Notes on Purim message Sunday, March 20, 2011:
Theme I - Redemption Comes through Repentance
Theme II - We Must Defeat the Spirit of Amalek - The Spirit of Doubt!
Mordechai was a Benjamite and a descendant/grandson of Shimei, the man who was of the same clan as Saul's family and who threw rocks at King David and cursed him (2 Samuel 16:5-13). The king's officials asked if they should cut this man down, and King David said "no, let him live"; for he foresaw that this man would have a descendant who would rescue Israel through Esther. Mordechai is this descendant and redeems his ancestor with his actions. Mordechai is also part of the Sanhedrin - the entire Sanhedrin were taken in to exile. Mordechai's name means "tried by fire".
Amalek was a descendant of Esau through one of Esau's concubines. He had very low self-esteem, and even worse, sought to make others have low self-esteem, doubt and cut others down with gossip. It is this spirit of doubt and low self-esteem Jacob himself fought before he faces Esau.
Haman was a descendant of Agag, the King of the Amalekites. The book of Esther calls Haman an Agagite. Haman exists because King Saul to his own great detriment as well as Israel's, spared the life of the Amalekite King, Agag. (1 Samuel 15) For this reason Saul loses the right to the kingship because God told the Israelites to not spare a single Amalekite so they would be blotted out completely from the face of the earth for the terrible action they took when the Israelites emerged from Egypt. What should have been a huge high point spiritually for the Israelites was taken away because the Amalekites attacked them from behind and stirred up the spirit of doubt. (Exodus 17:8-16). For this action against Israel, God says to Moses in Exodus 17:14 - "Write this in a book as a memorial, and recite it to Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven."
In 1 Samuel 15: 2-3, God tells King Saul through Samuel to go to war against Amalek and to not spare a single Amalekite. Not only does King Saul capture and spare Agag, the Amalek king, he lies to Samuel saying that he did destroy them all, and he does not immediately repent for his actions. 1 Samuel 15:11, God says "I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned his back from following me, and has not carried out my commands." Because Saul did not completely destroy the Amalekites, Haman is born and strives as his ancestors did, to destroy the Jews. Could it be that Haman's Amalekite spirit of doubt and low self-esteem is stirred when Mordechai will not bow to him? So he "became full of wrath" and since he had been told Mordechai's nationality, Haman sought to destroy all Mordechai's people.
But this plot of Haman's will allow Mordechai and Esther to redeem Saul's actions!
Esther was a Benjamite, from the house of Saul, the daughter of Mordechai's uncle. Esther means "hidden", just as God is hidden in the book of Esther. Her real name is Hadassah, which is Aramaic and means "Myrtle". Although God's Name is not explicitly written anywhere in the book, His Name "Yud Hay Vav Hay" can be found in the Hebrew text in both Esther 5:4 and Esther 7:7.
Esther's first action is to call the Jewish people to teshuvah -repentance- through fasting and prayer. Ultimately is not Mordechai and Esther who redeemed Israel, it was the fact that Israel humbled herself before God and repented that moved God to rescue them. As Benjamites, it is through their actions that Esther and Mordechai redeem the actions of their Benjamite ancestors, Saul and Shimei!
Once again, God is all about redemption through repentance!!
King Darius II is Esther's son/descendant through King Ahasuerus. He clearly had to be influenced by Queen Esther as it is he who orders the building of the Second Temple 70 years after the First Temple is destroyed. He also allows the Jewish people to return from their exile to their land of Israel.
Sadly, the descendants of Amalek and the spirit of Amalek still exist today -though God will one day completely blot them out! The spirit of Amalek, of doubt and low self-esteem can be found everywhere. Anywhere there is gossip and cutting down of others self-esteem and causing doubt, you will find the spirit of Amalek.
We must fight against the Spirit of Amalek from amongst us!
The physical descendants of Amalek are living in Gaza today - just look at the news to see the war actions Gaza is taking against Israel - such as firing rockets!
When the ten sons of Haman are hanged, their names were written in the book of Esther in Hebrew and have a small "tov", "shin", and "zayin" that foreshadow another "Haman plot" against the Jews - the holocaust. Rabbis have concluded that the ten men who were hung at the Nuremburg trials on Oct 16, 1946 were the fulfillment of this prophecy found in the book of Esther. Interesting that even in a modern time as 1946, they were also hung just like Haman and his sons.
To add (and this is from my notes of last year...):
ReplyDeleteAsk a question: "Why did Esther write the book in such a way as to hide G-d?"
...(this pause allows us a moment of thought)....
She was the queen of a people who did not know G-d. She wrote the book in such a way as to draw the people to G-d. May this book also draw each of us closer to G-d!
AMEN!
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