The Spiritual Understanding of the Story of Esther
By
Robert O. Miller
We are commanded to read the Story of Esther every Purim. The obligation to read the Story of Esther is not just the literary objective of knowing the story, but requires us to understand some idea or message in the story, but what message? The word Megilla has two meanings and the word Esther has two meanings. Megilla traditionally means a scroll. The second meaning of the word is to expose. The word Esther is traditionally interpreted to mean a women’s name. The second meaning of the word is concealment. So, the Story of Esther dares us to expose the true meaning of the mysterious message.
The most important aspect of the story of Esther is not the holocaust diverted but rather how judgment for sin can be turned around for our good through “teshuvah” (repentance) done with love (as opposed to fear). In fact this story challenges the reality whether true teshuvah can be done through fear at all.
Through the events we see another principle: how true teshuvah brings about “nahafochu,” the reversal of events. And the most striking example of nahafochu is when Haman rushes to the palace for permission to execute Mordechai, but is tricked by his own lust into deciding a proper reward for himself seeing it only to be manifested on Mordechai and seeing rather his own execution.
The story of Esther as it relates to Israel begins in chapter 1 verse 5: “…the king gave a banquet, lasting seven days, in the enclosed garden of the king’s palace, for all the people from the least to the greatest, who were in the citadel of Shushan.” The Jews sinned by enjoying the banquet of Achashverosh, their occupier. Achashverosh also called the Xerxes or ruler corresponding to the Hebrew word Tzar, who’s Persian name is Khashayar Shah son of Darius the Great is the most difficult character in the story to understand. Here in verse 5 we see the new ruler reaching out to all its inhabitants equally to embrace them. According to the Midrash, as soon as the partying was opened up to “all the people” the Jews couldn’t wait to jump aboard. Equality was being offered to these stateless refugees. It is said the Jews participated in the banquets with an enthusiasm unequaled by any others. Even more troubling, the Mishna says, like the rulers before him, Achashverosh brought out the utensils from the Holy Temple, still our ancestors just accepted this as respect and continue to participate with pride in their newly found patriotism. They were giving up their dream of a future Zion for a present Shushan.
“For the time is come that judgment must begin at the House of Yahweh: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the full message of Yahweh? (1 Peter 4:17)”
Now, Purim can easily be understood by clearly considering the assimilationist tendencies we have. We get into trouble when as a Believer we still want to be like everybody else, walk(ing) according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience. Every misfortune stems from our own misbehavior.
Judgment came in the person of Haman ben Hammedatha: “After these events, King Xerxes honored Haman ben Hammedatha, the Agagite, elevating him and giving him a seat of honor higher than that of all the other nobles… Then Haman said to King Xerxes, ‘There is a certain people dispersed and scattered among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom whose customs are different from those of all other people and who do not obey the king’s laws; it is not in the king’s best interest to tolerate them. If it pleases the king, let a decree be issued to destroy them, and I will put ten thousand talents of silver into the royal treasury for the men who carry out this business.’ So the king took his signet ring from his finger and gave it to Haman ben Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews. ‘Keep the money,’ the king said to Haman, “and do with the people as you please.” (Esther 3:1, 8-11)”
Yet, Yahweh always prepares a salvation for whatever catastrophe awaits His people. Yahweh’s supervision of His people is ready for all contingencies. Salvation came in the form of a man named Mordechai and his uncle’s daughter named Hadassah, who was also known as Esther.
“Now there was in the citadel of Shushan a Jew of the tribe of Benjamin, named Mordechai ben Yair, the son of Shimei…(Esther 2:5)”
Who was Shimei? The answer can be found in 2 Samuel 16:5-13: “As King David approached Bahurim, a man from the same clan as Sha’ul’s family came out from there. His name was Shimei ben Gera, and he cursed as he came out. He pelted David and all the king’s officials with stones, though all the troops and the special guard were on David’s right and left. As he cursed, Shimei said, “Get out, get out, you man of blood, you scoundrel! Yahweh has repaid you for all the blood you shed in the household of Sha’ul, in whose place you have reigned. Yahweh has handed the Kingdom over to your son Absalom. You have come to ruin because you are a man of blood!”
Then Abishai ben ZeruYahu said to the king, “Why should this dead dog curse my souvereign the king? Let me go over and cut off his head.”
But the king said, “What do you and I have in common, you sons of ZeruYahu? If he is cursing because Yahweh said to him, ‘Curse David,’ who can ask, ‘Why do you do this?’ “
David then said to Abishai and all his officials, “My son, who is of my own flesh, is trying to take my life. How much more, then, this Benjamite! Leave him alone; let him curse, for Yahweh has told him to. It may be that Yahweh will see my distress and repay me with good for the cursing I am receiving today.”
