Thursday: The Miracle of Purim
Daily Lesson for Thursday 21st of December 2023
Commentators for millennia have noticed that God’s name does not appear in the book of Esther. This is the only biblical book where such a phenomenon occurs. However, the Jews were able to recognize God’s actions in the great deliverance made for them, and this book was selected by God’s people to be included in the canon of the Bible.
Are we able to discover the presence of God beneath the surface of our daily life? God’s actions can take the appearance of normal, natural events, and if we don’t pay careful attention to them, we will not notice God’s presence.
Read Esther 9:1-12. What was the result of Esther’s effort?
The miracle of Purim takes a very unusual form. The miracle is hidden, disguised in apparently natural events. The law to destroy the Jews was not reversed, but a new law was written, allowing the Jews to defend themselves.
Also, notice what else had happened, and how God was able to work through these events. The Persians noticed God’s actions on behalf of the Jews.
And the result?
“Many people of other nationalities became Jews” (Esther 8:17, NIV). This is a great example of how the Lord was able to work to bring lost souls to a knowledge of Him.
The leaders of the Jewish people recognized the working of God. When the Jews were victorious in defending themselves, they declared a yearly time (called Purim) in remembrance and celebration of their victory. These days are still traditionally spent in thanksgiving to God in remembrance of His deliverance.
Challenge: Pray that God will give you the courage to share something He has done for you with one of the people on your prayer list this week.
Challenge Up: Begin a diary or journal of special little things (or big things) that God does for you. Review it and pray that God will bring these things to your mind at just the right time so you can share them with someone.
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I was contemplating why the decree against the Jews was not revoked. Then I remembered that in the kingdom of the Medes and Persians once a king had established a decree it could not be changed. (See Daniel 6:8 and Esther 8:8). However despite this problem God is able to save both Daniel through the lions den and Mordecai, Esther, and the Jews.
It is interesting the both the story of Daniel in the lions den and Modecai seem to be around the worship of God vs obedience to the king. In both God delivered His people. Is this not the theme we see in Egypt as well (Ex 5:1-3)? The request to Pharaoh was to let God's people go to worship Him. Once again we see God is faithful to deliver His children!
What encouragement... God never fails to set His people free to worship Him! We know He is going to do it again (Revelation 21:3). He is our God and we are His people.
Thanks for the insightful comment. It made me reflect on the fact that there will always be conflict between the worship of the true GOD and the dictates of a pagan or secular Government. And the decision to worship GOD ultimately becomes a life or death matter the culmination of which we see in Revelation 13:15
And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.
But as seen in these Old Testament examples, the period of anguish brought soul searching and renewed closeness to GOD. Then deliverance and salvation
I did a bit of research this morning on the meaning of Purim in modern Jewish thinking and came up with this article. It is not too long and it gave me something to think about. It talks about the absence of God and the need to renew the covenant rather than celebrate the victory.
Purim and Post-modern Jewish Thought
I do like the emphasis on renewing the covenant —-voluntarily.
Thanks for the reference!
Respectfully, may I point out that the full quote of Ester 8:17 reads: ”In every province and in every city to which the edict of the king came, there was joy and gladness among the Jews, with feasting and celebrating. And many people of other nationalities became Jews because fear of the Jews had seized them.” This does not sound like they joined them for reasons based on their faith.
I learned something about the Jewish history which I had not considered. Jewish people have been forcefully settled in many foreign countries due to their captivity from wars with their neighboring kingdoms. I wonder if this is evidence of another ‘mysterious’ way our God used to spread the knowledge of Himself - the God Supreme, to the heathen nations, using the Jewish people to make His presence known as they lived their life according to their religion.
Esther’s great reward for risking her life was to win the king’s permission to allow the Jews to defend themselves against Haman’s plot. What is Purim? “Purim reminds us that, even though we face enemies, we will overcome adversity.” – Purim is the Hebrew word for “lots” and refers to the lottery that Haman used to choose the date of the massacre. (JHUB Embracing Interfaith)
As we know, God still protects His People from the hate and animosity of their enemies - Jews and Christians alike. I believe that at its core, this is a spiritual war about the enemies' god(s) and the God of the Jews and Christians. I consider this persecution today as it was then when Haman sought to destroy them, because 'they had no fear of God' - Deut.25:18-19.
Even today many 'Amalakites' assaile those of the Jewish and Christian faith in their God Supreme. How can we come along side the Jewish people defending themselves against those wanting to destroy them? We declare ourselves to be Christians who believe in the same God, and determine never ever to hate them, but stand up for the Jewish people living among us and defend their right to life, liberty, and happiness.
Personally, I still do not see King Ahasuerus, Command to "Bow down to Haman," as being the same as King Nebuchadnezzar's Command to Bow down to "His Image." It is also interesting as to how the book of, Esther, is the only book in the entire Bible that does not mention God's Name at all either. So again, I choose to believe that Mordecai was more prompted by his own "Selfish desires," to just not "Humble" himself to Haman nor King Ahasuerus' "Command" to "Honor Haman" as "Chief Prince" to King Ahasuerus.
This story, core of this week's lesson, now has more practical application than when we last studied it, for our World Pathfinder honour, a year or two ago. As it was for Easter, so it is for us today, pilgrims through our increasingly-unrecognizable, unrelatable world.
Total dependence, through the liberty of the Sweet Holy Spirit, is necessary for living God's love while standing in representation of Heavenly culture. Yet, how wonderfully is God able to work through us, if we each choose to let Him ordain our every thought and our every move ... far beyond our own flesh and blood.
Praise God for the "miracle of choice". Thank you God, for the choice to renew our covenant with You. Teach us to discern, absorb and adopt Your impeccable timing, in Jesus' name. (Ecclesiastes 3: 1-7)