In this video, we’re diving into the colorful and joyous festival of Purim. It is one of the most lively and beloved holidays on the Hebrew calendar. Purim commemorates the miraculous events recounted in the Book of Esther.
Join us as we uncover the rich history, vibrant customs, and profound significance behind this cherished festival. In this educational and engaging video we will cover the historical background, traditions and customs, symbolism and meaning.
Whether you’re a seasoned observer of Purim or simply curious to learn more about Biblical culture and traditions, this video offers valuable insights and inspiration.
Join us as we embark on a journey through history, tradition, and celebration, and let the joy of Purim illuminate your spirit! Come with us as we learn the God Honest Truth about Purim. Chag Purim Sameach (Happy Purim)!
Transcript
This drash teaching is about Purim and its origins, customs, and symbols. The practice of casting lots, or goral in Hebrew, was common in the Middle East at that time, including Persia. Casting lots was a way to determine God’s will and make decisions. It was used in various instances in the Bible, such as dividing the land of Israel and choosing the order of priests. Even unrighteous people used casting lots, as seen in the crucifixion of Yeshua. After Judas’ death, the disciples cast lots to choose a replacement. Esther, also known as Hadassah, was the star of the Purim story. She was a Benjamite from the southern kingdom of Judea. Her Persian name, Esther, means “star.” Mordecai, her uncle, was also a Benjamite.
So, this drash teaching is going to be all about Purim. What it is, where it came from, how to celebrate it, symbols and customs, etc., etc. So, definitely have your notebook out because you’re going to want to be taking notes for this, especially if you plan on celebrating Purim with your friends, family, congregation, etc. Now, like always, we have provided an article post for this drash on our website at GodHonestTruth.com. You can access that by going directly to our website and clicking on the post for Purim.
Or, if you go down below, there should be a link in the description, regardless of whether you’re watching on a video platform or whether you’re listening on an audio podcast platform. If you’ll just click on that link in the description down below, that’ll take you directly to the article post on GodHonestTruth.com. There you can find the on-demand video, the drash slides that you see here on your screen that you can go through at your own pace.
You can see the notes that we took for this subject, so you can have a collection of notes for yourself. And you’ll also be able to see the transcript after everything gets done uploading and processing. So, go click on it and access all of that straight from one simple link. So, before we get into the main meat of what Purim is, let’s start by giving you some foundations about Purim itself. The times, the characters, what was going on, things like that.
Now, a lot about Purim revolves around the casting of lots. So, what is the casting of lots? Well, the word for lots in Hebrew is actually the word goral. This is not the word that’s used in the Book of Esther for the story of Purim. That’s actually the Persian word hur. Now, when you say it in Hebrew, the plural form of that is, of course, going to be Purim. And that’s where we get the name Purim from, from the Persian word hur for lots or casting lots.
So, this is not something that’s just specific to the Persians or the Babylonians. Lots of people all over the Middle East in that time had this practice of casting lots. We even see it in Scriptures. According to the Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary, they say, We do know that people of the Old Testament and New Testament believed God influenced the fall or outcome of the lots. Thus, casting lots was a way of determining God’s will. A way of divination, in other words.
And we see this time and time again throughout Scriptures. If we start in the Book of Exodus, chapter 28, verse 30. And into the breastplate of right ruling you shall put the Urim and the Tumim, and they shall be on the heart of Aaron when he goes in before Yahweh. And Aaron shall bear the right ruling of the children of Israel on his heart before Yahweh continually. So, the Urim and the Tumim were a type of lot that was cast in order to make a decision and decide what it was that Yahweh wanted them to do.
We go on to Numbers, chapter 27, verse 21. And he, the priest, is to stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall inquire before Yahweh for him by the right ruling of the Urim. At his word they go out, and at his word they come in, both he and all the children of Israel with him, all the congregation. So, this was something used by the priest and the high priest during the time of the tabernacle and then, of course, on up into the time of the temple.
Now, once they got out of the wilderness and got into the holy land, they actually decided which tribes would go into which lands by casting lots. Numbers, chapter 26, verses 52 through 56. And Yahweh spoke to Moshe, saying, The land is to be divided to these as an inheritance according to the number of names. To the large one you give a larger inheritance, and to the small one you give a smaller inheritance. Each shall be given its inheritance according to the registered ones, but the land is divided by lot.
They inherit according to the names of the tribes of their fathers. According to the lot, their inheritance is divided between the larger and the smaller. Now, once again in Joshua 14, verse 2. Their inheritance was by lot as Yahweh had commanded by the hand of Moshe for the nine tribes and the half tribe. So, they went into the land of Israel and where it was they decided to settle was determined by casting of lots. And this was not just done when they went into the land of Israel for the first time.
This casting of lots was actually done at least once a year, every year on Yom Kippurim to decide who the scapegoat was going to be between the two goats that was brought up for the service. Leviticus, chapter 16, verses 7 through 10. And he shall take the two goats and let them stand before Yahweh at the door of the tent of appointment. And Aaron shall cast lots for the two goats, one lot for Yahweh and the other lot for Azazel.
