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
every one 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 righteous-
ness 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
The Messianic Literature Outreach
6161 Busch Blvd., Suite 205 Columbus, Ohio 43229
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