Purim: Could You Be Chosen for a Moment Like This? 2026

God Honest Truth

Purim is more than a story—it’s a wake-up call to courage, faith, and divine purpose when God seems hidden. If you’ve ever wondered how God works when He appears silent—or how courage and obedience change history—this teaching is for you.  In this powerful teaching, you will gain a clear understanding of the Purim story and find the courage to stand firm against the shadows of our modern world. You’ll learn the biblical background of Purim and how this often-overlooked feast reveals God’s faithfulness working behind the scenes.  In a world full of uncertainty, this Christian Purim education unlocks profound lessons on divine providence, resilience, and celebration—transforming a seemingly obscure holiday into a powerful tool for spiritual growth and biblical understanding.  Join us as we explore the Purim story through a Christian lens: from Haman's plot to Esther's bold stand, and how it all points to the ultimate Savior. Come along with us as we learn the God Honest Truth about the feast of Purim.  Don't forget to like this video, subscribe to our channel, and click the bell icon so you don't miss our next teaching!  #Purim #BookOfEsther #BibleStudy #WhatIsPurim #PurimExplained #FaithAndCourage #GodHonestTruth  Video Chapters: 00:00:00 Teaching Introduction 00:00:50 Video Start 00:02:04 Saga Setup: Historical Timeline 00:06:54 Saga Setup: Mordecai 00:11:01 Saga Setup: Esther 00:15:07 Saga Setup: Ahashwerosh 00:17:47 Saga Setup: Haman 00:25:07 Saga Setup: Concept of Lots 00:32:44 Story of Purim 00:56:27 Yeshua & Purim 01:01:47 Celebrating Purim 01:11:42 Interesting Insights 01:14:36 Summary  Resources from God Honest Truth: Get the full notes, drash slides, and transcript for this teaching: https://GodHonestTruth.short.gy/Purim2026  Find more resources to help you in your walk of faith: [https://www.GodHonestTruth.com]  Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/GodHonestTruth  Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/godhonesttruth  Social Media Links: https://godhonesttruth.com/wp/connect-socially/  Music: TheFatRat - Kingdom Come Watch the official music video: https://tinyurl.com/tfrkingdomcome Listen to Kingdom Come: https://thefatrat.ffm.to/warriorsongs Follow TheFatRat: https://ffm.bio/thefatrat  —-Disclaimer: The information presented here is for documentary, educational, and entertainment purposes only. Any imitation or application of the content is done at your own risk. Neither the creators nor associated platforms shall be liable for any injury or damage resulting from such use. This content is freely accessible; please report any unauthorized attempts to charge. By viewing or flagging this content, you acknowledge and accept these terms.  Fair Use: Any inclusion of third-party audio/music, video, or images is used under Fair Use for commentary, parody, and educational or documentary purposes.  This video may contain content that is unsuitable for overly sensitive persons with low self-esteem, no sense of humor or irrational religious beliefs.

Transcript

00:00:01If you're like me and you come from a mainstream Christian background, you probably never heard

00:00:07of the Feast of Purim, what it is, where it comes from, all that kind of stuff. Well, that's what

00:00:12we're going to get into in this video, as well as tell you about how it relates and connects

00:00:18back to the Exodus from Egypt and also to our Messiah, Yeshua. There's lots of information

00:00:25that goes into this. Very, very interesting stuff. So don't miss a moment of it. Stick

00:00:30around because we're going to tell you all about Purim.

00:00:37Purim. So this teaching is going to be all about Purim, where it comes from, how to celebrate

00:00:56it, various symbols, various things to do, and also a few things to watch out for and make sure that

00:01:02you do not do because it contradicts with the scriptures as laid out by Yahweh himself.

00:01:09So make sure to stay tuned for every single section here to learn all about Purim. Now,

00:01:14there's a lot of stuff coming your way during this particular teaching, but there's a whole lot more

00:01:18that we're not going to be able to get into for the sake of time. If you would like more

00:01:22information

00:01:23and to further increase your study on this particular subject, make sure to go and to our

00:01:30website at GodHonestTruth.com. Click on the article post for this particular episode. There you'll

00:01:36find the on-demand video, the draw slides that you can go through at your own pace. You'll also find

00:01:40the notes that we took for this particular subject, as well as the transcript, if that's of benefit to

00:01:46you. That's on our website at GodHonestTruth.com. A more convenient way is to go down below in the

00:01:51description and click on the convenient link down there to take you directly to that article post

00:01:56on our website. And that should be down there in the description, whether you're watching on an

00:02:00audio or video platform or an audio podcasting platform. All right. So as we get started,

00:02:06let's go ahead and do a little bit of foundational work and do some of the setup for the saga

00:02:11of

00:02:11Purim, just to give you the background and the main characters and what it is that we'll be talking

00:02:16about as we go through the actual story of Purim. First off, let's set up the historical timeline

00:02:23and where Purim is actually happening, when Purim is actually happening, all that kind of good stuff.

00:02:30First off, as most of you may know, after King Solomon, the country of Israel, the nation of

00:02:36Israel was split in two. There was a civil war and there was a northern kingdom and then a southern

00:02:40kingdom. The northern kingdom had about 10 tribes and the southern kingdom had two tribes with the

00:02:47and also included the tribe of Levi, which didn't have property inheritance. But that really gives

00:02:53you a total of three down below in the southern kingdom, which is referred to as the kingdom of

00:02:59Judea. Remember that it's going to come into play as we go through and speak various words and context

00:03:06and whatnot. But the southern kingdom is known as Judea. If you'd like to look up where that split and

00:03:12stuff happened, all of that stuff, you can look in the book of first Kings, especially here in

00:03:18chapter 12, verse 16 and chapter 12, verse 20. Eventually, of course, the people of Israel all

00:03:28throughout the Tanakh or the AKA Old Testament, they would yo-yo. They would do good for a while

00:03:33and then they would fall into idolatry or do wrong for a while and they will be punished for their

00:03:37wrong.

00:03:37Well, eventually, the northern kingdom was taken over, taken captive and defeated by the Assyrians

00:03:44and they were taken out into the world and dispersed among the nations. They still, for the most part,

00:03:51have not returned. Now, if you look in the New Testament or the Brut Hadashah, you'll find something

00:03:57or a group of people mentioned by the name of Samaritan. Now, these are descendants of the remnant

00:04:04of the northern kingdom that was still there. They mixed with various other nations as far as

00:04:10the children and families and stuff like that. But that's who the Samaritans are there. But for the most

00:04:15part, the northern kingdom has not returned. There's what we call the Lost Ten Tribes. They've been dispersed

00:04:22among the nations. However, for a time, the southern kingdom remained in the southern kingdom. But even

00:04:30after so long a time, they did wrong and they were taken away as well. The southern kingdom was taken

00:04:39captive and defeated by Babylon and they were taken into exile for a set period of time. Now, eventually,

00:04:46a lot of people from the southern kingdom returned back to Judea, but not everyone. There were still some

00:04:55of the Judeans who stayed in Babylon instead of returning to Judea. They had their reasons, but

00:05:03eventually even they come and went back. But during this time that certain Judeans went back to Judea

00:05:11and certain Judeans stayed in Babylon, that's the time period we're talking about with the story of

00:05:17Purim. Purim. Purim happens in Babylon during that time when certain Judeans decided to remain in

00:05:26Babylon. And in fact, the story of Purim, the king Ahasuerus, is actually mentioned in other books of

00:05:35the Bible besides the book of Esther, where the story of Purim takes place. The king of Purim,

00:05:41Ahasuerus, is actually mentioned in the book of Ezra as well, which kind of goes along with the same

00:05:47timeline, but not completely. It's not, it doesn't contain the story of Purim and whatnot. But anyways,

00:05:56certain people of the Judeans returned to Judea, but some stayed in Babylon, and that is where our story

00:06:04of Purim takes place, specifically in the city or the province. I really don't know which one it is, but

00:06:11it's

00:06:11called Susa or Shushan. It's pronounced different ways. But here on the screen, you can actually see

00:06:18where it's at in the world. You can see on the left over there in the west, that is the

00:06:24nation of Israel

00:06:25or where the land of Israel is. And then to the east, where it would be modern day Iran, I

00:06:33think,

00:06:33that is where Susa is. It was part of the Babylonian empire. And this story of Purim takes place in

00:06:42captivity or actually in the kingdom or empire of Babylon. So that's a little bit of the historical

00:06:50background and setup for our story of Purim. Now start looking at some of the main characters and

00:06:57the probably the main main character or the second main character is going to be the character of

00:07:05Mardukai or Mardukai. Or how you want to pronounce it. Pronounce several different ways. For those of you

00:07:12who are nerds like me, here is your Strong's number for Mardukai. And that is Strong's H4782.