And Aaron shall bring the goat on which the lot for Yahweh fell and shall prepare it as a sin offering. But the goat on which the lot for Azazel fell is called to stand alive before Yahweh to make atonement upon it to send it into the wilderness to Azazel. So, here we see that the casting of lots was not a one-time thing but it was done at least once every year and more likely than not it was done a lot more often than that.
In fact, we can go on into the book of Proverbs to see that Yahweh is the one who determines the lots. Proverbs, chapter 16, verse 33. The lot is cast into the lap, but every decision by it is from Yahweh. So, here we can see that the casting of lots and the decision that comes up, that decision is put forth and by Yahweh. This was done for, like we saw Yom Kippurim, we saw it done for the dividing of the land, who got to go where.
And when King David divided up the order of the priest, the order of the priest was actually decided by lot as well. First Chronicles, chapter 24, verses 5 and 10. And they were divided by lot, one group as another, for there were officials of the set-apart place and officials of Elohim, from the sons of Eleazar and from the sons of Ithamar, the seventh to Hakots, the eighth to Abiyah. Now, do you remember this name, Abiyah? When we went over the dating for the birth of Messiah, the end of last year, we discussed this order of Abiyah.
This is important because it comes down to the father of John the Baptist, Zechariah, as it’s put in the King James Version. And we see that the order of Abiyah, Zechariah, was serving in the temple at a particular time, and this was decided by lot way before Zechariah was even born. Luke, chapter 1, verses 8 through 9. And it came to be that while he was serving as priest before Messiah, Elohim, in the order of his division, Abiyah, according to the institute of the priesthood, he was chosen by lot to burn incense when he went into the dwelling place.
So, here we see that not only was his order determined by lot in which portion of the year they would be serving, but his turn to go in and burn incense was also determined by lot. And this is not something that was just done by the righteous, but also the unrighteous. There were other cultures and civilizations that cast lots for the purpose of deciding things because they thought the gods would determine it. They’re way off, obviously.
But we can also see the unrighteous casting lots as well, and we look in scripture and find that in the Brit Hadashah of all places. Matthew, chapter 27, verse 35. And having impaled him, they divided his garments, casting lots, that it might be filled what was spoken by the prophet. They divided my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots. So, this was done even in the time of Yeshua, the time he was crucified and died for us, that they cast lots to determine which parts of his clothing they would get.
And this is not the last time we see the casting of lots, even by the righteous. After the death, burial, and resurrection of Yeshua, obviously, this was way past the death of Judas Iscariot. So, the disciples, the 12 disciples, there were actually 11 at this point, so they wanted to decide who the 12th one was going to be. And in order to determine that, what did they do? They cast lots. Acts, chapter 1, verse 26. And they cast lots, and the lot fell on Matiyahu, and he was numbered with the 11 emissaries.
So, after Judas killed himself, they were down to 11. They wanted to bring in another one to make it 12. They cast lots, and it fell on Matiyahu. And that was the 12th disciple then, and it was decided by casting lots. So, now you’ve got a good background on what lots is, the casting of lots, where you find it in scripture, both in the Tanakh and also in the Brit Hadashah. And you also know that the Persian word for lots is hor, and the plural form of that being horim.
So, you understand about lots now? That’s one foundation. Another one is going to be the star of the Purim story, and that is Hadassah, better known as Esther. Now, Esther was a Benjamite of the tribe of Benjamin. So, therefore, she was not a Jew of the tribe of Judah. She was a Benjamite. She was a Judean from the southern kingdom of Judea. She was the first cousin of Mordecai, who we’ll get into in just a little bit later.
Now, her name, Hadassah, comes from Strong’s H1919, and it means pretty much something like myrtle, that tree, if you can picture a myrtle tree. But, yeah, that’s her Hebrew name, Hadassah. However, most of the time when we talk about Hadassah, we use her Persian name that she adopted and was called most of the time, and that is the name Esther, and that comes from Strong’s H635, Esther. And as you can see from Strong’s definition, from Brown-driver Briggs and Gesenius’s, it’s of a Persian descent, Persian origin, and it means star in Persian.
So, the star of the Purim story, her name, her Persian name, Esther, means star. So, that’s a little bit about Hadassah or Esther. Another foundational point to know about and person to know about is Hadassah or Esther’s uncle, Mordecai. Now, Mordecai was also a Benjamite of the tribe of Benjamin. He, likewise, was also from the southern kingdom of Judea. He was at odds with someone named Haman, which we will get into in just a moment. He was the first cousin, obviously, of Esther or Hadassah.
And once Hadassah or Esther’s parents were killed, she became an orphan. Once this happened, her uncle, Mordecai, took care of her, took her in and raised her like she was his own daughter. And as such, he loved her just the same. And this is something we’ll get into in just a minute. This is very biblical, and there’s lots of scripture on this. But the name Mordecai, this word, comes from Strong’s H472, for all of you nerds out there like me who like this kind of stuff.
