The Feast of Purim, Esther 9:18-27 (Jewish Feasts-2)
Introduction
A thirty-eight-year-old scrubwoman (cleaning lady) would go to the movies and sigh, “If only I had her looks.” She would listen to a singer and moan, “If only I had her voice.” Then one day someone gave her a copy of the book, The Magic of Believing. She stopped comparing herself with actresses and singers. She stopped crying about what she didn’t have and started concentrating on what she did have. She took inventory of herself and remembered that in high school she had a reputation for being the funniest girl around. She began to turn her liabilities into assets. A few years ago Phyllis Diller made over $1 million in one year. She wasn’t good-looking and she had a scratchy voice, but she could make people laugh.
Transition
The great Christian devotionals writer, Oswald Chambers, once wrote, “Laughter and weeping are the two most intense forms of human emotion, and these profound wells of human emotion are to be consecrated to God.”
In Psalms 126:2 it says, “Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy. Then it was said among the nations, “The LORD has done great things for them.” (NIV) The life of the believer is one which is rightly characterized by joy, peace, and yes laughter.
Laughter is a great gift from God. We are not only called into a life of reverent piety, we have been given the great gift and joy of knowing God!
This morning we will examine the Old Testament Feast of Purim. This is the second in a series of sermons on the feasts of the Old Testament. We are examining them to find theological significances for us but as and perhaps more important, are the things that these feasts teach us that we can apply to the Christian life here, now, today.
We serve a God of celebration, of worship, and meaning; the Christian life, above all other things that it is, is a celebration of God’s goodness and rich mercy in our lives. The feast of Purim is, as we will see, a celebration filled with joy, laughter, and hope. If there is any place in the Bible which encourages Christians away from dry religion unto vibrant relational worship; it is the message of this feast.
Historical Context
The Feast of Purim is celebrated to this day in Orthodox Judaism and among many Messianic Jews. It is also known as the Feast of Lots or, in the more modern vernacular, the Feast of Esther. Unlike the other major Feasts of the Old Testament the Feast of Purim is not found in Leviticus 23. The Feast of Purim is recorded only in the book of Esther.
Interestingly, however, the details of the book of Esther with regard to the reign of King Xerxes and the rule of the Medo-Persian Empire are entirely consistent with what is known from modern archeology and from the record of antiquity. The book of Esther is unique in the biblical record for many reasons.
It is the only book in the Bible whose central character and all of its central themes focus on a woman. While there are many biblical books which have women as key characters, Esther stands alone as a central character. The whole book is really about her assent to a high status in the court of the Persian King as his wife and Queen.
The historical setting of the book is a generation or two after the beginning of the great Jewish Diaspora, or scattering of the Jewish people, when the Israelites fell into captivity under the rule of the Babylonians under King Nebuchadnezzar II in 586 BC. 50 years after entering captivity Cyrus the Great, the King of the Persian Empire, conquered the Babylonians and allowed the Jews to return to their homeland in 538 B.C.
The Old Testament books of Nehemiah, Ezra, and Esther recount the events immediately following the time of return to the Holy Land and their themes are strongly centered on God’s people of that period.
Interestingly, many of the Jews – even the majority of whom remained strongly nationalistic and faithful to Yahweh, the One True God of the bible – those who remained in the regions where they had been taken. For many Jews it was clearly more comfortable to remain in the place where they had been taken captive than it was to return to the Holy Land; to the place of labor of rebuilding what had been destroyed in the wars with her enemies.
Here is an interesting parallel to the events leading up to of the Passover Feast.
How easily is the human heart made comfortable in the place of defeat? It is an altogether too common motif in the Old Testament that God’s people so easily become comfortable in the arms of her mistress. But before we judge the Israelites who remained in the places where they had been taken, in various locations and regions throughout the Babylonian Empire, might I suggest that the Church of today knows her own Babylonian captivity? Might I suggest that each one of us knows or at the very least has known such captivities of complacent comfort in our own walks with God?
There were many Jews living lives of relative security and safety in the Persian lands which were formerly under the control of the then crushed Babylonian Empire. According to inferences in the text while there may have been a level of distrust of the foreign Jews and was no doubt some racial ethnic prejudice, many Jews certainly enjoyed great economic and social freedom; indeed at least a few had risen to prominence in the King’s court.
In light of this historical setting we now turn to a few of the details of the story of Esther which led to the institution of the Feast of Purim, the Feast of Lots, also known in modern times as the Feast of Esther.
Exposition
If anyone neglects regular study of the Bible for a belief that the Bible is boring, let me encourage you to read the Book of Esther sometime! This book reads very much like the script of a modern day soap opera! Here is the story line:
The Persian King, a typical prideful and extravagant monarch of his day, was holding a great feast in honor of his latest victory. During the celebration he commanded his queen to remove her veil so that he might boast of her great beauty and show all of the people present. In keeping with the customs of that culture in that time, she refused to do it.
While this kept her honor, very much like the modern day Middle Eastern traditions of veiled women, it disgraced the King because of her disobedience. The King was embarrassed. As a result the King deposed Vashti, his queen, and sent her away at the advice of his counselors who – listen closely, this is actually in the Bible – feared that if the King let this Queen’s disobedience go unchecked, would result in their wives not listening to them!
