POSTED 07 DECEMBER, 2005

Purim for the Two Houses of Israel

by J.K. McKee
editor@tnnonline.net

In this hour, many of us believe that our Heavenly Father is in the process of reuniting the Two Houses of Israel, Judah and Ephraim, and their companions, into one composite nation of Israel. This people of Israel is called to uphold the Torah, and most importantly recognize that Yeshua is the Messiah. This people of Israel is called to endure for the faith and persevere with God, no matter the cost. We are to expect the Lord to perform miracles and save us from whatever difficult times may come. We are to remember the mighty deeds that He performed in days of old, remembering that He will again perform them.

The Festival of Lots, or Purim (~yrWP), occurs on 14 Adar on the Rabbinical calendar, usually falling in February or March. Purim is an easy holiday to overlook, unlike Chanukah or Passover, which often occur in conjunction with Christmas and Easter. Purim occurs approximately one month just prior to Passover. Purim commemorates the salvation of the Jewish people as recorded in the Book of Esther.

One of the problems that has arisen in recent days in the Two-House Messianic community is the fact that, just like Chanukah, people view Purim as being an exclusively “Jewish” holiday. This is because Purim is not one of the moedim listed in Leviticus 23 (even though it is in Scripture). It is a sad shame that some people have chosen to discard Purim, without understanding that it has great significance for us as Believers, as we should always be eager to rejoice in the miracles of God and in good overcoming evil.

The Story of Esther

The historical events surrounding Purim occurred in the mid-Fifth Century B.C.E. in Persia. They occur immediately after the fall of the Babylonians to the Persians as prophesied in Daniel 2:39. The Babylonians had been used by God to judge the Southern Kingdom of Judah, and deport them to Babylon for 70 years. When Babylon was conquered by Persia, the Jews were emancipated and given the freedom to return home to the Land of Israel. Many of the Jews left Babylon and did return home, but many others stayed behind in Babylon and established other communities inside of the Persian Empire. Hadassah, who was later called Esther, and Mordecai (or Mordechai), the primary characters in the Book of Esther, were Jews who lived in the city of Shushan, the primary capital of Persia.

The story of Esther begins in the court of King Ahasuerus (Xerxes), who holds a great banquet in honor of all of his army, his nobility, and his servants who have helped expand the influence and territory of Persia “from India to Ethiopia” (Esther 1:1). This banquet went on for many days, and included feasting, drinking, as well as a show of the Persians’ exploits. At the same time, Ahasuerus’ wife, Vashti, was holding a similar feast for the women in the royal house. As this was going on, Ahasuerus wanted “to display her beauty to the people and the princes, for she was beautiful” (Esther 1:11). However, “Queen Vashti refused to come at the king's command delivered by the eunuchs. Then the king became very angry and his wrath burned within him” (Esther 1:12). As a consequence, and with the concern that throughout all the empire wives would begin to disobey their husbands, it was decreed that Vashti be driven from the king’s sight:

“‘According to law, what is to be done with Queen Vashti, because she did not obey the command of King Ahasuerus delivered by the eunuchs?’ In the presence of the king and the princes, Memucan said, ‘Queen Vashti has wronged not only the king but also all the princes and all the peoples who are in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus. For the queen's conduct will become known to all the women causing them to look with contempt on their husbands by saying, “King Ahasuerus commanded Queen Vashti to be brought in to his presence, but she did not come.” This day the ladies of Persia and Media who have heard of the queen's conduct will speak in the same way to all the king's princes, and there will be plenty of contempt and anger. If it pleases the king, let a royal edict be issued by him and let it be written in the laws of Persia and Media so that it cannot be repealed, that Vashti may no longer come into the presence of King Ahasuerus, and let the king give her royal position to another who is more worthy than she’” (Esther 1:15-19).

After this decree was given, Ahaseurus consented for his courtiers to find him another wife, who was to be both beautiful and submissive:

“Then the king's attendants, who served him, said, ‘Let beautiful young virgins be sought for the king. Let the king appoint overseers in all the provinces of his kingdom that they may gather every beautiful young virgin to the citadel of Susa, to the harem, into the custody of Hegai, the king's eunuch, who is in charge of the women; and let their cosmetics be given them. Then let the young lady who pleases the king be queen in place of Vashti.’ And the matter pleased the king, and he did accordingly” (Esther 2:2-4).

