—Most of us can readily connect the cities of Bethlehem, Nazareth and Jerusalem to Jesus’ birth, childhood and death. We may even know that Joseph ruled in Egypt, that Jonah preached in Assyria, and that, following his conversion, Paul spent time in Arabia, but do you know what major Bible story took place in Shushan, Persia, modern-day Iran?
—In the opening sentence of the book of Esther we meet a tipsy king sending for his beautiful queen. She refuses to appear before him, so the angry king sacks her and organizes a search team to find her replacement. Enter Esther, a beautiful, orphaned Jewess now living with her older cousin Mordecai in Shushan. Esther catches the eye of King Ahasueres who chooses her as his next queen.
—Sometime later the king promotes a man named Haman to a high position in his kingdom and commands that all his servants bow before Haman. Mordecai refuses to bow, and after learning that Mordecai is a Jew, Haman retaliates against him by first branding all the Jewish people throughout the kingdom as disloyal and then by convincing the king to schedule a pogrom against them on Adar 13, a date chosen by the casting of a lot (a “pur” in Hebrew).
—At great peril to herself Esther boldly acknowledges her ethnicity to the king and petitions him for help in saving her people. The king obliges, hangs Haman, and, in an attempt to counter his first irrevocable decree, enacts a second decree permitting the Jews to mount an active defense on Adar 13, which they do with great success. They then request permission from the king to execute Haman’s ten sons on Adar 14, thus extending hostilities for one more day inside the walled capital city of Shushan although elsewhere throughout the kingdom all hostilities ended on Adar 13.
—Esther 9:18-19 offers this summary, “The Jews who were at Shushan [rested] on the fifteenth day of the month … and made it a day of feasting and gladness [but] the Jews of the villages who dwelt in the unwalled towns celebrated the fourteenth day of the month of Adar as a day of gladness and feasting, as a holiday, and for sending presents to one another.” Mordecai next sends a letter to all the Jews in Persia establishing these two days, Adar 14 and 15, as annual celebration days in recognition of their deliverance. “So they called these days Purim [the Hebrew plural of “lot”], after the name Pur” (Esther 9:26).
—To this day most Jews celebrate Purim on Adar 14, but the rabbis have established that any Jews living in walled cities at the time of Joshua’s conquest (e.g., Shushan and Jerusalem) should celebrate on Adar 15. When the book of Esther is read in synagogue services on Purim everyone boos at the mention of Haman and cheers for Mordecai. Parades, carnivals, parties, costumes, three-cornered hamantashen cookies (in the shape of Haman’s hat), and gifts for the poor also mark the celebration of Purim.
—God delivered the Jews from an irrevocable decree in the days of Esther in demonstration of his concern for those facing persecution. Perhaps you too are staring in the face of trouble, but know that God has promised to bring blessing out of it (Matthew 5:10). He is faithful!
Daniel McCabe, Shalom Y’all Ministries
104 County Road 1633, Cullman, Alabama 35058, US