בס״ד

Purim 5785

When one learns how to understand the Word of G-d, it becomes a most informative source of wisdom and truth. The villain in the Scroll of Esther is of course Haman. This man was full of pride and desire to be honored by other people; rather than him realizing that G-d created humanity in order for Him (G-d) to be honored. One reads in Esther chapter 3, that the King promoted Haman above the seats of all the other cabinet officials. The King also required that all those who were seated at the King’s gate bend the knee and bow down to Haman. However, Mordecai, being Jewish and knowing that one should only bend the knee and bow to G-d, would not honor Haman in this manner.

The other servants of the King accused Mordecai of transgressing the King’s command and said this to Mordecai day after day. This constant reminding of his “guilt” was to try to intimidate Mordecai to turn away from the commandments of G-d and put a human King above the King of Kings. Finally, these servants told Haman about Mordecai’s Jewishness to see if Haman would tolerate Mordecai’s obedience to the One True G-d. It is very significant that these servants wanted to see if the words of Mordecai would stand, because Mordecai had told them that the reason why he would not honor Haman was that he was Jewish and it was against the Law of G-d.

When Haman saw that Mordecai did not bend his knee before him, nor bow to him, he became full of hot anger against Mordecai. However, Haman thought it was too small of thing just to kill Mordecai alone; rather he wanted to kill all the Jewish people once he learned who the people of Mordecai were. The text states, Haman sought to destroy all the Jews which were in all the provinces of the kingdom of the King Achashverosh (see Esther 3:6).

Although most of the Church does not understand the role of Israel, both the Land and the people, in G-d’s plan to establish His Kingdom, Satan certainly does and throughout human history he has attempted to destroy the Jewish people as a way of thwarting G-d’s plan to establish His Kingdom. In the Scroll of Esther, we simply read about another such plan. The One True G-d is omniscient and can never be defeated. Haman’s intentions were not a surprise to G-d and when examining the next verse it becomes clear what G-d intends to do.

בַּחֹדֶשׁ הָרִאשׁוֹן, הוּא-חֹדֶשׁ נִיסָן, בִּשְׁנַת שְׁתֵּים עֶשְׂרֵה, לַמֶּלֶךְ אֲחַשְׁוֵרוֹשׁ: הִפִּיל פּוּר הוּא הַגּוֹרָל לִפְנֵי הָמָן, מִיּוֹם

לְיוֹם וּמֵחֹדֶשׁ לְחֹדֶשׁ שְׁנֵים-עָשָׂר--הוּא-חֹדֶשׁ אֲדָר.

In the first month, it is the month of Nisan, in the twelfth year of the King Achashverosh, one cast a pur, it is a lot before Haman from day to day and month to month it is the twelfth month, the month of Adar. Esther 3:7

This verse reveals how the G-d of Israel can take what is evil and turn it into good. This fact says a great deal about the sovereignty of G-d. The sovereignty of G-d is not harmed because there are things which take place which are against His will. G-d has created this world and within this world there is evil. What do the Holy Scriptures mean when the word evil רע appears in a Biblical text? Evil is simply something which is against the will of G-d. Unfortunately, this word appears frequently throughout the Scriptures and is rendered with a variety of different words which conceal the fact that the word which is actually appearing is the word evil. It is because G-d is sovereign that only He is able to take what is evil and make it good, i.e. something which is in accordance with His will. The verse which clearly teaches this is found in Romans 8:28,

οἴδαμεν δὲ ὅτι τοῖς ἀγαπῶσιν τὸν θεὸν πάντα συνεργεῖ εἰς ἀγαθόν, τοῖς κατὰ πρόθεσιν κλητοῖς οὖσιν.

“But we know that for the ones who love G-d everything works together for good, for the ones, according to (His) purpose being called.”

There are several things which appear in the Biblical language which are lost in translation. First, the word “know”, which begins the verse, is in the Greek perfect tense. The implication of this means that we (believers) have known, do know, and will always know (into the future) the truth which is being revealed in this verse. Secondly, the truth of this verse is not for all who believe, but specifically those whose faith is rooted in their love for G-d (for the ones who love G-d). The concept of love in the New Covenant involves a giving or a willingness to make personal sacrifices so that the will of G-d will be fulfilled. Thirdly, everything will indeed work together for good only for the ones who are called and are committed to His purposes. This is a key aspect of this verse. There are many believers who live out their lives, but who are not truly committed to the purposes of G-d. For those individuals, they will not experience G-d acting in order to turn all things into His will for them.

Returning now to Esther 3:7, this verse shows that despite Haman’s success of getting the King to agree with his evil plan, and choosing the date in which to carry out his plan, G-d intended something very different. Again, one reads in Esther 3:7,

בַּחֹדֶשׁ הָרִאשׁוֹן, הוּא-חֹדֶשׁ נִיסָן, בִּשְׁנַת שְׁתֵּים עֶשְׂרֵה, לַמֶּלֶךְ אֲחַשְׁוֵרוֹשׁ: הִפִּיל פּוּר הוּא הַגּוֹרָל לִפְנֵי הָמָן, מִיּוֹם

לְיוֹם וּמֵחֹדֶשׁ לְחֹדֶשׁ שְׁנֵים-עָשָׂר--הוּא-חֹדֶשׁ אֲדָר.