There you can see the Strong’s definition, the Browns and Driver-Briggs entry, and the Jesuit Hebrew lexicon entry for the name Mordecai. But like I said, Mordecai took in Esther or Hadassah when she became an orphan and raised her like she was his own daughter. There is precedent for this in scripture. We look in the book of James, chapter 1, verse 27. Playing an undefiled religion before the Elohim and Father is this, to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.
So you may be saying, yeah, but this is the Brit Hadassah. Mordecai would not have had the Brit Hadassah. Yes, that’s true. But the precedent was already set way back in the Tanakh, which Mordecai would have known about. Exodus, chapter 22, verse 22. Do not afflict any widow or fatherless child. Deuteronomy, chapter 10, verse 18. He executes right ruling for the fatherless and the widow and loves the stranger, giving him food and garment. Psalms, chapter 10, verse 17 through 18.
Yahweh, you have heard the desire of the lowly ones. You prepare your heart, you incline your ear to defend the fatherless and the downtrodden so that man who is of the earth no longer oppresses. Psalms, chapter 68, verse 5. Father of the fatherless and right ruler of widows is Elohim in his set apart dwelling. Psalms 82, verse 3. Give right ruling to the poor and fatherless. Do not, I’m sorry, do right to the afflicted and needy.
These are the verses in the scripture that Mordecai would have been familiar with. And he exemplified that through his life and through his actions in the taking care of the orphans, Hadassah or Esther. And like Yeshua said, you shall know them by their fruits. And here we can see some of the fruit of Mordecai and that he was a righteous scriptural man. So now we’ve learned about Lot. We’ve learned about Esther. We’ve learned about Mordecai. And another foundational person that we need to learn about or rather should learn about is King Ahasuerus.
If I’m saying that correctly, Ahasuerus. But anyways, he is also known as King Xerxes I. He was the son of Darius the Great. And during his reign, he actually conducted a great number of building projects, which is truly magnificent, especially for his time. The name Ahasuerus comes from Strong’s 8-3-2-5. Here you can see the Strong’s definition, the Brown Driver Briggs entry. And it’s important to know that Ahasuerus is not so much of a name as more of a title.
So it wasn’t really his name so much as his title. And here is Gesinus’ Hebrew lexicon entry for Ahasuerus. He is the king that we will be talking about when we go through the story of Urim. Now, another foundation that we need to lay down is the antagonist of this story. And his name is Haman. Now, Haman is in the story of Urim constantly at odds with Mordechai . And you’ll see why when we go through that story.
He eventually rises to the second position in all of Persia. He is second in rank and stature only to the king, King Ahasuerus. He was also an Agagite. What is an Agagite? We’re going to tell you in just a moment, but hang on real quick, because this is going to be very neat as it connects everything from the past and the Tanakh all the way up to the story of Urim. But the name Haman comes from Strong’s H-2-0-0-1.
It’s Persian name, but a foreign derivation. And you can see the Strong’s entry, Browndriver Briggs entry, and the Descenius’ Hebrew lexicon entry for Haman. Now, we just read that Haman was an Agagite. What is an Agagite? An Agagite is actually an Amalekite. You remember the Amalekites from our previous Drashas and Torah portion readings? We first hear about Amalek from Genesis 36, verse 12. And Timnah was the concubine of Eliphaz, Esau’s son, and she bore Amalek to Eliphaz.
These were the sons of Adah, Esau’s wife. So, Esau has, well, Esau, remember, is the brother of Jacob. Now, Esau has a son, and Timnah was the concubine of Esau’s son, and she bore Amalek. This is the beginning of the Amalekites, the descendants of Esau. As we go on, we look in Exodus, chapter 17, verse 8. And Amalek came and fought with Yisrael in Rephidim. Now, this isn’t referring to the person Amalek, but actually the people and descendants of Amalek, the Amalekites.
Once the Hebrews came out of Egypt, out of their bondage, and they were leaving Egypt, the Amalekites were the first ones to attack the Hebrews without provocation, without any reason. And because of this, this stirred up Yahweh’s wrath against all the Amalekites. And Yahweh wanted them absolutely obliterated for this. Many times, Israel was told to annihilate and get rid of the Amalekites, utterly destroy them from the face of the earth. Deuteronomy, chapter 25, verse 19. Therefore, it shall be when Yahweh your Elohim has given you rest from your enemies all around all around in the land which Yahweh your Elohim has given you to possess as an inheritance, that you blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under the heavens.
Do not forget. And again, he tells King Saul, the first king of Israel, he tells King Saul to obliterate and do away with every one of the Amalekites. 1 Samuel, chapter 15, verses 2 through 3. Thus said Yahweh of Hosts, I shall punish Amalek for what he did to Yisrael, how he set himself against him on the way when he came up from Mitzrayim. Now go and you shall strike Amalek and put under the ban all that he has, and you shall not spare them.