So David and his men continued along the road while Shimei was going along the hillside opposite him, cursing as he went and throwing stones at him and showering him with dirt.”
It was true King David was “a man of blood” that is why he could not build the Temple but he was not a man of pride. If he were he would have let Abishai ben ZeruYahu cut off his head. Instead he looked beyond the carnal into the spiritual, “may be that Yahweh will see my distress and repay me with good for the cursing I am receiving today.” If King David had killed Shimei there would have never been Yair, and in turn no Mordechai to inspire his cousin, Esther to rescue her people.
And in the opposite vain, wicked Haman ben Hammedatha was an Agagite, a descendant of Agag. Who was Agag? Agag was the Amaleki king.
“Remember what Amalek did to you as you were leaving Egypt. He happened upon you, and struck the weakest people trailing behind, when you were exhausted. And he did not fear Yahweh. (Deuteronomy 25:17-18)”
“Yahweh said to Moses: Write this remembrance in the book… that I will surely erase the memory of Amalek from under the heavens. (Exodus 17:14)”
“Shemmuel also said to Sha’ul, “Yahweh sent me to anoint you king over His people, over Israel. Now therefore, heed the voice of the words of Yahweh. Thus says Yahweh Tzavout: “I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, how he ambushed him on the way when he came up from Egypt. Now go and attack Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and do not spare them. But kill both man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.” (1 Samuel 15:1-3)’
King Sha’ul did not do what Yahweh said, “…Sha’ul attacked the Amalekites, from Havilah all the way to Shur, which is east of Egypt. He also took Agag king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. But Sha’ul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good, and were unwilling to utterly destroy them. But everything despised and worthless, that they utterly destroyed. (1 Samuel 15:7-9)”
Had King Sha’ul killed all in the Royal House of Agag there would have never been a Hammedatha and thus no Haman to have to save the Jews from.
“Now the word of Yahweh came to Shemmuel, saying, “I greatly regret that I have set up Sha’ul as king, for he has turned back from following Me, and has not performed My commandments.” (1 Samuel 15:10,11)”
“So Shemmuel said to him, “Yahweh has torn the Kingdom of Israel from you today, and has given it to a neighbor of yours, who is better than you. And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor relent. For He is not a man, that He should relent.” (1 Samuel 15:28,29)”
Yahweh understood the severity of King Sha’ul’s actions. He knew what chain of events had been set into motion. There had to be nahafochu, a reversal.
The mechanism behind the ‘reversal’ is teshuva, repentance.
“On the seventh day (on the Sabbath), when King Xerxes was in high spirits (drunk) from wine, he commanded the seven eunuchs who served him-Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, Abagtha, Zethar and Carcas- to bring before him Queen Vashti, wearing her royal crown, in order to display her beauty to the people and nobles, for she was lovely to look at. But when the attendants delivered the king’s command, Queen Vashti refused to come. Then the king became furious and burned with anger. (Esther 1:10-12)”
Who was Queen Vashti? Vashti was born to Babylonian royalty. Her grandfather was Nebuchadnezzar, who had destroyed Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem and driven the Jews into exile. Her father was Belshazzar, the last in a line of great Babylonian kings whose dramatic death is described in the Book of Daniel.
The Talmud (in Megillah 12) tells us Queen Vashti would have young Jewish girls abducted, force them to undress and coerce them into working for her on Shabbat. The Talmud then asks why did she refuse to come before Achashverosh (not being known as a modest woman)? The Talmud says because she had come down with tzaraat (a skin ailment resembling leprosy) on her body.
The cause of tzaraat is implied by its very name. A person who has tzaraat is called a Metzora. According to rabbinic tradition this word is a contraction of the Hebrew words motzi and rah, which loosely means “one who spreads slander”. Thus, a person becomes afflicted with tzaraat as a punishment for spreading slander. Having tzaraat, is not just about skin afflictions but rather it is about a social and spiritual malady called hatred that spreads from word of mouth threatening the wholeness or integrity of the whole community.
Why did Queen Vashti hate the Jewish women so, a hatred that caused the judgment of tzaraat? Jewish women represented a threat to Vashti because they were, in the most profound sense of the word, pure. By observing Shabbat, they demonstrated that there is a ruler who is beyond the reach of any monarch. By maintaining their modesty they proved that they define themselves internally rather than superficially. They were pure. For this she wanted to break and soil them. By doing so she sealed her own doom.
