All throughout history, the Jewish people have been targeted for extermination, and yet, the God of Israel has preserved His Chosen People again and again. We saw that on a grand scale during the Holocaust in Nazi Germany. Six million Jews were slaughtered, along with those that Hitler considered the “outcasts of society” — the gypsies, homosexuals, and the disabled.
After the Nuremberg war crime trials in 1946, the top associates of Hitler were scheduled for execution. One was Hermann Göring, rumored to be a transvestite. He committed suicide the night before the other ten men were to be hung. On the day of the hanging, Julius Streicher was being led to the gallows, and he screamed out “Purim Fest 1946!” Why? What did these hangings have to do with Purim? There is a fascinating parallel, which we’ll see in a moment.
The story of Purim is recorded in the Scroll of Esther, written in Hebrew. The events of the story took place in the Persian Empire in 5 BC, under the reign of Xerxes. The Hebrew Bible calls the king by the name of Achashverosh, which means “Lion-King” or “Mighty Warrior.” At the beginning of the story, Achashverosh was married to Queen Vashti, but at some point, when he beckoned for her, she did not come. This was considered a capital offense, because she disobeyed the orders of the king. Queen Vashti was banished, and the king set out to replace her.
A Jewish man named Mordekhai (which means “little man”, or “devotee of Marduk”) was aware that the position of queen was now open, so he told his cousin, Esther (which means “hidden” or “star”), to apply for the position. There was a six-month preparation process to beautify her body and get ready to appear before the king, along with many other women of the kingdom who were interested in applying. After the six months of beauty treatments, the women appeared before Achashverosh for inspection, and Esther was chosen as his new queen. Esther did not reveal to the king that she was Jewish.
Achashverosh had several people who worked for him, and Haman (which means “magnificent”) won the king’s favor. As Haman arose in his authority, he was even given the king’s signet ring, to “sign” documents on the behalf of the king. Haman became pretty full of himself, and decided that people in the kingdom should bow down to him whenever he walked by. Problem was, Mordekhai was Jewish, and he would not bow down to Haman, because it was against the commandments of God to bow down to idols. Haman got pretty angry about Mordekhai’s rebellion, and about this Jewish way of thinking, and he decided he would annihilate ALL the Jews. Haman told Achashverosh that the Jewish people were rebellious against the king’s orders, and they should be eliminated. Believing Haman’s report, the king authorized Haman’s plan.
It was a customary practice of the day to “cast lots”, or throw the dice, in making decisions. The book of Esther says that lots were cast by Haman from the first month to the twelfth month of the year, and it was decided that the Jews would be eliminated on the twelfth month of the year, on the 14th day. The decree went out to all the kingdom on the 13th day of the first month of the year.
Mordekhai learned of the decree, and sent a message to his cousin, who was now the new queen. Mordekhai begged Queen Esther to approach the king and put a stop to this evil plot. In order to do that, Esther must do something illegal, i.e. to approach the king without being beckoned first. Esther asked Mordekhai to announce to the Jewish people in Shushan (the capital city) to begin a three-day fast, to plea for heaven’s favor on her. Then she approached the king. He was rather stunned to see her standing in the hallway, looking at him. He extended his scepter to her, which meant that he had given her permission to speak. She asked him to grant her a favor, to come to a banquet of wine, and to bring Haman. The king granted her wish.
The next evening, at the banquet of wine, Haman thought he was awfully special to have been invited. At the banquet, Esther asked the king and Haman to attend another banquet on the next night, and both agreed. It was at the second banquet that Esther revealed to the king about Haman’s plot to annihilate the Jewish people. She begged the king to intervene. The king said he could not overturn an order that had already gone out, but he could give permission to the Jewish people to defend themselves with whatever tools were necessary to fight back.
That night, the king had a nightmare, which disturbed his sleep. He decided to read through the journals of the kingdom. To his surprise, he read a report about Mordekhai, the very person that Haman was accusing as a rebel. In the report, he learned that Morekhai had saved the king’s life by revealing an assassination plot he had overheard about. His tip prevented it from coming to pass. The king looked through the journal, and could find no record of Mordekhai being rewarded. Instead, Haman had been preparing gallows to hang Mordekhai!
As the story unfolded, the king ordered Haman to be executed in the very gallows that had been planned for Mordekhai. Haman also had ten wicked sons and a daughter, and they were also to be hung. The night before the hanging, Haman’s daughter committed suicide, and the ten sons were hung on the next day. There’s the parallel to the comment by Julius Streicher, “Purim Fest 1946.” Remember, Hermann Göring (a transvestite) committed suicide the night before the other ten henchmen were hung.
There’s more to the story. Haman was a descendant of the Amalekites, who were arch-enemies of the Jewish people. Hundreds of years before this story, King Saul was told by God to gather an army and slaughter all the Amalekites, leaving no one left alive. King Saul disobeyed, and let the king of the Amalekites live. As it happens, King Saul was the son of Kish. Mordekhai was a descendant of Kish. So, although King Saul (son of Kish) did not kill all the Amalekites when he was supposed to, a descendant of Kish (Mordekhai) was responsible for the demise of a descendant of the Amalekites, Haman. God always has His way!
Here’s one more parallel to the comment of “Purim Fest 1946.” Within the Scroll of Esther, the story is written in paragraphs of Hebrew characters, until the report of Haman and his ten sons. Suddenly, the paragraphs stop, and there is a list of the names of the ten sons. Within that list, there are three very tiny Hebrew characters embedded into the text. For years, many wondered what was the purpose of these three tiny characters. Suddenly, someone realized that the three characters spelled out the number “1946”. In a story written in 5 BC, there was a reference to 1946.
In 5 BC, when the Jewish people gained their freedom from execution, they declared an annual celebration of the victory. The celebration was called Purim, which means “Lots”. This year, Purim is on March 11, beginning at sunset, and ending on March 13, at sunset.
At Shalom Yeshua Ministries, we celebrate Purim by having a feast together, and re-enacting the story of Esther, in costumes. It’s always a fun time. If you miss it this year, put it on the calendar for next year. It is always exactly one month before Passover.
Written by Donna Beccia Carick, co-leader of Shalom Yeshua Ministries, at 430 Washington Avenue, Evansville, IN 47713. You may send comments or questions to donna@ShalomYeshua.org.