Hadassah, or Esther, was a Jewess raised in the capital of Shushan (Susa) by her cousin Mordecai, who adopted her as his daughter. She was chosen as one of the women who would be part of the competition for Ahasuerus’ new wife. But because she was Jewish, Mordecai admonished her to keep her identity secret:

“Now there was at the citadel in Susa a Jew whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjamite, who had been taken into exile from Jerusalem with the captives who had been exiled with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had exiled. He was bringing up Hadassah, that is Esther, his uncle's daughter, for she had no father or mother. Now the young lady was beautiful of form and face, and when her father and her mother died, Mordecai took her as his own daughter. So it came about when the command and decree of the king were heard and many young ladies were gathered to the citadel of Susa into the custody of Hegai, that Esther was taken to the king's palace into the custody of Hegai, who was in charge of the women. Now the young lady pleased him and found favor with him. So he quickly provided her with her cosmetics and food, gave her seven choice maids from the king's palace and transferred her and her maids to the best place in the harem. Esther did not make known her people or her kindred, for Mordecai had instructed her that she should not make them known. Every day Mordecai walked back and forth in front of the court of the harem to learn how Esther was and how she fared” (Esther 2:5-11).

Esther receives the favor of King Ahasuerus, and is made as the replacement queen for Vashti:

“The king loved Esther more than all the women, and she found favor and kindness with him more than all the virgins, so that he set the royal crown on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti. Then the king gave a great banquet, Esther's banquet, for all his princes and his servants; he also made a holiday for the provinces and gave gifts according to the king's bounty” (Esther 2:17-18).

As this was going on, Mordecai would constantly check in on her well-being. One day as he was outside the palace, he heard of a conspiracy against the king by two of his chamberlains and reported it to Esther. Esther informed the king of it, and the two chamberlains were executed for their sedition. Consequently, because of Mordecai’s actions, he is allowed relatively free access to the palace and to Esther:

“In those days, while Mordecai was sitting at the king's gate, Bigthan and Teresh, two of the king's officials from those who guarded the door, became angry and sought to lay hands on King Ahasuerus. But the plot became known to Mordecai and he told Queen Esther, and Esther informed the king in Mordecai's name. Now when the plot was investigated and found to be so, they were both hanged on a gallows; and it was written in the Book of the Chronicles in the king's presence” (Esther 2:21-23).

Haman’s Rise to Power and His Agenda

Following Esther’s installation as the new queen, and Mordecai being allowed access to the palace, Ahasuerus promotes a man named Haman to the highest position in his court. Haman is quickly found to be a self-promoting and self-worshipping man, who thinks too highly of himself and who likely was planning a way to usurp Ahasuerus’ throne. He has complete contempt for Mordecai after Mordecai refuses to bow to him:

“All the king's servants who were at the king's gate bowed down and paid homage to Haman; for so the king had commanded concerning him. But Mordecai neither bowed down nor paid homage. Then the king's servants who were at the king's gate said to Mordecai, ‘Why are you transgressing the king's command?’ Now it was when they had spoken daily to him and he would not listen to them, that they told Haman to see whether Mordecai's reason would stand; for he had told them that he was a Jew. When Haman saw that Mordecai neither bowed down nor paid homage to him, Haman was filled with rage” (Esther 3:2-5).

The ArtScroll Tanach commentary speculates as to why Mordecai did not bow to Haman. It states, “Normally, Mordechai would have bowed in accordance with the king’s instructions, for bowing to a king or his official is not forbidden by Torah law. Mordechai refused to bow either because Haman had declared himself divine (Rashi) or because Haman’s robes were decorated with idols (Ibn Ezra). In either of these cases, bowing to him would be an act of idolatry.”[1]

We are further told that “he disdained to lay hands on Mordecai alone, for they had told him who the people of Mordecai were; therefore Haman sought to destroy all the Jews, the people of Mordecai, who were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus” (Esther 3:6).

