The Problem With Purim

I never studied the Feast of Purim, nor the book of Esther, but after hearing so much about Purim as the latest date prediction over the past few months it started to nag at me. I guess it was simmering enough to come to a boil and today was the day I figured out why I have been really uncomfortable hearing about it so much.

Where to begin? What I have come up with is not easy to express, but I'll give it my best shot for anyone who might be interested. I think it's best to start with Revelation 11:10. In the previous verses in Revelation 11, the two witnesses are overcome and killed after finishing their testimony and left unburied in the streets of the great city.

Re 11:10 And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth.

Did you ever wonder what on earth the exchange of "gifts" is all about in Revelation 11:10? This question has bugged me ever since I first read it. Now I see that this practice is illustrated by the Philistines' "great sacrifices" and "rejoicing" in Judges 16:23-34 after they captured Samson.

Jud 16:23 Then the lords of the Philistines gathered them together for to offer a great sacrifice unto Dagon their god, and to rejoice: for they said, Our god hath delivered Samson our enemy into our hand.

24 And when the people saw him, they praised their god: for they said, Our god hath delivered into our hands our enemy, and the destroyer of our country, which slew many of us.

When we compare passages like Judges 16:23-24 and Revelation 11:10, we can see afresh how the elect body of Christ is always "one" body represented by all of its members throughout time. So we now have a doctrine showing the unsaved sending gifts to one another and making merry on our hands. What else could this be pointing to? It seems to me that this is exactly what everyone does who celebrates the Feast of Purim. The Camping date setters are the "Jews" who are celebrating this Jewish festival right along with all the other Jews around the world. They are sending each other financial gifts and studies loaded with "proofs" of the date instituted by Mordecai, or, rather, Chris McCann. They are celebrating what they perceive to be the "death" of those who reject them and their date predictions.

Moses did not institute Purim. The observance of Purim was established by a Jew named Mordecai.

Es 9:20 ¶ And Mordecai wrote these things, and sent letters unto all the Jews that were in all the provinces of the king Ahasuerus, both nigh and far,

21 To stablish this among them, that they should keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar, and the fifteenth day of the same, yearly,

22 As the days wherein the Jews rested from their enemies, and the month which was turned unto them from sorrow to joy, and from mourning into a good day: that they should make them days of feasting and joy, and of sending portions one to another, and gifts to the poor.

Do you get a funny feeling to know that the phrase "the Jews" is used a whopping 38 times in the book of Esther? This repetitious phrase does not have the same ring as "the children of Israel" which makes me think that the book of Esther is pure history. The phrase "her people" (Esther's people) is recorded three times and "his people" (Mordecai's people) once. Since we read of both "Esther's people" and "Mordecai's people", how do the date setters keep the types straight in their teaching? Are they both typifying Christ?

However, in the whole King James Bible, we find the phrase "the children of Israel" 603 times, but not even once in all ten chapters of the book of Esther. Hmmm.... I smell something very fishy.

Esther 9:22 states that "portions" were sent to one another and "gifts" to the poor, just like Revelation 11:10.

Mordecai and the Jews feasted and partied because of those who tormented them! Esther, Mordecai and their fellow Jews were not tormented by believers who are typified by the two witnesses of Revelation 11, but the story of Esther is all about "the Jews". One reason I never had a desire to study the book of Esther is because I could never find any spiritual message to be gleaned therein. Where is the name of God mentioned? The passages of Esther that I read never spoke to me in any way until now, and what a huge spiritual message it turns out to be.

Wow. Wow. Wow. Mordecai, a Jew, proposed a date that was agreed upon by his people and which Jews all over the world celebrate today with merriment and gift giving.  And now we have Campingite date-setters planning to observe this very same festival by being raptured. Would you like to know what will be happening in Israel on the day the date setters once again find themselves stranded here on earth with the rest of us?

