Good morning and welcome in to Mishkan Katan! This morning, we are finishing up our study of the Book of Esther. I hope you have enjoyed this study as much as I have.
By the way, how is your Chanukah going? Ours has been a tremendous blessing! I’ve had the absolute JOY of meditating on this season of light, this time of the Mashiach’s conception, while fellowshipping with both Jewish and Christian and Messianic friends all the while.
Allright, into chapter 9 we go. This morning, I am going to be using the NASB 1995. Between chapters 8, for the most part, and 9, several months have passed. It is now the last month of the biblical calendar year, the month of Adar.
1On the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar,a the king’s command and edict were to be executed. On this day the enemies of the Jews had hoped to overpower them, but their plan was overturned and the Jews overpowered those who hated them. 2In each of the provinces of King Xerxes, the Jews assembled in their cities to attack those who sought to harm them. No man could withstand them, because the fear of them had fallen upon all peoples.
I have to admit chortling a bit at the NASB’s use of the verb “executed”in verse one. TOO punny, would not you say?
In verse one, in the Hebrew, we have two different words describing the Jews’ “opponents”, shall we say. The first word, translated “enemies” is “oh-yeh-BAI" and the second word, translated here as “those who hated them” and elsewhere as “adversaries” is “beh-soh-neh-HEM". The first word is stronger than the second. The Megillah of Esther, the Jewish commentary, says about the Hebrew that the first word describes someone who wishes harm on you because they dislike you, and they openly express their hatred. But, the second word describes someone who rejoices at the evil that has befallen you, even though he did not inflict it personally; in this case, the hatred is concealed. (Ahhh, the theme of concealment in this book “strikes again”!) This second noun reminds me of how the Muslim Palestinian people, the majority of them, rejoice in the streets of their territories, singing, dancing and handing out candies to each other, when there has been a slaughter of Jews. Such evil!
Earlier this week, I was talking with a friend who has entered into a romantic relationship with a man she has known casually for several decades. The two of them share a mutual acquaintance in a woman they have both known as long as they have known each other. I don’t call this other acquaintance a friend, because she is not. She desperately wants the man for herself, and is doing everything within her power to frustrate this new romance. She is, in the Hebrew, a “sah-neh-AH", the feminine form of the Hebrew noun, although “supposedly” these three have been “friends?” for years....
The enemy you know, versus the enemy you don’t know...
This translation, in verse 2, names the king Xerxes. Remember that this is his Greek name, with the Hebrew being Achashverosh, the English being Ahasuerus, etc.
We talked about this last week, how many of the Persian people “converted” out of fear of what the Jews might do to them. The sages have questioned whether or not such conversions were genuine, but only Father Yahweh can judge that. What are those called these days? “Deathbed conversions”?
Verse two says that the non-Jews were unable to withstand the Jews, because of fear. It was a divine fear that God had sent upon them. Make no mistake that this victory had divine origins. More evidence of the Mighty hand of Yahweh, moving all through the Book of Esther, in spite of the fact that His name never appears in writing there.
Verses 3 and 4:
3And all the officials of the provinces, the satraps, the governors, and the king’s administrators helped the Jews, because the fear of Mordecai had fallen upon them. 4For Mordecai exercised great power in the palace, and his fame spread throughout the provinces as he became more and more powerful.
Mordecai had been made essentially what we would call the Prime Minister, if you think about the country of England today as a parallel to what was afoot in Persia. Mordecai was a very powerful man, whose power had increased greatly in the months between Nisan and Adar of that year. The common people did not have any direct dealings with Mordecai. But, the governmental leaders did, and they did not want to “get on his bad side” at all. The non-Jewish people did not love the Jews, but they had a healthy respect for them, because of Mordecai, not even so much because of Esther, but because of Mordecai.
5The Jews put all their enemies to the sword, killing and destroying them, and they did as they pleased to those who hated them.
Some of the sages assert that it was those who openly expressed their hatred of the Jews who were slain, and that those who merely harbored it in their hearts escaped that fate. How does one determine if someone harbors hatred in his or her heart, after all?
What does “did as they pleased” mean? Again, the prevailing opinion is these “suspects” were humiliated.
6In the citadel of Susa, the Jews killed and destroyed five hundred men, 7including Parshandatha, Dalphon, Aspatha, 8Poratha, Adalia, Aridatha, 9Parmashta, Arisai, Aridai, and Vaizatha. 10They killed these ten sons of Haman son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews, but they did not lay a hand on the plunder.
