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Norman and I recently attended an Antisemitism Summit in Sydney. J-Wire asked me to write an article about it and, after prayer, I decided to call it Plot Foiled because Purim was coming up, and I felt the 15-point plan developed would help foil some antisemitism plots in Australia. I then wrote an article for the Daily Declaration.

Basically, the story of Purim is that in the ancient Persian kingdom, which extended across 127 provinces from India to Ethiopia, Queen Vashti insulted her husband and was deposed, making way for Esther, who had not revealed her Jewish identity, to become Queen.

Haman, a high-level official, was angry that Mordecai the Jew, who happened to be Esther’s cousin, would not bow to him but only to God. So, he decided not only to kill Mordecai but all Jews, and he drew straws or purim to decide the date to do so. He then bribed King Xerxes and told him the Jews would not submit to his rule and was granted a decree for their annihilation on the day appointed.

Mordecai persuaded Esther to risk her life to save her people. This would involve her revealing her Jewish identity and breaking the law by going to the king uninvited.

What points can we learn from the Purim story, that happened in the Persian kingdom so long ago, that are meaningful for us today?

1. God always saves the Jewish people.

How many times in history has there been a threat that the Jews would be eliminated entirely from the planet? it’s happened again and again they’re still here. In fact, one of the organisations we work with is the WE ARE HERE! Foundation. It’s one of the things you might find that Jewish people say: “We’re still here,” because of the incredible threat to their life that they have experienced for generations.

We have all these examples – in the time of the Romans, King Herod ordered boys under 2 years old to be killed in Judea because he was worried about the Jewish King that was born, which was Jesus or Yeshua. We’ve got those who tried to eliminate Jews around the world like Haman in the Purim story; Hitler, who exterminated 6 million European Jews; Hamas, who committed genocide in Israel on October 7; Hezbollah and the Houthis attacking Israel. Notice they all start with H. It is more than a coincidence that Iran today is a remnant of the ancient Persian empire.

The Prince of Persia is as active now as he was in the days of Daniel, but Archangel Michael, the Prince of Israel, is also active, and there is warfare in the heavenlies. In a vision, Daniel was told (Daniel 10):

“’Don’t be afraid Daniel. Since the first day you began to pray for understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your request has been heard in heaven. I have come in answer to your prayer. But for twenty-one days, the spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia blocked my way. Then Michael, one of the archangels, came to help me and I left him there with the spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia.’” (Daniel 10:12-13)

“Then he said, ‘Do you know why I have come to you? And now I must return to fight with the prince of Persia; and when I have gone forth, indeed the prince of Greece will come. But I will tell you what is noted in the Scripture of Truth. (No one upholds me against these, except Michael your prince.’” (Daniel 10:20-21)

Then there are the attempts to eliminate the Jewish state, Israel, and have it as a Muslim state called Palestine. This is despite the fact that 2 million Muslims live in relative peace in Israel and are in the Knesset (parliament), the police and professions, etc.

So, when the modern state of Israel was formed in 1948, we had all these Arab armies invade to try to destroy it. We had the same thing in 1967 and 1973 and a number of intifadas since then and October 7. It just keeps happening.

They don’t just want West Bank, which is Judea Samaria, the heartland of Israel, and they don’t just want Gaza (which they already have), all of which are part of the Promised Land. They actually want every little inch of Israel. They want Israel obliterated off the map and to call it Palestine, and if they could they’d obliterate the Jewish people from around the world as well, it would suit their plan. So, it’s pretty scary, except we know the God of Israel will be victorious in the end.

As I was praying, I sensed that we have another plot going on in Australia and in European nations at the moment, and that’s the plot of Islamification, and bringing in of sharia law. It’s obvious when you think about it. When I thought about it this morning, I remembered I shared about that at a conference at Parliament House Canberra we hosted in 2012. We already had sharia law happening in Australia, for example in Centrelink, but that’s another story.  The most recent manifestation of it in Australia is the Muslim Votes Matter.

2. God will raise up a saviour

We know that the ultimate Saviour is Jesus Christ (Yeshua Hamaschiach) but there are other saviours or heroes, ordinary people God uses through the ages when there’s been a crisis situation for the Jewish people.

Even Australia was part of the Allied Forces to defeat Hitler. The disappointing thing is that in this term of government, Australia, instead of supporting Israel, has been anti-Israel. It supported Hamas since October 7, really supporting a terrorist organization rather than the state of Israel. That’s happened repeatedly with Australia’s votes in the United Nations and its press releases.

3. God will position you for the challenges His people face, including giving you access to power and authority and giving you favour with decision-makers

Now this happened with Esther. She was just an ordinary Jewish girl, an orphan, no one special. Her people were taken into slavery in a foreign land to Babylon by King Nebuchadnezzar. Yet God positioned her as Queen of Persia so that she could influence the king and save her people. Babylon had fallen to the Medes and Persians.

Look at Esther 4:13-14:

^“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 your royal position for such a time as this?’”

This was pretty heavy thing for a young woman to be charged with, but some Christians have been put in the position they are in to make a brave stand and speak truth to power. Maybe you are one of them. It wasn’t an easy thing for her as she would have lived a pampered life in the palace, and it would have been a lot to have to give up, but she was prepared to do so.

“Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai: ‘Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my attendants will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish.’  So, Mordecai went away and carried out all of Esther’s instructions.” (Esther 4:15-17)

4. It’s a risk if we stand up for righteousness

In this case Esther wasn’t presenting her case to an evil authority, he was her husband the king, but the laws of the land said that if she went in to see him uninvited, she could die so she took that risk because she needed to save her people. There are times when we can be faced with situations that might not be life or death, but it might be a situation where we have to make some difficult choices that are going to cost us.

