Also, since we were last together, Israel has been brutally attacked by Hamas, from the South, from Gaza. And, Israel’s enemy from the north, Hezbollah in Lebanon, is showing signs of getting into the fray. In real time, this occurred on October 7, 2023. It also occurred on Shabbat, on Shemini Atzeret, and on the 50th anniversary of the Yom Kippur War of 1973.
I had felt distinctly led, a few weeks ago, by God to teach Esther at this time. But, I did not understand why. The timing felt weird, because wouldn’t a “good Messianic moRAH” teach this book in the spring? Once I woke up last Saturday morning and was confronted with the devastating news, I began to understand.
The story of Esther is a story of how an enemy of the Jewish people tried to exterminate them, every last man, woman and child. It is also, hallelujah, the story of how Yahweh Sabbaot miraculously delivered His people. And, I believe He will deliver them again, out of the “snare of the fowler” again.
While King Ahasuerus is gone, this seems to be a good time to look at some “Esther connections” in other Scripture passages. The first one I’d like to look at is Ezekiel 38:14-23. This is the battle of Gog and Magog, a battle where all the armies of the gentile nations will array themselves against the nation of Israel.
14“Therefore prophesy, son of man, and say to Gog, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says: “On that day when My people Israel are living securely, will you not know it?
15You will come from your place out of the remote parts of the north, you and many peoples with you, all of them riding horses, a large assembly and a mighty army;
16and you will come up against My people Israel like a cloud to cover the land. It shall come about in the last days that I will bring you against My land, so that the nations may know Me when I show Myself holy through you before their eyes, Gog.”
17‘This is what the Lord GOD says: “Are you the one of whom I spoke in former days through My servants the prophets of Israel, who prophesied in those days for many years that I would bring you against them?
18It will come about on that day, when Gog comes against the land of Israel,” declares the Lord GOD, “that My fury will mount up in My anger.
19In My zeal and in My blazing wrath I declare that on that day there will certainly be a great earthquake in the land of Israel.
20The fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the animals of the field, all the crawling things that crawl on the earth, and all mankind who are on the face of the earth will shake at My presence; and the mountains will be thrown down, the steep pathways will collapse, and every wall will fall to the ground.
21And I will call for a sword against him on all My mountains,” declares the Lord GOD. “Every man’s sword will be against his brother.
22With plague and with blood I will enter into judgment with him; and I will rain on him and on his troops, and on the many peoples who are with him, a torrential rain, hailstones, fire, and brimstone.
23So I will prove Myself great, show Myself holy, and make Myself known in the sight of many nations; and they will know that I am the LORD.”’
In addition to the Battle of Gog and Magog, there is in Scripture predicted a second, even greater battle, which might be called the Purim Gadol, the Greatest Purim, when the forces of evil will array themselves against God’s people in one last “hurrah”. For this battle, the King of Kings Himself will arrive on the scene with all the amy of Heaven. And, one last time “the Amalki” will be defeated. Look at Revelation 19:11-16.
1 After these things I heard something like a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying,
“Hallelujah! Salvation, glory, and power belong to our God,
2 BECAUSE HIS JUDGMENTS ARE TRUE AND RIGHTEOUS; for He has judged the great prostitute who was corrupting the earth with her sexual immorality, and HE HAS AVENGED THE BLOOD OF HIS BOND-SERVANTS ON HER.”
3 And a second time they said, “Hallelujah! HER SMOKE RISES FOREVER AND EVER.”
4 And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who sits on the throne, saying, “Amen. Hallelujah!”
5 And a voice came from the throne, saying,
“Give praise to our God, all you His bond-servants, you who fear Him, the small and the great.”
6 Then I heard something like the voice of a great multitude and like the sound of many waters, and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, saying,
“Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns.
7 Let’s rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, because the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His bride has prepared herself.”
8 It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.
9 Then he *said to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding feast of the Lamb.’” And he *said to me, “These are the true words of God.”
10 Then I fell at his feet to worship him. But he *said to me, “[Do not do that; I am a fellow servant of yours and your brothers and sisters who hold the testimony of Jesus; worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”
11 And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war.
12 His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many crowns; and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself.
13 He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God.
14 And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses.
15 From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty.
16 And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written: “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”
17 Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried out with a loud voice, saying to all the birds that fly in midheaven, “Come, assemble for the great feast of God,
18 so that you may eat the flesh of kings and the flesh of commanders, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them, and the flesh of all people, both free and slaves, and small and great.”