Haman, while enraged with Mordecai because he refused to bow before him, was persuaded that punishing Mordecai would not be enough. Rather, Haman is convinced that all of the Jews in the Persian Empire had to be exterminated. Haman begins telling this to King Ahasuerus, who quickly consents upon believing that the Jews are a threat to his reign:

“Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, ‘There is a certain people scattered and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom; their laws are different from those of all other people and they do not observe the king's laws, so it is not in the king's interest to let them remain. If it is pleasing to the king, let it be decreed that they be destroyed, and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver into the hands of those who carry on the king's business, to put into the king's treasuries.’ Then the king took his signet ring from his hand and gave it to Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews. The king said to Haman, ‘The silver is yours, and the people also, to do with them as you please’” (Esther 3:8-11).

Letters were sent all throughout the empire informing the regional governors of the plans of Haman. The instruction was “to destroy, to kill and to annihilate all the Jews, both young and old, women and children, in one day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar, and to seize their possessions as plunder” (Esther 3:13).

Haman’s goal was very clear: Haman was inspired by the Adversary to annihilate all of the Jews in the Persian Empire. In retrospect, we know that Haman was just one of many brutal figures throughout history that has tried to do this.

Esther Before the King

When the decree is made in Shushan, Mordecai hears of it and employs Esther to go before King Ahaseurus to plead for the people:

“Then Esther summoned Hathach from the king's eunuchs, whom the king had appointed to attend her, and ordered him to go to Mordecai to learn what this was and why it was. So Hathach went out to Mordecai to the city square in front of the king's gate. Mordecai told him all that had happened to him, and the exact amount of money that Haman had promised to pay to the king's treasuries for the destruction of the Jews. He also gave him a copy of the text of the edict which had been issued in Susa for their destruction, that he might show Esther and inform her, and to order her to go in to the king to implore his favor and to plead with him for her people” (Esther 4:5-8).

There was one problem with this, though, Hathach, the chief servant of Esther, told Mordecai that “All the king's servants and the people of the king's provinces know that for any man or woman who comes to the king to the inner court who is not summoned, he has but one law, that he be put to death, unless the king holds out to him the golden scepter so that he may live. And I have not been summoned to come to the king for these thirty days” (Esther 4:11).

Only people to whom Ahasuerus would extend his scepter would be allowed to enter into his presence. Esther, wanting to go into the king, would have to risk her life. Before making herself ready, Esther asks Mordecai and the Jews of Shushan to fast and pray for her:

“Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai, ‘Go, assemble all the Jews who are found in Susa, and fast for me; do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my maidens also will fast in the same way. And thus I will go in to the king, which is not according to the law; and if I perish, I perish.’ So Mordecai went away and did just as Esther had commanded him” (Esther 4:15-17).

Esther, preparing herself to go before the king, is received when Ahasuerus sees her in the courtyard. He extends his scepter to let her come in and grants her request that a banquet be made for him and Haman:

“Now it came about on the third day that Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the king's palace in front of the king's rooms, and the king was sitting on his royal throne in the throne room, opposite the entrance to the palace. When the king saw Esther the queen standing in the court, she obtained favor in his sight; and the king extended to Esther the golden scepter which was in his hand. So Esther came near and touched the top of the scepter. Then the king said to her, ‘What is troubling you, Queen Esther? And what is your request? Even to half of the kingdom it shall be given to you.’ Esther said, ‘If it pleases the king, may the king and Haman come this day to the banquet that I have prepared for him.’ Then the king said, ‘Bring Haman quickly that we may do as Esther desires.’ So the king and Haman came to the banquet which Esther had prepared” (Esther 5:1-5).

