Esther 9:20 And Mordecai wrote these things, and sent letters unto all the Jews that were in all the provinces of the king Ahasuerus, both nigh and far,
21 To stablish this among them, that they should keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar, and the fifteenth day of the same, yearly,
22 As the days wherein the Jews rested from their enemies, and the month which was turned unto them from sorrow to joy, and from mourning into a good day: that they should make them days of feasting and joy, and of sending portions one to another, and gifts to the poor.
23 And the Jews undertook to do as they had begun, and as Mordecai had written unto them;
24 Because Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, had devised against the Jews to destroy them, and had cast Pur, that is, the lot, to consume them, and to destroy them;
25 But when Esther came before the king, he commanded by letters that his wicked device, which he devised against the Jews, should return upon his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows.
26 Wherefore they called these days Purim after the name of Pur. Therefore for all the words of this letter, and of that which they had seen concerning this matter, and which had come unto them,
Having had great success in defending themselves, Mordecai now initiated the next step which has been made a yearly memorial. Mordecai had access to the funds of the Empire. He took the liberty to send out letters to all the provinces to announce his plans.
The survival and indeed the thriving of the Jewish community in Persia was something to celebrate. This would have been a much different situation had Haman remained alive. What is still missing here is the acknowledgment of God..
The month Adar became an important month for the Jews. The fourteenth and fifteenth day of this month would become important days for years to come. The Jews still remember those days now.
Yes, the Jews rested from their enemies, for a time. Interestingly, Persia/Iran is a chief enemy of the Jews today. Iran has been seeking to destroy the Jews for years. Currently there are high tensions between Iran and Israel, and Israel has been at war for a long time with Hezbollah, which is funded by Iran.
In our text, these dates would be dates to send gifts to the poor and to send portions to one another as well as a day of feasting.
As we see in verses 24-25, the celebration was to remember Esther, but not God. It was to remember the wickedness of Haman and how he intended to destroy the Jews, but according to Mordecai’s letter, Esther changed the course of history.
Esther had a part in this event, but Esther’s part was quite small. It was God that caused the king to remember the good deed of Mordecai, in warning him of the rebellion planned against the king. It was the fact that the king could not sleep that caused him to be reminded of this good deed.
The Bible makes it clear that it is God who gives man the ability to rest in sleep. King Ahasuerus was not a God-fearing man. He did not know God. He had no-one in his kingdom to remind him of the importance of knowing the true God.
God used Esther and Mordecai to change the course of history. He did this to honour His promise to Abraham. As we note in verse 24, the date chosen to destroy the Jews was decided by casting the lot which is called Pur here. In verse 26 we see that the days of celebration became known as Purim, after the name of Pur. Purim is the plural of Pur. As we mentioned the Jews still keep this remembrance to this day. The month Adar coincides with our month of March. It is a day of celebration, but it is an empty day in that it does not recognize the hand of God in the affairs of the nation of Israel.
There are remembrances that should be kept. For the Jews, they should constantly be thankful for God’s hand of protection over them even though they do not know Him as their God.
It is sad that they have had to suffer for so many years, and yet they still do not want to turn to Him and serve Him. They do not recognize Jesus Christ as their Messiah. The day will come when their children will recognize Jesus Christ as their Messiah. However, God has not given up on them. He will continue to bless them in measure and He will continue to keep them from being destroyed.
As Gentiles we need to guard against empty celebrations. We have university graduations every year that are Godless events. They are designed to acknowledge the supposed wisdom of man. Thus they turn against Israel and true Christianity. They promote terrorism and sodomy and other worthless causes.
Then there are those religious zealots who want to put God’s name in secular celebrations. The flesh loves a good party. It looks for ways to celebrate. If it cannot find a legitimate reason to celebrate it will make one up.
We have many festivals today that are secular, but we have allowed the Catholics to make them spiritual, but to a false god. We have Christmas and Valentines and Easter, all of which are pagan, but the name Jesus was shoved into two of them more strongly than into Valentines. Valentines is supposed to be about love. However, it is about sensual love, not Godly love.
God has given us the Lord’s Day as a day to come together to be reminded of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord’s Day is not a day to party. It is not designed to be a day to ignore reality and have a party. In many religious groups they have their ‘worship teams’ who act like they need to find a washroom quickly. They try to swallow their mics as they entertain the gullible. The people drink this stuff up. Then a ‘facilitator’ gets up and gives a pep talk, invoking the name of Jesus, but mocking the true Jesus. This is what is passed off as true worship for most. The apostle Paul was directed to warn us that true preaching would become such a ‘bore’ in the last days. We are there today.
God has also given us the Lord’s Supper as the day to remember Jesus’ death for us. He laid down His life and shed His blood so that repentant sinners could be forgiven and saved. Saved people need to be reminded of the precious gift of salvation. The purpose of the Lord’s Supper is to help those who are saved to reflect on the cost of our salvation. We do not pay for it. Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, left heaven’s glory to come to this earth as a man in order to lay down His life for man. Salvation is a precious gift that changes the nature of the recipient.
God gave us these times to glorify Him, not us. They are designed to come together and learn of Him so that we, those who are saved can be strengthened in the inner man. They have lost their meaning for many, but those who are truly saved will subject themselves to the preaching of God’s Word which will remind us of the greatness of God. We need to be careful not to lose sight of the blessings that we have in knowing Jesus Christ as Saviour and serving God with Jesus Christ as Lord of our lives.
Pastor Bartel