Today marks the Hebrew Feast of Purim, celebrating the deliverance of the Jews from a death decree in the ancient Persian Empire.
We all know the story. A beautiful Jewish girl, Esther, becomes Queen of Persia. The evil Haman convinces the King to order the death of the Jews. Esther risks her life to plead for her people. The King allows the Jews to defend themselves and it is the enemies of the Jews who are destroyed. And Haman is hanged on the gallows he built.
Today we are living through a modern day version of Purim. The rulers of Persia, playing the part of Haman, have made it clear that they intend to destroy the Jews. They are building nuclear bomb capability and rocket delivery systems to do just that.
Benjamin Netanyahu, playing the role of Esther, has come to the United States to plead for the life of his people. Here we break from the story line because the United States is also in the Iranian cross hairs. After Obama’s cowardly retreat from Iraq the Iranians have expanded their terrorist empire to Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen. It is true that the Iranians are leading the fight against the beastial Islamic state, but only because they want unchallenged power in the region. Soon enough they will turn on Israel.
Who will save Israel from this coming attack? Perhaps the modern answer is the same as the solution chosen by the ancient Persian King. He simply declared that the Jews could defend themselves. By defending themselves, the Jews showed that God was with them and gained peace for themselves.
We know that God watches over Israel (See our Blog 10/1/14”God Watches Over Israel”) and He has blessed the United States for our support. Let us pray that our national leaders will continue their support of Israel and help turn back the Iranian threat.
And, if Israel should decide to defend itself, let us pray that Israel’s leaders will hear from the Lord and that He will continue His divine protection.
And, as always, let us pray for the peace of Jerusalem.