Haman’s End

At the banquet we are told that “Haman recounted to them the glory of his riches, and the number of his sons, and every instance where the king had magnified him and how he had promoted him above the princes and servants of the king” (Esther 5:11). Haman was overly self-confident and consumed with himself, boasting about his achievements. On the way out of the banquet, he sees Mordecai at the gate of the palace, and infuriated, orders a huge gallows to be built for him to be hanged on:

“Haman also said, ‘Even Esther the queen let no one but me come with the king to the banquet which she had prepared; and tomorrow also I am invited by her with the king. Yet all of this does not satisfy me every time I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king's gate.’ Then Zeresh his wife and all his friends said to him, ‘Have a gallows fifty cubits high made and in the morning ask the king to have Mordecai hanged on it; then go joyfully with the king to the banquet.’ And the advice pleased Haman, so he had the gallows made” (Esther 5:12-14).

Haman later receives the consent of the king to have Mordecai executed (Esther 6:10). Later the next day he is called in to another banquet with King Ahasuerus and Queen Esther. With Haman present, Ahasuerus asks Esther what her request is, and then she tells him that her people are decreed to be exterminated, and that there is one in the midst of the court who is responsible. Ahasuerus asks who this person is:

“Now the king and Haman came to drink wine with Esther the queen. And the king said to Esther on the second day also as they drank their wine at the banquet, ‘What is your petition, Queen Esther? It shall be granted you. And what is your request? Even to half of the kingdom it shall be done.’ Then Queen Esther replied, ‘If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it pleases the king, let my life be given me as my petition, and my people as my request; for we have been sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be killed and to be annihilated. Now if we had only been sold as slaves, men and women, I would have remained silent, for the trouble would not be commensurate with the annoyance to the king.’ Then King Ahasuerus asked Queen Esther, ‘Who is he, and where is he, who would presume to do thus?’” (Esther 7:1-5).

The king asks Esther, “Where is the one who dared to do so?” Esther reveals that this person is Haman, and upon hearing this Ahasuerus is enraged. Haman entreats Esther for mercy, but instead the king orders that Haman be executed using the same means he prepared for Mordecai:

“Esther said, ‘A foe and an enemy is this wicked Haman!’ Then Haman became terrified before the king and queen. The king arose in his anger from drinking wine and went into the palace garden; but Haman stayed to beg for his life from Queen Esther, for he saw that harm had been determined against him by the king. Now when the king returned from the palace garden into the place where they were drinking wine, Haman was falling on the couch where Esther was. Then the king said, ‘Will he even assault the queen with me in the house?’ As the word went out of the king's mouth, they covered Haman's face. Then Harbonah, one of the eunuchs who were before the king said, ‘Behold indeed, the gallows standing at Haman's house fifty cubits high, which Haman made for Mordecai who spoke good on behalf of the king!’ And the king said, ‘Hang him on it.’ So they hanged Haman on the gallows which he had prepared for Mordecai, and the king's anger subsided” (Esther 7:6-10).

The essence of the story is that Haman met the fate that he decreed for the Jews by being hanged on his own gallows. Not only is Haman hanged the same way that he intended for Mordecai, but Ahasuerus gives Esther Haman’s estate, and she gives it to Mordecai (Esther 8:1-2). The decree is given to countermand the order that all Jews in the Persian Empire are to be exterminated:

“The king extended the golden scepter to Esther. So Esther arose and stood before the king. Then she said, ‘If it pleases the king and if I have found favor before him and the matter seems proper to the king and I am pleasing in his sight, let it be written to revoke the letters devised by Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, which he wrote to destroy the Jews who are in all the king's provinces. For how can I endure to see the calamity which will befall my people, and how can I endure to see the destruction of my kindred?’” (Esther 8:4-6).

In the decree that is given, allowing the Jews to go free, Ahasuerus also extends them the right to defend themselves, in the event that anyone tries to harm them:

“He wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus, and sealed it with the king's signet ring, and sent letters by couriers on horses, riding on steeds sired by the royal stud. In them the king granted the Jews who were in each and every city the right to assemble and to defend their lives, to destroy, to kill and to annihilate the entire army of any people or province which might attack them, including children and women, and to plunder their spoil” (Esther 8:10-11).