It is our command to stay pure, “Lay hands suddenly on no man, neither be partaker of other men’s sins: keep thyself pure. (1 Timothy 5:22)” We must keep ourselves separate, “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Messiah with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of Elohim with idols? for ye are the temple of the living Elohim; as Elohim hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their Elohim, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith Yahweh, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you. (2 Corinthians 6:14-17)”
“According to law, what must be done to Queen Vashti?” he asked. “She has not obeyed the command of King Xerxes that the eunuchs have taken to her.”
Then Memucan replied in the presence of the king and the nobles, “Queen Vashti has done wrong, not only against the king but also against all the nobles and the peoples of all the provinces of King Xerxes. For the queen’s conduct will become known to all the women, and so they will despise their husbands and say, ‘King Xerxes commanded Queen Vashti to be brought before him, but she would not come.’ This very day the Persian and Median women of the nobility who have heard about the queen’s conduct will respond to all the king’s nobles in the same way. There will be no end of disrespect and discord.
“Therefore, if it pleases the king, let him issue a royal decree and let it be written in the laws of Persia and Media, which cannot be repealed, that Vashti is never again to enter the presence of King Xerxes. Also let the king give her royal position to someone else who is better than she. Then when the king’s edict is proclaimed throughout all his vast realm, all the women will respect their husbands, from the least to the greatest.”
The king and his nobles were pleased with this advice, so the king did as Memucan proposed. He sent dispatches to all parts of the kingdom, to each province in its own script and to each people in its own language, proclaiming in each people’s tongue that every man should be ruler over his own household. (Esther 1:15-22)”
The Talmud (in Midrash Rabba) provides us with the final piece of information that lets us put the puzzle pieces together. It reveals to us the words that Queen Vashti used when she refused King Achashverosh. “You were my father’s stable boy. You had harlots parade in front of you. Are you going back to where you came from?”
Queen Vashti intent was not to build herself up or to preserve her life. She was aware of what she had become, but had neither the will nor the courage to change. Remember, only repentance brings reversal. She had followed a course that had typified her life. She wanted to cut him down one last time. All that was left of her life was only arrogance. According to Persian law, there could be no other Queen while the previous Queen lived. Queen Vashti had to be executed.
“Later when the anger of King Xerxes had subsided, he remembered Vashti…(Esther 2:1)”
As disrespectful as she was he still loved and missed her. “Yahweh Elohim said, “It is not good for the man to be alone…(Genesis 2:18)”
“…the king’s personal attendants proposed, “Let a search be made for beautiful young virgins for the king. Let the king appoint commissioners in every province of his realm to bring all these beautiful girls into the harem at the citadel of Shushan. Let them be placed under the care of Hegai, the king’s eunuch, who is in charge of the women; and let beauty treatments be given to them. Then let the girl who pleases the king be queen instead of Vashti.” This advice appealed to the king, and he followed it. (Esther 2:2-4)”
So a beauty contest was held and Mordechai put Hadassah in it.
“This girl, who was also known as Esther, was lovely in form and features… Esther also was taken to the king’s palace and entrusted to Hegai, who had charge of the harem. The girl pleased him and won his favor. Immediately he provided her with her beauty treatments and special food. He assigned to her seven maids selected from the king’s palace and moved her and her maids into the best place in the harem.
Esther had not revealed her nationality and family background, because Mordecai had forbidden her to do so. Every day he walked back and forth near the courtyard of the harem to find out how Esther was and what was happening to her.
Before a girl’s turn came to go in to King Xerxes, she had to complete twelve months of beauty treatments prescribed for the women, six months with oil of myrrh and six with perfumes and cosmetics. And this is how she would go to the king: Anything she wanted was given her to take with her from the harem to the king’s palace. In the evening she would go there and in the morning return to another part of the harem to the care of Shaashgaz, the king’s eunuch who was in charge of the concubines. She would not return to the king unless he was pleased with her and summoned her by name.
When the turn came for Esther (the girl Mordecai had adopted, the daughter of his uncle Abihail) to go to the king, she asked for nothing other than what Hegai, the king’s eunuch who was in charge of the harem, suggested. And Esther won the favor of everyone who saw her. She was taken to King Xerxes in the royal residence in the tenth month, the month of Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign.
Now the king was attracted to Esther more than to any of the other women, and she won his favor and approval more than any of the other virgins. So he set a royal crown on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti. (Esther 2:7-17)”
“Haman looked for a way to destroy all Mordecai’s people, the Jews, throughout the whole kingdom of Xerxes. In the twelfth year of King Xerxes, in the first month, the month of Nisan, they cast the pur (that is, the lot) in the presence of Haman to select a day and month. And the lot fell on the twelfth month, the month of Adar. (Esther 3:6,7)”
Why did Haman cast lots? Why didn’t he simply figure out what the most convenient day or days on which to carry out this holocaust was and do it, quickly before anyone knew what hit them?
