Purim: Festival of Lots
When
Purim is a one-day holiday (from sundown to sundown), typically in late February or early March.
(Evening of March 23rd to Evening of March 24th, 2024)
Scriptural Reference
“And Mordecai recorded these things and sent letters to all the Jews who were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near and far, obliging them to keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar and also the fifteenth day of the same, year by year, as the days on which the Jews got relief from their enemies, and as the month that had been turned for them from sorrow into gladness and from mourning into a holiday; that they should make their days of feasting and gladness, days for sending gifts of food to one another and gifts to the poor.
So the Jews accepted what they had started to do, and what Mordecai had written to them. For Haman the Agagite, the son of Hammedatha, the enemy of all the Jews, had plotted against the Jews to destroy them, and had cast Pur (that is, cast lots), to crush and to destroy them. But when it came before the king, he gave orders in writing that his evil plan that he had devised against the Jews should return on his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows. Therefore they called these days Purim, after the term Pur. Therefore, because of all that was written in this letter, and of what they had faced in this matter, and of what had happened to them, the Jews firmly obligated themselves and their offspring and all who joined them, that without fail they would keep these two days according to what was written and at the time appointed every year, that these days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation, in every clan, province, and city, and that these days of Purim should never fall into disuse among the Jews, nor should the commemoration of these days cease among their descendants.” (Esther 9:20-28)
History
While some Jews had returned to Jerusalem after the 70 year period of exile from 586-516 BC, others - including Jewish leader Mordecai and his cousin Esther - remained as a marginalized minority in another nation. In this case, their particular residence was the city of Susa, one of the capitals within the Persian Empire.
As a people of lower social class with their own God and cultural practices, the nature of the Jew’s marginalization was inherently prejudicial and hostile, and - during the reign of King Ahasuerus (better known as Xerxes I) from 486-464 BC - certain threats escalated even further. In his appointed court, the king promoted Haman the Agagite as an official of his thrown. Being an Agagite meant Haman was a descendent of Agag, a past king of the Amalekites - a nation we see throughout the Scriptures as a major enemy of the Israelites. Agag specifically experienced a great defeat by King Saul several centuries prior and was eventually killed by the Prophet Samuel, a story that likely echoed in the mind of Haman as he sought to deal harshly with the Jewish exiles, not to mention the insubordinate Mordecai who refused to “bow down or pay homage” to him (Esther 3:2).
As the story goes, Haman informed King Ahasuerus that “There is a certain people (i.e. the Jews) scattered abroad and dispersed among the people in all the provinces of your kingdom. Their laws are different from those of every other people, and they do not keep the king’s laws, so that it is not to the king’s profit to tolerate them. If it please the king, let it be decreed that they be destroyed” (Esther 3:8-9).
Not long after, “Letters were sent by couriers to all the king’s provinces with instruction to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate all Jews, young and old, women and children, in one day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar, and to plunder their goods” (Esther 3:13).
Esther - the newly chosen queen of King Ahasuerus - caught wind of this conspiracy and found herself in a situation where only she had the power and influence to make an appeal before the king. God chose this woman of great faith, leadership, and courage - bringing her “to the kingdom for such a time as this” (Esther 4:14) - to stand in the gap for the children of Israel before the king.
The king relented and had Haman killed, and he signed a new edict supporting the Israelite population, particularly in defending themselves should it become necessary. Not only did the Jews go untouched, but the opposite came to fruition as the Israelites ended up overthrowing all that fell under Haman’s rule, as well as the rule of Haman’s ten sons. By the end of this epoch, Mordecai had risen to second in rank, only to King Ahasuerus himself, and - displayed in the text itself - we see this day as divinely established as an annual holiday among the people to remember the miraculous relief and protection of God.
Purpose
The story of Purim presents sage-like poetic irony when considering the names of the two primary Jewish protagonists: Esther and Mordecai. Both of their names find their origin in Babylonian religion, as these would not have been their true Hebrew names, but rather names that would have been imposed onto them through Persian assimilation.
The name Esther is derived from the name “Ishtar,” who was the goddess of love, beauty, sex, political power, justice, and war, and Mordecai is rooted in the name “Marduk,” the patron god of Babylon known for slaying the mighty monster, Tiamat, in the ancient Mesopotamian creation story. Per the ancient poem, known as the Enuma Elish, Marduk became the lord of all the gods as his conquering of Tiamat led to the existence of all things; thus, all of creation is indebted to his divine supremacy.