And put to death from man to woman, from infant to nursing child, from ox to sheep, from camel to donkey. So even their livestock was to be obliterated. That was the order of Yahweh to King Saul. But did King Saul obey this order? Did he fulfill it? No, he left some of the Amalekites alive against the orders of Yahweh. 1 Samuel, chapter 15, verses 8 through 9. And he caught Agag, sovereign of the Amalekites, alive and put under the ban all the people with the edge of the sword.
But Shaul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep and the cattle and the fatlings and the lambs and all that was good and would not put them under the ban. But all goods despised and worthless they put under the ban. So King Saul spared the king of the Amalekites. His name was Agag. And the descendants of Agag were Agagites. Therefore, Haman is an Agagite. And now you know how Haman the Agagite is an Amalekite, who their people is at odds with the people of Yahweh.
So here you’ve almost got like a full circle situation where the descendants of Esau, the Amalekites, the Agagites are at odds with the descendants of Jacob, the Israelites, down to the Benjamites. Haman the Agagite, Mordechai the Israelite, at odds just like the life of Esau and Jacob, just like with Saul and Agag, on and on. We read in the Talmud from Megillah 13a, David did not kill Shammai. The great consequences of this failure included that Mordechai was born from him and it was he against whom Haman was jealous, leading Haman to issue a decree against all of the Jewish people.
And how a Benjamite, as repaid me, is referring to the fact that Saul, who was from the tribe of Benjamin, did not kill the Amalekite king Agag immediately from whom Haman was later born and he called suffering to the Jewish people. So there’s another connection. We just saw how King Saul did not kill Agag, the Amalekite, King Saul was also a Benjamite just like Mordechai . Another interesting connection back in the Tanakh. So now we’ve got some foundational stuff set forth so that you know who we’re talking about, where we’re talking about, all that good stuff.
You know about casting lots, you know about Pur, you know about Hadassah or Esther, you know about Mordechai , King Ahasuerus and Haman. So now let’s get into the Purim story. And just one more quick bit of framework here. The story of Purim has an entire historical background leading up to this. After King Solomon, the country of Israel divided into a northern kingdom and a southern kingdom. Both of these kingdoms, the northern and southern kingdom, did good for a while and then they went down, they yo-yoed, they went from good to evil, good to evil, good to evil.
Well, eventually the northern kingdom was taken over and they were taken captive and they were dispersed among the nations and to this day they still have yet to fully return back to the promised land of Israel. Also, likewise, the southern kingdom did wrong and did evil in the eyes of Yahweh and likewise they were also taken captive by Babylon which would eventually be taken over and conquered by Persia. But after 70 years in captivity, the southern kingdom was allowed to return back to the land of Judea, the southern kingdom.
However, not all of them went back to Judea. Some of them stayed in Babylon and this is where the story of Purim comes in. It’s after a lot of people, a lot of the Judeans returned back to Judea but some of the Judeans are still in Babylon by their own choice. For instance, Mordechai and Esther are in Persia maybe because of their own choice or maybe because of some of their ancestors’ choice but they could have returned back to Judea but didn’t.
Now, the book of Ezra actually speaks of the return to Israel if you’d like some more information on that. Ezra 4-6 actually mentions the king of the Purim story. Now, the story of Purim covers somewhat of a 10-year span going from about the year 483 BCE until 473 BCE and it takes place in the city of Susa or also called Shushan. I don’t think there’s a place called that nowadays but if you look on a modern map it would be somewhere in the country of Iran but here is a map from around that time period showing you where Susa or Shushan is.
Now, the story of Purim starts with King Ahasuerus and he’s throwing this great and elaborate party that goes on for about six months or so and then after he does this six-month feast the six-month party he then again throws another seven-day feast. Now, you thought your college kegger was a party? No, nothing compared to this guy. Six months and then another seven days? That’s a party. Don’t want to get into probably what went on there but leave it up to your imagination.
Anyways, during the seven-day feast after the six-month feast at one point King Ahasuerus has all his princes all his great counselors all the noblemen there and they’re having this feast and they’re partaking in the merriment and at some point King Ahasuerus sends for his queen Vashi and tells her to come and present herself for the guest because she is renowned for her beauty and the king wanted to show her off, I’m assuming. So the king’s eunuchs go to Queen Vashti and they tell her what the king has said and Queen Vashti just absolutely and utterly refuses that she’s not going to do it and that she’s not having any of it.
So she denies the king and the king’s orders. That’s not good. And what ends up happening is that his counselors and his princes that are there and they hear about this they know about it and they advise the king that if word got out that the women all over the kingdom would then start disrespecting their husbands and there would be anarchy and that we just can’t have this. So King Ahasuerus deposes Vashti as queen. So she’s out and now there’s no queen in Persia.
So King Ahasuerus does a I guess you call it a beauty pageant for the next queen. He sends his people and out into all the kingdom to gather all the beautiful maidens and he will decide whom he takes the light in and that will be his new queen. Well as a part of this search the Hebrew maiden Esther is selected so she goes to be part of this selection process and there’s a whole process before she actually gets to go see the king.
