Next week, on March 9, the Hebrew Feast of Purim celebrates 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.
There are many lessons to be learned from the Feast of Purim. We see how God intervened in a desperate situation to save His people from destruction. The death of the enemy of the Jews, Haman, on his own gallows pictures the fate of God’s enemies. And the right at self-defense given to the Jews, which we call the Jewish Second Amendment, argues for Christians to use firearms to protect their families and churches from attack.
But the Feast also contains a warning, played out in the history of the Persian Empire, of the fate of nations which abandon their support of God’s people. For, at the beginning of the Persian Empire, the kings of Persia had befriended the Jews. Cyrus (538- 529 B.C.) freed the Jewish exiles to return to Jerusalem after he conquered Babylon. Darius (521-485 B.C.) supported and funded the building of the Second Temple. It was under Artaxerxes I (465-421 B.C.) that Ezra and Nehemiah returned and rebuilt Jerusalem. In return for Persian favor, the Jews were loyal allies of the Persians and formed a buffer against Egypt, which was as times an enemy and at times a rebellious province of Persia.
Things had changed by the reign of Artaxerxes II (404-358 B.C.) who is believed by some to be the King who married Esther. It is true that most commentators suggest that Xerxes (485-65 B.C.) was Esther’s King, but this belief is contradicted by ancient sources. Jewish historian Josephus places Esther after the events of Ezra and Nehemiah, under Artaxerxes I, and therefore much later the Xerxes. Historians associate the biblical name of Esther’s King, Ahasuerus, with Artaxerxes II, not Xerxes. There is also a striking historical similarity, for the wife of Artaxerxes II was poisoned by his mother in the third or fourth year of his reign. According to the Book of Esther, Queen Vashti was removed in the third year of his reign. There is even a linguistic similarity between “Vashti” and the Queen’s Persian name “Stateria” in the core “Shti” verses “Stat”.
Artaxerxes II proved to be a poor leader for the Persian Empire. He was of course very foolish for allowing himself to be manipulated by Haman into attacking his allies the Jews. He had to bribe the troublesome Greeks in 386 B.C. to obtain a period of peace with them. Then, the Egyptians revolted and gained independence, installing the last Egyptian Dynasty in 378 B.C. That same year Artaxerxes II suffered a major defeat from a rebelling province and barely survived a rebellion of Persian nobles. Clearly, the Persian Empire was beginning to fall apart. In addition, the Persians began interfering with the Temple worship in Jerusalem, and persecuted the Jews through an exorbitant temple tax for seven years.
The end came for Persia when their enemies the Greeks united under Alexander the Great and invaded the empire just 24 years after the reign of Artaxerxes II. The Jews had been reluctant to abandon their alliance with Persia, but when Alexander the Great marched toward Jerusalem they remembered Daniel’s prophecy that the Greeks would overthrow the Persians (Daniel 8:1-8;19-21). According to Josephus the high priest took Daniel’s prophesy to Alexander and Jerusalem was spared.
Persia was a great nation chosen by God to restore His people to Israel and re-build the Temple after their exile in Babylon. God blessed Persia with success but the nation allowed a spirit of anti-Semitism to take hold which, while defeated under Esther, came back as the Persians persecuted the Temple worship. In the end Persia experienced both sides of Abraham’s promise “I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse“(Genesis 12:3). When they turned against the Jews God turned against them.
Like the Persians we Americans have been chosen by God to help make a place for His people who have returned to Israel after their long exile. God has blessed us mightily.
Yet there are those like Haman who wish to turn America against Israel. We must continue to stand with Israel or risk the same curse that fell on Persia.
Let us pray and rededicate ourselves to bless God’s people Israel this Purim.
And let us not forget to pray for the peace of Jerusalem.