Celebrating In Judah’s Triumphs

The story of Esther is one that commemorates God’s protection of the Jewish people when they faced complete annihilation at the hands of an enemy, and required Divine intervention. The story of the Lord intervening when all hope is lost is the story of our faith. The story of Esther is one where we are to all be reliant upon Providence and recognize that God is in control of all circumstances. How many challenges have we faced in our own lives where it seems that all is lost, and yet the Lord intervenes? How many of us continue to pray, and ask our Heavenly Father for direction concerning the future and what He has in store for us?

If Esther had not gone before King Ahasuerus and pleaded for the lives of the Jewish people, then the recognizable remnant of Israel would have been destroyed. There would have been no people of Israel into which Messiah Yeshua could have been born. The Northern Kingdom of Israel/Ephraim had been long scattered and assimilated into the nations prior to the events of the Book of Esther. The Adversary tried his best to eliminate the Jews through Haman, but instead Haman’s plans were foiled and they backfired on him.

If the returning House of Israel/Ephraim is indeed entering back into the fold in this hour, then he should honor his older brother Judah and is called to rejoice in Judah’s triumphs. Anyone who believes in the God of Israel should rejoice in what He does for Israel. One of these triumphs is God’s hand in preserving and saving the Jewish people from the evil Haman. Haman was just a foreshadowing of the many characters throughout history who would also try to destroy the Jews. But the Biblical pattern is that the Lord always sees His people through, and will always deliver them.

While not one of the Biblical moedim in Leviticus 23, the Book of Esther does record that the commemoration of these events was to be honored by the Jews for centuries to come, and never to be forgotten:

“For Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the adversary of all the Jews, had schemed against the Jews to destroy them and had cast Pur, that is the lot, to disturb them and destroy them. But when it came to the king's attention, he commanded by letter that his wicked scheme which he had devised against the Jews, should return on his own head and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows. Therefore they called these days Purim after the name of Pur [lot]. And because of the instructions in this letter, both what they had seen in this regard and what had happened to them, the Jews established and made a custom for themselves and for their descendants and for all those who allied themselves with them, so that they would not fail to celebrate these two days according to their regulation and according to their appointed time annually. So these days were to be remembered and celebrated throughout every generation, every family, every province and every city; and these days of Purim were not to fail from among the Jews, or their memory fade from their descendants” (Esther 9:24-28).

As Believers, we have the responsibility to remember these events as well, because if the Jewish people were eliminated, then there would have been no people of Israel and thus no Messiah. Returning Ephraim is greatly indebted to Judah and has a responsibility to celebrate Purim. Purim commemorates the fact that the Jewish people faced complete annihilation and required Divine intervention to divert the inevitable. If there are those who oppose celebrating the Lord’s work because it is not an “appointed time” of Leviticus 23—even though the decree to celebrate it is in Scripture—then what is that communicating in regard to the reunion of all Israel? Is this an attitude fostering unity and understanding? Or, is it an attitude that is anti-Semitic?

One day in the future, another Haman is going to come on the scene. He is going to demand the worship of all on Planet Earth, and demand that they take his mark. This future character is going to decree that all those who do not worship him be executed for sedition. As we ponder the events of Purim, the Festival of Lots, we need to be mindful of this. Will we see the Lord deliver us through any future hard times as He did the Jews in Esther’s time? Or, should we just forget the events of the past, and the fact that God is faithful to His people?

“He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down out of heaven to the earth in the presence of men. And he deceives those who dwell on the earth because of the signs which it was given him to perform in the presence of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who had the wound of the sword and has come to life. And it was given to him to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast would even speak and cause as many as do not worship the image of the beast to be killed. And he causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free men and the slaves, to be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead, and he provides that no one will be able to buy or to sell, except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name” (Revelation 13:13-17).

J.K. McKee (B.A., University of Oklahoma; M.A. Student, Asbury Theological Seminary) is the editor of TNN Online (www.tnnonline.net) and is a Messianic apologist. He is author of several books, including: The New Testament Validates Torah, Torah In the Balance, Volume I, and When Will the Messiah Return?. He has also written many articles on the Two Houses of Israel and Biblical theology, and is presently focusing on Messianic commentaries on various books of the Bible.

NOTES

Purim for the Two Houses of Israel (PDF)