PURIM
THE
LESSON OF PURIM
By Rachmiel Frydland
PURIM is a Persian word meaning 'lots." Several hundred
years before the Christian Era, Haman, a Persian Jew-hater, persuaded Ahasuerus (Xerxes), king of Persia, to have all the Jews
in the king's realm destroyed. The Persians of that day, including
Haman, were fire-worshippers. Their religion was founded by Zoroaster,
an ancient philosopher who taught that there were two gods who ruled the
world in opposition to each other, Ormuzd, the good
or positive god, and Ahriman, the bad or wicked
god. The Jews living among the Persians could not accept this religion
for they believed in one God only, Jehovah, who created the day as well as
the night, the good as well as the evil. As the prophet Isaiah said in
the name of the Lord: I form
the light, and create darkness; I make peace, and create evil. I, the Lord, do all these things.
Isaiah 45:7
Therefore the Jewish people in King Ahasuerus'
realm could not accept the Persian religion. Haman ACCUSES THE JEWS
Haman, a court favorite of King Ahasuerus,
was jealous of Mordecai, a Jew, and presented a reasonable case against the
Jews to the king. The kingdom of Persia had been kind to the Jews, and
after the Babylonian captivity of seventy years, had given them permission to
return to their ancestral land. Should not the Jews now show their
gratitude to the king by accepting the religion, the laws and the customs of
their benefactors? Haman's petition to King Ahasuerus
against the Jews was presented in clear words which could not be
contradicted: And Haman said
unto King Ahasuerus, There is a certain people
scattered abroad and dispersed among the people in all the provinces of thy
kingdom; and their laws are diverse from all people; neither keep they the
king's laws:therefore it
is not for the king's profit to suffer them. If it please the king, let it be
written that they may be destroyed(Esther 3:8,9) HAMAN'S
MISCALCULATION
The Persian king, a pagan, agreed. But Haman did not know the
God of the Jews, Who long ago declared that the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob (the Jewish people) could not be exterminated. God, Who is not dead but
is living forevermore, decreed an everlasting blessing upon Abraham and his
seed, saying, And I will make of thee a great
nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing. And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him
that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families
of the earth be blessed. Genesis 12:2,3 Moreover,
God confirmed His decree with an oath: And the angel of the LORD called unto
Abraham out of heaven the second time, and said, By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord; for because thou best done this thing, and best not withheld thy
son, thine only son; that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I
will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is
upon the seashore; and in thy seed shall
all the nations of the earth be blessed, because thou best obeyed my voice. Genesis
22:15-18
How foolish of the Human's and the Hitlers to trust
in a lot and ignore the Lord Who has decreed blessings upon the seed of
Abraham! Haman put his trust in purim lots), but he
forgot Pesach (Passover) when mighty Egypt paid a heavy penalty for its
oppression of Israel. Let this be a warning to all would be Jew-haters
- in Russia, in Europe, in Asia, and in the world everywhere. God is on the
side of His people. By blessing them, they who bless bring a blessing on
themselves.
By the same token, they who curse the Jews, bring a curse upon
themselves.
ISRAEL'S SALVATION
In ancient Persia Israel's salvation came through a humble man named
Mordecai, who was related to Esther, the Jewish queen of Persia. He and his
people were destined to die by royal edict. Nevertheless, Mordecai was able
to inspire his people to repent in sackcloth, in fasting and prayer.
Even Queen Esther joined her people in this act of humility before the Lord.
God heard and answered. Mordecai was exalted and his people honored by the
king while Haman was hanged and the Jew-haters were abased.
This was one of many episodes in God's dealing with His people. The Jews
were saved physically at this point in their history. The time of their
full salvation, and the complete fulfillment of God's prophecies given to
Abraham, was drawing nigh. It happened five hundred years later with
the coming of adon Yeshua HaMashiach,
(the Lord Jesus, the Messiah). He was the greater Mordecai. Condemned to die
for His people, Jesus the Messiah became the supreme sacrifice of atonement
for the sins of Jew and Gentile alike. In Him were truly fulfilled the prophecies of old, "In thee shall all the
nations of the earth be blessed." (Genesis 12, 22) Today we see
millions of people in all parts of the earth who have received these
blessings through Abraham's seed, the Messiah, flesh of our flesh and bone of
our bone. PHYSICAL OR SPIRITUAL SALVATION? You ask, "What salvation
did Messiah bring? There are still wars and hatreds among men." The
answer is that salvation is two-fold. There is the physical salvation,
as it happened at Purim long ago, and spiritual salvation - redemption of a
person's soul. Physical salvation is of value in God's sight only when joined
with spiritual salvation, as expressed in the Book of Tehiliim
(Psalms): They that trust in their wealth, and
boast themselves in the multitude of their riches; None of them can by
any means redeem his brother, nor
give to God a ransom for him. (For the redemption of their soul is precious
.... Psalms 49:6-8 The
same thought is found in the Brit Hadasha (New
Testament) in the words of the Messiah: For what shall it profit a man, if
he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Mark 8:36
According to the Word of God we need spiritual salvation, and it should be
explained clearly. : Salvation from sin. Disobedience to God by the first
man, Adam, and by his descendants, broke the oneness, the fellowship
between God and man, as the Word of God says: But your iniquities have separated
between you and your God, and
your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear. Isaiah 59:2 Jesus,
the Messiah, became the sacrifice for our sins, and by believing in
Him, our sins are forgiven. This is not a figment of our imagination
but is based squarely on the Hebrew Scriptures, as Isaiah's prophecies about
Him state: All we like sheep have gone astray; we
have turned everyone to
his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Isaiah 53:6
Peace and restored fellowship and oneness with God. Do you have perfect peace
in your heart? If you do not, it is because of this lack of oneness and
fellowship between you and God, the result of unforgiven
sin. To have peace in your heart, you need the forgiveness of sins only
possible through faith in Messiah Jesus. Everlasting life with God. Death is not our destiny and is not our
end. Job says: For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth; and though after my
skin worms destroy this body, yet
in my flesh shall I see God. Job 19:25,26
Job, the sufferer, knew that after this life there awaited him everlasting
life with God. He knew about his Redeemer who is alive, and who would bring
him into oneness and fellowship with God forever. Our appeal to you is
to accept your Messiah now. Your celebration of Purim will be a true
one and a spiritual one. It will be not only a celebration of the physical
deliverance, which is temporary, but also a spiritual one that will last
forever. A
Drink From The Fountain
Therefore by the deeds of the law there
shall no flesh be justified in his sight; for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being
witnessed by the law and the prophets; Even the righteousness of God which is
by faith of Messiah Jesus unto all and upon all them that believe: for there
is no difference: For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God;
Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Messiah
Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his
blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past,
through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness; that he
might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Romans 3:20-26 Reprinted
with permission of
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