00:07:20Mardukai, Mardukai. And his name means little man or worshiper of Mars. Now with Mardukai and also

00:07:29Esther, we'll get into her in just a little bit. But these names come from like a Babylonian origin,

00:07:35not necessarily a Hebraic origin. That's why you've got the meaning of things like with the meaning of

00:07:42worshiper of Mars. Mardukai was not a worshiper of Mars. You can see his devotion to the one true God

00:07:48as we go through the story. So he was definitely not a worshiper of Mars. But that name from a

00:07:54Babylonian origin does retain that meaning somewhat. I've also heard Marduk plan into the origin or the

00:08:02etymology of Mardukai. But I don't really know. Anyways, here's your outline of biblical usage from

00:08:09blueletterbible.org as well as your Strong's definition for Mardukai. Here's your Ground Driver

00:08:16Briggs entry in your Justinus' Hebrew lexicon entry and your Jastral's Dictionary of the Targums entry.

00:08:25Now, some things to note about Mardukai that you may not have known before or that you may have had

00:08:31a little bit incorrect. So let's go over this real quick with some proof to back up the points.

00:08:38Number one, Mardukai was a Judean. A Judean, not a Jew. He was a Judean and he was of the

00:08:46tribe of

00:08:47Benjamin. Now, if you use the term Jew in the context of being from the southern kingdom of Judea,

00:08:54then yeah, that's correct. But just to be specific, I like to use the term Judean so as to differentiate

00:09:02between the religion of Judaism and those from the southern kingdom. Mardukai was a Judean from the

00:09:09southern kingdom and he was of the tribe of Benjamin. So he wasn't a Jew as a Judahite. He was

00:09:16actually

00:09:16a Benjamite because he's from the tribe of Benjamin, right? So anyways, during the story of Purim, he is

00:09:24actually at odds with a man named Haman, which we'll get to here in just a little bit. He was

00:09:30a really good

00:09:31guy. Well, if you ever read through the story of Purim, the book of Esther, it's not that long,

00:09:37so it doesn't take very long to read through it. But when you start reading about Mardukai, he's

00:09:42actually a very good guy. He has a lot of compassion for a lot of other people, including his cousin

00:09:49Esther. Now, eventually he became the second most powerful official in Persia or Babylon due to his

00:09:57integrity and his faith and the way that things get woven around. But we'll see that as we go

00:10:03through the story of Purim. He's also, like I mentioned earlier a little bit, he's the first

00:10:07cousin of Esther and he raised the orphan Esther after her parents died. He kind of took her on and

00:10:14became a stand-in or stepfather, sort of. He helped raise her and she even in certain parts

00:10:23calls him uncle, even though he's actually her cousin. Technically, she refers to him as uncle,

00:10:31but that's more of a show of respect. And that's something that still happens nowadays,

00:10:37especially if you're like me and you're down here in the South. If you have someone who is close to

00:10:41the family, a family friend, and they're around all the time, you refer to them as uncle so-and-so,

00:10:47uncle John or uncle Don or whatever it happens to baby. Just because they're so close, they're like

00:10:55family. They're like your uncle. It's a show of respect, even though they don't share the same

00:10:59blood with you. So now moving on into our second character, we're going to look at or examine,

00:11:06and this is the person of Esther. And Esther is, well, you can call her the main character in the

00:11:14Purim saga or even maybe the second main character. It's up to you. Open to interpretation. But Esther

00:11:21comes from the word, I'm sorry, from Strong's number H635, Esther, Esther. And here from the

00:11:30outline of biblical usage, it has it defined as, or Esther, meaning star. She is the queen of Persia

00:11:37during this particular story, the heroine of the book of Esther. And she is the cousin and adopted

00:11:43daughter of Mordecai, as we mentioned earlier. Now, something to note as well is that this name,

00:11:50Esther, is actually a Persian or Babylonian name, not a Hebraic name. We'll get into her Hebrew name

00:11:57here in just a moment. But Esther is a Persian or Babylonian name. So here on your screen is the

00:12:04outline of biblical usage for Esther. Here's your Strong's definition or your Strong's entry for

00:12:09Esther, as well as your Brown Driver Briggs entry. Here is your Jesenius' Hebrew lexicon and also your

00:12:17Jesenius' dictionary of the Targums entry for Esther. Now, her Hebrew name is Strong's H1919. And her Hebrew

00:12:26name is actually Hadassah. Hadassah. Now, this is not uncommon. You see this actually several times

00:12:34within scripture, and you also see it in other places, even in modern times as well. We look in

00:12:38the Brit Hadassah, we see various people like the Apostle Paul. When it's speaking sort of in like a

00:12:46Hellenic or Greek kind of text, it calls him by the name of Paul. But when it's in more of

00:12:52like a

00:12:52Jewish or Judean or Hebraic context, it refers to him as Saul. That apostle had two different names.

00:13:00There's also Simon, who is called Peter, etc., etc. This is not something that's uncommon, but it does

00:13:09happen as something to take note of. Now, her, like I said, her Hebraic name or Hebrew name is

00:13:14Hadassah. And that actually means something like myrtle, something more of a gentle or calming or

00:13:22persevering kind of meaning to it. But her Hebrew name Hadassah means myrtle. Here's your outline

00:13:30of biblical usage from blueletterbible.org, your Strong's entry for Hadassah, as well as your

00:13:36Brown Driver Briggs entry. Here is your Jacinus' Hebrew lexicon and Jastral's dictionary of the

00:13:43Targum's entry for Hadassah. Now, some interesting things to note about Esther or Hadassah, if you

00:13:50want to call her whichever one. But most of the time in the story of Purim, in the book of

00:13:55Esther,

00:13:55she is referred to as Esther. Anyways, Esther is also of the southern kingdom of Judea. So

00:14:03she is a Judean and she is also of the tribe of Benjamin. So she is a Benjamite, just like

00:14:10Mordecai was. Or, yeah, she is the first cousin of Mordecai. She is one of the population of the

00:14:18Judeans who remained in the empire of Babylon or Persia, wherever you want to call it, even though

00:14:25certain other Judeans returned back to Judea. She was orphaned early in life, and there's no record

00:14:32of her having any kind of siblings. So we don't know any of her extended family other than Mordecai.

00:14:40Her mother's name is not mentioned in scripture, and her father's name is very interesting. We'll get

00:14:46all that tonight, but it goes by Avihael or Aminadab. But just sufficient to say that she was orphaned

00:14:57early in life, and she was raised primarily by Mordecai for the remainder of her life. And he is

00:15:03the guardian of her as we go into the Purim story. Our third character that we're going to look at

00:15:10is

00:15:10the king of the Purim story. And this is King Ahaswarosh. Ahaswarosh. Ooh, drop practicing that.

00:15:18I'm saying it five times fast. Anyways, Ahaswarosh comes from Strong's H325. That's H325 in the

00:15:26Strong's. Ahaswarosh. Ahaswarosh. Here is your outline of biblical usage from blueletterbible.org.

00:15:33And here, this is a good point to make as well. This word, Ahaswarosh, is not actually a name. It's

00:15:40a

00:15:40title. And in the book of Esther, it actually only uses Ahaswarosh instead of the actual name

00:15:46of the king. But we, from as far as I can tell, his actual name was Xerxes or Xerxes the

00:15:53first.

