Purim
March 2, 2026
The Jewish feast of Purim starts at sundown today. This is a celebration of the story of Queen Esther, whose courage resulted in deliverance from the evil plot of Haman, a high official in the Media Persian empire, to wipe out the Jews. How interesting that in this same season we are in conflict with a ruler in Persia who has vowed to not only wipe out the Jews, but also the Americans. Let us take a lesson from the courage of Esther to stand up to evil.
Esther 4:13-14
13 Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, “Do not imagine that you in the king’spalace can escape any more than all the Jews. 14 For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place and you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not attained royalty for such a time as this?”
‘For such a time as this”. May we also rise in our own time to oppose evil and protect our own people. War is never a desired outcome, but is sometimes necessary to protect our country. So remember Purim, and the courage of Queen Esther, and the faithfulness of God to raise up a deliverer to protect His people. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem and protection of the people and soldiers of the USA.
Esther 9:23-28
23 Thus the Jews undertook what they had started to do, and what Mordecai had writtento them. 24 For Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the adversary of all the Jews, had schemed against the Jews to destroy them and had cast Pur, that is the lot, to disturb them and destroy them. 25 But when it came to the king’s attention, he commanded by letter that his wicked scheme which he had devised against the Jews, should return on his own head and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows. 26 Therefore they called these days Purim after the name of Pur. And because of the instructions in this letter, both what they had seen in this regard and what had happened to them, 27 the Jews established and made a custom for themselves and for their descendants and for all those who allied themselves with them, so that they would not fail to celebrate these two days according to their regulation and according to their appointed time annually. 28 So these days were to be remembered and celebrated throughout every generation, every family, every province and every city; and these days of Purim were not to fail from among the Jews, or their memory fade from their descendants.