It’s a little bit more explicit in the story but anyways once she goes to see the king the king takes the light in her and he chooses her as the new queen of Persia. So now Esther or Hadassah is the new queen of Persia the Judean Persian queen over all of Persia. Well after this time her uncle Mordechai is out and about and he hears a plot to overthrow and kill King Ahasuerus. Well Mordechai hears this he goes and he tells Queen Esther and Esther tells the king there’s an investigation that goes on and it’s found out that the plot is true and the two men that were plotting to kill the king are hung.
They’re killed themselves for conspiracy to commit regicide probably. He wanted to give it a title and this whole event is written down in the Chronicles of the King and unfortunately at this point Mordechai is not honored. He’s not rewarded he’s just done a good deed and that’s it. But there’s more to the story. After these times after this whole plot and the conspirators were killed Haman is actually elevated from the position he’s currently in to the position of second in rank over all of Persia.
Second in rank over all of the kingdom. As a result the king issues a order that everyone in the kingdom is to bow down and show honor and respect to Haman. Unfortunately or I guess fortunately depending on how you want to look at it Mordechai refuses to do so. He will not do it. He will not bow down. When Haman comes down the street everyone in the crowd kneels down. They bow down in respect and give honor to Haman except for Mordechai .
He’s a lone person standing and this infuriates Haman. In fact so much so that he wants to kill Mordechai and he learns that Mordechai is a Judean. Mordechai is a Judean and after he learns this he comes up with a plot to kill all of the Judeans all over the empire. To determine when this is going to happen Haman cast Thor or Thorim to determine when it’s going to happen and it’s going to happen in the 12th month.
That’s important for tangential reasons but we won’t get into that tonight. So they determined when they were going to kill all the Judeans according to Haman. So Haman goes to the king. He doesn’t tell the king specifics. He just tells him that there’s a people out there that are no good. They’re bad for the king and that he wants to do away with them. So the king gives him a signet ring. They pass a law and a decree and he gives Haman pretty much the checkbook in order to go out and do this deed.
So the order goes out and there’s great distress amongst the Judeans and Mordechai learns about this plot to kill all the Judeans. So he goes to Queen Esther and he informs Esther and asks her to go on their behalf on their people’s half to the king in order to stop this. Now this is not something that you just walk up to the king and ask him whatever just start a friendly conversation. In Persian times if you went before the king without being invited that could be your neck.
You could be killed for that. Even the queen of Persia could lose her life if she went before the king without being summoned. Unless when you went in front of him and the king handed or put forth his scepter then you got released from the death penalty. So Esther knew this and she was afraid. So she comes up with a plan and she tells Mordechai to fast for three days and that she and all her handmaidens will do the same and that Mordechai should tell all the Judeans to fast for three days likewise.
So after three days of fasting and I’m assuming probably praying as well Esther goes in front of the king. It’s a tense time. She of course shows honor and respect and she’s just waiting for it and the king extends his scepter because he has a lot of favor in I guess how would you say it? I don’t know if you’d say respect but he likes Esther anyways. So he puts forth his scepter and Queen Esther doesn’t die and he asks her what she wants.
So Queen Esther doesn’t immediately go into the whole plot and what’s going on. Instead she invites King Ahasuerus to a feast for him and Haman. So she makes this feast and King Ahasuerus and Haman come to the feast. They have a great time. They’re enjoying themselves. They’re having the wine and the food and at the end of the feast that Esther has thrown for them King Ahasuerus is so happy and he says Queen Esther what is it that you would request of me and I will give it to you even up into half of my kingdom.
And Queen Esther simply replies and asks him to come back the next night and she will throw him another feast him and Haman and then she will put forth her petition. So they go home that night and King Ahasuerus is having trouble sleeping and one of the ways I guess they thought to help cure this was to read from the royal chronicles. So he has the royal chronicles brought forth and it happens to land up on the place in the chronicles where Mordechai exposes the plot against the king to kill the king.
And the king asked what happened to Mordechai to honor him and nothing was done. So he asked what is it that should be done to this man in order to reward him or to honor him. So he pulls in the first person that’s standing outside in the courtyard and who does that happen to be? It happens to be Haman. So he brings him on into wherever it is that the king is maybe his bedchamber I’m not really sure.
But he asked Haman what is it that’s to be done in whom the king delights. And Haman at this point is thinking well he’s got called in by the king he’s asking about whom the king delights and Haman and his ego is thinking it’s all about him. So Haman really hams it up. Esther chapter 6 verses 7 through 10. And Haman answered the sovereign for the man whom the sovereign delights to value let a royal robe be brought which the sovereign has worn and a horse on which the sovereign has ridden one with a royal crest placed on its head and let this robe and horse be given into the hand of one of the sovereign’s most noble princes let them dress the man whom the sovereign delights to value and make him ride on horseback through the city square and proclaim before him thus it is done to the man whom the sovereign delights to value.