00:15:54But here, anyways, here's your Strong's entry for Ahaswarosh. And here's your Brown Driver Briggs

00:16:00entry as well as your Jesenius' Hebrew lexicon entry. Now, some interesting things to note

00:16:06about King Ahaswarosh or King Xerxes. Here, you can see on the right a coin or a drawing of a

00:16:15coin

00:16:15from his time that was minted, I guess you could say, depicting his likeness on the coin as well as

00:16:23some various things there speaking about it. But he's also known as Xerxes the first. He is the son

00:16:33of Darius the Great. He conducted lots of great building projects during his time as king. He's

00:16:40best known for invading Greece, which that gets into a whole bunch of other stuff, especially as it comes

00:16:47into things like Alexander the Great and Antiochus Epiphanes and the story of Hanukkah, etc., etc. later

00:16:55on in history. But King Xerxes, when he invades Greece, that kind of moves things along as far as

00:17:04what we know of as the historical timeline. But he melted down the statue of Marduk when he

00:17:10became king, which is a good thing. He was still a pagan, which was a bad thing. But melting down

00:17:16false gods, that's always a good thing. Now, as far as I can tell, this king, this King

00:17:22Xerxes the first or Ahasuerus, as we're going to refer to him during the story. If you've

00:17:28ever seen the movie 300, as far as I can tell, this is the exact same king Xerxes that you

00:17:35find in that movie 300. Very, very interesting, but probably needs more verification. But yeah,

00:17:43it's very interesting, or at least so I thought. Now let's move on and look at our next character,

00:17:50and this is going to be the character of Haman. Haman, he's going to be the main antagonist of our

00:17:58story, whereas Mardukai, or especially Mardukai being the protagonist, if not Esther being the main

00:18:05one. Anyways, Haman comes from Strong's H2001. That's Strong's H2001. Haman, Haman. And here's

00:18:16your outline of biblical usage from blueletterbible.org. Haman, with the meaning of magnificent.

00:18:23He was the chief minister, the second in all of the land of Babylon during the time

00:18:29of King Ahashorosh, especially during the story of Urim. And here is your Strong's definition for

00:18:37Haman, as well as your Brown Driver Briggs entry. Here's your Jasenius' Hebrew lexicon entry,

00:18:43and Jasrael's dictionary of the Targum's entry for Haman. And like I said, if you'd like the full

00:18:49entry on this or more information, then by all means, please go to our website or click on the

00:18:55link down below to go to the article post and find the notes for a lot more information than what

00:19:01you're going to get here in this particular teaching. Now, some things to note about Haman

00:19:06is that it's like Mardukai was at odds with Haman. Haman was at odds with Mardukai. He eventually

00:19:13rises to being the second in all Persia, only second to the king. He was an Agagite of the Amalekites.

00:19:23Now, does anyone know what that actually means? Because this is very good background information

00:19:31to the story of Purim as well. The Amalekites, when the people came out of Egypt and Moses was

00:19:37leading them out of Egypt into the wilderness towards Sinai and eventually on towards the

00:19:43promised land, the Amalekites were the first ones to attack the Israelis or the Hebrews as they came

00:19:50out of Exodus. Because of such, and because they attacked the rear and the stragglers and the

00:19:57weak and stuff like that, showing their dirty war tactics, they became very despised in the eyes of

00:20:05Yahweh. Now, as we go through and look at some of this information about the Amalekites, here we can

00:20:11see in Genesis 36, verse 12. And Timnah was the concubine of Eliphaz, Esau's son, and she bore

00:20:19Amalek to Eliphaz. These were the sons of Adah, Esau's wife. So, the original Amalek was the grandson

00:20:29of Esau, and he was the head or the beginning of the Amalekites. Now, as we go on,

00:20:37we look in Exodus chapter 17, verse 8. And Amalek came and fought with Yisrael in Rephidim. That's

00:20:44the attack that we are talking about when it comes to the Amalekites and Hebrews coming out of Israel.

00:20:54And then in Deuteronomy chapter 25, verse 19, it says here,

00:20:58Therefore it shall be, when Yahweh your Elohim has given you rest from your enemies all around in the

00:21:04land which Yahweh your Elohim has given you to possess as an inheritance, that you blot out the

00:21:09remembrance of Amalek from under the heavens, do not forget. So, the Amalekites were very, very

00:21:16despised in the eyes of Israel and in the eyes of Yahweh, and he commands the Israelites to wipe them

00:21:24out. Every single one of them. So, yeah, Yahweh issues this order to blot out the Amalekites,

00:21:31absolutely and utterly do away with them. But, is that what happens? No, it's not what happens.

00:21:38In fact, it's King Saul, and this is where his fall comes from, who preserves some of the Amalekites.

00:21:461 Samuel chapter 15, verses 2 through 3.

00:21:49Thus said Yahweh of hosts, I shall punish Amalek for what he did to Yisrael, how he set himself

00:21:56against him on the way when he came up from Mitzrayim. Now go, and you shall strike Amalek

00:22:02and put under the ban all that he has, and you shall not spare them, and put to death from

00:22:07man to woman, from infant to nursing child, from ox to sheep, from camel to donkey. He says,

00:22:14kill them all. Then we go on and look at 1 Samuel chapter 15, verses 8 through 9.

00:22:21And he, meaning King Saul,

00:22:24And he caught Agag, sovereign of the Amalekites, alive, and put under the ban all the people with

00:22:29the edge of the sword. But Shaul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and the

00:22:35cattle, and the fatlings, and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not put them under the ban.

00:22:40But all goods, despised and worthless, they put under the ban.

00:22:44So here, King Saul keeps the king of the Amalekites. His name was Agag. He spared the

00:22:52king of the Amalekites, and he spared everything that looked good, from the gold and silver to the

00:22:58animals, etc. Everything that looked good, King Saul wanted to keep for himself. Everything else,

00:23:03he put under the ban. But that was not the order. The order was to wipe out everything of the

00:23:09Amalekites. Don't keep anything. And King Saul disobeyed. Now this king of the Amalekites,

00:23:16his name was Agag, and his descendants would be known as the Agagites, eventually coming down

00:23:22to Haman, who was an Agagite, also known as an Amalekite. So that's where the Agagites and the

00:23:30Amalekites come from. We look in the Talmud of Megillah 13a, and here is a very interesting passage,

00:23:38so take this as you will. But it says here, quote, David did not kill Shammai, although he was liable

00:23:45to the death penalty. The grave consequences of this failure included that Mordecai was born from

00:23:51him, and it was he against whom Haman was jealous, leading Haman to issue a decree against all of the

00:23:58Jewish people. And how a Benjamite has repaid me is referring to the fact that Saul, who was from the

00:24:04tribe of Benjamin, did not kill the Amalekite king Agag immediately, from whom Haman was later born,

00:24:11and he caused suffering to the Jewish people, end quote. So that's a very, very interesting

00:24:18comparison right there of how King Saul, who was a Benjamite, also had interactions with an Amalekite,

00:24:28whose name was Agag, and go on into the future, and we look at the story of Purim, where Mordecai,

00:24:35who is also a Benjamite, is having interactions with another Amalekite, specifically an Agagite,

00:24:43named Haman. Very, very interesting how that works out. And think about this, as we go through the

00:24:50story of Purim, think about what would have been different if King Saul had wiped out all the

00:24:57Amalekites, and there would not have been any Amalekites or Agagites during the time of Purim.

00:25:03Think about how things would have played out a little bit differently.

00:25:09So now let's move on to the concept of lots, because this is also something that's not

00:25:14taught a lot of times in mainstream churchianity. So let's go over what lots are, and this whole

00:25:20concept of lots as a whole. The word lots, or I'm sorry, the word for this feast day Purim is

00:25:29actually

00:25:29a Babylonian or Persian word. It's the word for lots, and that is the word poor, but as some of

00:25:38you may know, when you want to make something plural in Hebrew, especially when it's a something

00:25:47that's masculine in gender, and if you don't know that, look up gender in languages. But if you're

00:25:55taking a masculine word in Hebrew and you want to make it plural, you add I am to the end

00:25:59of it.