Susa and Shushan are the same city, the capital of the Persian Empire. Does it not strike you as a little weird that these 10 sons of Haman were named individually? Well, it will get even stranger in a moment. I want you to imagine the Prime Minister of England had 10 sons. And, one was governor over the area of the country called Yorkshire, another was over the area called Greater London, a third was the governor over East Anglia and so forth. Now, imagine that the government has underwent a huge coup, where the PM was hanged, and the governors of these 9 regions of England were hanged a few months later. The reason these 10 sons of Haman were named individually is because all 10 of them were very prominent men in the Persian government. If you will recall from an earlier teaching, concerning verse 14 of chapter 5, the commentary states that one of these sons, Parshandatha, the governor over the Mt. Ararat area, had the 50-foot beam sent to Haman so that he could construct the gallows with it. Note that his name is mentioned first.
I said it gets stranger; so, here goes. If you look in the actual Hebrew scrolls and how the scribes penned these verses, it is very visually expressive. I’m going to describe it to you and then show you a picture to illustrate what I’m talking about.
First of all, I want you to envision what a tent peg looks like. It’s a long, usually metal stake, with a short handle, shall we say, on the top. Sort of like this: (draw one). It also looks a little bit like a gallows, doesn’t it? Interestingly, the sixth letter of the Hebrew alphabet looks exactly like this. The letter is called the “vav”, or some pronounce it “waw”. It is often attached to the beginning of a longer Hebrew word. When that happens, the letter is translated as our English word “and”.
Now, look at the illustration of roughly what you see in a Hebrew scroll. {Show book}
Do you see all the vavs? Remember that Hebrew is read from right to left. Each vav is attached to an “ayt”, which just means a noun used as a direct object (in this case the proper names of Haman’s 10 sons) are going to follow. The “ayt” is not translated.
So, you see, the scribes were giving us a visual of each son “hanging” from his very own “vav”. Isn’t that extraordinary?!
Now, the very end of this verse contains extremely important information. If you hearken back to chapter 8, the decree that Mordecai and Esther crafted matched Haman’s in intensity of content. Whereas Haman’s decree had ordered the plundering of the possessions of all the Jews, Mordecai’s decree seemingly permitted the plundering of the possessions of all the ENEMIES of the Jews. However, while the Scripture tells us that none of them took ANY of the spoils of war, the commentary goes on to elaborate, saying that the riches went into the royal treasury of the king for two reasons: 1) to pacify him and 2) to demonstrate that financial considerations played no part in the Jews’ selection of whom they killed.
But, there was something much more powerful at work here. Way back at the beginning of the study, I taught you that Haman was descended from the kingly line of the Amalekites, the arch-enemy of the Jews, and that Mordecai was descended from the tribe of Benjamin, specifically from the kingly line of King Saul. One of the most significant layers, may I remind you, of the Esther story, is that Mordecai is praised because he “UNDID” the error of his ancestor, Saul.
When Saul was commanded by Father Yahweh to go and completely wipe out the Amalekites, he did not do so (1 Samuel 15). Father Yah had also told Saul to allow the people to take NO spoils from that battle. What did Saul do? In his sub-par leadership, he spared the king, who sired a son before Samuel slayed him (King Agag). And, the sages say it was this son who was the ancestor of Haman. Furthermore, he allowed the people to take spoils of war! Had Saul fully obeyed God, instead of thinking he knew better than God, the story of Esther would have never happened at all! This “undoing” remedied the sin of Israel’s first king; that sin was atoned for.
How difficult it must have been for poor Jews to restrain themselves from the lure of these riches! But, they honored God in their victory over their enemies, because they recognized what a miracle it was. Since that time, the Jewish people have had a heart for the poor and have generously given “mah-tah-NOTE lah-ev-yoh-NEEM" (gifts to the poor).
All is well, yes? No. Not quite. Look at verse 11.
11On that day the number of those killed in the citadel of Susa was reported to the king,
Sometimes, “the early bird gets the worm”. Have you ever known anyone who loves to share a bit of news with others and be the first to do it? Why is that? Well, for the recognition of it, for one thing, but also because if you are the first to share a bit of news, you can “frame it” to your own liking. Shades of meaning are powerful. I’ll give you an example from my earlier anecdote about my friend with the new beau and that other woman who is an “adversary”. Last weekend, my friend had a party for a loved one who was having a “big” birthday, one of those that ends in zero. She invited lots of people, including the financial advisor of the honoree. This financial advisor just happens to be a single man, who has been a friend of the family for decades. The woman adversary could not wait to call the beau of my friend and make insinuations as to this single man’s intentions toward my friend. Disgusting.
