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In 2024, the Feast of Purim begins at sunset on 23^rd March.  Purim celebrates the Jews having victory over their enemies.  It is a time when what looked like their total destruction was turned into their total triumph, when great sorrow was turned into great joy.  I’ve heard that the Jews have a saying: “They tried to destroy us.  They failed.  Let’s eat!”  This pretty much summarises Purim.

The story of how Purim originated is told in the Book of Esther.  In short, the Jews were designated by Haman for destruction on a certain day, 13^th Adar, chosen by casting lots.  However, through Esther’s intervention, the king gave them permission to defend themselves, and they were victorious over their enemies.  The day after the victory, 14^th Adar, they celebrated (15^th Adar in Shushan).  This was instituted as an annual feast in commemoration of the victory, known as the Feast of Purim, which means “lots”.

In Esther 3, we read:

When Haman saw that Mordecai did not bow or pay him homage, Haman was filled with wrath. But he disdained to lay hands on Mordecai alone… Instead, Haman sought to destroy all the Jews who were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus…

Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “There is a certain people scattered and dispersed among the people in all the provinces of your kingdom; their laws are different from all other people’s, and they do not keep the king’s laws. Therefore it is not fitting for the king to let them remain…”

… And the letters were sent by couriers into all the king’s provinces, to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate all the Jews, both young and old, little children and women, in one day, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar, and to plunder their possessions. ~ Esther 3:5-6, 8, 13 (NKJV)

It seems that not a lot has changed!  From the time of Esther up to the present day, people still single out the Jews because they are “different from all other people” and say that because of this, it is not fitting for them to remain!  There are so many examples throughout history of people persecuting the Jews.

Of course, the Holocaust was the worst atrocity of all.  However, this attitude of Haman’s is particularly demonstrated today by the terrorist organisation Hamas and their actions on 7^th October 2023, when they did exactly what Haman wished to do and attacked “both young and old, little children and women”.  It’s almost scary how apt these verses are for the time we are currently living in.

Envy and Hatred

It is actually quite true that the Jews are different from everyone else.  They are God’s chosen people, set apart by Him.  Somehow, this is still sensed by others, even those who are secular.  Some people accept the Jews and their differences, but many others persecute them for it.

Haman exhibits classic antisemitism.  One symptom of this is that, having been offended by just one individual who happens to be a Jew, he wants revenge not merely on that one person but on his entire people.  He associates all the Jews with Mordecai’s offence and wishes to kill every single one of them.

This kind of irrational hatred against a whole people just because of the offence of one, or just because they happen to be Jewish, is actually unexplainable in the natural realm.  And yet people of all backgrounds and beliefs still have a hatred of Jews just for being Jews, and many people still think the Jewish people somehow deserve to be completely wiped off the face of the earth.  But why?  It makes no real sense unless you can see that there is a spiritual power behind it.  There is an evil force at work that hates God and hates His chosen people and still wants to destroy them.

Haman is called an Agagite (e.g. Esther 8:3).  Agag was a king of the Amalekites; thus, Haman was likely a descendant of Amalek.

Dr Jürgen Bühler, President of the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem, has written an excellent article called “The Spirit of Amalek and the War on Israel”.  The article explains that Amalek was a grandson of Esau (Genesis 36:12) and appears to have inherited the jealousy and hatred Esau felt for his brother, Jacob, later called Israel, after Esau sold his birthright to Jacob for a bowl of stew, and Jacob stole their father Isaac’s blessing for the first-born which should have gone to Esau.

Bühler points out that the Amalekites were Israel’s constant enemies through all generations (Exodus 17:16), right down to Haman, and that they didn’t just fight soldiers in battle, but targeted weak civilians, including women and children (see Deuteronomy 25:18, 1 Samuel 30:1-3).

In Exodus 17:14, God told Israel that He would blot out the remembrance of Amalek, but in Deuteronomy 25:19 (NKJV), He said, “… you will blot out the remembrance of Amalek…” (emphasis mine) as a commandment to them once they entered their land.  Unfortunately, they did not do this.

Today, there is no culture or nation that we can point to and say, “Those are the Amalekites,” in the same way that we can say, “Those are the Jews.”  So, in that sense, God has done what He said.  However, as Bühler explains, the spirit of Amalek has lived on in the form of the antisemitism manifested by those who have sought to annihilate the Jews through the centuries.

This spirit is still at work today in the vicious attacks against Israel perpetrated by Hamas and other terrorist groups, as well as the often violent antisemitism encountered by Jews in other countries, which has significantly increased since October 2023.  There are still so many Hamans in the world who want to destroy the Jews and the nation of Israel.

Defending Their Nation

In the Book of Esther, there were a full eleven months between the writing of the decree to destroy the Jews and the date chosen for their destruction.  After the Jews were permitted to defend themselves, this gave them a good length of time to prepare.  They were thankfully forewarned of the day on which the enemy was going to attack and could act accordingly.  Those who were planning to kill them likewise had warning, but Esther 8:17 says that such a fear of the Jews fell on them that many people became Jews at that time.