00:26:00The Babylonian word for lot, poor, becomes Purim if you want to do lots that way. That's where the

00:26:07word Purim comes from. It's actually a Babylonian word, and that comes from Strong's H6332, Purim,

00:26:17Purim, and it stands for lots, or the Feast of Purim. Now the Hebrew word for lots is actually

00:26:27Goral, Goral, and that is Strong's H1486, Goral, and that pretty much means the exact same thing.

00:26:36It means lots, or whatever you would use to cast lots with. And here is your outline of biblical

00:26:44usage from blueletterbible.org for both Goral and Purim, as well as your Strong's entry for these two

00:26:52particular words. And here is your Brown Driver Briggs entry for both Purim and Goral. And here's

00:27:01your Justinius' Hebrew Lexicon entry. And once again, these will be on the notes if you would

00:27:08like to see more information about each of these as well. Now coming from the Holman Illustrated

00:27:14Bible Dictionary, quote, we do know that people of the Old Testament and New Testament believed God

00:27:20or gods, in the case of non-Israelites or non-Christians, influenced the fall or outcome

00:27:26of the lots. Thus, casting lots was a way of determining God's will, end quote. And again,

00:27:32from the Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary, quote, God commanded that the promised land be divided by

00:27:37lots, end quote. And that is so true. And there's the use of the casting of lots and a lot

00:27:43more in

00:27:44scripture than just the dividing of the promised land. We look at Numbers chapter 26, verses 52

00:27:51through 56. And Yahweh spoke to Moshe, saying, The land is to be divided to those as an inheritance

00:27:59according to the number of names. To the large one you give a larger inheritance, and to the small one

00:28:04you give a smaller inheritance. Each shall be given its inheritance according to their registered ones.

00:28:10But the land is divided by lot. They inherit according to the names of the tribes of their

00:28:15fathers. According to the lot, their inheritance is divided between the larger and the smaller.

00:28:20And we also look at Joshua chapter 14, verse 2, where they actually divide the promised land

00:28:26by using lots. Here's Joshua chapter 14, verse 2. Their inheritance was by lot, as Yahweh had

00:28:33commanded by the hand of Moshe for the nine tribes and the half tribe. So when they went

00:28:40into the land of Israel, the land was divided up and given to the various tribes, and they did this

00:28:46by casting lots. But there's other times they also cast lots, such as the Moedim of Kippurim.

00:28:57We look at Leviticus chapter 16, verses 7 through 10.

00:29:01And he shall take the two goats and let them stand before Yahweh at the door of the tent of

00:29:06appointment. And Aaron shall cast lots for the two goats, one lot for Yahweh and the other lot for

00:29:11Azazel. And Aaron shall bring the goat on which the lot fell for Yahweh fell, and shall prepare it as

00:29:18a sin offering. But the goat on which the lot for Azazel fell is caused to stand alive before Yahweh

00:29:24to make atonement upon it, to send it into the wilderness to Azazel.

00:29:29So there's various places, let's put it that way, various places within Scripture where the

00:29:37righteous people of Yahweh cast lots to decide something, to determine something, things like

00:29:43that. We see something very, very interesting in the book of Proverbs, Proverbs chapter 16,

00:29:48verse 33. The lot is cast into the lap, but every decision by it is from Yahweh.

00:29:57So this is very, very strange to us nowadays, and very, very foreign, I guess you could call it also.

00:30:03But during the times of Scripture, they actually cast lots, and Scripture itself says that the

00:30:10decisions of the lot, or the decision of the casting of lots, is from Yahweh. That makes it very,

00:30:17very interesting, or at least I think so. Anyways, this is not something that just happened with the

00:30:24righteous, but it also happened with the unrighteous, as we'll see during the story of Urim. We also

00:30:31don't only see it just in the Tanakh, or the aka Old Testament, we also see it in the Brit

00:30:38Hadashah,

00:30:39or the aka New Testament. We look in Matthew chapter 27, verse 35.

00:30:44And having impaled him, they divided his garments, casting lots, that it might be filled,

00:30:49what was spoken by the prophet. They divided my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast

00:30:55lots. So when Yeshua was crucified, and they took his stuff off, and they had his clothes on the

00:31:02ground, they cast lots to see who would get the clothes. Acts chapter 1, verse 26.

00:31:08And they cast their lots, and the lot fell on Matayahu, and he was numbered with the eleven

00:31:14emissaries. Now just a quick recap, not to insult your intelligence or anything, but just a quick

00:31:19recap. Remember, Yeshua had twelve disciples. One was Judas. He fell away, fell into sin, and betrayed

00:31:26Yeshua. So they were down to eleven at the time that Yeshua was crucified and buried during the time

00:31:35he resurrected and when he ascended. But eventually they wanted a twelfth disciple, and in order to

00:31:42decide who it was that got to be that twelfth disciple, they cast lots, according to Acts chapter

00:31:481. So even in the Brit Hadashah, or aka New Testament, they were still casting lots to decide

00:31:56things just like they were back in the Tanakh. So now, that gives us a lot of background and

00:32:02foundation for understanding the story of Purim. We see the historical timeline leading up to

00:32:09Purim. We see the location on the map of where the story of Purim takes place in Shushan, which

00:32:15is modern-day Iran. We learned a little bit about the characters as well as the namesake,

00:32:22Purim, the casting of lots, which, like me, and you come from a mainstream churchianity background,

00:32:28you don't know a lot about the casting of lots. This is rarely, if ever, spoken of. But now you've

00:32:35got

00:32:35at least a little bit about the casting of lots to help you with understanding some of the parts

00:32:41that go into the story of Purim, which leads us into the actual story of Purim itself. Now,

00:32:50like I mentioned earlier, the Book of Esther isn't that long, so if you want to go read it for

00:32:55yourself,

00:32:55go check it out. I think it's only like maybe nine or ten chapters, and those aren't very long chapters

00:33:01themselves. So go read it for yourself if you want the full version. Now, as we go through this story,

00:33:08I'm only going to give you the summary or the cliff notes version of the story of Purim just for

00:33:14the

00:33:14sake of time. But once again, not that long of a book. If you want to go read the whole

00:33:19story, it's all in

00:33:20the book of Esther. Go read it and check it out for yourselves for a lot more details. But anyways,

00:33:26the story of Purim goes as such. King Ahasuerus was throwing a party, and this was a long, long party.

00:33:35If you read through the book of Esther, in fact, he throws a six-month feast. Six months! That's a

00:33:45long

00:33:45party. But if that wasn't long enough, once the six-month party got done, he then went around or

00:33:52turned right around and threw a seven-day party on the end of that. So this is a big to

00:33:59-do that King

00:34:00Ahasuerus was putting on here. At one point during this whole feasting or whatnot, King Ahasuerus

00:34:07called for his queen, who was named Vashti, to come and present herself and show herself to the

00:34:15people who were at the party. Now, depending on how you interpret this, it doesn't really say

00:34:21specifically what was going on and what the king was wanting. There are some interpretations that say

00:34:28that he was wanting her to come and present herself in the new to everyone. But I don't, that doesn't

00:34:34really fit with the culture and what we know. So I don't really go with that interpretation. But

00:34:39anyways, for whatever reason she had, she flat out refused and refused the king and her husband,

00:34:48which is something you do not do in that culture during those times. You do not say no to the

00:34:55king

00:34:55and you do not say no to your husband. So this caused a big, big uproar within the court, within

00:35:03the

00:35:03counselors and everyone else. She was deposed by King Ahasuerus, deposed as queen. So therefore he did

00:35:13not have a queen. And as such, there was this search that went out throughout all the land to find