And, that is what we see happening here. Eager beavers were, that same day, Adar 13, reporting the number of those non-Jews killed, to the king. Sigh! What a trifling lot. At any rate, look at what the king says and does.
First of all, though, what could he have done? He could have had a knee-jerk reaction and said, “Stop this! Stop this immediately!” (Decree or no decree, he would have found a way, no doubt.). And, had he taken this action, what would have been the result? The war was barely 24 hours old at this point, at most! Had the king effectively withdrawn his support for the Jews, while skirmishes were still taking place throughout the empire, would have brought out of the weeds ALL the Jew-haters who had been hanging back. A third kingly decree in line with Haman’s would have meant the end of the Jews, for sure. Thank Yah the king did not choose this path!
Instead, (and I hear Ricky Ricardo in my head, hollering Luuuuuuuuuuucyyyyyyyy!) the king reached out to the Queen and shared the news with her. Vs. 12
12who said to Queen Esther, “In the citadel of Susa the Jews have killed and destroyed five hundred men, including Haman’s ten sons. What have they done in the rest of the royal provinces? Now what is your petition? It will be given to you. And what further do you request? It will be fulfilled.”
I don’t know if you picked up on this or not, but the king’s former promises to give Esther “up to half my kingdom” are not present in this verse. It sounds like the king’s support of Esther is beginning to lag a bit. His words have some ominous overtones, along the lines of “what more do you WANT?” Not only have the Jews killed 500 men, but they have “killed and destroyed”, and furthermore, he expresses his worry about what could be happening in the other 126 provinces of the vast kingdom. I believe he asked these questions, believing she would acquiesce and allow him to end this ethnic war. He did not need her permission, but to his credit he did ask for it. He knew this was “her fight”.
Esther, for her part, knew she was on the shakiest of ground. She knew there were limits to how far she could press this extremely powerful, somewhat mercurial man. So, she treaded carefully, in her response. She asked for only two small things, neither of which was in Mordecai’s decree:
Vs. 13
13Esther replied, “If it pleases the king, may the Jews in Susa also have tomorrow to carry out today’s edict, and may the bodies of Haman’s ten sons be hanged on the gallows.”
Let’s examine each of these. Esther asks the king for one more day for the Jews to continue their godly work. It may seem strange to refer to it as that, but that is what it was. “What difference does a day make?”, you might ask. Well, perception is a very powerful thing. The Persian population at large, nor did the Jews, know that the king would grant them just one more day. For all they knew, this could continue indefinitely. As it turns out, one additional day was enough, baruch Hashem! (Baruch Hashem is Hebrew for “Bless the Name!” or “Bless God!”)
The second thing she requested was that the bodies of Haman’s 10 sons be hanged on the gallows. Now, they were already dead, right? They had been killed in verses 7-10. The Scriptures do not tell us how they died, but we can presume they were not hanged. Their bodies were lurking about, somewhere in the city, though, and it was due to this fact that Esther asked those bodies be rounded up and hanged. Why does she request this? It is the final act in hers and Mordecai’s grand bluff - - that the king was fully on the side of the Jews in all this mayhem. The 10 bodies of the Jews’ greatest enemies, swinging in the wind, would be a powerful statement to all who saw or heard of this that the Jews had won the day, and must not be challenged further.
Vs. 14 and 15
14So the king commanded that this be done. An edict was issued in Susa, and they hanged the ten sons of Haman. 15On the fourteenth day of the month of Adar, the Jews in Susa came together again and put to death three hundred men there, but they did not lay a hand on the plunder.
And, so, like Jean Luc Picard, who was fond of saying, “Make it so!”, the king issued a decree that enabled the Jews in Shushan to “finish the job” and to “finish well”. The whole military campaign lasted two days in the capital city. On the second day, 300 more men were put to death, and again, to show they had no mercenary interests, no plunder was taken.
Humane warfare is a distinctly Jewish concept. Have the Jews always operatec flawlessly, throughout their entire history as a people group? No. But, more often than not, they have acted humanely in warfare. I saw a graph this week that showed the number of civilian deaths per air strike in 21st century global conflicts. The global average was 4.5 deaths. In Operation Iron Swords, the name for the current conflict, the average was less than one death per airstrike, the lowest for any conflict or war this century. This is a pattern that has held true as long as the nation of Israel has been a modern nation, since 1948. So much for the “genocide” in Gaza....
