In the Bible, we are able to learn of six Jewish feasts that were celebrated with the purpose to commemorate, worship, and rejoice in fellowship the many wonderful and merciful acts of God toward them. Each festival was celebrated in a different way bringing to their memory specific moments in their lives where the Almighty protected and cared for them. Feasts such as Passover and Pentecost were yearly mandated celebrations in all of Israel where the name of God was glorified by His people (Leviticus 23:6, 16). Although most of the six Jewish festivals were established after their liberation from Egyptian slavery, one of them was born many centuries later. During the reign of the Persian King Ahasuerus (also known as Xerxes of Persia) a devious plot to extinguish the entire Jewish race was put into motion by a wicked man named Haman. This man’s hatred and anger against the Jews surfaced when he was not honored by a Jewish man named Mordecai (Esther 3:1-6). Mordecai and queen Esther (Mordecai’s cousin and foster daughter, Esther 2:5-7) discovered Haman’s plot against their people and with Divine providence were able to stop Haman from being triumphant in his plan (Esther 7:1-10). As was customary for the Jewish nation, a yearly feast was established to ensure that for many generations the people would always remember how God had liberated them through His servants Mordecai and Esther. This feast was known as the Feast of Purim (Esther 9:21, 26). Purim derives from the Hebrew word Pur that means “lot.” These were small stones used by the ancient Orientals that were cast to choose dates for major significant events. When Haman convinced the king that the Jews were a threat to Persia and they needed to be eradicated, the date chosen for their annihilation was done so by the casting of the Pur or lot (Esther 3:7-9). Therefore, because the queen and Mordecai were able to subdue this genocide, Mordecai wrote letters in the name of the king with his royal seal that the 14th and 15th of Adar (our March) would now be a day of celebration to commemorate the deliverance God had granted His people from the wickedness of Haman. They took the date that had been selected by the Pur as a day of terror and converted it into a date that would now be a day of joy (Esther 9:17). Mordecai also instructed his fellow Jews how they were suppose to celebrate this commemoration. Mordecai ordered the feast of Purim to be celebrated by making memory that in these days they were rested from their enemies, the month that was cast for their doom was turned from sorrow to joy, therefore they would feast, sending portions one to another, and give gifts to the poor (Esther 9:22). It is obvious that the ordinances that Mordecai established relating to this festival had a deep spiritual purpose. He was trying to make them understand how it was that God used these same traits in His servants to manifest His Divine providence. We mentioned already that God had established other feasts in order to secure their memory of important events where He had manifested His power as proof that He was God and that He was their God. The feast of Purim is no different. Mordecai points to God as their deliverer from Haman and not himself. He does not take pride nor credit in the events that took place even though he was the one who instructed the queen how to go about their plan to save their people. Rather, knowing that pride is what brought Haman to his death, Mordecai reminds his people that this date was originally set as a day of great tragedy for them. The king had already approved Haman to destroy them on that day the lot was cast. Mordecai was wise in naming the feast Purim because it was meant more to remind them that anything can happen on any day. For Haman, it was suppose to be a day of victory when he finally rid himself of his enemies. Instead, in a blink of an eye everything turned for the worst and ultimately ended in him losing his life by the same gallows he had prepared in advance for Mordecai (Esther 7:9-10). His hubris became his worst enemy and Mordecai took the proper precautions with his people to avoid repeating Haman’s tragic mistake. We too must take notice of this wise warning. James in his epistle advises to avoid falling prey of believing that our plans are set in stone and not take notice that it is God’s will as to what will transpire in our lives (James 4:13-17). They were to feast together because in unity they were able to overcome their enemies. This observation made by Mordecai about Haman’s plan came into plain view when Haman sent out letters with the king’s royal seal to all 127 Persian provinces ordering them to “destroy, to kill, and cause to perish all Jews…in one day” (Esther 3:13). It was the old military strategy to divide and conquer. Haman’s strategy was to effectively and rapidly bring forth their demise giving them no space or time to warn each other about the events transpiring in each of their provinces. He used to his favor that the Jews were spread throughout the entire Persian kingdom and would have little time to sound any warning to one another. Esther, as Ahasuerus’ queen, was able to convince the king to allow Mordecai permission to send letters to the Jews in these provinces advising them of the looming danger so that they would prepare for battle and defend themselves from their enemies (Esther 8:4-11). If queen Esther had been selfish and greedy as Haman was, she would not have cared as to what would happen to her people and allowed them to die. Instead, she used her advantage of being queen and joined her people in the struggle for their survival. It was triumph obtained through complete unity from the lowest Jewish slave all the way to the queen herself. Satan seeks to deploy the same strategy amongst the church today taking advantage of the fact that we are spread throughout the world. But we too must use the letters sent to us from the apostles and prophets with the royal seal of the Holy Spirit to prepare for the battle of self-preservation (Ephesians 6:10-13). Finally, Mordecai ends his instructions by noticing the poor. He wanted the Jews to realize that salvation came to all of them and not just the aristocracy. That a queen had put her life and crown on the line to save her inferiors in terms of political status. As queen, Esther gave them a gift by saving them from Haman’s wrath. Our savior Jesus Christ shed his blood for all of humanity saving us from Satan’s wrath (Revelation 12:9-17). We must also give this gift that we received from Him, to those who have this spiritual need. Let us then take as an example the purpose of this feast and never forget the lessons Mordecai left for God’s people.