19 And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies, assembled to make war against Him who sat on the horse, and against His army.
20 And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs n his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire, which burns with brimstone.
21 And the rest were killed with the sword which came from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse, and all the birds were filled with their flesh.
This epic battle-of-all-battles will occur just before the Mashiach sets up His earthly kingdom, over which He will rule and reign for 1000 years. The Jewish sages say that Purim will be celebrated even in the Messianic kingdom. Perhaps this is why!
But, I mentioned a word a moment ago, Amalki.
This is the thread that ties together the present war in Israel, with these other two battles.
Do you remember reading in the Scriptures about a group of people called the Amalekites? That’s the English word for this people group, but in Hebrew they are called The Amalki, which sounds sort of like alien inhabitants of some far-flung planet on Star Trek. Or, at least, that is the way it has always seemed to me. The term also is not meant in this context to refer to Indian Gooseberry, an herb that supposed is an Ayurvedic rejuvenator!
No, the Amalki, the Amalekites were descended from Esau, whom the Scriptures called "a wild donkey of a man". The Amalki lived in southeastern Canaan, in the desert. Amalek, the first major leader of this group, was Esau’s grandson. The Amalki would often greet and trade with travelers on the route from Egypt to Syria, and would offer food and drink to ease the journey.
However, in the case of the fleeing Hebrews, who were headed out of Egypt across the Sinai Peninsula, they did not provide this type of hospitable succor. Instead, they attacked the rear flank of the nation, where the older people and the very young usually traveled. Because of this, God put a curse on the Amalekites, decreeing that there would be animosity between them and the Hebrews, in perpetuity. That is, forever. In Exodus 17:14, God said He had “blotted them out from under heaven.”
So, over time, this group began to represent the Jews’ archetypal enemy, to symbolize evil. When they thought of evil, the Amalekites sprang to mind. Over the centuries after the Exodus incident, the Amalekites frequently attacked and raided, destroying the Israelites’ land and food supplies.
Now, I know some of you are wondering what rabbit hole I am going down, but hang with me. It’s gonna get better. LOL
One of the more famous kings of the Amalekites, who were Baal worshippers, was Agag. You can read about him in the book of 1 Samuel. But, we’ll get to that story in a moment. According to Jewish tradition, an Agagite represented one who was a descendant of this royal line of the Amalekites. And, guess who, from our Esther story, would have been an Agagite? You got it … Haman!
Oh, but there’s more! Now, for our story from 1 Samuel, chapter 15
1 Then Samuel said to Saul, “The LORD sent me to anoint you king over His people Israel. Now therefore, listen to the words of the LORD.
2 This is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘I witnessed what the Amalekites did to the Israelites when they ambushed them on their way up from Egypt.
3 Now go and attack the Amalekites and devote to destruction all that belongs to them. Do not spare them, but put to death men and women, children and infants, oxen and sheep, camels and donkeys.’ ”
4 So Saul summoned the troops and numbered them at Telaim—200,000 foot soldiers and 10,000 men of Judah.
5 Saul came to the city of Amalek and lay in wait in the valley.
6 And, he warned the Kenites, “Since you showed kindness to all the Israelites when they came up out of Egypt, go on and get away from the Amalekites. Otherwise I will sweep you away with them.”
So the Kenites moved away from the Amalekites.
7 Then, Saul struck down the Amalekites all the way from Havilah to Shur, which is east of Egypt.
8 He captured Agag king of Amalek alive, but devoted all the others to destruction with the sword.
9 Saul and his troops spared Agag, along with the best of the sheep and cattle, the fat calves and lambs, and the best of everything else. They were unwilling to destroy them, but they devoted to destruction all that was despised and worthless.
10 Then, the word of the LORD came to Samuel, saying,
11 “I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned away from following Me and has not carried out My instructions.”
And Samuel was distressed and cried out to the LORD all that night.
12 Early in the morning Samuel got up to confront Saul, but he was told, “Saul has gone to Carmel, and behold, he has set up a monument for himself and has turned and gone down to Gilgal.”
13 When Samuel reached him, Saul said to him, “May the LORD bless you. I have carried out the LORD’s instructions.”
14 But, Samuel replied, “Then what is this bleating of sheep and lowing of cattle that I hear?”
15 Saul answered, “The troops brought them from the Amalekites; they spared the best sheep and cattle to sacrifice to the LORD your God, but the rest we devoted to destruction.”