Speaking of iron swords, there was a dramatic archeological find earlier this year, in a cave in the Judean desert. Four ancient, well-preserved swords, formerly belonging to Jewish rebels, during the Jewish Wars of the first century CE, were discovered when an archeologist stuck his hand into a hole in a hidden chamber. Wow, what about that! I’m the next time we are able to be in Israel, we will see these on display at the Israel Museum.
Verses 16-19 tell us what happened outside Shushan and the capital, in the further out provinces. In those areas, the battle was finished on the 13th of Adar. It did not take an extra day in those regions, as it did in the capital city.
16Now the rest of the Jews who were in the king’s provinces assembled, to defend their lives and [f]rid themselves of their enemies, and to kill seventy-five thousand of those who hated them; but they did not lay their hands on the plunder. 17This was done on the thirteenth day of the month Adar, and on the fourteenth [g]day they rested and made it a day of feasting and rejoicing. 18But the Jews who were in Susa assembled on the thirteenth and the fourteenth [h]of the same month, and they rested on the fifteenth [i]day and made it a day of feasting and rejoicing.
I guess I had never read these verses very carefully, and/or knew little about Purim. I had not wondered why it is today celebrated on the 14th and 15th of Adar, a two-day festival. The preceding verses explain this quite well. On Adar 14, while the outer provinces were celebrating their victory over 75,000 enemies, the Jews of the capital city of Shushan were still fighting. The city dwelling Jews did not celebrate until the 15th. Therefore, Purim is always marked on either the 14th and 15th of Adar, for this reason. In the early days of its celebration, the unwalled areas celebrated on the 14th and the walled cities celebrated on the 15th, which came to be known as Shushan Purim. Of course, a complicating factor was and is that it is difficult to determine which area was a walled city in the days of Joshua, a rabbinical standard that was adopted after the first few years. So, for all practical purposes, Purim is celebrated on the 14th by observant Jews and observant followers of Yeshua, except for Jerusalem, which celebrates on the 15th because it was awarded special status. Several other ancient cities in Israel celebrate on both the 14th AND the 15th.
We don’t have to wonder how the Esther story was commemorated. It’s plain in verse 19, which says this mo’ed (special time appointed by Father Yah) was “an occasion of gladness, feasting, and festival, and for sending delicacies to one another.” (JPS Tanakh), much as it is today.
And, you would think that this would be the point where the curtain would come down, with a huge “The End” sign dropping down from the ceiling, much as decades ago occurred at the end of the Looney Tunes cartoons, right? Except that is not what happens! The Megillah, the story, seems to meander along some more, for another 12 to 15 verses, telling us in large part what we think we already know...about The Queen You Thought You Knew...
Why IS that?
In the time we have left, let’s go through these verse pretty in a rather straightforward manner, with a minimum of commentary. Then, I want to end today’s session by showing you another example of what Rabbi David Fohrman calls “parallel texts” that you may find a little astounding.
Nes Gadol Haya Sham (a great miracle happened there)
First, indulge me a little seque. Ever played the dreidel game? A dreidel is a square spinning top with a Hebrew letter on each of the four sides. Outside of Israel, the letters are: × (Nun), ×’ (Gimmel), ×” (Hay) and ש (Shin). These are the beginning letters of the four-word Hebrew phrase “Nes Gadol Haya Sham”, meaning, “A great miracle happened there“. In Israel, the dreidels have : × (Nun), ×’ (Gimmel), ×” (Hay) and פ (Pey), the initials of the Hebrew phrase, “Nes Gadol Haya Po”. It means “A great miracle happened here.”
May we never forget that we serve a God resplendent in mind-blowing miracles!
Verses 20-23
20Then Mordecai recorded these events, and he sent letters to all the Jews who were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near and far, 21obliging them to celebrate the fourteenth day of the month Adar, and the fifteenth day [k]of the same month, annually, 22because on those days the Jews [l]rid themselves of their enemies, and it was a month which was turned for them from grief into joy, and from mourning into a [m]holiday; that they were to make them days of feasting and rejoicing, and sending portions of food to one another, and gifts to the poor.
23So the Jews undertook what they had started to do, and what Mordecai had written to them.
