Esther 9 & 10: Purim
Verse of the Day: (9:26) Wherefore they called these days Purim after the name of Pur. Therefore for all the words of this letter, and of that which they had seen concerning this matter, and which had come unto them,
1. Power (9:1-25)
Now in the twelfth month, that is, the month Adar, on the thirteenth day of the same, when the king’s commandment and his decree drew near to be put in execution, in the day that the enemies of the Jews hoped to have power over them, (though it was turned to the contrary, that the Jews had rule over them that hated them;) (9:1)
On the 13th day of the 12th month, the month of Adar, all the Jews gathered together to fight for their lives as in the King’s decree, as this was also the day that an earlier King’s decree had given authority to all the people in the Persian Empire to exterminate the Jews in their land. Indeed, God preserved the Jews as Jesus Christ, God’s Son, shall come from them. Let us thus keep sharing the gospel of Christ as it is His power to save whoever believes in Him from hell, and one day He shall promote them to heaven. (Romans 1:16)
2. Purim (9:26-32)
And that these days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation, every family, every province, and every city; and that these days of Purim should not fail from among the Jews, nor the memorial of them perish from their seed. (9:28)
After God’s deliverance of the Jews from being exterminated, Esther the queen and Mordecai the Jew wrote with authority that all the Jews must remember and keep the days of Purim (comes from the word, Pur or Lot, which means drawing of such objects as a method of deciding something) throughout all their generations and in every province and city. Today, Purim is a Jewish festival celebrated on the 14th day of the month of Adar (6th month of the Jewish calendar) in commemoration of the deliverance of the Jews in Persia from the destruction by Haman. The Purim is like the day when Jesus purchased us with His own blood so that we have a heaven to gain and a hell to shun. (Acts 20:28)
3. Peace (10:1-3)
For Mordecai the Jew was next unto king Ahasuerus, and great among the Jess, and accepted of the multitude of his brethren, seeking the wealth of his people, and speaking peace to all his seed. (10:3)
What a change for a man who was almost exterminated together with his entire Jewish race to become the second most powerful person in the Persian Empire! This was Mordecai who believed in his true God of Israel granting him salvation and peace, and the heart to seek the welfare of his people as well as be their peacemaker. (Matthew 5:9)
Prayer of the Day:
Dearest God, thank You that I celebrate my Purim the day You saved my soul.