Israel was not forewarned of the Hamas attack on 7^th October.  Nevertheless, they were able to rally and launch their own attack in return.  Like the Jews in Esther’s time, the people of Israel have the right to defend themselves against their enemies.

Because of the strength of Israel’s military might against Hamas in Gaza, some media have portrayed Israel as the aggressor in the war.  However, it is actually a war of self-defence which Israel did not initiate, against an enemy who wishes to annihilate them.  The Palestinian catch-cry, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” means the total destruction of Israel.  This is what Israel is fighting, not only in Gaza, but also at the northern border against Hezbollah; and there are also further threats from other terrorist groups and nearby nations.

The Jews’ celebration of Purim this year has a certain poignancy, as they are conscious of the current war and threats, and growing antisemitism.  However, hopefully, they will also be conscious that God saved them from Haman and from many others, and that He can and will do it again.

Time and time again through the centuries, God has delivered the Jews from their enemies and enabled them to survive against the odds.  So we trust that, as Israel and the Jews worldwide celebrate this feast, they will be looking to God in faith that He will once again give them the victory.

Hitler, who was clearly a spiritual heir of Haman and Amalek, attempted to completely destroy the Jews during the Holocaust when one-third of all the Jewish people in the world were slaughtered.  And yet he was not successful.  In fact, out of that horrible time came something wonderful.  Only three years after the end of World War II, the Jews had their own nation of Israel back in their ancient homeland, restored to them after nearly two thousand years!  It was truly a miracle.

Nevertheless, the Jews have been constantly attacked in their own land.  Apart from physical attacks, so many lies have been spread that the land of Israel does not rightfully belong to the Jews, in complete contradiction to God’s Word.  However, they have seen miraculous victories over superior numbers as God has continued to deliver them.

God’s Faithfulness

God who saved the Jews from Haman in the Book of Esther, God who has kept His people over these many centuries, God who brought a nation out of the Holocaust, is still the same God today, and He is able to preserve His people in the Land of Israel right now.  There are many scriptures that speak of God bringing the Jews back to Israel after they have been scattered around the world, and of Him blessing and prospering them there.  The scriptures do not say that they will leave Israel again.

“I will plant them in their land, and no longer shall they be pulled up from the land I have given them,” says the Lord your God. ~ Amos 9:15 (NKJV)

When God has so miraculously restored the nation of Israel after so long, He will not allow it to be destroyed again.  We can be fully assured that Hamas and other terrorist groups will not succeed in annihilating the Jews nor in driving them from their homeland.  Indeed, when everything that we are witnessing at the moment is over, the Jews will once again be saying, “They tried to destroy us.  They failed.  Let’s eat!”

Once the Jews are back in their land, the scriptures speak of Israel having a new heart and a new spirit (Ezekiel 36:26), of their being forgiven of their iniquity (Jeremiah 33:8) and of their coming under the rule of a type of David (Ezekiel 37:24-25).  In other words, they will come to know Jesus, the Son of David, as their Messiah and will be saved!  So we can see that it is absolutely God’s purpose to gather them back to Israel and keep them there for their salvation.

God had a deeper plan when He delivered the Jews from Haman than simply the preservation of His chosen people.  If Haman had succeeded in destroying them, then Jesus, a Jew of the tribe of Judah, would never have been born.  Thus the Jews’ deliverance from their enemies at the time of Purim has meant deliverance and spiritual victory for all who accept Jesus as Saviour.

Zechariah 12 and 14 speak of a future time when all nations will come against Jerusalem.  7^th October was like a foretaste of this time, or maybe even the beginning of it.  We would prefer that such things didn’t happen, but we need to see what the Bible says will happen as a result.  Firstly, Zechariah 12:10 (NKJV) says “… they will look on Me whom they pierced,” meaning that Israel will look to Jesus and be saved.  And then, secondly, Jesus will come back to deliver them!

For I will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem; the city shall be taken, the houses rifled, and the women ravished. Half of the city shall go into captivity, but the remnant of the people shall not be cut off from the city. Then the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations, as He fights in the day of battle. And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which faces Jerusalem on the east. ~ Zechariah 14:2-4a (NKJV)

Here, a horrible situation is described which is not unlike what happened to the Gaza border communities on 7^th October 2023.  But this dreadful event will actually result in Jesus’ second coming!

So we can understand from this, and from the events in the Book of Esther, that God knows the end from the beginning, and when the situation seems terrible He will step in and deliver His people both physically and spiritually.  Thus true victory for the Jews is not merely their deliverance from their enemies, but for them to know Jesus as their Messiah.  It is this victory which will ultimately turn their earthly sorrow into eternal joy.

And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with singing, with everlasting joy on their heads.  They shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. ~ Isaiah 35:10

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