The gist here is that Mordecai made sure that these events were recorded for posterity as well as making sure that all Jews even up to and through the time of the Mashiach would celebrate Purim. I don’t think it is possible for most of us truly grasp the significance of what these Jews felt. If you or I have never felt a national deliverance this extreme, it’s hard for us to relate fully to the level of celebration these Yehudim (Jews) of Persia experienced.
Today, in the war called Iron Swords, the very existence of the nation of Israel is being threatened in very real ways. Once Israel wins this war, and she will, today’s Jewish citizens of Israel, as well as those Arab Christians, protestant Christians, all those citizens on Israel’s side of this horrible war, will celebrate in a fashion reminiscent of Purim.
Even the wholesale deliverance of his people though, may not have been the entire reason Mordecai and Esther wanted these events to be celebrated annually, down through the ages. The question we need to ask and ruminate on for a bit is what else could have been motivating Mordecai? While you think on that, verses 24-28 are plopped down here to remind us why the holiday began to be called Purim.
24For Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the adversary of all the Jews, had schemed against the Jews to eliminate them, and had cast Pur, that is the lot, to disturb them and eliminate them. 25But when it came [n]to the king’s attention, he commanded by letter that his wicked scheme which he had devised against the Jews was to return on his own head, and that he and his sons were to be hanged on the wooden gallows. 26Therefore they called these days Purim after the name of [o]Pur. [p]And because of the instructions in this letter, both what they had seen in this regard and what had happened to them, 27the Jews established and [q]made a custom for themselves, their [r]descendants, and for all those who allied themselves with them, so that [s]they would not fail to celebrate these two days according to their [t]regulation and according to their appointed time annually. 28So these days were to be remembered and celebrated throughout every generation, every family, every province, and every city; and these days of Purim were not to [u]be neglected by the Jews, or their memory [v]fade from their [w]descendants.
In a previous lesson, https://resplendentdaughter.blogspot.com/2023/11/esther-v-2023-11-01-ch-2-vs-20-thru-3.html , I skipped ahead to these verses and taught extensively as to why the celebration/commemoration perhaps came to be called Purim, and I see no need to go over that again, since you can go to my blog and read about that.
Let me finish up this teaching segment with some thoughts on a couple of what you might call parallel texts. Or, as Rabbi Fohrman likes to call it, “Where have we heard that before?”
Think back to when Esther, in chapter 8, verses 5-6, made a plaintive, heartfelt appeal to the king. She asked “How could I possibly stand by and watch the terrible fate that befalls my people?” (bera asher yimtza et ami) With the exception of one word, these words are a direct quote from another biblical character in the book of Genesis. She is almost directly quoting Judah, the fourth son of Jacob, who is appealing to the Egyptian regent (unbeknownst to him his brother, Joseph) concerning the fate of his youngest brother, Benjamin. Look at what Judah says, in Genesis 44:34 “How could I bear to see the terrible fate that befalls my father?” (bera asher yimtza et avi)
And, she does this not once, but twice does she quote from the Genesis story involving young Benjamin. But, this time she repeats words spoke by Jacob. Esther 4:16 - - “If I am lost, then so be it; I am lost.” (ka’asher avadeti, avadeti) Jacob in 43:14, speaking of letting Benjamin go with his brothers to Egypt - - if I am to lose Benjamin, then so be it; I shall lose him. Veka'asher avadeti, avadeti”
Is this a mere coincidence? No, there are deeper meanings that connect the Jacob, Judah and Benjamin story with the Esther story. When we find these types of repetitions in the Bible, it is trying to let us know that if you want to fully understand what is going on over here, you need to first understand what is going on over there. In other words, you need to interpret the second story in light of the prior story.
Joseph and Benjamin were the most beloved sons of Jacob. After Joseph disappears, supposedly devoured by a wild animal, Jacob is especially protective of Benjamin. Benjamin and Joseph’s mother, Rachel, had died giving birth to her younger son, Benjamin, which made him even more precious to Jacob. Essentially, Benjamin was Jacob’s last tie to Rachel. Judah, when Benjamin was discovered to have stolen a golden goblet from Egypt (which was a ruse - - it did not happen that way at all), Judah could have, like the other brothers, just cut their losses and given up on Benjamin, who after all, appeared to be quite guilty. Instead, he makes a heartfelt plea to the Egyptian officer, much as Esther did to the king.