5. Evil triumphs over good. No, wrong! Good triumphs over evil

Evil may appear to win for a time, but in the end, evil does not win. We know that from the Bible. We know the end will come, and Jesus or Yeshua Messiah will prevail, and there will be a reckoning for those who have committed evil.

In this particular story of Purim, a true story, Haman was impaled on the pole he had prepared to impale Mordecai on. That’s poetic justice because he was unrepentant. We know that the wonderful teaching of Jesus is that if we truly repent of our sins and change our ways, then He will forgive us and that’s a wonderful promise.

6. How, then, do we fight against evil?

One way is prayer and fasting by a group of people, and secondly, praying and secondly by decrees that reverse the effect of evil decrees. Now, I’ve shared a lot on decrees over the year,s so I’m not going into detail her,e but let’s have a look at Esther 8:5-8, which is one of my favourite scriptures:

 “If it pleases the king,” she said, “and if he regards me with favour and thinks it the right thing to do, and if he is pleased with me, let an order be written overruling the dispatches that Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, devised and wrote to destroy the Jews in all the king’s provinces. For how can I bear to see disaster fall on my people? How can I bear to see the destruction of my family?”

King Xerxes replied to Queen Esther and to Mordecai the Jew, ‘Because Haman attacked the Jews, I have given his estate to Esther, and they have impaled him on the pole he set up. Now write another decree in the king’s name in behalf of the Jews as seems best to you, and seal it with the king’s signet ring—for no document written in the king’s name and sealed with his ring can be revoked.’”

7. The Jews were able to rise in self-defence

The decree Esther and Mordecai wrote reversed the effect of the first decree because it said that the Jews could rise up and defend themselves, and as it turned out they got rid of a lot of their enemies at that time. So, an annual holiday called Purim was instituted by Esther and Mordecai, and we know that Mordecai became prime minister and had a famous history in the Persian court.

8. The saving of the Jewish people happened at the 11^th hour

We will often find our breakthrough comes through at the 11^th hour. Mordecai was almost killed by Haman before Haman’s plot to commit genocide on the Jews was revealed to King Xerxes by Queen Esther.

If the king hadn’t had problems sleeping the night before and had the Chronicles of his reign read to him, he would not have been reminded of a critical fact. Mordecai had foiled an assassination attempt on the king and had not been rewarded, so he decided to reward him.

If the king had trouble sleeping the following night, it would have been too late because Haman would have already asked the king for the death of Mordecai, which he would have carried out immediately. So, we need to not give up. Also, prayer works.

Why are Jewish People Such a Target? Why Antisemitism?

Why is antisemitism so persistent over so many generations? It’s a very ancient thing even before the Jewish people came out of captivity in Egypt in the time of the Exodus. The Lord put a few things on my heart in prayer:

• God is the protector of Israel and the Jewish people because he has called them to fulfil his Plan of Salvation, which is through the Jewish Messiah.
• Jew hatred is really hatred of God and disobedience to God, e.g. Mordecai would not bow to man, only to God.
• Antisemitism is so longstanding historically and so virulent because the Jewish people are called to be a light to the world, a light to the nations. (Isaiah 49:6)
• The Jewish people and the nation of Israel are called by God to be a blessing to the rest of the world. (Genesis 12:1)
• There is a clash of kingdoms, a clash of civilisations and a clash of values with the Jewish people and the Judeo-Christian Heritage on one side and on the other side, we have the forces of atheism and religious terrorism.
• The antichrist spirit is operating because Jesus was Jewish, so an anti-Christ spirit is also tied up with antisemitism.

It is incredible that the nation of Israel and the Jewish people who God has set on Earth to be a blessing to the nations would be so hated and persecuted, and have their lives threatened and taken. It doesn’t make sense, but that’s the situation that we are in. And we can’t stand by and let that happen. We must be like Esther and bravely stand up and plead their case no matter what it costs us.

Think about it – if a law suddenly passed in Australia that said we were able to go out and kill a certain race of people or people that followed a certain religion on a particular day, whether it was March 7 or October 7 or some other day, would we do it? No, we wouldn’t. Would anybody in Australia do it? Some people probably would. That’s a scary thought. What would motivate them to do it? You would have to have a murderous, bloodthirsty spirit operating to be able to do that. I share this because we need to understand the spiritual dynamics of what is going on with antisemitism.

In the time of Haman, we probably had things happening like jealousy or envy of the Jewish people because they were allowed to take the property of the Jews if they killed them. So, some greed could have set in there. There could have been a fear of difference, but that is no excuse to kill someone, and neither is greed or jealousy.

We know from the story that Haman was angry because Mordecai wouldn’t bow to him. Anger can be operating. I even sensed some affront if people don’t believe the same thing that you believe. If you look at the debate in our nation today there are people who simply cannot handle the fact that other people have a different point of view and get very incensed or affronted if people don’t believe the same thing that they do. This is a big worry, and it’s getting worse in our nation.

What Do We Do About It?

• Prayer and fasting, individually and corporately.
• Use of decrees in prayers and praying in scripture.
• Decrees issued by a ruler or government become law. We can change our laws to deal with antisemitic speech and behaviour. This will not change hearts, but it can change behaviour, and it can bring cultural change, especially over time.
• Call it out by speaking, writing about it and in our actions.

I’m going to end with Philippians 2:10-11 using it as a decree because we can simply decree scripture:

“that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.”

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Painting: François-Léon Benouville, “Esther” (1844)/Wikimedia Commons