16 “Stop!”, exclaimed Samuel. “Let me tell you what the LORD said to me last night.”
“Tell me,” Saul replied.
17 And, Samuel said, “Although you were once small in your own eyes, have you not become the head of the tribes of Israel? The LORD anointed you king over Israel
18 And sent you on a mission, saying, ‘Go and devote to destruction the sinful Amalekites. Fight against them until you have wiped them out.’
19 So, why did you not obey the LORD? Why did you rush upon the plunder and do evil in the sight of the LORD?”
20 “But, I did obey the LORD,” Saul replied. “I went on the mission that the LORD gave me. I brought back Agag king of Amalek and devoted the Amalekites to destruction.
21 The troops took sheep and cattle from the plunder, the best of the things devoted to destruction, in order to sacrifice them to the LORD your God at Gilgal.”
22 But, Samuel declared:
“Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices
as much as in obedience to His voice?
Behold, obedience is better than sacrifice,
and attentiveness is better than the fat of rams.
23 For rebellion is like the sin of divination,
and arrogance is like the wickedness of idolatry.
Because you have rejected the word of the LORD,
He has rejected you as king.”
24 Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned; I have transgressed the LORD’s commandment and your instructions, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice.
25 Now, therefore, please forgive my sin and return with me so I can worship the LORD.”
26 “I will not return with you,” Samuel replied. “For you have rejected the word of the LORD, and He has rejected you as king over Israel.”
27 As Samuel turned to go, Saul grabbed the hem of his robe, and it tore.
28 So Samuel said to him, “The LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to your neighbor who is better than you.
29 Moreover, the Glory of Israel does not lie or change His mind, for He is not a man, that He should change His mind.”
30 “I have sinned,” Saul replied. “Please honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel. Come back with me, so that I may worship the LORD your God.”
31 So, Samuel went back with Saul, and Saul worshiped the LORD.
32. Then, Samuel said, “Bring me Agag king of the Amalekites.”
Agag came to him cheerfully, for he thought, “Surely the bitterness of death is past.”
33 Then Samuel declared:
“As your sword has made women childless,
so your mother will be childless among women.”
And Samuel hacked Agag to pieces before the LORD at Gilgal.
34 Then, Samuel went to Ramah, but Saul went up to his home in Gibeah of Saul. 35 And to the day of his death, Samuel never again visited Saul. Samuel mourned for Saul, and the LORD regretted that He had made Saul king over Israel.
In the history of warfare, “to the victor go the spoils”, almost always. But, one cardinal rule of governing war with Amalek was “there is to be no taking of spoils”. This disobedience is what doomed the reign of King Saul. (Remember this point, because we will return to it in Esther chapter 8.)
So, get this. Had Saul been obedient, there would have been no Haman to attempt genocide against the people of Israel. Samuel had to step in and be obedient since Saul was not.
And, you know what? Mordechai’s family descended from King Saul, who was from the tribe of Benjamin. Oh yes….so, in essence, the book of Esther was an opportunity for the Benjamites to have one more chance to right the wrong Saul committed in the book of 1st Samuel.
The more I study the Bible, the more often I am able to see the wisdom of obeying God. He is not impressed with our rationalizations that we make to ourselves, in order to justify our own desires. Imagine what Saul might have said to justify his disobedience...”How tragic to slaughter a whole nation! And, I get that the people have sinned, but what about the little children? What about the livestock?! How have they sinned?!” While it may seem like a minor thing, rationalization that leads to disobedience is SIN. It can sneak up on a person, before you realize you are even doing it. I’m preaching to the choir here too….
Also, the more I study the Bible, I see patterns repeated. The example I gave to you, about the Amalekites, is one of those.
And, this brings up a frequent objection I hear from unbelievers about the nature of God, who is in ALL His ways holy.
It goes something like this - - How can a God of justice command in the Old Testament that entire nations be wiped out, every man, woman and child? (Even their livestock?!). We see a command from God in Deuteronomy 20:16-18. I think it is important to take a moment to look at it. While you are turning there in your Bibles, the setting of this passage is just before the Israelites are preparing to cross over into the Promised Land. This command of God was being delivered by Moses, and it was recently the featured parsha read in synagogues all across the world. It was read all across the world in mid-August, less than two months ago. Parsha Shoftim.