“Then Memucan replied in the presence of the king and the nobles, "Queen Vashti has done wrong, not only against the king but also against all the nobles and the peoples of all the provinces of King Xerxes. For the queen’s conduct will become known to all the women, and so they will despise their husbands and say, ’King Xerxes commanded Queen Vashti to be brought before him, but she would not come.’ This very day the Persian and Median women of the nobility who have heard about the queen’s conduct will respond to all the king’s nobles in the same way. There will be no end of disrespect and discord.” (Esther 1:16-18 NIV)
This is great! Aside from the obvious humor of this passage, this is also a sort of litmus test that one can apply to the Bible to test its historicity. These kinds of details lend credibility to the originality of the text. These sorts of details are not often found in fabrications or myths. The book of Esther is loaded with information which speaks highly of its historical accuracy.
At this point Esther comes on the scene along with her cousin Mordecai who raised her from birth because of the death of her parents. Esther real name is Hadassah. The King, again at the advice of his rather chauvinistic advisors, had formed a Harem of beautiful young women as potential replacements for the now disposed Queen Vashti. Mordecai instructs his cousin to keep her Jewish ancestry a secret; no doubt to avoid possible anti-Semitic treatment.
The King meets Esther after a year’s worth of beauty preparation with fine perfumes, oils, and cosmetics, and the text says that she found great favor with the King. He fell in love, she was more beautiful than all of the other girls in the harem and He made her his Queen.
Now the plot thickens. This is just about the time that they cut to commercial in the soap operas! It turns out that there is a plot to assassinate the King and Mordecai discovers the plot, tells Esther, who tells the king and the conspirators are hanged at the order of the King, who is thrilled and gives Mordecai great honor in the King’s court.
So now, what the Lord has done is to position two Jewish people, two unlikely candidates into positions of great power in the kingdom. Never underestimate what God can do with little ol’ me. May I further suggest that we ought never to underestimate what God can do with little ol’ anybody. God does what He does!
In comes Haman. He is a man of great power and influence in the King’s court. In fact his power is second only the king in all of the land. Whenever anyone saw Haman they were to, as the text says, “Bow down and pay honor” to him. In reality this meant that they were to show something resembling worship to Haman. Mordecai had chosen to stay in the land where he had been brought as a captive, though now free, but he remained a devout follower of God and would in no way commit idolatry in this way.
When Haman realizes that Esther’s cousin, Mordecai will not pay homage to him because of his Jewish faith and godliness, he develops a plan. He goes to the King and tricks him into giving him permission to eradicate the Jews living in his kingdom. Haman tells the King that he will rid the kingdom of a pesky group of people who refuse to pay homage to the king and his court. The king unwittingly agrees, not knowing that his new queen is a Jew or even that the people who Haman seeks to destroy are the Israelites in the land.
Late one night the king is troubled in his sleep and awakes. In his absurd pride he has men of his court read to him the annals of his victories and glories. As they read, they recount the story of Mordecai destroying the plot on the king’s life. The king realizes that he had never properly honored Mordecai for this.
A little while later the unwitting Haman, the man who had tricked the king into giving him permission to destroy the Jews, comes into the court as the King asks him what should be done for a man who has brought honor to the king. Haman’s pride speaks for him and he tells the king that man should be paraded in the king’s robe through town. Are you getting the picture?
If this were a soap opera it would be called pride cometh before the fall!
He tells him to do this for Mordecai who saved his life and Haman does as he is told. Later Haman goes home and tells everyone in his family what has happened and they tell him certainly he cannot follow through on his plan. Then Haman heads back to the palace only to be present as Esther begs the king to save her life and the life of her people; the Jews. The unwitting king asks what she is talking about. When she explains Haman’s plot the king becomes so angry that he orders Haman hanged on the very gallows that Haman had ordered built for the destruction of Mordecai, whom he despised for his faithfulness to God.
The king then orders, in keeping with the royal custom of that day, that Haman’s 10 sons, all of his lineage and family, along with all of Haman’s men of war be killed. The day of this affair was the 14th of the Jewish month of Adar (late February). Amazingly, the very day that these events occurred was the day that nearly a year earlier Haman had cast lots to determine the day when he would destroy all of the Jews.
Haman had cruelly and out of his own deep-seated pride determined to destroy the Jews by casting lots, that is, something very akin to rolling dice and letting fate, or in some cases, the perceived will of God determine the outcome.
Haman had cast lots to decide the fate of Israel, but what Haman, man, meant for evil, the Lord meant for good for His people! Just when you think the end has come, look up, for our redemption draws nigh. The God of our provision has promised never to leave nor forsake us. The God of our hope is a fortress and a strong tower! The God we serve is mighty and strong to save!
Conclusion
The Feast of Purim, or lots, is the celebration of the dramatic upheaval of the plans of one particular man to destroy the people of Israel but it is more than the just that. It is the celebration of God’s protection and promise to deliver His covenant people. God’s hand of protection is upon His children. Even when things look bleak, God is there!
The Feast of Purim is celebrated with great laughter and joy because God has turned our despair into hope! Upon recognizing the enormity of what God had done for them the Israelites burst out in great laughter and joy!
Hear again the words of Psalms 126:2 it says, “Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy. Then it was said among the nations, “The LORD has done great things for them.” (NIV) The life of the believer is one which is rightly characterized by joy, peace, and yes laughter of the celebration of God’s provision!
Dear Saints of God, today, let us be reminded that we serve a God who is present, working out the details; even when disaster seems unavoidable, don’t give up, God is working out the details for our ultimate provision in His mercy and His ultimate glory in the circumstance. Amen.