In Deut. 25:18 we find this passage, “[Amalek] happened (“karcha“) upon you…” What does this passage mean? The Talmud explains the Hebrew word “karcha” literally means coincidence Amalek’s entire philosophy is that there is no design or providence in the world. Everything is haphazard, dictated by chance, luck and fate, a roll of the dice. Is it any wonder Haman the direct descendant of Amalek so easily put his trust in dice.
There is another Holy Day associated with the casting of lots, Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. On the surface these two Holy Days couldn’t be farther apart, on Yom Kippur we fast and pray, on Purim we fast then party. Yet the Zohar sees the two days as intrinsically similar, going so far as to use a word play on the name Yom HaKippurim to mean that it is yom k’purim “a day like Purim!”
The casting of lots expresses the idea that one has passed beyond the realm of motive and reason. There is no force of will to the role of the dice. For whatever reason, by rolling the dice you have chosen an option of letting the matter be surrendered to forces that are beyond your control or comprehension.
Herein lies the significance of the lots cast by the Kohen Gadol (High Priest) on Yom Kippur. After all is said and done, no man is worthy in the eyes of Yahweh to make the choice.
That is why Haman rolled the dice. He was trying to exploit the supra-reality of Yahweh’s will to his own diabolical scheme. He wanted the Jewish people to think he was a pursuer of Yahweh’s wisdom and the implementer of His will and get them to surrender to their fate.
By destroying Israel, he would prove the Torah was not absolute and the Talmud says if the Torah, the source of universal truths, was eliminated, then the world would revert to emptiness. That is because humanity simply cannot survive without clear moral direction. Morality holds civilizations together; it’s absence leads to chaos.
Adolph Hitler, Dr. Josef Mengele, Adolf Eichmann and the thousands of priests, ministers, doctors, professors, farmers, teachers, barbers, receptionists, retailers, lawyers, mechanics, shop owners and secretaries who made soap, lamp shades, coat stuffing and ashes out of Jews were not sick! They thought of themselves as Christian. In reality, they were just plain evil. By saying their “Jesus” did away with the Torah, they were abandoning morality, they were able to rationalize genocide as “noble and good.” It is not surprising that the Talmud (Megillah 6b) identifies “Germamia” as the descendents of Amalek.
The Torah says: “Amalek battled Israel in (a place called) Refidim” (Exodus 17:8). The Midrash explains that the name “Refidim” can come from an acronym of Hebrew words meaning “they loosened their grip on Torah.” As long as the Jews were diligent in Torah study, Amalek could not beat them.
“Study to show thyself approved unto Yahweh, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of Truth – Torah. (2 Timothy 2:15)”
As the Talmud relates, “When the lot [cast by Haman] fell on the month of Adar, he greatly rejoiced, saying: ‘The lot has fallen for me upon the month of Moses’ death.’” This is what I’ve been saying all along. Moses might have given Israel the Torah, the document that so endears them to Yahweh, but that was then this is now Moses is a human being. Moses, too, is part of the physical, rational reality–a reality transcended by the power of the “lot” I have accessed. My lots indicate that I have superseded Moses–superseded Israel’s merit in the eyes of Yahweh. I have replaced Israel with Persia. We have achieved at-one-ment!
“When Mordecai learned of all that had been done, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the city, wailing loudly and bitterly. (Esther 4:1)” Mordechai understood the danger Israel was in. They were already under the judgment for assimilation. He knew the excess of Persian living dulled their spiritual senses. Now with this casting of lots he was afraid that Israel would buckle.
Mordechai took his intercession all the way to the king’s gate. “…he went only as far as the king’s gate, because no one clothed in sackcloth was allowed to enter it. (Esther 4:2)” He would have taken it to the king’s door but that was not allowed.
“Confess your trespassesto one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. (James 5:16)”
Mordechai prayers worked and when Israel heard of the plans of holocaust they repented.
“In every province to which the edict and order of the king came, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping and wailing. Many lay in sackcloth and ashes. (Esther 4:3)”
“When Esther’s maids and eunuchs came and told her about Mordecai, she was in great distress. She sent clothes for him to put on instead of his sackcloth, but he would not accept them. Then Esther summoned Hathach, one of the king’s eunuchs assigned to attend her, and ordered him to find out what was troubling Mordecai and why.
