Esther: Unveiling the Hidden History and Celebrations of Purim

1. ESTHER“for such a time as this” Intro – Chapter 1 April 3rd, 2005

2. Esther • Gives the history of the celebration of the Jewish holiday of Purim. • We are also commanded to eat, drink and be merry. According to the Talmud, a person is required to drink until he cannot tell the difference between "cursed be Haman" and "blessed be Mordecai," though opinions differ as to exactly how drunk that is. (www.jewfaq.org)

3. Esther • In addition, we are commanded to send out gifts of food or drink, and to make gifts to charity. (www.jewfaq.org) • It is customary to hold carnival-like celebrations on Purim, to perform plays and parodies, and to hold beauty contests. Americans sometimes refer to Purim as the Jewish Mardi Gras. (www.jewfaq.org)

4. Problems in Esther • God is never mentioned. Very little religious things contained. • In the first 7 centuries of the church, not one commentary was written. (NIV Application Commentary, p21)

5. Problems in Esther • Martin Luther – “I am so great an enemy to the second book of the Maccabees, and to Esther, that I wish they had not come to us at all, for they have too many heathen unnaturalities.” (The Table Talk of Martin Luther, p. 13) • John Calvin never preached from Esther nor included it in his commentaries. (NIV Application Commentary, p21)

6. A brief history • 586 B.C. – Jerusalem is destroyed by Nebuchadnezzer. Jews are caried off into the Babylonian captivity. • 539 B.C. Cyrus conquers Babylon, Cyrus Cylinder

7. The Cyrus Cylinder

8. The Cyrus Cylinder Cyrus claims to have achieved this with the aid of Marduk, the god of Babylon. He then describes measures of relief he brought to the inhabitants of the city, and tells how he returned a number of images of gods, which Nabonidus had collected in Babylon, to their proper temples throughout Mesopotamia and western Iran. At the same time he arranged for the restoration of these temples, and organized the return to their homelands of a number of people who had been held in Babylonia by the Babylonian kings. Although the Jews are not mentioned in this document, their return to Palestine following their deportation by Nebuchadnezzar II, was part of this policy. The British Museum Online

9. The Cyrus Cylinder “Free Iran” gifts and activisits wear. Fighting for a free, secular, and just Iran.

10. A brief history • 586 B.C. – Jerusalem is destroyed by Nebuchadnezzer. Jews are caried off into the Babylonian captivity. • 539 B.C. Cyrus conquers Babylon, Cyrus Cylinder • 538 B.C. – Cyrus issues decree that allows the Jews to return to Jerusalem

11. Ezra 1:1-2 In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah, the LORD moved the heart of Cyrus king of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his realm and to put it in writing:

12. Ezra 1:1-2 "This is what Cyrus king of Persia says: "'The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah.

13. Daniel 6:8 Now, O king, issue the decree and put it in writing so that it cannot be altered-- in accordance with the laws of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be repealed."

14. Daniel 6:12 "Did you not publish a decree that during the next thirty days anyone who prays to any god or man except to you, O king, would be thrown into the lions' den?" The king answered, "The decree stands, which cannot be repealed."

15. Daniel 6:15 Then the men went as a group to the king and said to him, "Remember, O king, that according to the law of the Medes and Persians no decree or edict that the king issues can be changed."