00:35:19a

00:35:20new queen. So they brought in all the young women, all the virgins pretty much into the harem of King

00:35:29Ahasuerus to be, I guess you could say, auditioned for the role of queen, but there's a whole lot more

00:35:37that goes into that actually. In fact, each of these ladies went and spent a certain amount of time, about

00:35:45a

00:35:45year or so, being trained and perfumed and washed and bathed and all this other stuff for an entire year

00:35:53before they actually went and met with the king. And this is the time that Esther would have been

00:36:01also in this particular harem, getting ready herself to go and be one of the auditioners for the role

00:36:10of queen. And when she went to meet with King Ahasuerus. Now, just something to note about this whole

00:36:17concept of harem, just real quick. It's common myth within, especially like American culture and stuff

00:36:25like that, that a harem was nothing more than some rich guy having a brothel of sex slaves there. And

00:36:35that's not what the harem was really all about back then. Not really. What the harem was, was a dedicated

00:36:42and separate place for a king or a man of note to keep his women folk. That would be his

00:36:52wives,

00:36:53concubines, daughters, things like that, to keep these women away from other men for the sake of their

00:37:01chastity, obviously. And in this harem, it would be served and kind of presided over by eunuchs. And for

00:37:11those of you who don't know what a eunuch is, a little bit of snippy snippy more than circumcision,

00:37:16a lot more than circumcision. They had little to no sex drive after the operation, as it were.

00:37:25So they were very little threat to the women and to their chastity. That's why they oversaw the harem

00:37:32and things like that. And as you read through the story of Esther, if you read through it on your

00:37:36own,

00:37:36you'll see the mention of eunuchs as they tend to these women in the harem and train them and bathe

00:37:45them and perfume them and all this other stuff. So that's why the eunuchs are there. And that's

00:37:49what's going on as they're getting ready. This is where Esther would have been taken during this

00:37:55particular part of the story of Orim. She is beautified. She is bathed and everything else.

00:38:03And this goes on for about a year. After a year, eventually Esther is chosen to go and be with

00:38:11the king. And after this happens, I don't know exactly how long it happens after it happens. But

00:38:17anyways, King Ahasuerus selects Esther to be the new queen of Persia, the new queen of Babylon.

00:38:27So now she has taken Vashti's place. And the thing about Esther in contrast to Vashti is Esther is

00:38:36very, very modest and very, very humble and kind and caring. Compare that to the way Vashti was,

00:38:45who was very, very belligerent and not very humble. She was very, what we call feminist nowadays.

00:38:55Some kind of, it's the kind of wife you really don't want if you're a king or just any other

00:39:00regular man. And it's actually put forth in the book of Esther when his counselors are talking to

00:39:08him about what Vashti did. They're like, this cannot stand. We have to do something about this

00:39:13or the rest of the women in the kingdom is going to go after her example and be belligerent toward

00:39:19their husband. So we've got to nip this in the bud. And that's part of the reason why Vashti was

00:39:24removed because of all this. So yeah, Esther is chosen as the new queen of Babylon or Persia.

00:39:32So she is in a very, very high position of authority, not as much as a man, but she still

00:39:39has a lot of authority nonetheless. And she actually ends up having a great amount of influence on

00:39:46the king. The king in the book of Esther, it seems like he is rather smitten to a certain

00:39:53degree with Esther. And you'll see that as we go on in the story as well. Anyways, after Esther is

00:40:00named queen, the next part of the story is that Mardukai happens to be sitting in the gate out in

00:40:07the town or wherever it happens to may be. And he overhears a plot to kill the king, King Ahasuerus.

00:40:15And what he does is he communicates through Esther about this particular plot. The people who are

00:40:23plotting against the king are caught and it's uncovered and they're killed and the king's life

00:40:29is spared and saved all because of the doings of Mardukai. And that's really at this point where it

00:40:38stops. The king's life is saved, but nothing is done for Mardukai. And we'll get into that a little

00:40:45bit later on. Just know that as of right now, nothing is done or Mardukai isn't given any sort

00:40:51of reward for saving the king's life. Now, as all this is going on, the evil Haman or Haman is

00:40:59rising

00:41:01in ranks. He's still doing his thing. Remember, he's the Agagite, the Amalekite. He is rising in the

00:41:07ranks and doing whatever he has to do to further himself. He's more of a selfish kind of guy.

00:41:16But eventually he rises up and becomes second to in all the kingdom of Babylon. So he is second in

00:41:25command. He is only behind the king. And as such, and for his position, there is an order that goes

00:41:32out that people are supposed to show him respect and bow down and give him honor when he comes by

00:41:38in the town. Now, this creates some conflict with Mardukai because Mardukai, he does not bow down.

00:41:49He does not prostrate or show respect or give honor to Haman. Now, this is,

00:41:58it's sort of interesting in a way, but sort of not interesting. You kind of understand why he

00:42:02doesn't do it in another way. And the reason for that is if you remember when we did the Godhead

00:42:10series and we did the episode on worship back in that culture, and you see this all throughout

00:42:15scripture, though, you probably don't know it, but in the Hebraic culture and pretty much in the

00:42:22Middle Eastern or Semitic culture as a whole, bowing down, kneeling in front of someone or

00:42:29even prostrating in front of someone was something that was commonly done. It was done to kings. It

00:42:37was done to generals. It was done to anyone who might be your superior or anyone that you want to

00:42:44show respect and honor to. So this was not a practice that was foreign to Mardukai. It's not

00:42:50something. The Greeks, on the other hand, the Greeks saw that as worship, like in a divine sense.

00:42:59And they would only do that to what they would consider a God. And you did not do that to

00:43:04a

00:43:04regular man in the Greek mindset. Things were different with the Hebraic mindset. And Mardukai

00:43:10would not have been opposed or adverse to kneeling or bowing to someone in order to show them honor and

00:43:19respect. But he did not do it to Haman. And it doesn't specifically say in the story of

00:43:26Purim why he refused to do it to Haman. But we can kind of guess. Mardukai was very aware of

00:43:35his

00:43:35lineage. He knew that he was an Israelite. He knew he was from the southern kingdom of Judea.

00:43:40He knew he was from the tribe of Benjamin, because all this is very important to the Hebrews and to

00:43:47the

00:43:47Israelites. And more than likely, he would have known that Haman was an Agagite, or at the very

00:43:54least, an Amalekite. And this is probably why he did not bow or give honor and respect to Haman.

00:44:03Now, given the situation at the time, it was probably prevented from killing him like the order

00:44:10from Yahweh stated. But at the very least, it could just not kneel or bow in front of him or

00:44:16show him

00:44:17respect. That's why I think he did not bow or show respect to Haman. But anyways, just let it be

00:44:25known

00:44:25that he did not comply with this order. And anytime that Haman came through, Mardukai did not bow or kneel

00:44:32or show him respect, even though Haman was the second in all of Babylon. This infuriated Haman.

00:44:40And this is where the odds between Haman and Mardukai come into play. Haman really did not like

00:44:48this, and it really, really upset him. And for whatever reason, I guess it's because he was just

00:44:55that petty. Haman didn't take out his frustration or try to correct the situation just on Mardukai.

00:45:03He decided to take it out on all of the Judeans, everyone that was related to the southern kingdom

00:45:12of Judea. He wanted to wipe out all of the Judeans. So in order to do this, he did what

00:45:20we call casting

00:45:21lots to decide the date as to when this massacre or this genocide would take place. And this is where

00:45:31we get the name Urim from. It's from the casting of lots by Haman to determine the date for the

00:45:38annihilation of the Judeans. And eventually it come up on the day in the month of Adar, which we still

00:45:47have today. As we go on, Mardukai eventually or soon finds out about this plot that Haman has come

00:45:56up with and the date and what's going to happen and all this other stuff. And so he informs Esther.

00:46:01Now, Esther, eventually she says that she can't do anything about it. If she goes in front of the king

00:46:07and he hasn't called her, she could be killed because of that. So initially she doesn't do that.