I want to read you a quote from one of my study sources, the ArtScroll Tanakh series book entitled “The Megillah of Esther”. This is found in the introduction, page 28.
“Human concepts of right and wrong, mercy and cruelty, are of necessity limited by the overriding fact of our very humanity. The sensitive human being might well feel revulsion at the commandment to murder an Amalekite in cold blood; it flies in the face of everything he has been taught about the sanctity of life and the virtues of compassion. But compassion and weakness are not always synonymous. The source of goodness and mercy is God. When He, in His supreme wisdom, decrees that the war against Amalek is the road to human perfection, then that is the only true course of mercy. To let Hitler live, to let Stalin live, to let Torquemada live, to let Titus live…to let Amalek live is not mercy at all.”
Human mercy vs. God’s mercy - -
Because Saul spared Agag, because of Saul’s “misplaced mercy”, Agag lived long enough to live with his wife and for her to conceive a son. Both she and the son survived. Centuries later, Haman came on the scene.
16 However, in the cities of the nations that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, you must not leave alive anything that breathes.
17 For you must devote them to complete destruction —the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites—as the LORD your God has commanded you,
18 so that they cannot teach you to do all the detestable things they do for their gods, and so cause you to sin against the LORD your God.
The key is in verse 18.
Our all-knowing God who created mankind knows better than anyone else the depths of man’s depravity. He knew that if the Israelites did not wipe out the pagan nations that surrounded them, they would surely be swallowed up (national peer pressure) by their cultures, mainly through intermarriage. See, most of us older Americans remember what it was like to live in a culture that was pretty uniformly governed by Judeo-Christian principles. But, when the Israelites came to Canaan, it was just the opposite. Their moral code, the Torah, stood in stark contrast to the pagan cultures of the ancient near east. In order for them to survive as a people, they had to thoroughly dominate, not “peacefully co-exist”. In those days, everyone was trying to out-do and conquer and dominate every other people group, at least in this area of the world. It was a lot more like modern-day life in Israel than life in America today, except on a greater scale of severity. And, the current war between Hamas and Israel has many of the same characteristics that an attack by Amalek on the Israelites had millennia ago.
This is why God held the Hebrew people to such a high standard of morality. When they began to stop following His prescribed ways, He intervened with adverse circumstances, to draw them back to Himself. It would truly be unjust if a just God exterminated a pagan people group and then “let slide” the sin of His chosen people, who had begun to act similarly.
Be careful, America. This is also a lesson for you, the nation that has been in many respects the “crown jewel” of the world. The moral underpinnings of this country were founded on the mitzvot, the commandments of the Bible. And, as such, America has enjoyed for over two centuries the blessings of God. But, His patience with idolatry and pagan practices will not be inexhaustible.
In America today, many are viewing last week’s instigation of war on Israel by Hamas, Hezbollah and others with misplaced mercy. One of the first cries to come from the American Left and Muslim sympathizers was “don’t retaliate!” Additionally, we are beset, in America in recent years, by this false virtue called “tolerance”. While it was initially and innocuously billed as respecting the differences of others, this monstrous lie from the pit of Hell has morphed into demonic practices that will tolerate any and every detestable practice, except for the righteous beliefs and actions of people who seek to walk with the God of the Bible.
In closing this morning, it is vitally important that we pray earnestly for Israel, and also for the United States of America. I don’t think my fellow Americans realize how vulnerable a position our country is in right now. The events of Oct. 7th, 2023 have been called “Israel’s 9/11”. There is no guarantee the hellish wrath of those who viciously attacked Israel will NOT unleash itself on our shores. Sadly, this possibility has been made more probable by America’s foreign policy decisions over the past 3 years.
So, let’s pray and let’s give. There are organizations that are seeking to help Israel at this critical time. Find one, and give, as the Lord our God leads you.
Shalom!
Link to give:
This is the trustworthy Israeli relief organization I referenced in my video.
Go to Jerusalemtemplestudy.com.
There is a donate button specifically set up for the David Fund.
If you want to send aid to Israel or their military - be sure you click on that button. It will bypass the Hatikva Ministries donation button. Again, make sure to click on David Fund.
If you want to send a check, make it out to David Fund and mail to PO Box 948, Crosby TX 77533.
No comments:
Post a Comment