Cast a Lot Catch A Purim

Have you ever noticed the book of Esther doesn’t mention God? Of course He’s in the underlining story or it wouldn’t be in the Bible, but God himself is not talked about directly. It’s like He’s hidden.

Guess what Esther means in Hebrew, “hidden.”

Let me start this jewel by giving you the “Gena translation” of the book of Esther.

Esther is a Jewish girl raised by her uncle Mordecai. She is seriously beautiful. The king at the time is Xerxes and his wife, the also beautiful queen, is Vashti.

Now Xerxes is having a huge party with his boys and after a few days of partying he tells one of his servants to go get Vashti.
He wants to parade her in front of the guys so they can all see how beautiful she is and wish they were married to her.
Well Vashti is having a party of her own with the girls and when the servant shows up to bring her before the king she’s like no way. She has no intentions of parading in front of a bunch of drunk guys. As you can imagine the King is not happy that he’s been dissed in front of his friends so he asks his “advisers” what he should do.
They tell him he better replace her quick because if the rest of the wives hear about this they might start dissing their men and the whole kingdom will be in an uproar.
They also come up with this great idea to find all the beautiful virgins in the kingdom and let him pick a new bride.

In comes Esther. Her uncle tells her not to let her new husband know that she is Jewish.

Mordecai use to visit with Esther in the courtyard and they would keep each other updated on what was going on. One day Mordecai overheard a couple of the kings officers planning to kill the king so he told Esther who in turn told the king, giving credit to Mordecai.
The officers were hanged and the whole issue was recorded in the official books in the presence of the king.

Now in order for any story to be juicy we need a villain. As luck would have it, we have one. His name is Haman.
Haman is your typical egomaniac and to make matters worse he’s the king’s top advisor!
He was so stuck on himself that he passed a law that everyone had to bow down to him. Mordecai refused because the only one a Jew was permitted to bow before was God. This ticked Haman off so bad that he decreed that all Jews would be killed on a certain day that of course he would pick.
Haman was very superstitious so he drew lots to find out which day to carry out his plan.
Now interesting enough the word for “lots” in Persian is purim.
It was decided that the plan would begin the month of Adar, which was the same month that Moses died. Haman figured that was a good omen, he would wipe out the Jews the same day a famous Jew died. Kind of an in your face thing.
What Haman didn’t know was in Jewish tradition great men die on their birthdays because their lives are complete. Moses was born and died in Adar so this was not a time of misfortune for the Jews but a month they considered blessed.
Back to our story. Haman tells the king there's a group of people scattered among your kingdom whose customs are different from ours and they don’t obey the kings laws and it would be in his best interest not to tolerate them.
He tells the king of his great plan to destroy them. The king figures it’s a good idea and uses his signet ring to seal the orders and make sure there carried out to the various provinces to annihilate all the Jews and to take all their goods.

When Mordecai found out what had been done he of course freaks out and the bible says he is wailing loudly and bitterly. In every province there was great mourning among the Jews when they were told what was going to happen.
Esther sends one of her servants to ask Mordecai what’s up. Why is he so upset? Mordecai tells him the whole story and sends her a copy of the edict for their annihilation which was published. He tells her to go talk to the king and beg for mercy for her people.

Now you have to understand, in those days if the king didn’t invite you and you showed up and he wasn’t in the mood to talk to you, you would be killed. Esther lets her uncle know it’s been over a month since the King asked for her.
When the servant told Mordecai what Esther said he sent back this answer?
“Do not think that because you are in the King’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape. For 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 a royal position for such a time as this?” Esther 4:13-14

He was letting her know God’s plan would be carried out with or without her help but if she chose not to help she was still going down.

I want to move away from our story for a minute. Sometimes we may not “see” God in our circumstances but that doesn’t mean he’s not behind the scenes doing His thing. We may be right where we are supposed to be when God needed a person in a strategic place to work out His will. However, if we do not do what is asked when we know we are the one called, He will replace us.

Esther let’s Mordecai know that she will do her part and asks that all the Jews in Susa would fast and pray for her for 3 days and nights.

When you have a huge job before you I can’t imagine doing it without serious prayer and or fasting. Not just you praying but making sure you have prayer warriors praying with you.
Esther let’s them know she will go before the king and if she dies, she dies.

In our lives God asks us to do things that at worse might hurt our feelings and possibly our pride but I don’t know many people that are doing what God asks with the possibility of death.

On the third day Esther put on her royal robes and stood before the king and her God behind the scenes was standing with her.