00:46:15But Mardukai still stays in contact with her and says, this is for all your people because you are

00:46:21a Judean as well, Esther. And if you don't stand up, Yahweh may raise up someone else to do this

00:46:29very

00:46:29thing. You don't know whether or not you were raised up for such a time as this. And that's a

00:46:34very,

00:46:35very powerful and impactful statement by Mardukai. But anyways, she eventually comes and makes the

00:46:44decision to go in front of the king. But before she does that, she sends word back to Mardukai

00:46:50telling him and all the Judeans to fast and pray for three days and three nights.

00:46:59And then she will go in front of the king and she'll do it even if her life is at

00:47:05stake. Even if

00:47:06she dies, she will go in front of the king to try and correct this evil plot by Haman to

00:47:12kill all

00:47:12the Judeans. After three days and three nights of fasting, Esther goes in front of the king and the

00:47:19king extends his scepter, granting her life, not killing her. So what the king Ahasuerus says,

00:47:28and remember, he's kind of smitten with Esther. So that plays in her favor as well.

00:47:33And what he says, after he extends the scepter and grants her life and leave to come in front of

00:47:39him, he says, tell me what you want, whatever it is you ask, I will give you up until half

00:47:45of the

00:47:46kingdom. And Esther's clever. So what she does is she says, well, tonight I would like for you,

00:47:53the king and Haman to come to a banquet that I'm going to prepare for you. And then we'll discuss

00:48:00all that later on. So later on that night, the king and Haman go to Esther's banquet that she

00:48:09prepares for them. They have a wonderful meal. They have a great time. They're enjoying this banquet.

00:48:16And eventually the king again, ask her, it's like, what do you request of me? Whatever it is up into

00:48:22half the kingdom, I will grant to you. And Esther says something along the lines of, well, if it

00:48:28pleased the king, I would like for you and Haman to come back tomorrow night for another banquet that

00:48:34I'm going to prepare for you. And then I will tell you what it is that I would request from

00:48:40you.

00:48:41So the king goes home belly full and happy and whatnot. But whether it's the food or the pressures

00:48:49of being king that night, he could not go to sleep. He just simply could not get any rest.

00:48:55So as during this time of trying to get to sleep, he has the scribe come in and read to

00:49:02him from the

00:49:03chronicles of the king. And it just so happens that the chronicles fall upon the story of Mordecai

00:49:11saving the king's life from the two people who were going to poison and kill the king.

00:49:17As he hears this story, as he's trying to go to sleep and he hears the story about Mordecai,

00:49:21the king asked what was ever done to Mordecai to reward him for saving the king's life. And they tell

00:49:29him, like, great king, Mordecai was never rewarded for this. And the king is like, oh, no, we've got to

00:49:36correct this. We've got to reward him for saving the king's life. And it just so happens as well

00:49:43that at this moment, who happens to be walking by in the courtyard? It's Haman. So the king calls

00:49:51Haman in and he's like, what would you do for the man whom the king wishes to honor? And Haman,

00:49:59he gets a big head and he thinks that, oh, the king's wanting to honor me. So I better really,

00:50:07really lavish it on, right? So he tells the king, oh, you should put this man, this honored man in

00:50:13royal robes that's been worn by the king. You should put him on a royal horse and you should

00:50:19have him paraded through town and all this attire and on the royal horse so that he's seen and knows

00:50:26that this man is honored by the king. And King Ahasuerus says, great, I want you, Haman,

00:50:36to do that for Mordecai. Oh, you can just almost feel how Haman's heart drops at that moment when

00:50:46he realizes that he has just described a great and lavish thing for his arch nemesis. It's wonderful

00:50:55how this whole turn of events goes around. But this is really the start of the turning point

00:51:01of the story of Orem. The next day after the king hopefully got some sleep that night,

00:51:07the next day the order went into effect and Haman went out and he got Mordecai dressed in the

00:51:15royal robes that were, has been worn by the king on the royal horse that was ridden by the king.

00:51:20And it was Haman that led Mordecai around town in all this lavishness. And you can only imagine

00:51:30the embarrassment of Haman as he led around his arch nemesis in public all through town.

00:51:38So it is wonderful. Haman gets done parading around Mordecai and honoring his arch nemesis.

00:51:45And then later that night on the second day, he and King Ahasuerus go to that second banquet

00:51:53that Esther had invited them to and prepared for them and whatnot. And so they eat and they feast

00:51:59and they have a good time and whatnot. And then eventually, once again, King Ahasuerus tells Esther,

00:52:05what is your request? I will give it to you even up until half the kingdom. And this is where

00:52:11Esther

00:52:11lets the cat out of the bag. And she tells him that there is a plot against her and her

00:52:19people

00:52:20and that she just asked that her life be spared. And the king is all perplexed at this and thinking,

00:52:29why would anyone want to kill the queen of Persia? This is absolutely absurd. And then

00:52:37Esther goes on into more detail saying, no, this evil Haman has plotted to kill all of my people,

00:52:44including me on a certain day. And once the king hears of this, he is distraught. He gets up,

00:52:52he goes off to have a breather, I guess, maybe get a drink of water or something. And while the

00:52:57king

00:52:57goes off momentarily, Haman is still there and he is, he knows the gigs up. He knows his life is

00:53:06in danger at this point. So he starts pleading with Esther. And at some point during this pleading

00:53:13with Esther and pleading for his life, he happens to trip and fall on top of Esther. This is not

00:53:20a

00:53:20good picture for the king to walk back in on. In fact, the king thinks that Haman is now trying

00:53:26to

00:53:27take advantage of the queen. So this enrages the king even more. So he has Haman taken out with a

00:53:35hood over his face and things aren't looking good for Esther. And they tell him that part of this

00:53:44plot that Haman has devised, Haman has created gallows for the Judeans to kill the Judeans once

00:53:51the date comes around so that Haman already has these gallows. And so what the king says is, well,

00:53:57take Haman out and hang him on these same gallows. And so they do, they take Haman out, they hang

00:54:05him

00:54:06on the gallows, they kill him and they also kill his sons and his wife. They kill his family. Also,

00:54:13let's once again, something they did during those times to, as far as I know, try to prevent any

00:54:20reprisal in later years as they grow up and come of age. But yeah, they kill Haman and they kill

00:54:27his

00:54:27family. And so the antagonist is done away with at this point. However, they still have the issue of

00:54:38the order that was put out by Haman and on the authority of the king. And the problem with this

00:54:45is that once a order goes out or a law is made, it cannot be rescinded, not even by the

00:54:52king.

00:54:52So they can't do away with this law. The works are still in motion to kill all the Judeans on

00:54:58a

00:54:59certain date. So what they do is they come up with a new order to go out and they tell

00:55:05all the Judeans

00:55:06to arm themselves and fight back against anyone who's trying to kill them on that particular day.

00:55:11And so the Judeans rise up, they fight back against their foes. And a lot of the people who were

00:55:17trying to kill them were killed themselves. And thus the Judeans were saved because of them

00:55:23fighting back. And this is the story of Urim and why we remember it and, or part of why we

00:55:32remember

00:55:32it anyways. And yeah, that is in a nutshell. But like I said, once again, the book of Esther is

00:55:40not very

00:55:41long. You can read it in less than a day. So go check that out if you like more details

00:55:46and for

00:55:46the full story on Purim. But there's connections to Purim far beyond just that particular story or

00:55:55just the particular time of Purim. We see the workings of Yahweh behind the scenes and you see

00:56:02some of this timing behind the scenes from the Haman building the gallows and that was turned back

00:56:08on him. The king not being able to sleep and the chronicles just happened to fall out on the story

00:56:15of Mordecai. All this stuff kind of coming together as it works together, as Yahweh works everything

00:56:23together. We'll get into some of that here in just a moment too. But the connections with Purim go

00:56:29beyond just the book of Esther and just during the time of the story of Purim. It goes on into

00:56:34our

00:56:35Messiah Yeshua as well. Because think of this, Yeshua was a Judean from the southern kingdom of

00:56:42Judea, but he was also of the tribe of Judah. If the Judeans, which included the tribe of Judah,

00:56:49had been wiped out by Haman during the story of Purim, there would have been no lineage for Yeshua to

00:56:56come through. So you see how all that works too? So there is various connections between Yeshua and

00:57:03Purim as well. We can see somewhat of a connection to Purim in the book of John 5, verse 1.

