With Israel and Iran bracing for war, the coming feast of Purim is perfectly timed to remind the Jewish people that God has their back.
The feast recalls the great deliverance of the Jews at the time of King Xerxes (486-465 BC) when a lot (pur) was cast to decide the date on which to massacre them. But it was averted through the courageous intervention of Queen Esther, an orphan brought up by her cousin/guardian Mordecai.
Esther’s Jewish identity was kept secret at the time she was chosen as Queen, but when Mordecai heard of the plot against his people instigated by Haman, a top official, he persuaded Esther that she may well have been brought to royal position “for such a time as this”.
So she called a three-day fast to be observed by the Jews of Susa and her own maids before approaching the King on behalf of her people. To do so uninvited was extremely dangerous but she was determined to go through with it even if it meant martyrdom.
Haman, the Jew-hater, had meanwhile ordered the erection of a 75ft high gallows on which to hang Mordecai, who had refused to curtsey before him, but in the end the tables were turned and it was Haman who was hanged instead, with Mordecai being greatly honoured by the King for an act of loyalty previously overlooked – informing of an assassination plot against the Emperor.
Today, two-and-a-half millennia later, we are in a sense back to square one, with Iran (modern Persia) having repeatedly sworn to wipe the Jews off the global map.
As we saw with the 12-day war last summer, which didn’t end well for Iran, the regime (like Haman) is full of dire threats against their opponents but is collapsing from within as fundamentalist Islam fails to feed and clothe its people, either spiritually or physically. A great number of mosques have closed their doors while an estimated two million Christians have emerged from an ‘underground’ church discovering new hope in Jesus, the Jew.
Purim reminds us of God’s eternal love and protection for his chosen people. Subsequent massacres were carried out under Antiochus Epiphanes (with Hanukkah celebrating his defeat), King Herod, the Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition, the Holocaust and, more recently, the October 7th, 2023, slaughter of innocent Jews.
And who were the culprits of this latest attack? The Iranian-sponsored terrorist group Hamas. In the minds of the godless wokerati, the Israelis were not allowed to return fire on these violent neighbours. And when they did, they were accused of genocide. But, of course, the boot is on the other foot, as it always has been. The leopard of antisemitism hasn’t changed its spots – only in name. Haman morphed into Hitler, and he became Hamas. And so it goes on.
However, I believe there is a sense in which Esther today represents the Bride of Christ – currently a Gentile-dominated church – who are being challenged not to remain silent on the issue.
Mordecai’s message to Esther was, “If you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this.” (Esther 4:14; see also Isaiah 60:12)
Remember that it was Mordecai’s refusal to obey the King’s command of curtseying to Haman that precipitated the crisis. Later refusals to compromise with Greek, Roman and various European and Middle Eastern gods ensured further trouble but also served to maintain pure Jewish allegiance (for a remnant at least) to the Lord God of Israel.
In these days of woke causes seeming to trump so much that is decent and obviously right, refusing to remain silent on the question of Israel leaves us a sitting target, to be sure. But we must clothe ourselves with the courage of Queen Esther who declared that, after her three-day fast, she would “go to the King, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish.”
As Haman’s plans were unravelling, his advisers – along with his wife Zeresh – made a very significant comment that all Jew-haters should note, saying: “Since Mordecai, before whom your downfall has started, is of Jewish origin, you cannot stand against him – you will surely come to ruin.” (Esther 6:13)
These sentiments are perfectly echoed in Isaiah 60:12: “For the nation or kingdom that will not serve you will perish; it will be utterly ruined.”
With Haman’s plans coming back on his own head, fear of the Jews seized the people, and many people of other nationalities became Jews! Mordecai’s royal garments were blue and white (the colours of today’s Israeli flag) and an annual day of joy and feasting commenced in which exchanging gifts was a feature.
I have a hunch that such a scenario is bound to be replicated in the days to come – when “the tables were turned and the Jews got the upper hand over those who hated them.” (Esther 9:1)
Charles Gardner is author of Israel the Chosen, available from Amazon; Peace in Jerusalem, available from olivepresspublisher.com; To the Jew First, A Nation Reborn, and King of the Jews, all available from Christian Publications International.