I point out the irony in their names because here we see Esther (whose real name was Hadassah) - a Jewish outsider uncommitted to the gods of the local land of her exile - rising to power through her embodiment of justice and beauty, like that of a portrayal of Ishtar. Likewise, her cousin Mordecai appears defiant to the royal rule of a pagan people that likely worshipped Marduk, yet as a primary leader of the overthrown Israelites, he became one of the most powerful officials in all of Persia.
The purpose of the Festival of Lots is wrapped in this reality that our God is greater than all other gods; that even when snares are set, plots are planned, and nationwide genocide has been legislated, the God of Israel remains sovereign, powerful, and unfazed. The Lord outdoes all others, even at their own games.
Because of this, Purim is set aside as a space to remember this miracle of deliverance and testify of the wonders of God. We take part in festive feasting, realizing that the fasting of desperation that Esther had called for among the Israelites has been met with the lavish provision of God. It’s a day of dancing atop foiled enemy schemes, of echoing awe and merriment that stifles the sounds of injustice. For centuries now, this celebration has also included dressing up in costumes and masquerades, symbolically representing the way in which God was working - even when he was unseen - for the good of his people, as well as how Esther’s true spiritual and ethnic identity was concealed from the king until the moment she protested Haman’s decree.
But, in the thick of sumptuous gathering and play, the day is not a kind of heavenly authorized practice of indulgence. Core to this celebration is a remembrance of the poor, marginalized, and sojourner, for such was the state of God’s people in Persia. During Purim, we are invited to give money and food to the poor - not at a distance, but in nearness. As we see the symbolism of Esther and Mordecai building bridges with the king from inside his home, so too is it only possible to truly serve the poor in the context of spaces of mutuality and equality - in homes, around tables, over meals, through relationship.
Fulfillment
While the Gospel accounts do not explicitly reference Purim - or Yeshua’s celebration of Purim - some have made the argument that this was the feast referenced regarding Yeshua’s presence in Jerusalem in John 5, stating: “After this (his healing of an official’s son in Cana) there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem…[and] that day was the Sabbath” (John 5:1, 9). These transitional lines carry us into the story of Yeshua healing the man with leg paralysis at the pool of Bethesda on the Sabbath.
As some scholarly sources have noted in their research of this period in time, the only feast to fall on a Sabbath between 25-35AD - a time range generally accepted as capturing much of Yeshua’s ministry - was Purim in the year 28AD.
If we run with this logic, let’s consider the potential interplay of the story. The pool of Bethesda finds its origins in Hellenism - a Greek-influenced Judaism that embraced many of the religious beliefs and practices of the Greek empire. One of their gods was Asklepion, the god of healing. Across the empire - including Jerusalem - the Greeks built these “healing pools” where they believed Asklepion would come, stir the waters with his celestial serpents, and heal people.
But Yeshua was arriving as the one true God and healer. Just as Esther and Mordecai embodied the characteristics of the gods whose names were proclaimed over them, Yeshua - in the nominal domain of Asklepion - proved himself as the ultimate healer, while healing in the name of his Father, YHWH.
His miracle-working was received contemptuously by the Jewish leaders observing him at the pool, which led into the very next passage of the text: Yeshua implying his own divinity.
“Jesus answered them, ’My Father is working until now, and I am working.’ This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.” (John 5:17-18)
These statements were being made amidst a Jewish people hard-pressed under the rulership of Rome. Just as the Israelites needed the advocacy and intervention of a leader to provide them providential protection from the Persian empire, so too was Yeshua here to extend a mighty and miraculous hand to his people once more. His presence was a declaration to all other powers that none could compare to him; God had come to make himself known as the eternal ambassador of his Kingdom among his children.
As believers in Yeshua, Purim is a space to recount the wonders particular to our story, both individually and collectively. We remember moments of extravagant goodness and perfectly-timed acts of salvation - instances where justice and mercy had the final laugh. We are reassured that even in the thick of night terrors, our life-blood is already filled with eternity, for “this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” (John 17:3).
On this day, we have confidence that the lots have been casted favorably among us as our Sovereign God reminds us of his wise and sovereign rule.
Bible passages
Read the book of Esther
Exodus 17:8-16 (Purim reading) - Israel defeats the Amalekites, tribe of Haman
Needs for Purim:
Masquerade Masks or Costumes
Light-hearted Card & Board Games
A Bible (for the reading of Esther)
Other items may be necessary depending on selected activities
Modern Liturgical Adaptation
Opening Evening at Sundown
Masquerade/ Costume Party and Game Night
(All wearing masks or dressed in costume)
Matriarch, or Household Leader (lights the candle(s) at sundown):
Blessed are you O Lord, our God, King of the Universe, who is ever working and ever present. We bless you for this Purim celebration. You are our light and our salvation, our joy and our delight.