00:57:11Here it says,

00:57:12After this, there was a festival of the Yehudim and Yeshua went up to Yerushalayim. Now it does not

00:57:20name the particular feast or festival here, but we can kind of assume that maybe it was Purim.

00:57:28Because one of the themes of Purim is secrecy. And if you think back about the story of the story

00:57:37of

00:57:38Purim, Esther hid her lineage for a while from the king. She was secret about it. The time that Mordecai

00:57:49saved the king's life, that was a secret for a certain amount of time. Etc, etc. There's various

00:57:57secrets behind this. And also, if you look in the Hebrew text of the book of Esther, you'll also

00:58:03not find the name of Yahweh in the entire book of Esther. There's this whole theme of secrecy

00:58:10there. And with the book of John, especially chapter 5, not mentioning the name of the particular

00:58:17festival going on in Yerushalayim, it kind of makes you come to the conclusion that, yeah,

00:58:23that was Purim that was being celebrated even up in Yeshua's day. Now, some other connections to

00:58:31Yeshua and Purim. We see here that Haman cast lots to determine which day that he would use to

00:58:38annihilate the Judeans. Compare that to Yeshua, where the soldiers cast lots to see who would get his

00:58:46clothing. In the story of Purim, Esther spent three days fasting before she went in front of the king.

00:58:52Yeshua was three days and three nights in the tomb. In the story of Purim, the Judeans were on the

00:58:59verge

00:58:59of annihilation. And as we already mentioned, Yeshua was a Judean from the line of Judah.

00:59:06So there's various connections there. And there's also other connections to go on in prophecy as well,

00:59:11though I'm not really a big prophecy buff myself. So take that as you will, if you studied it out

00:59:18for

00:59:18yourself, there's also connections there in end times prophecy, too. But going on, look at some

00:59:23other stuff. We look in Romans chapter 8, verse 28. And this is a very good verse to relate to

00:59:30Purim.

00:59:31It says here in Romans 8, 28,

00:59:32And we know that all matters work together for good to those who love Elohim, to those who are called

00:59:39according to his purpose. Now notice here that it doesn't say that all matters are good, or that

00:59:45everything that happens is good, because we know that is not true. But we do know, and it tells us

00:59:52right here that all matters work together for good to those who love Elohim. Not that all things are

01:00:01good, but that all things work together for good, if you love Elohim. And then we look at 2 Timothy

01:00:07chapter 3, verse 16. And here it says, All scripture is breathed out by Elohim and profitable for teaching,

01:00:13for reproof, for setting straight, for instruction in righteousness.

01:00:17What are we getting at here? Well, the book of Esther is in our scriptures, is considered to be

01:00:23scripture. And as Paul tells us in the book of 2 Timothy, all scripture is breathed out and

01:00:32good, profitable. The book of Esther, including the story of Purim, is profitable for us. Now, a little bit

01:00:40of caveat on that, too. If you look at the Moadim, what we generally refer to as the Moadim, those

01:00:47are

01:00:48the feast days and the holidays, I guess you could say, that are laid out and ordered by Yahweh in

01:00:56the

01:00:56Torah. Esther is not part of the Torah, but Esther is part of the Tanakh. With that being said, if

01:01:04you

01:01:04don't want to celebrate Purim, I don't see any obligation to do so. As far as the way I see

01:01:11it,

01:01:12you're good to go if you don't celebrate Purim, and you're good to go if you do. There is no

01:01:16sort

01:01:17of obligation or command to celebrate Purim like there is with the Moadim that we find in the Torah.

01:01:25However, even though it's not part of the Torah, it's still part of scripture and still profitable,

01:01:32as Paul tells us in the book of 2 Timothy. And if you've paid attention, you can see all the

01:01:37things

01:01:37that relate and are relevant to us, even nowadays, coming from the story of Purim, what Mordecai did,

01:01:45what Esther did, etc., etc. So you're thinking now, okay, well, maybe I want to celebrate Purim.

01:01:52So how do I do this? Well, Purim is a feast day, which means you eat, but included in this

01:02:02whole

01:02:02celebration is a period of fasting, if you so choose. And this is called the Fast of Esther,

01:02:09and it's done for three days before Purim, which this year happens on March 2nd. And those three-day

01:02:17fast that we still sometimes celebrate nowadays is reminiscent of the three-day fast that Esther had

01:02:23ordered back during that time before she went to the king. See all that remembrance and that connection

01:02:29is still there? Another thing to do on, besides fasting, another thing to do on the Feast of Purim

01:02:37is to read the book of Esther. Obviously, go through the story of Purim. And like I said,

01:02:44it's not that long. You can get through it fairly quickly. You can even read it out loud and not

01:02:48take

01:02:48that long either. But read through the story of Esther. And as you do that, there's a lot of fun

01:02:57that can be had as well. We'll get to that here in just a moment. But as you read through

01:03:01it,

01:03:02it's a lot of fun for kids and even adults too. But that's coming up in a minute. I'm starting

01:03:08to get

01:03:08ahead of myself. As far as some of the food goes, one of the most popular foods to have and

01:03:14eat on Purim

01:03:16is what's called hamantaschen. Hamantaschen, I've heard described as being a stand-in and meaning

01:03:26Haman's hat. I don't know why Haman was wearing a triangular hat. And I don't really get that from

01:03:33the story in the book of Esther, but that is tradition. And the, yeah. Anyways, if you want

01:03:41food to cook for Purim, you make some hamantaschen. That's a dessert, or you can make it into a non

01:03:49-dessert

01:03:49if you want. But hamantaschen. Also, lots of seeds, nuts, things that are green, like green vegetables

01:03:57and beans and stuff like that. Those are very common to eat on Purim when you're celebrating Purim

01:04:05as well. And of course, you cannot have a feast day, any feast day, or any Moadim, except for Pesach.

01:04:14You can't have it without the obligatory challah. And when it comes to Purim, generally the challah

01:04:21made for Purim is larger than you would make for other feast days or Moadim. And why? I don't know.

01:04:31It's just tradition. But you can see some fairly large challah here in this particular image.

01:04:38And challah's good any time. You don't have to wait for a feast day. But yeah, challah is

01:04:43also a part of the Purim celebration. Now, as I mentioned earlier, one of the traditions on Purim

01:04:50as part of the celebration is to read through the book of Esther. And as you read through the book

01:04:54of Esther, the two main guys that you read through are going to be, again, Mordecai and Haman.

01:05:01And as you read the story of Esther and the story of Purim, and you say the word or the

01:05:08name

01:05:08Mordecai, everyone claps and cheers and says, yay, all right, because he is the protagonist

01:05:14of the story or one of the main protagonists of the story. However, when you get to the name

01:05:21Haman and the name Haman is read during the reading of the book of Esther, you say boo and you,

01:05:29you know, jeer or whatever it is. And you also use something that's called a grogger to make

01:05:35sounds. And the purpose behind all this is to drown out or blot out the name of Haman.

01:05:43And it's a lot of fun. Kids really enjoy this too and whatnot. So when you read through the book

01:05:48of

01:05:48Esther, you cheer when the name Mordecai is read and you boo and you make noise to blot out the

01:05:55name

01:05:55of Haman when the name of Haman is read. Another thing that is done commonly in the celebration of

01:06:03Purim is dressing up as the, some of the characters from the story of Purim, whether it be the King

01:06:10Ahasuerus or Mordecai or Esther or whatever have you, even Haman, you can dress up as Haman too,

01:06:17as part of the celebration of Purim. Another thing, and this is actually specifically commanded by Esther

01:06:26in the book of Esther to do on the celebration of Purim is to give to the poor, give to

01:06:32others and

01:06:33engage in charity. And that's something a lot of mainstream churchianity holidays don't do,

01:06:41but biblical feasts and festivals, they, it's a tradition to give to the poor.

