“In the first month, which is the month of Nisan, in the twelfth year of King Ahasuerus, they cast Pur (that is, they cast lots) before Haman day after day; and they cast it month after month till the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar.” Esther 3:7
March 12, 2025
It has long been Satan’s desire to destroy and eliminate the nation of Israel (Rev. 12:4). If God’s promise to Abraham and David could be nullified, there would have been no Messiah. On Thursday of this week Jews will celebrate Purim. This festival “honors the delivery of the Jews of Persia (now Iran) from an evil plot to destroy them” (The World Book Encyclopedia). Haman, a wicked government official, hatched a plot by casting a lot (pur) to determine the exact day on which the genocide of the Jews would take place. However, God’s invisible hand of providence used Esther, a beautiful Jewish girl who had been crowned queen. She pleaded with King Ahasuerus to save her people. He did and Haman was executed. The overruling providence of God preserved the covenant people. Read the book of Esther. It is a moving account of “those whom He (God) had saved by signs and wonders at the exodus and continues to save through his hidden providential control of their history” (Barry G. Webb). Have you thought of the hand of God directing your own life toward His purposes for you? It also should not go without notice that Persia (Iran) today, by the potential of nuclear weapons, wishes to destroy Israel.
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“Redemptive history intruded into the history of the Persians, and the intersection of the divine and human accomplished the rescue of the Jews.” R. C. Sproul, The Invisible Hand