So Hathach went out to Mordecai in the open square of the city in front of the king’s gate. Mordecai told him everything that had happened to him, including the exact amount of money Haman had promised to pay into the royal treasury for the destruction of the Jews. He also gave him a copy of the text of the edict for their annihilation, which had been published in Shushan, to show to Esther and explain it to her, and he told him to urge her to go into the king’s presence to beg for mercy and plead with him for her people. (Esther 4:4-8)”
Esther knew there was a problem. Before she could do this she would first have to enter the King of all the Universe’s chambers and she was not worthy.
“Hathach went back and reported to Esther what Mordecai had said. Then she instructed him to say to Mordecai, “All the king’s officials and the people of the royal provinces know that for any man or woman who approaches the king in the inner court without being summoned the king has but one law: that he be put to death. The only exception to this is for the king to extend the gold scepter to him and spare his life. But thirty days have passed since I was called to go to the king.” (Esther 4:9-11)”
She knows she has sinned by enjoying the King’s House and she is questioning her right to petition Yahweh or bring the redemption for a people she had disattatched from. “When Esther’s words were reported to Mordecai, he sent back this answer: “Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:12-14)”
Mordechai knew if he could just touch Esther’s heart to bring teshuvah, the power of teshuva bestows on the repentant the merit to approach Yahweh with more confidence than ever before.
“Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:16)”
As the Rambam says in Hilchot Teshuva (chapter 7, halacha 7): ‘Last night this one was distant from the Elohim of Israel…,cried out and was not answered…Today, he is attached to the Divine Presence…, and his cries are responded to immediately.’
“Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai: “Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Shushan, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my maids will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish.” (Esther 4:15,16)”
Now the role of Esther changes from a young winner of a beauty contest become Queen into a ba’alat teshuva (master of repentance), the repentant who discovers the way back to Yahweh in a way that brings her even closer than before. She is an instrument of redemption.
“On the third day Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the palace, in front of the king’s hall. The king was sitting on his royal throne in the hall, facing the entrance. When he saw Queen Esther standing in the court, he was pleased with her and held out to her the gold scepter that was in his hand. So Esther approached and touched the tip of the scepter.
Then the king asked, “What is it, Queen Esther? What is your request? Even up to half the kingdom, it will be given you.”
“If it pleases the king,” replied Esther, “let the king, together with Haman, come today to a banquet I have prepared for him.”… So the king and Haman went to the banquet Esther had prepared. As they were drinking wine, the king again asked Esther, “Now what is your petition? It will be given you. And what is your request? Even up to half the kingdom, it will be granted.”
Esther replied, “My petition and my request is this: 8 If the king regards me with favor and if it pleases the king to grant my petition and fulfill my request, let the king and Haman come tomorrow to the banquet I will prepare for them. Then I will answer the king’s question.”
Haman went out that day happy and in high spirits. (Esther 5:1-9)”
Haman was exceptionally pleased with himself, full of his own importance, but troubled because one individual had the temerity to refuse to bow down to him. “All of this does nothing for me,” reported Haman, “so long as Mordechai refuses to bow down to me.” All of Haman’s riches, his position, and his wealth were not enough. Even to punish just Mordechai was not enough; he had to kill all the Jews. HaSatan was trying to destroy the last bit of Israel and stop the Redeemer from coming.
When Haman returned home with the news that Esther had invited him and only him to the feast with the king, he waxed eloquent with his family and friends about how great he was.
“His wife Zeresh and all his friends said to him, “Have a gallows built, seventy-five feet high, and ask the king in the morning to have Mordecai hanged on it. Then go with the king to the dinner and be happy.” This suggestion delighted Haman, and he had the gallows built. (Esther 5:14)”
“I will yet take revenge on Mordechai! I will hang him on the gallows and shall yet feast my eyes on his lifeless body dangling in the air!” he must have said to Zeresh.
The message of Haman’s gallows was altogether a “self” gospel—the symbol of an alternative plan of HaSatan. Haman would save his satisfaction and through his “craftiness” which would make an object lesson of Mordechai. He would “hang-em’ high,” for refusing to bow low.
Haman was up late relishing the construction of the fiendish device of death, and the king was trying to get some sleep, and couldn’t. Instead of counting sheep, he asked that the royal records be brought in before him and read out loud. And the records that were read recounted a recent assassination plot and coup attempt. It had been Mordechai who had learned of the plot and told Queen Esther who had in turn reported it to the king. King Achashverosh asked his scribes what had been done to reward Mordechai, and looking it up they discovered that he had received no recognition.