The king allowed her to come to him and he asked what she needed, he even offered to give her up to half the kingdom. Talk about God’s favor.  As part of  Esther’s strategy to reveal Haman's evil plan she invites the King and Haman to a party she’s throwing and they both agree to come.
Now remember Haman is a total ego maniac so you can only imagine how big his head is right now that HE was singled out as an honored guest from the queen.
At the party the King asks Esther again what she wants and she says come back tomorrow night for another party with Haman and I’ll tell ya then. So Haman leaves thinking he’s all that but he runs into Mordecai at the gate and as always Mordecai didn’t even stand up when he sees him and to really tick him off he’s not even showing any fear!

Haman blows him off for now because he wants to tell his family and friends all about his night and how he was the only one Esther invited to the parties. He tells his family about everything but then he says “but all this still doesn’t satisfy me as long as I see the Jew Mordecai sitting at the king’s gate.”
Esther 5:13

Isn’t it amazing when we become obsessed with something, we just can’t let it go. It torments our minds and no matter what else is going on we can’t totally enjoy it because we are hanging onto something destructive, anger and rage.

His wife, trying to be helpful, tells Haman to build a huge gallows 75 feet high and have Mordecai hanged on it before you go have dinner with the King and Queen Esther.

Women can be brutal! Go hang a man before dinner and then eat and enjoy yourself. The really sick part is this delighted Haman and he had the gallows built.

Well once again our God from behind the scenes is at work.

That night the king can’t sleep so he ordered the book of chronicles be brought and read to him.
Get a good legal book to put you right to sleep.
He’s reminded of what Mordecai had done for him, letting him know about the planned assassination. He asks his officers if he ever did anything to repay him and they say no.
Now here comes the best part. The King asks if there’s any one in the courtyard and they say yes Haman. Of course Haman's there to ask if he can hang Mordecai!
Before Haman can speak the kings ask him “what should be done for the man he delights to honor?” Haman of course thinks the king's talking about him, remember ego maniac, so he tells the king all these great things that should be done, ya know royal robe, beautiful horse, parade him around town and let everyone know how great he is.
The king says great idea! Go ahead and do all those things for Mordecai. I’ll even let you be the one to parade him around!

Talk about a plan gone wrong....

After doing all this Haman still has to go to the banquet Esther invited him to. This is where it gets really ugly because now when the king asks Esther what she wants, remember up to half the kingdom so he really likes her, she tells the king that she and all her people are scheduled to be annihilated in a few days. The king asks, “who is the man who dares do such a thing?”
Guess who?

As you can imagine things did not get any better for Haman.
You can read the story for all the details but the gist of it is because the king signed the first ruling he could not go back on it. He made a new ruling telling the Jews they could fight back. They did and of course won not only their lives but the plunder as well. As for Haman he was hung on the very gallows he made for Mordecai not only him but his family as well.

Sometimes even if God is not mentioned directly you can see His hand all through a story. In the Bible and in our lives as well. It may appear He’s hidden at times but He is always in control.

Jews have events to celebrate things God did for them and they want remembered by future generations. The feast of Purim will be celebrated the second week in March.

Purim commemorates the victory of the righteous over the wicked. God did not use any supernatural events to save His people in this story. No floods or plagues, like I said His name doesn’t even appear in the story. It was the coincidences of the story beyond all statistical probability and even possibility that makes you know it was directed by God. Purim is a record of “hidden miracles”.

When a lottery is drawn, the chosen name seems to be an accident, but the result is divinely predestined. It may seem they were all coincidences but I know there is no such thing. These things happen all the time we just don’t take notice of them. A coincidence is nothing more than God’s way of choosing to remain anonymous.
Purim is a fest where wine freely flows because that is when the king decided to get rid of his wife making way for Esther. It was also a party with lots of wine that Esther revealed she was a Jewess to her husband.
Every year on the anniversary of Haman's death the Jews read the story twice both on Purim night and morning. Every time Haman’s name is mentioned, which is quite a bit, the entire congregation is expected to boo, make a noise and try to wipe out the memory of this villain. The thought behind this ritual is a powerful way to teach Jews from childhood that they should never remain silent in the face of those who want to destroy them. In addition, it is customary to send out gifts of food or drink, and to make gifts to charity. There is also a small fast done before the celebration to signify the fast Esther arranged.

I’m sharing this with you because I believe the Jewish culture is wise in remembering feast and special Holy days. It is a constant reminder to their families of how great our God is, the God we serve.
I think if we remembered more of His miracles we wouldn’t get so freaked out when life took a bad turn on us because we would know how God is able to take care of His children whether behind the scenes or in your face.
Gems we don't know when God will call us for a situation He needs a warrior.

I hope you enjoyed the story of Esther and I think it would be OK, Jewish or not,  to join in on the celebration!