Judah was the son of Leah, Rachel’s rival, the son of the less-loved wife. He is not only willing to accept his father’s greater love for his brother Benjamin, he is willing to sacrifice greatly to see that Benjamin is returned safely to Jacob. In the book of John, we are told that “greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friend.” (John 15:13). In this sacrificial act, Judah is foreshadowing the sacrificial love of his descendant, Yeshua HaMashiach, who did indeed lay down his life for his friends. Judah, offering himself in the place of Benjamin. In response, the Egyptian official who heard Judah’s heartfelt offer, was so touched that he broke down in tears, revealing himself to be none other than the missing brother, Joseph.
As the family of Jacob grew down through the centuries, each tribe developed its own identity, characteristics, and tribal loyalty. Without Judah, there may not have been a tribe of Benjamin.
Now, return to Esther and Mordecai and you will understand why Esther was quoting from Genesis 43 and 44. Esther and Mordecai were from which tribe, descendants from which of Jacob’s sons. Yes, they were benai Yemini, children of Benjamin, members of the tribe of Benjamin. And, it was through Mordecai and Esther that the tribe of Benjamin’s debt to the tribe of Judah was repaid, centuries later. To quote Rabbi Fohrman, “Judah’s healing words once again find an echo. Esther risks all for the children of Leah, and Judah’s heroic act is knowingly reciprocated. The long arc of a circle has finally been closed.”
Chapter 9 closes with these words:
29Then Queen Esther, daughter of Abihail, with Mordecai the Jew, wrote with full authority to confirm this second letter about Purim. 30He sent letters to all the Jews, to the 127 provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus, namely, words of peace and truth, 31to establish these days of Purim at their appointed times, just as Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther had established for them, and just as they had established for themselves and for their [x]descendants, with [y]instructions for their times of fasting and their mourning. 32The command of Esther established these [z]customs for Purim, and it was written in the book.
And finally, one of the shortest chapters in the Bible, Esther 10:1-3. (Psalm 117 is shorter - - only two verses!)
1Now King Xerxes imposed tribute throughout the land, even to its farthest shores.
2And all of Mordecai’s powerful and magnificent accomplishments, together with the full account of the greatness to which the king had raised him, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Media and Persia? 3For Mordecai the Jew was second only to King Xerxes, preeminent among the Jews and highly favored by his many kinsmen, seeking the good of his people and speaking peace to all his countrymen.
Note that we are told Mordecai, in his letters, wrote “words of peace and truth”. More healing words. When did the schism between the sons of Leah and the sons of Rachel begin? It began when Jacob made Joseph his favorite sons of Rachel, his deputy, to his other brothers, the children of Leah. Genesis 37:4 says this: ”And the brothers of Joseph hated him, and could not speak peacefully to him.” This son of Rachel went on to become second in command to the king of Egypt.
Again, we read in Esther 10, vs 3: “and he spoke peacefully to all his children”, speaking of Mordecai. The reversal, the healing, another echo occurred here: Mordecai, a child of Rachel, is also a deputy, vice regent to the king of the most powerful kingdom in the world, chose to “speak peace” to all the tribes, to both sides of the family.
Anti-Semitism is a demonic spirit, and while I don’t think any of my listeners and chaverim would knowingly align themselves with this worldview, we need to be warned to be vigilant in resisting it. I have, like many of you, been appalled at the attitudes expressed toward the Jews in recent months, all over the world.
Similarly, today, we have two sides of the Bride, of the family, when it comes to Messianics and Christians. Both worship Father Yahweh and His Mashiach, His Son, Yeshua. But, we don’t always speak healing words about or to each other. Because the Church does not do everything according to Torah, because she has been tainted by corruption and paganism that crept in via the Greek way of life and the “church fathers”, some Messianics revile “Christians”, refusing to even claim the name that brands one as a follower of Yeshua. For their part, Christians tend to be afraid of Messianics, for a variety of reason, but chiefly because Christians fear that Messianics have reverted to a works-based, law-central salvation which diminishes or downplays the pre-eminence of Messiah Jesus. May we be Mordecais in our present age. One day, our Mashiach, Yeshua, will rule and reign with His Bride, and we will be one faith, one people. The things each side has gotten wrong, and yes, error can be found on both sides of the family, these errors will fall away. Our theology will be perfect, and we will all be united in Him. As we keep that end goal in mind, may we speak peace to ALL His children.
For Mordecai the Jew was second only to King Ahasuerus, and great among the Jews and in favor with his many fellow people, for he worked for the good of his people and spoke for the welfare and peace of his whole nation.
In so doing we will honor Esther’s and Mordecai’s legacy, living out the lessons we learned from the book that bears her name. Amayn!