By now it was morning, Haman was off to the palace early, to ask for permission to kill Mordechai. And Haman was arriving in the court of the palace just as the king, pondering how to reward Mordecai asked, “Who is in the court?” (Esther 6:4). The answer came back, “Haman,” and they sent him in immediately. And the great reversal for Haman began…
“So Haman came in. And the king said unto him, What shall be done unto the man whom the king delighteth to honour? Now Haman thought in his heart, to whom would the king delight to do honour more than to myself? And Haman answered the king, For the man whom the king delighteth to honour, let the royal apparel be brought which the king useth to wear, and the horse that the king rideth upon, and the crown royal which is set upon his head. And let this apparel and horse be delivered to the hand of one of the king’s most noble princes, that they may array the man withal whom the king delighteth to honour, and bring him on horseback through the street of the city, and proclaim before him, Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delighteth to honour. Then the king said to Haman, make haste, and take the apparel, and the horse, as thou hast said, and do even so to Mordecai the Jew, that sitteth at the king’s gate; let nothing fail of all that thou hast spoken.” (Esther 6:6-10).”
And Haman did so. But when it was all over he made his way home quickly in utter humiliation. According to the Aggaddah, when Haman was leading Mordechai in the parade of honor, Haman’s daughter thought it was Mordechai leading her father on the horse so she leaned out of her window and dumped a chamber pot on his head. “Afterward Mordecai returned to the king’s gate. But Haman rushed home, with his head covered in grief (Esther 6:12)” When she realized her mistake she lost her grip and plunged to her death. Whatever party and festivity was underway was broken up, and the friends and hangers-on began to quietly slip out through the back door.
“His advisers and his wife Zeresh said to him, “Since Mordecai, before whom your downfall has started, is of Jewish origin, you cannot stand against him-you will surely come to ruin!” While they were still talking with him, the king’s eunuchs arrived and hurried Haman away to the banquet Esther had prepared. (Esther 6:13,14)”
There is an ancient prophecy, “The angel of Yahweh called to Abraham from heaven a second time and said, “I swear by myself, declares Yahweh, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me. (Genesis 22:15-18)”
Israel likened to the sands and the stars. When they stray from their Yahweh and disobey His commandments, they can be oppressed and humiliated, and trodden upon like sand by the nations of this world. But when they return to their Yahweh and serve only Him with true devotion, they become exalted like the stars in heaven! Because of this truth all who comes against them like wicked Haman seals their own doom.
“I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. (Genesis 12:3)”
The book of Esther reaches its climax when Haman’s plot to kill the Jews is reversed and he himself winds up hanging from the gallows he had caused to be built to hang Mordechai.
“So the king and Haman went to dine with Queen Esther, and as they were drinking wine on that second day, the king again asked, “Queen Esther, what is your petition? It will be given you. What is your request? Even up to half the kingdom, it will be granted.”
Then Queen Esther answered, “If I have found favor with you, O king, and if it pleases your majesty, grant me my life-this is my petition. And spare my people-this is my request. 4 For I and my people have been sold for destruction and slaughter and annihilation. If we had merely been sold as male and female slaves, I would have kept quiet, because no such distress would justify disturbing the king.”
King Xerxes asked Queen Esther, “Who is he? Where is the man who has dared to do such a thing?”
Esther said, “The adversary and enemy is this vile Haman.” (Esther 7:1-6)”
The king, shocked , arose in wrath and went out fuming into his garden. Why does the king leave now that he knows whom the real enemy is? Now that he knows the whole evil plot why doesn’t he simply shout, “Off with his head!” You can see he is struggling with himself. He is angry at Haman, quite properly so, but he’s also angry with himself. Thinking to himself, how could he been so wrong. Haman is the prime minister. He has deeply entrenched himself in the affairs of the kingdom and the king knows that if he does anything to Haman it will upset the whole kingdom. It is a radical step to execute a prime minister. It must necessarily involve a great deal of distress throughout the kingdom and change the whole pattern of government in the empire.
Haman remained in the room with the queen and threw himself down before her pleading for his life. In the moment when the king returned it appeared to him that Haman was attacking the queen.
Then said the King, will he molest the Queen also before me in my own house? As the word went out of the king’s mouth, they covered Haman’s face. And Harbonah, one of the chamberlains, said before the King, “A gallows seventy-five feet high stands by Haman’s house. He had it made for Mordecai, who spoke up to help the king.”
The king said, “Hang him on it!” (Esther 7:8-9)”
Haman was hanged on his own gallows. Good triumphed over evil.
“That same day King Xerxes gave Queen Esther the estate of Haman, the enemy of the Jews. And Mordecai came into the presence of the king, for Esther had told how he was related to her. (Esther 8:1)”
The King would have learned that Mordechai was a descendant of the royal family of Sha’ul, the first King of the Jews and in fact was Queen Esther’s cousin making her nobility. King Achashverosh immediately appointed Mordechai to succeed Haman as Prime Minister.