So Haman is thinking this is going to all be done to him because of his ego he’s really wanting to be honored by the king and put on public display right for everyone to see. But unfortunately his hopes are quickly dashed. It goes on to say and the sovereign said to Haman hurry take the robe and the horse as you have spoken and do so for Mordechai the Yehudi who sits in the sovereign’s gate let no word fail of all that you have spoken.
Now I’m assuming Hashverosh does not know this tiff between Mordechai and Haman. But you can imagine what is going through Haman’s mind right now. If you’re an American think about it like this think about Joe Biden having to parade around Donald Trump or Donald Trump having to parade around Joe Biden. How two people who are so at odds with each other how embarrassing that would be for the person having to publicly honor the other person that you really just do not like.
Well this is what Haman had to do had to do to Mordechai . He had to dress him in all the royal robes and put on the thing on his head and put him on the royal horse and then lead him by hand through the streets through the town the city in front of everybody. This had to be extremely embarrassing for Haman and rightfully so. So remember the night before they were having a feast Hashverosh and Esther and Haman she tells him to come back the next night.
Well the day after that first feast Haman has to parade Mordechai around in royal attire on a royal horse through the streets in public completely embarrassed Haman. Well then that night for the second feast Haman and Hashverosh go to Esther’s feast. They have a good time they eat the food they drink the wine and once again King Hashverosh asks Esther what her petition is and that he would give her even up into half of his kingdom.
At this point Esther tells him that there is a plot against her people to kill them and that she just asked for the life of her and for her people. That’s all she wants. How humble is that? I mean at this point she could have asked for half the kingdom great riches and fame and power and stuff like that but instead she asked for the life of her and her people. Well King Hashverosh then asks her well who is it that has wants to do this to you? You know he’s upset because he really favors Esther and Esther tells him it’s this evil Haman.
Who’s right there with them. The second in all of the kingdom right under the king. Well the king King Hashverosh is infuriated so much so that he has to leave the area. Well while he’s gone Haman is begging with Esther because he didn’t know that she was a Yehudi a Judean. So he’s afraid for his life now because all this has been exposed to the king and the king’s upset and during this interchange with Haman and Esther Haman happens to fall on top of Esther.
It’s at this point that King Hashverosh comes back into the area and what does he see? He sees Haman on top of Esther. This does not look good when the king first sees this. You can imagine what’s going through his mind and he actually accuses him of trying to take advantage of the queen. So at this point he’s infuriated with Haman and he’s wanting all these things running through his mind about the death of Judeans even the death of Esther and then he finds Haman on top of Esther and he asks what in the world should be done and anyways oh I think I’m getting too ahead myself.
Yep let’s back up just a little bit when Esther tells the king about the plot. Esther chapter 7 verses 6 through 8 and Esther said the adversarial enemy is this evil Haman Haman was afraid before the sovereign and sovereigness and the sovereign arising in his wrath from the feast of the wine went into the palace garden and Haman remained before sovereigness Esther pleading for his life where he saw the evil had been decided against him by the sovereign and when the sovereign returned from the palace garden to the place of the feast of wine Haman was falling on the couch where Esther was then the sovereign said also to ravish the sovereigness while I am in the house as the word left the sovereign’s mouth it covered Haman’s face so this is really not good for Haman at this point so they’re wondering what to do at this point the king’s upset everything’s a little bit in turmoil but at least the plot has been exposed then we read in Esther chapter 7 verses 9 through 10 and chapter 9 verse 13 in Harbona one of the eunuchs said to the sovereign also see the wooden structure 50 cubits high which Haman made for Mordechai who spoke good on behalf of the sovereign is standing at the house of Haman and the sovereign said impale him on it and they hanged Haman on the wood on the wooden structure that he had prepared for Mordechai and the sovereign’s wrath abated and Esther said if it pleases the sovereign let it be given to the Yehudim who are in Shushan to do again tomorrow according to today’s decree and let Haman’s 10 sons be hanged on the wooden structure so not only did first Haman build these gallows to hang the Judeans and especially Mordechai on but his own contraption that he built to kill the Judeans was used to kill him and his family his 10 sons remember that 10 sons okay so thus ended Haman and his lineage and that is pretty much the story of Purim after this after the after Haman was killed and his sons were killed and the Judeans were saved they actually ended up fighting back against their oppressors winning the day and this day which was decided by Haman to kill all the Judeans eventually became known as Purim there’s actually a decree in the book of Esther to celebrate Purim every year because of this event this is where we get the name and the feast of Purim so there’s the backstory you’ve got the foundational setup you’ve got the location the history and the story of Purim now you know where Purim actually comes from and from scripture so what about a few interesting and notable pronounced Purim points that might be of interest to you well number one the name of Yahweh is never mentioned in the book of Esther not even once the entire theme about the story of Purim and the book of Esther is secrecy it was secrecy that Esther did not disclose her lineage to the king and to Haman until the right time it was almost kept secret what Mordechai had