A FAILURE TO ASSIMILATE

 

Saturday, September 23, 2023

 

A FAILURE TO ASSIMILATE

 

Est 9:23-25

23 And the Jews undertook to do as they had begun, and as Mordecai had written unto them;

24 Because Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, had devised against the Jews to destroy them, and had cast Pur, that is, the lot, to consume them, and to destroy them;

25 But when Esther came before the king, he commanded by letters that his wicked device, which he devised against the Jews, should return upon his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows. KJV

 

          The Jews did not and do not assimilate. In every culture where they are dispersed, they remain Jews and maintain their customs and culture. This often creates tension between cultures. The underlying purpose for Haman’s desire to kill all the Jews was demonic. Just as it was when Pharoah decreed that all the Jewish boys would be killed at birth. The same unspeakable wickedness killed all the boy babies in Bethlehem at the time of Jesus’ birth. As you go through life, do not become so absorbed by WHAT is happening that you miss WHY it is happening.

 

          The strange little word, PUR, means a “lot” or a broken piece of pottery or stone that is cast with others to foretell the future or decide a plan of action. Haman cast lots to decide the best time to kill all the Jews. The lot fell on the fourteenth day of the Hebrew month Adar which usually takes place in our month of March.

 

          The dual meaning of PUR, a lot and broken things, forms the plot for the book of Esther. The unbroken decree to kill the Jews was broken by another unbroken decree. The King could not reverse the condemnation of the Jews, but he directed the Jews to fight for their lives. The victory won by the Jews was celebrated by the days of PURIM.

 

Prov 16:31

33 The lot is cast into the lap; but the whole disposing thereof is of the LORD.

 

Blessed art thou Lord, who frustrates evil and reverses decrees against your children. Let us be so like our Savior that we are never swallowed up by the world. It will be uncomfortable for both us and them, but let it be so. AMEN