Esther would no longer live in the Harem King Achashverosh presented Esther, with the Prime Minister’s estate and the royal signet, which he had taken from Haman he gave to Mordechai.
Mordechai and Esther did not for a minute lose sight of the danger that still faced their people. Haman’s cruel decree was still unchanged, and unless it was withdrawn in time, the last remnant of Israel would be lost.
Esther, therefore, again beseeched the King in behalf of her doomed brethren. She fell at his feet and with tears in her eyes pleaded with the King to avert the terrible fate that threatened them.
“How can I endure to see the evil that will come unto my people? How can I endure to witness the destruction of my kindred?” Esther cried in anguish.
“King Xerxes replied to Queen Esther and to Mordecai the Jew, “… Now write another decree in the king’s name in behalf of the Jews as seems best to you, and seal it with the king’s signet ring-for no document written in the king’s name and sealed with his ring can be revoked.”
…The king’s edict granted the Jews in every city the right to assemble and protect themselves; to destroy, kill and annihilate any armed force of any nationality or province that might attack them and their women and children; and to plunder the property of their enemies. The day appointed for the Jews to do this in all the provinces of King Xerxes was the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar. A copy of the text of the edict was to be issued as law in every province and made known to the people of every nationality so that the Jews would be ready on that day to avenge themselves on their enemies.
The couriers, riding the royal horses, raced out, spurred on by the king’s command. And the edict was also issued in the citadel of Shushan.
Mordecai left the king’s presence wearing royal garments of blue and white, a large crown of gold and a purple robe of fine linen. And the city of Shushan held a joyous celebration. For the Jews it was a time of happiness and joy, gladness and honor. In every province and in every city, wherever the edict of the king went, there was joy and gladness among the Jews, with feasting and celebrating. And many people of other nationalities became Jews because fear of the Jews had seized them. (Esther 8:7,8, 11-17)”
When the thirteenth day of Adar arrived, the day on which the Jews were to be slain and exterminated by Haman decree, the Jews gathered in the public places of each city and town. By order of the King, they sentenced to death all those who had revealed themselves as enemies. Throughout the kingdom of Persia, would-be murderers, insurgents and terrorists were executed, five hundred in Shushan. All ten sons of Haman were likewise executed in the insurrection.
“The king said to Queen Esther, “The Jews have killed and destroyed five hundred men and the ten sons of Haman in the citadel of Shushan. What have they done in the rest of the king’s provinces? Now what is your petition? It will be given you. What is your request? It will also be granted.”
“If it pleases the king,” Esther answered, “give the Jews in Shushan permission to carry out this day’s edict tomorrow also, and let Haman’s ten sons be hanged on gallows.”
Now, that does not make sense. Why did Esther, when she could have gotten anything she wanted up to half of Persia as for the ten sons of Haman, who are already dead to be hanged? The answer is spiritual. Esther could see down through the corridors of time to when the same anti-Christ spirit that possessed Haman’s family would be at work again.
We see that the same spirit that was in Haman dwelt in Hitler. From 1938-1945 he tried to exterminate the Jews. His right hand man was a transvestite Hermann Goering who committed suicide when he was a disgrace to his Fuehrer like Haman’s daughter. That left 10 generals to face the music at Numburg for trying to exterminate the Jews. When you look at the names of the 10 sons of Haman listed in Esther 9:6-10 you see three small letters. They are Tav, Shin, and Zayin, which can represent the Hebrew year 5707, corresponding to the year 1946-47. On October 16, 1946 (21 Tishrei, 5707) ten convicted Nazi war criminals were hanged in Nuremberg. The last man to go was Julius Schtreicher – editor of Der Sturmer, the anti-Semitic Nazi propaganda newspaper and also the host of the yearly Nazi party congresses at Nuremberg – out of nowhere, with the rope around his neck, he shouted out with flaming hatred in his eyes, just as the trap door opened, ‘Purimfest 1946’!”
Esther answered, “give the Jews in Shushan permission to carry out this day’s edict tomorrow also, and let Haman’s ten sons be hanged on gallows,” the Sages comment: “There is a tomorrow that is now, and a tomorrow which is later.” (Tanchuma Bo 13 and Rashi on Exodus 13:14).
October 16, 1946 corrosponds to 21st of Tishrei, 5707 which was Hoshana Raba, the day when Yahweh’s Yom Kippur judgments are sealed and made final.