did for the king until the right time all these things about secrecy that’s going to come in to play here in just a moment when we look in the Brit Hadashah at a few moments a few points as well but the name Yahweh Yod-Heh-Vav-Heh is not found in the book of Esther it’s also the last part of the Hebrew canon to be canonized before the birth of Yeshua it’s the only book of the Tanakh to not be found at the library of Qumran interesting Purim you should also know is a feast day and not one of the Moedim as listed out in the Torah of course now you should hopefully know about the Moedim listed in the Torah you’ve got Pesach you’ve got Shavuot you’ve got Unleavened Bread you’ve got Yom Teruah you’ve got Yom Kippurim and you’ve got Sukkot as well as the New Moons and Shabbat among others right but Purim is not one of the Moedim however Purim is a feast day and we do find it in scripture and once again Purim is a Hebrew word derived from the Persian word Khor which means lot and the plural of that being Purim something else that’s interesting in 1946 10 of Hitler’s top associates were put to death by hanging for their war crimes now Haman’s 10 sons were put to death by hanging Hitler’s 10 top guys were put to death by hanging in 1946 then in early 1953 Stalin was actually planning to deport most of the Jews in the Soviet Union to Siberia pretty much killed them in essence but just before his plans came to fruition he suffered a stroke and died a few days later he suffered that very stroke on the night of March 1st 1953 the night after Purim so these evil people that want to come against and annihilate the Hebrews a lot of times we see through history they end up meeting terrible fates so if you’re one of those people out there who likes to wrench around in white hoods hey learn a lesson from Purim and history so what about Messiah and Purim is there any connection between Yeshua and Purim we look in John chapter 5 verse 1 and we read this interesting if not ambiguous verse and it says here after this there was a festival of the Yehudim and Yeshua went up to Yerushalayim what is this festival what does it say perhaps maybe a secret maybe not it just says a festival keep in mind that when you read through the gospels and you read about Yeshua and what he did in his daily life and throughout all his life he spent most of his time outside Yerushalayim in the countryside on the mountains and boats on the seashore stuff like that teaching and healing and doing his ministry but he did go into Yerushalayim he did go into the temple on special days like the Moedim like Shabbat and things like that here you can see Yeshua in Yerushalayim at a festival right after this we look in John chapter 6 verse 4 and the Pesach was near the festival of the Yehudim we saw he was in Yerushalayim for a certain festival and then right after that and very near was Pesach so what feast day comes right before Pesach you guessed it Purim so this evidence is circumstantial at best I admit but you can kind of see how it definitely might be Purim that we’re speaking about here in the Brit Hadashah but what about some connections between the story of Purim and Meshiach well Haman cast lots to decide when it was he was going to kill all of the Judeans as we read earlier the soldiers when Yeshua was crucified cast lots to determine who was going to get his clothing Esther spent three days fasting before she went before the king Yeshua was three days in the tomb the Judeans were on the verge of annihilation during the story of Purim now Yeshua was a Judean from the tribe of Judah so there is some more connections and there’s actually others this didn’t list them I don’t know why I didn’t modify that but there are other connections as well we read in Romans 8 28 and we know that all matters work together for good to those who love Elohim to those who are called according to his purpose and we definitely see that in the story of Purim it wasn’t good that Haman was trying to kill all of the Judeans but this entire set of circumstances all work together for good by Yahweh even though we do not see his name anywhere in the book of Esther and like we saw the book of Esther is a book in our scriptures it’s a part of our canon it was the last book to be canonized by the Hebrews before Yeshua was born right and we know from second Timothy chapter 3 verse 16 that all scripture is breathed out by Elohim and profitable for teaching for a proof for setting straight and for instruction in righteousness all scripture that includes the book of Esther so yeah that’s one of the reasons why it’s important to learn these kinds of things to learn about Purim to learn about the book of Esther so you’ve learned all these things you’ve learned some historical facts the people and setting of the story of Purim so you’re thinking what if I wanted to celebrate Purim today how would I go about that well I’m glad you asked first of all we see in the story of Purim that Esther fasted for three days before she went in to meet with the king originally a lot of people in celebration of Purim will fast but like the three days before Purim because Purim is a feast day so on Purim you feast but the three days leading up to it you can fast if you want to but it’s not a requirement because again Purim is not one of the Moedim this is commonly called the fast of Esther on Purim is also traditional to read the entire book of Esther it’s only 10 chapters you can get through that very very quickly in fact if you want to listen to it again go to godhonesttruth.com and we have plenty of audio bibles linked there listen to the book of Esther on audio bible but again it’s only 10 chapters if you wanted to read it hey it wouldn’t take that long to get through and of course since this is a feast day there’s going to be lots of different kinds of foods traditionally there is a dessert called hamantashen loosely translated this means Haman’s hats I don’t know why they’re shaped in triangles like that how they knew what kind of hat Haman wore but at the end of the day it doesn’t really matter they’re a pastry that’s kind of filled with something sweet and good tasting in the middle also on Purim it’s common to eat nuts and vegetables and beans and seeds and things like that