Purim Thought

 Purim

The Book of Esther tells of a King of Persia, Ahasuerus. At a time of celebration, when the King called for Queen Vashti to appear before him, she refused. The King’s wise men counseled him to make the decree, “... Let the king give her royal estate unto another that is better than she.” (Esther 1:19).

Mordecai, a Jew, cared for his cousin Esther as his own daughter. Esther was taken with the other maidens for the King to choose from among them his new wife.

"Esther had not shewed her people nor her kindred: for Mordecai had charged her that she should not shew it." - Esther 2:10 

"And the king loved Esther above all the women... and made her queen instead of Vashti." - Esther 2:17 

Later, the King promoted Haman, the Agagite,, making him the most powerful official in the empire. While it was commanded that all the people bow down before Haman, Mordecai refused to bow. Thus, when Haman saw this, he was full of wrath.

Haman learned that Mordecai was a Jew. He decided it was not enough to lay hands on Mordecai alone. Instead, he looked for a way to destroy all the Jews throughout the entire empire of Ahasuerus.

Lots (called Purim) were cast in Haman’s presence to determine the best day and month to take action. 

Haman convinced the King he should get rid of the Jewish people. Ahasuerus issued official letters to carry out Haman’s evil plan. (Esther 3:8-13).

There is a lesson in this.

Many years before this, God commanded King Saul to utterly destroy the Amalekites for what they had done to God"s people when He brought them out of Egypt. Instead of obeying God, Saul kept alive the king of the Amalekites, King Agag. (Samuel later killed him.) 

In the account of Esther, the Bible tells us that Haman, that was plotting to utterly destroy the Jews, was a descendant of Agag. (Esther 8:5).

A descendant of the Amalekites that Saul was to utterly destroy, was now plotting to utterly destroy the Jewish people 

Lesson:

When God tells us to utterly destroy sin in our life (by repentance), we need to obey Him. Or else sin may utterly destroy us. 

"Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin." - Romans 6:6 

(Romans 6:1-4).