01:06:47But that's another part of celebrating a Purim. And like I said, it's specifically commanded by

01:06:54Queen Esther when the feast of Purim is established at the end of the book of Esther. If you want

01:07:01to

01:07:01greet someone with a Purim greeting, you can say something to the effect of Hag Purim Sameach,

01:07:08Hag Purim Sameach, and that's have a happy Purim holiday or happy Purim feast day. Now,

01:07:16as I intimated early on, there are some things to be aware of and be cautious of as you go

01:07:26through

01:07:26and you celebrate Purim and you're looking at traditions from other people or other groups

01:07:31and stuff like that. Here are some things that are commonly done by certain groups of Jews

01:07:39on Purim, but it's actually breaking the Torah or breaking scripture. These are things that I would

01:07:47highly, highly advise you to not do. First of all, cross-dressing. And this happens a lot within

01:07:57the celebration of Purim within Judaism. And they'll put on things like, you know, a women's dress,

01:08:06or they can see here in this particular picture, a tutu that women wear, women dress up as men.

01:08:14You can see from pictures and from parades in Israel where people are dressing up in all sorts of

01:08:21stuff and nonsense stuff. Batman, Spider-Man. This is not Halloween, guys. Seriously. Have some

01:08:28common sense. Dress up as the characters from the story. Yeah, that's fine. I see no problem with that.

01:08:34But comic book characters, cross-dressing, that has no business in the celebration of something

01:08:42from scripture or the remembrance of something from scripture. In fact, in Deuteronomy chapter 22,

01:08:48verse 5, it tells us specifically, do not cross-dress. And this is something these Jews

01:08:52are missing and violating. Deuteronomy chapter 22, verse 5. A woman does not wear that which pertains

01:09:00to a man, nor does a man put on a woman's garment. For whoever does this is an abomination to

01:09:05Yahweh

01:09:06your Elohim. Notice there that those who cross-dress are referred to as an abomination. The same thing as

01:09:14adulterers, homosexuals, etc., etc. So cross-dressing is very, very no bueno and prohibited by scripture. I don't

01:09:24care how powerful a rabbi or how well-known of a pope you are, you can't change scripture. So keep

01:09:31that in mind.

01:09:32Horim is not the Hebrew Halloween. No matter what anybody says, it is not the Hebrew Halloween. Use some

01:09:40common sense. Be an adult about it. Another thing to be wary of and watch out for as you go

01:09:46through

01:09:46this is that in some sects of Judaism, they have this thing called Adlo Yadah. Adlo Yadah, if I'm

01:09:55pronouncing it right. But the basic concept behind this particular celebration of Purim is to get just

01:10:02absolutely plastered drunk. No joke. Drink alcohol in excess to your just absolute

01:10:10plastered drunk and you don't know the difference between someone saying blessed is Mordecai and

01:10:16cursed is Haman. In fact, you get this from the Talmud and you see it also, I'm sorry, you see

01:10:22it in

01:10:23the Talmud in Megillah 7b and it says here, quote, Rava said, a person is obligated to become intoxicated

01:10:30with wine on Purim until he is so intoxicated that he does not know how to distinguish between

01:10:36cursed is Haman and blessed is Mordecai, end quote. Again, this is against Scripture and I won't go into

01:10:45detail right now because next week we're doing an entire episode on alcohol and the Bible. So tune in

01:10:52for that if you'd like to see the contradiction between this particular celebration by the Jews

01:10:58and what Scripture actually says about alcohol. But yeah, just know that is very, very no bueno. And

01:11:05outside of Scripture even, that is very, very dangerous, physically speaking, because alcohol

01:11:11poisoning is a real thing. You're going to, at the very least, have a bad hangover and bad day the

01:11:19next

01:11:19day, if not destroy your liver or damage it, or you could also die from alcohol poisoning. So yeah,

01:11:28this is very, very not good on so many levels. So I would definitely and highly advise you to stay

01:11:36away from getting absolutely just plastered drunk like the Talmud is telling you to do.

01:11:43Now, some interesting insights here about the story of Purim and also the celebration of Purim.

01:11:50Number one, the name of Yahweh is never mentioned in the book of Esther, which is very, very interesting.

01:11:56It is mentioned just about everywhere else, but not the book of Esther. It is the last book to have

01:12:02been canonized as part of the Tanakh or the AKA Old Testament. It's the only book of the Tanakh that

01:12:09is not found in the library of the various scrolls and manuscripts found at Qumran. Purim is a feast

01:12:18day, like we said before, but it is not one of the Moedim. You celebrate it, you're okay. If you

01:12:24don't

01:12:24celebrate it, you're still okay. It's not one of those that's ordained by Yahweh in the Torah.

01:12:31Purim is a Hebrew word derived from the Persian word of poor, as we went over earlier.

01:12:38The account of the Purim story is contained in one of the two only books of scripture that have

01:12:44been named after women. The book of Ruth being the other one. Also, this is some notes that I thought

01:12:54was

01:12:54very, very important and very relevant to our time as well, because this story of Purim is not a story

01:13:01of beauty or winning a beauty pageant is a story of courage. And that's something for especially the

01:13:08women of nowadays to take note of, because there's a lot of emphasis placed on the appearance of a woman

01:13:16nowadays and probably has always been that way for a long, long time. But this is something you can

01:13:22take away from the story of Esther is having the courage to do the right thing and not focusing on

01:13:28the beauty, but the inner courage in making the right decisions and standing up, even in the face

01:13:35of death, like Esther did. That's something we can take away from the story of Purim.

01:13:41Also, another important thing, I think, too, is that Vashti's denial was more self-centered than

01:13:49anything else. And contrast that with Esther and how she conducted herself. And Esther's bravery was

01:13:56more concerned with an entire people group and not just herself. She could have very easily went up

01:14:03and protected herself because she was the queen of all Persia, all of Babylon. She was favored by the

01:14:11king. So she could have saved herself probably rather easily. But it took real bravery and real courage

01:14:18to stand up for an entire people group against someone as evil and powerful as Haman was.

01:14:26So that's just some interesting things to take note of and kind of simmer over and mull over in your

01:14:33head as you're thinking about all this later on. In summary, to wrap up this particular teaching,

01:14:40the story of Purim takes place after the nation of Israel becomes divided. The southern kingdom is

01:14:46taken captive by Persia and some of the southern kingdom returns back to the kingdom of Judea.

01:14:53The main characters of the Purim story are Mardachai, Esther, Ahashwarosh, and Haman.

01:15:00The casting of lots has been a well-established method among the righteous and the unrighteous.

01:15:07Esther quickly became queen of Persia after Vashti was deposed as queen.

01:15:13Haman plans to execute all the Judeans due to his ego being bruised by Mardachai. And like I said,

01:15:20it doesn't say specifically why Mardachai did not bow and give respect to Haman, but we can kind of

01:15:28read between the lines and put together probably why he didn't do it. But at the end of the day,

01:15:35it made Haman very mad at Bruce's ego and it set a lot of things in motion that he was

01:15:42very petty

01:15:43about. Haman's plan is eventually revealed and he is executed along with all his family.

01:15:50The Judeans fight back thanks to Mardachai and Esther are saved.

01:15:56The feast day of Purim is then instituted to remember this particular event where the plot

01:16:02to kill all the Judeans was put in place and then the Judeans were saved or they actually

01:16:09ended up helping to save themselves by fighting back. And that is why the feast day of Purim

01:16:14was instituted. It was to remember this particular story that happened in the book of Esther.

01:16:21And that is just the God Honest Truth. So thank you for joining us for this particular

01:16:28teaching on Purim. We hope that you got something out of it and learned something that you didn't

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