Esther and Purim

The event

Some years into Esther's reign, the Persian official Haman rose to the second-highest position in the empire and demanded the same homage due the king himself. Mordecai alone refused to bow, and Haman's wounded pride escalated into a plan for genocide: he cast lots ("pur") to fix a date and persuaded Ahasuerus to authorize the destruction of every Jew in the empire, sealing the decree with the king's own signet ring.

When Mordecai urged Esther to intervene, she faced mortal danger of her own — approaching the king uninvited carried a death sentence unless he extended his scepter. Mordecai's challenge has echoed through the centuries: "who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?" After calling the Jewish community to fast with her for three days, Esther approached the king, was received, and through two carefully staged banquets exposed Haman's plot — Haman himself was hanged on the very gallows he had built for Mordecai.

Because the original decree against the Jews could not be revoked under Persian law, a second decree empowered Jews throughout the empire to defend themselves, and the planned massacre became instead a decisive deliverance. The Jewish community established the two-day festival of Purim to commemorate the reversal "from sorrow into gladness and from mourning into a holiday" — a celebration still kept by Jewish people around the world today, and a vivid Old Testament witness that God preserves His covenant people even when His name is never once written on the page.

Scripture references

• Esther 3:1-15
• Esther 4:12-16
• Esther 7:1-10
• Esther 9:20-28