Purim

This is a fun one! Think Mardi Gras and Halloween Costumes. This holiday is like Hanukkah in the way it came about. It wasn’t instituted by God but rather created by His people to commemorate a great deliverance. Purim can be found in the book of Esther.

Each year “the whole megillah” of Esther is read to crowds. People dress up in costume as characters in the story. Masks are used to conceal identity the way Esther hid hers until the time was right. As the story is read, each time “Haman” is mentioned, people yell “Boooo” and make noise with noise makers to drown out his name. When Mordecai is mentioned, they cheer.

One of the traditional foods at this time is Hamantaschen or “Haman’s Ears”. These are triangle shaped shortbread cookies filled with fruit. You can get them on Amazon.

During this time is is customary to give gifts to the poor.

Here’s the basic story of Esther… sometime after Daniel died in Persia and Cyrus let the Jewish people go back to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem, there was group of people who stayed to live in Persia. I’m sure the reasons varied. Mordecai and Esther were two of those people. Mordecai was Esther’s older cousin and he had charge over her since her parents had died. She was very lovely in body and spirit.

One day the king needed a new queen so all the virgins were rounded up and taken, including Esther. Before this she was going by her Hebrew name Hadassah, but to keep her identity concealed, she became Esther.

Long story shirt, she becomes queen and things go well for a few years. Then Haman, the king’s right hand man, gets a distaste for the Jewish people because Mordecai won’t bow to him.

Fast forward, he wants them all killed and devises a plan with the king’s signet ring to kill all the Jews. The King doesn’t fully understand what is happening and he surely doesn’t know that his wife is a Jew.

Mordecai is undone. He is crying out in sackcloth and ashes and Esther sends someone to find out why. Mordecai relays the problem and asks her to go to the king for mercy.

Mordecai says the famous words, “Perhaps you have attained royalty for such a time as this.”

Thankfully the king extends the scepter to her and she requests for the king and Haman to come to a feast she has prepared. But she doesn’t tell him yet what she wants. She doesn’t have a peace about it yet. “Come again tomorrow” she says. And so they wait until the next day.

During that night, the great reversal happens and all the destruction that is being planned by Haman comes crashing down on him. The Jewish people win and they continue to live and prosper.

For more information on this, check out my Esther page from the Adam to Jesus study or the Hebrew4Christians page on Purim.