and when you have a feast day of course you’re going to have challah except for Pesach but every other feast day you’re going to have challah so make that good yummy challah and when reading through the story of Esther it’s common and traditional to have something well just a noisemaker but what you see on your screen here is called a grogger a type of rattle and during the reading of the story of Esther in the story of Purim every time Haman’s name is said you make a lot of noise whether it’s booing or using this grogger or something as an effort to try and blot out his name because he was so evil and tried to kill all the Judeans conversely once the name of Mordechai is said in the story of Purim just everyone’s supposed to cheer and get excited and celebrate and lift up Mordechai for all the good that he did it’s also traditional and customary to dress up as one of the characters from the story of Purim whether that be one of the commoners like Mordechai and what Esther used to be like Queen Esther like King Ahasuerus or even if you want to dress up like the villain Haman it’s traditional to dress up as one of these characters another thing that is traditional to do on Purim is being good and giving to the poor whether that be clothing or food or helping out physically but just giving to the poor and those are some ways to celebrate Purim and some things that you can eat on Purim now one of the greetings that you can say to each other on Purim is Chag Purim Sameach which translates to happy Purim or happy Purim holiday if you rather something important to point out is some things not to do on Purim this is these are some things that have taken hold and become a tradition in some groups but some things that should not be done first of all cross-dressing people some people take this as an excuse to cross-dress on Purim but we read from scripture in Deuteronomy chapter 22 verse 5 a woman does not wear that which pertains to a man nor does a man put on a woman’s garment for whoever does this is an abomination to Yahweh your Elohim a man is not to wear a woman’s clothing ever not even on Purim a woman is not to wear a man’s clothing ever not even on Purim so cross-dressing putting on a drag show is not acceptable for Purim remember breaking the Torah is a sin and cross-dressing would be sinful just don’t do it dress up as one of the characters from the story but don’t take it to extremes and do something that’s against the story that’s against scripture that is actually disrespectful to the story and to scripture remember that Purim is not the Hebrew Halloween it’s not the time to get crazy and dress up like cartoon characters I mean what’s the point in that anyways also another thing that some people do is they drink on Purim and drink to excess all the way up to the point of getting so drunk that they don’t understand the difference between blessed is Mordecai and cursed is Haman and they claim us to point out and to understand and realize that we’re not in control that’s Yahweh that’s in control and it’s drinking to excess is to put them out of control and somehow have a greater faith and reliance upon the Almighty no we went over this in our teaching on alcohol that you can drink alcohol according to scriptures that’s fine but do not become drunk do not become a drunkard so drinking and this amount of excess is not acceptable according to scripture so again when you’re celebrating Purim have a great time have a wonderful time have a joyous time with your friends your family your loved ones but don’t put on a drag show don’t get excessively drunk like some of these groups do and remember that Purim is not the Hebrew Halloween in conclusion the book of Esther and the events of Purim are scripture and are still relevant to us today we are to be faithful and courageous even during the darkest of times regardless of whichever of the two genders that you are remember Mordecai was faithful and courageous stood up against Haman and informed King Ahasuerus of the plot against him Esther was faithful and courageous when she went in front of the king when it could have been her very life and when she could have had half the kingdom but instead she chose to preserve her people and save their lives and her life never lose hope it’s hard sometimes I’ve been there I know but the story of Purim tells us that we should never lose hope and put our faith and our trust in Yahweh and that like Esther we are each in a unique position so that we can help bring good out of even the darkest circumstances remember Yahweh works for good to those who have trust and faith in him not that everything is good that Yahweh will work it to good and we also learn from the story of Purim in the book of Esther that even when Yahweh is not apparent remember his name is not even once in the book of Purim that he’s still there with us and still working just like he was in the lives of Mordecai and Esther and all the Judean people during the time of Purim now one quick thing I want to finish with is that remember we showed you how Purim is not one of the Moedim one of the set-apart times that were one of the appointed times from the Torah so by no means feel obligated to celebrate this holiday or this feast day if you don’t do it hey fine it’s not commanded in the Torah by Yahweh himself if you do celebrate it that’s fine have a good time let us know how it went if you got pictures of your celebration we’d love to see you guys but don’t feel bad if you do celebrate it don’t feel bad if you don’t celebrate it and don’t condemn those who are doing the opposite of you it’s okay to celebrate it’s okay not celebrate it either way give glory and honor to Yahweh and here we’ll leave you with this quote from the book of Esther from Mordecai to Esther herself and he writes and who knows whether you have come to the rain for such a time as this remember even in hard times that you yourself may have been placed in that situation for such a time as this to help someone to be a light to someone to give glory and honor to Yahweh to praise his name to show others how wonderful and awesome he is you may have been put in that situation for such a time as this that’s one of the stories and lessons that we can learn from the story of Purim.
