“And that these days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation, every family, every province, and every city; and that these days of Purim should not fail from among the Jews, nor the memorial of them perish from their seed,” Esther 9:28.
The true believer in the Lord Jesus Christ has, in truth, more reason to remember this day of thanksgiving than does the average Jew today. The events remembered and celebrated took place in the year BC 510, according to the trustworthy calculations of the godly and strongly Protestant Archbishop of Armagh, James Ussher (4 January 1581 – 21 March 1656). This holy man, who aided our persecuted Presbyterian forefathers and favoured Presbyterian church polity, compiled a history of the world, “The Annals of the World”. His learning was widely admired and to this day great store is laid upon his chronology of the events of history since the creation.
Accepting Ussher’s date, the first’ Purim’ took place over two and a half millennia ago! This year ‘Purim’ will be celebrated by the Jewish people on 6th March. The celebration has become, in character, something like the so-called ‘Christmas’ celebrations amongst those who have but a ‘nodding acquaintance’ with the things of God.
Since the Lord Jesus Christ is rejected amongst most Jews, there is no true recognition of the One Who wrought the wonderful deliverance of the Jewish nation all those years ago.
One of the strange features of the Book of Esther is the absence of any mention of ‘God’ in the book, though the hand and providence of God may be most clearly seen in it! I take that absence as a providential foreshadowing of the absence of any mention of the true God in today’s celebrations of Purim.
The Lord Jesus Christ is indeed THE KING OF ISRAEL! It was His Kingly intervention all those years ago that preserved the Jewish people from the attempt by their enemies, led by Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite (Esther 9:24). It was He Who had watched over Abraham and all his descendants and is watching still, though now, in this time of retribution for their rejection and crucifixion of the Saviour, He watches to preserve them from utter destruction and will keep them until that day, in the near future, when He will reveal Himself unto them in saving mercy and grace, at His second coming. Zechariah, amongst many prophets, writes of that wonderful event.
“And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn,” Zechariah 12:9-10.
In truth ‘Purim’ celebrates what was in fact a portent of that glorious day for which every believer awaits with joyful anticipation. (more…)