"Most holidays in Israel are celebrated at homes and temples, but Purim, which commemorates the Jews' refusal to compromise their religion, is celebrated with a tremendous amount of communal pageantry. Streets and pedestrian areas are filled with masquerading people who create a carnival atmosphere at the many nighttime celebrations. Israel is essentially a nation of tee-totalers, but this is the one day of the year when everyone who can is encouraged to get blotto. Liquor flies off shelves, and people try to get so drunk that they slur the blessings and curses that traditionally are said this day. Everywhere, carnivals, clowns, and street performances spring up. Special foods include Oznei haman, or Haman's ears, a fruit-filled pastry." (http://travel.epicurious.com)

In his book, The Temple, Its Ministry and Services, Alfred Edersheim writes about the Jews who celebrate Purim in recent times:

"In our own days, though the synagogue has prescribed for them special prayers and portions of Scripture, they are chiefly marked by boisterous and uproarious merrymaking, even beyond the limits of propriety".

Are post-Mosaic festivals man-made additions to the Bible? Where are the detailed guidelines for these other holy days found in the Scriptures? Why does God make so much out of the law of Moses?

Heb 10:28  He that despised Moses‘ law died without mercy under two or three witnesses:

Mr 12:26 And as touching the dead, that they rise: have ye not read in the book of Moses, how in the bush God spake unto him, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?

We read the phrase "the law of Moses" 22 times in the King James version. There is no verse that speaks of the "law of Mordecai".

Many folks suggest that Jesus observed the Feast of Purim by citing John 5:1, but all I see is a time reference in that verse.

Joh 5:1  After this there was a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

It is interesting that Mr. Edersheim (a Jewish convert to Christianity who lived from 1825 to 1889) prefers this translation of John 5:1:

Joh 5:1  Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for a feast of the Jews.

What a difference a few words can make. "...there was a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem" and "Jesus went up to Jerusalem for a feast of the Jews".

J. B. Phillips' version of John 5:1:

"Some time later came one of the Jewish feast-days and Jesus went up to Jerusalem".

However, to his credit, Edersheim does not make a case for the observance of Purim and I do not find any reason at all to believe that the timing of Jesus' arrival was anything more than a coincidence. Jesus wanted to be where the people were gathered. There were many references to the timing of feasts that coincided with events recorded in the scriptures. For example,

Joh 13:1  Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.

Another festival-related time marker is found in John 10:22:

Joh 10:22  And it was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication, and it was winter.

Purim was instituted by Mordecai and the Feast of Dedication (or "Chanuchah", or the "Feasts of Lights") was instituted by Judas Maccabaeus.

Alfred Edersheim writes in The Temple, Chapter 17, in regard to Purim:

"...according to the Jewish Talmud, its general introduction after the return from Babylon formed a subject of grave doubt and deliberation among the 'eighty-five elders' - a number which, according to tradition, includes upwards of thirty prophets (Jer. Megillah, 70b*). Even this shows that Purim was never more than a popular festival."

Edersheim also notes in regard to the post-Mosaic festivals:

"Besides the festivals mentioned in the Law of Moses, other festive seasons were also observed at the time of our Lord, to perpetuate the memory either of great national deliverances or of great national calamities. The former were popular feasts, the latter public fasts. Though most, if not all of them, are alluded to in the Canonical Scriptures, it is extremely difficult to form a clear idea of how they were kept in the Temple. Many of the practices connected with them, as described in Jewish writings, or customary at present, are of much later date than Temple times, or else apply rather to the festive observances in the various synagogues of the land than to those in the central sanctuary."

I believe I finally understand the prophecy of Revelation 11:10's gift giving and merry making.

Re 11:8 And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.

9 And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves.

10 And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth.

From http://www.bethshalom.org/:

Purim is the real gift giving holiday!

Posted by webmaster on February 11th, 2009

"Mishloah Manot (sending of gifts) is the custom derived from the Megillah (Scroll of Esther), which we read on Purim. According to the Megillah, “one is to observe Purim as days of feasting and merry-making, and as an occasion of sending gifts to one another and gifts to the poor.”

(Esther 9:22)

We at Beth Shalom would like to revive this tradition and offer you a unique opportunity to shower your friends with delicious homemade treats in a beautiful Purim Hamantaschen-shaped box. Each box contains freshly baked Hamantaschen, fruit and nuts!"

Fruits and nuts, indeed. Merry Purim, date setters. Ho Ho Ho.