther had a matter on her heart, so he asked about it. But the wise queen delayed another day, and the king yielded to her wishes. Haman went home elated, puffed up with pride that he should enjoy such an exclusive banquet with royalty. Proudly he boasted of his exaltation to family and friends. But he was so indignant at the repeated failure of Mordecai to reverence him that at his wife’s advice he built an enormous means of destruction for the hated Jew—a gallows fifty cubits high from which, this "final solution" would be witnessed in public display.²

Nothing could prevent this most serious attempt to exterminate every Jew. That could not be changed. Nevertheless, there was also to be a most remarkable reversal. The outcome would be that the Jew so despised and hated was to become highly honored, while his enemies were to be destroyed.

The God of Israel Triumphant

"No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper . . . this is the heritage of the servants ofthe LORD" (Isaiah 54:17). The account records how the downfall of Haman was achieved. The thwarting of Satan’s attempted annihilation of the Jews in our own time under Hitler, and the resulting rebirth of Israel, is but a stage in the full, exciting story. The Jew has a destiny of exaltation and honor which will become a means of the greatest blessing mankind has ever known or dreamed in the kingdom arrangements of God’s dear son.

But first this ancient race must stand up and be counted as the people of God. They need once more to turn to their God in fasting and most earnest petition, and to realize at last that power of faith and that strength of obedient trust which is the life-force of those who, through smoking furnaces, become welded and forever bonded with their Lord.

"But the LORD hath taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace . . . to be unto him a people of inheritance, as ye are this day" (Deuteronomy 4:20).

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¹. 476 B.C. is 60 years after Cyrus, 536 B.C., and the Esther period until death of Xerxes in 465 B.C. occupied a further 11 years. The parallel from 1874 is the period of Hitler’s rise and his evil attempt to wipe out the Jewish race from 1934 to 1945 A.D.

². Under the Nazis every living Jew old and young, male and female was slated for destruction. Three-quarters of Hitler’s victims died within an eleven-month period alone (March 1942 to February 1943).