Leader:
Elohim, today we gather to recall your miracles and wonders - to testify of your good deeds.
When accused and deceived by the Serpent, you clothed Adam and Eve.
When flood waters came, you guided Noah’s family through the storms.
When brought away from the land of Ur, you established Abraham in the land of Canaan.
When barren and old in age, you gave Isaac as a son.
When ready to make a sacrifice, you provided Abraham with a ram to take Isaac’s place.
When relational rupture had occurred, you reconciled Jacob and Esau.
When brought near death multiple times, you mercifully spared Joseph.
When famine struck, you made an Egyptian home for the household of Jacob.
When Pharaoh’s oppression overtook the Israelites, you used Moses to bring liberation.
When cornered by the Red Sea, you split the waters and swallowed up enemy chariots.
When wandering in the wilderness, you gave manna, water, and your holy mitzvahs.
When nations opposed your chosen people, you led Joshua into the land of milk and honey.
When your children needed direction, you gave them judges and prophets.
When they sought kings, you gave them Saul, David, and Solomon.
When Israel had forsaken your ways, you preserved them - even in exile.
And when a remnant remained in Persia, you used Esther and Mordecai to deliver your people.
O Lord, you are faithful and kind,
Abounding in steadfast love and mercy.
You make ways where there are no ways.
Is there anything you cannot do?
Call to mind with specificity the many great deeds you have performed in our lives.
Fill us with praise and admiration.
Align our bodies, minds, and spirits to behold the fullness of your glory on display.
May we never lose the awe and wonder of your movement among us.
As we come together in masks and costumes, inspire our hearts with the knowledge that even when we don’t recognize your activity and involvement, you are at work.
Fill us with the faith and trust required to live our lives knowing you are not far off, but near - constantly intervening on our behalf.
Help us believe in your miracles again.
Fill us with a holy imagination for the creative and sensational works of your Holy Spirit - around us, in us, and through us.
Make us vessels of generosity and justice.
Like Esther, might we stand on behalf of those most oppressed and impoverished by the empires of man.
Tonight, fill us with laughter and light hearts,
Perplexity and rejoicing,
Good fun and connection with those around us.
Amen.
[Consider Singing or Playing a Song of Praise]
[Dinner]
Possible Discussion Questions During Dinner
What stories come to mind of God making a way for you where there wasn’t a way?
What does celebration look like for you? Describe how it feels.
What is your relationship like with the Holy Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit? Where might childlike curiosity replace cynicism, frustration, or doubt?
How can hopeful imagination encourage your soul when you’re having a hard time seeing God?
What ways might God be inviting you to be with and advocate for the poor, marginalized, and oppressed?
Prayer after Meal
[V'al Hanissim Prayer]
[We thank You, Lord] for the miracles, for the redemption, for the mighty deeds, for the saving acts, and for the wonders which You have wrought for our ancestors in those days, at this time.
Amen.
[Read Story of Esther - 20-30mins]
[Festive Game Night]
Morning
Start your day with Lectio Divina prayer using a Scripture passage reflecting on the wonders and miraculous deeds of God.
During this prayer time, consider making a list (on a piece of paper, a phone, or in a journal) of all the memories and stories that come to mind of God providing for you.
Read Psalm 105
Other example texts: Psalm 9, Psalm 40, Psalm 66, Psalm 92, Psalm 111
After concluding your prayer time, if you haven’t already, take a moment to choose your activities for the day (see list of activities on the next page)
Afternoon
Enjoy your day of awe, storytelling, generosity, and play!!
Closing Evening at Sundown
Matriarch, or Household Leader (lights the candle(s) at sundown):
Blessed are you O Lord, our God, King of the Universe. You are our light and our salvation, our joy and our delight.
Leader:
Elohim, we thank you for this day of Purim. As we bring our time of celebration to a close, may we ever carry your joy with us. Teach us to behold your deeds, to walk in the knowledge of your supernatural power, to be a people of abundant justice and compassion, and to have eyes to see how you are working among us. You are a good and faithful King. Amen.
(Possible Closing Discussion Questions)
Recap the day. What all did we do?
How did we experience God in awe, storytelling, miracles, and generosity?
What did we learn?
What felt challenging?
How might we align our lives to celebrate wonders of God?
Pick one to three activities from the following list to enter into the spirit of Purim:
Take time to give to and spend time with the poor
Make a fun dish or goodie and have a food exchange with friends
Provide a meal for a shelter or family in need
Dress up in costumes and give out candy
Share stories and testimonies of what you’ve seen God do in your life
Do a craft, like making paper crowns or masks
Make homemade Hamentashen cookies
Read or watch a fairytale story
Play a game of Hide and Seek