In the first month, it is the month of Nisan, in the twelfth year of the King Achashverosh, one cast a pur, it is a lot before Haman from day to day and month to month it is the twelfth month, the month of Adar.

The first month is Nisan, in which G-d redeemed His people from the slavery to Pharaoh and brought them out of Egypt and eventually into the Promised Land. The fact that one began to cast lots to determine when to carry out Haman’s evil plan reveals to the reader that G-d will use this evil plan to bring about redemption, i.e., the meaning of Passover which occurred in the first month. Similarly, the fact that the month of Adar, the twelfth month, was chosen is of great significance, as the number twelve relates to the people of G-d. Hence, when one properly understands Esther 3:7 it conveys to the reader that although Haman purposed this day to exterminate the Jewish people, G-d, in His providence, will actually use this date and the evil plan which was to be carried out as the means to bring about redemption for His people.

The sovereignty of G-d should only be understood as HaShem’s unique ability to in the end, bring about the perfect fulfillment of His will, regardless of what humanity may plan or may do which is in conflict with the will of G-d. It is because G-d is sovereign that believers can be assured that G-d will indeed succeed in bringing about the establishment of His Kingdom. Within the Scroll of Esther, Haman is called צֹרֵר הַיְּהוּדִים “The Enemy of the Jews” (see Esther 3:10). The word for “enemy” is this verse צֹרֵר, is also used to denote the antichrist in the Hebrew New Covenant. This fact should give the reader great encouragement.

The Scroll of Esther is revealing that in the same way that wicked Haman’s evil plan was not successful, rather G-d used it in the end to bring about victory for His people, so too in the last days the antichrist will not be victorious. It is important for us to remember that upon the very gallows which Haman had intended to hang Mordecai, Haman was in fact hung (see Esther 7:10). In addition to Haman being hung, one also reads,

ז וְאֵת

פַּרְשַׁנְדָּתָא {ס} וְאֵת

דַּלְפוֹן, {ס} וְאֵת

אַסְפָּתָא. {ס} ח וְאֵת

פּוֹרָתָא {ס} וְאֵת

אֲדַלְיָא, {ס} וְאֵת

אֲרִידָתָא. {ס} ט וְאֵת

פַּרְמַשְׁתָּא {ס} וְאֵת

אֲרִיסַי, {ס} וְאֵת

אֲרִידַי {ס} וְאֵת

וַיְזָתָא. {ס} י עֲשֶׂרֶת

בְּנֵי הָמָן בֶּן-הַמְּדָתָא, צֹרֵר הַיְּהוּדִים--הָרָגוּ; וּבַבִּזָּה--לֹא שָׁלְחוּ, אֶת-יָדָם. יא בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא, בָּא מִסְפַּר הַהֲרוּגִים בְּשׁוּשַׁן הַבִּירָה--לִפְנֵי הַמֶּלֶךְ.

“And Parshandata, Dolphin, Aspata, Parata, Adalia, Aridata, Parmashta, Arisai, Aridai, and Vaizata. The ten sons of Haman, the son of Hamdta the enemy of the Jews they killed, but did not stretch forth their hand in plundering. On that day, came the number of the ones killed in Shushan the capital before the king.”

It is later on in this chapter, in order to show shame the ten sons of Haman, that they were hung also on the gallows.

וַתֹּאמֶר אֶסְתֵּר, אִם-עַל-הַמֶּלֶךְ טוֹב--יִנָּתֵן גַּם-מָחָר לַיְּהוּדִים אֲשֶׁר בְּשׁוּשָׁן, לַעֲשׂוֹת כְּדָת הַיּוֹם; וְאֵת עֲשֶׂרֶת בְּנֵי-הָמָן, יִתְלוּ עַל-הָעֵץ. יד וַיֹּאמֶר הַמֶּלֶךְ לְהֵעָשׂוֹת כֵּן, וַתִּנָּתֵן דָּת בְּשׁוּשָׁן; וְאֵת עֲשֶׂרֶת בְּנֵי-הָמָן, תָּלוּ.

“And Esther said, if concerning the King it is good, it will be given also tomorrow for the Jews who are in Shushan to do as the decree today; and the ten sons of Haman will be hung upon the gallows. The King said it shall be done thus and the decree was given in Shushan and the ten sons of Haman were hung. Esther 9:13-14

The celebration of Purim should be for the believer a great testimony concerning the faithfulness of G-d to bring victory to His people in spite of who the enemy might be, even if it is the antichrist.

May you have a meaningful observance of Purim!