The Feast of Purim

As many people will be celebrating St. Patrick’s Day tomorrow, this year there will be another group of people celebrating a different holiday. Purim is considered a Jewish holiday although I believe it would be good for Christians to remember as well. This is because the Feast of Purim celebrates Esther saving the Jews from Haman from the Bible’s book of Esther. In fact it is even mentioned by name in Esther 9:19 – 32:

v.28: “These days should be remembered and observed in every generation by every family, and in every province and in every city. And these days of Purim should never fail to be celebrated by the Jews—nor should the memory of these days die out among their descendants.“¹

What is Purim?

Purim is often referred to as the “Jewish Halloween” as one of the common ways of celebrating is by dressing up in a costume. This does not go over well with most Purim participants though as wearing costumes are where the similarities end. Often kids will dress up or wear a mask and give gifts of candy or food to their friends as a fun way to represent that in the events of Esther, God did not save the Jews using an obvious miracle. Instead they say He disguised His intentions and it was only at the end that His miraculous workings become apparent. Aside from the aspect of dressing up, the main ways of celebrating Purim are by 4 things:

1. Hearing the Book of Esther read. Twice.
2. Giving to at least two needy people.
3. Sending gifts of food to friends.
4. Feasting.²

Does that sound anything like Halloween? Also from a historical context, celebration of Purim likely began about 480 – 470 BC (Esther lived from about 492 – 460 BC³), while the earliest mention I found of “Samhain” – which likely combined with All Saints Day to developed into Halloween⁴ – is from the early 9th century AD⁵.

Back to Esther though.

I was planning on going more in depth into Esther’s story but the more I look at it the more I realize that I can’t do it justice and still post this before Purim is over! In that case I will leave you with a few thoughts until I can come back to this amazing story.

• Esther was given the name “Hadassah” at birth. In Hebrew this means “Myrtle Tree” which was a symbol of righteousness.⁶ As was common among Jews, she took or was given a second name that was native to the land she was in. This was the name Esther. Say “Esther” out loud. Now say “Ishtar”. Notice the similarity? Ishtar was the Persian goddess of war and primarily, sexual fertility.⁷ These two seemingly opposite traits indicated by her names have caused much debate in the past and provide for a very interesting study.
• The story of Esther actually begins far earlier! You see, Haman was a descendant of Agag, king of the Amalekites.⁸ Esther was a descendant of King Saul.⁹ The Amalekites were the people who attacked the Israelites in the wilderness as they were leaving Egypt. In 1 Samuel 15 Saul is told that he is to destroy the Amalekites and all the Amalekites possessions as punishment for the attack in the wilderness. Instead, Saul let Agag live and the troops kept the best of the spoils to keep. 500 years later, God gives Mordecai and Esther a chance to redeem their family of the sin of Saul disobeying God. This time Saul’s descendants obey God by killing ALL their enemies and they do not even touch the spoils! (Esther 9:5-10)