There is another tommorrow coming in the time of the end when the spirit that motivated the ten sons of Haman will rise again at the behest of the Beast like Haman. “The ten horns you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but who for one hour will receive authority as kings along with the beast. (Revelation 17:12)”
So the king commanded that this be done. An edict was issued in Shushan, and they hanged the ten sons of Haman. The Jews in Shushan came together on the fourteenth day of the month of Adar, and they put to death in Shushan three hundred men, but they did not lay their hands on the plunder.
Meanwhile, the remainder of the Jews who were in the king’s provinces also assembled to protect themselves and get relief from their enemies. They killed seventy-five thousand of them but did not lay their hands on the plunder. This happened on the thirteenth day of the month of Adar, and on the fourteenth they rested and made it a day of feasting and joy. (Esther 9:12-17)”
From that time, on the thirteenth day of Adar, the day before Purim there is the Fast of Esther to emulate Israel’s repentance and coming out of assimilation, the fourteenth day of Adar is consecrated as the festival of Purim, to commemorate the great miracle of the last remnant of Israel’s salvation. Those of us who live in the Diaspora, like those who lived in Shushan, consecrate also the fifteenth day of Adar as “Shushan Purim.”
Mordecai recorded these events, and he sent letters to all the Jews throughout the provinces of King Xerxes, near and far, to have them celebrate annually the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month of Adar as the time when the Jews got relief from their enemies, and as the month when their sorrow was turned into joy and their mourning into a day of celebration. He wrote them to observe the days as days of feasting and joy and giving presents of food to one another and gifts to the poor… the Jews took it upon themselves to establish the custom that they and their descendants and all who join them should without fail observe these two days every year, in the way prescribed and at the time appointed. These days should be remembered and observed in every generation by every family, and in every province and in every city. And these days of Purim should never cease to be celebrated by the Jews, nor should the memory of them die out among their descendants… Esther’s decree confirmed these regulations about Purim, and it was written down in the records. (Esther 9:20-22, 27,28, 32)”
The story of Israel is replete with two models of faith. There is Joseph the young righteous hero, and there is Judah the repentant hero. Joseph is a spiritual leader who motivates others by his moral authority and rises second only to Pharaoh. Judah after initial shortcomings is inspired to lead his other brothers to Joseph even laying down his life as a guarantee for young Benjamin’s.
It is even in the advents of Messiah. Moshiach Ben Yosef will precede the Moshiach ben Yehuda (David). Rebbe YahShua said “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” (Matthew 26:39)” He was spurred onto crucifixion by the prophecy, “See, the King is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones to judge everyone, and to convict all the ungodly of all the ungodly acts they have done in the ungodly way, and of all the harsh words ungodly sinners have spoken against him. (Jude 1:14,15)”
The book of Esther not only contains many parallels to our end-time setting, but it even has, in principle, the outcome of the great controversy. Esther’s behavior is paralleled to that of the Commonwealth. We both have committed a sin of assimilation, and then see the error of our ways when we hear the call of Yahweh.
“And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, My people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.” (Revelation 18:2-4)
“And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins,in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience,among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.
But Yahweh, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Messiah …and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Messiah YahShua,that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Messiah YahShua.For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of Yahweh,not of works, lest anyone should boast.For we are His workmanship, created in Messiah YahShua for good works, which Yahweh prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh–who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands–that at that time you were without Messiah, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without Yahweh in the world. But now in Messiah YahShua you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Messiah. (Ephesians 2:1-13)”
Yahweh will reverse the lie of haSatan, and make all things new again, delivering His people. And we can be assured of that.
Because there is something on your horizon and on mine that stands much taller than haSatan’s gallows; and that is the Kingdom of Yahweh. Messiah YahShua was pierced through on our behalf, in our place, “that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil” (Hebrews 2:14). He became sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of Yahweh in Him (2 Corinthians 5:21). If it seems that our lives are sold into destruction–if it seems that we and our people are “to be destroyed, to be slain, and to perish”–then let us call to mind the manner in which King Achashverosh received queen Esther, even up to giving her half of the kingdom of Persia. Yahweh loves Israel. He purposes to preserve it, to make us clean, without wrinkle or spot (Ephesians 5:27). It is His good pleasure to give us the kingdom (Luke 12:32)!
The harvest is white, go tell the lost sheep of the House of Israel and the Gentiles who will hear!
“Go into all the world and preach the full Messianic Message to all creation. Whoever believes and is immersed will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. (Mark 16:15,16)”
“And this full Messianic Message of the Kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. (Matthew 24:14)”
The Kingdom is coming!
Originally written by Rabbi Robert O. Miller on March 28th, 2005
(Robert Owen Miller 1957-2021)
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