Wherein the king granted the Jews which were in every city to gather themselves together, and to stand for their life, to destroy, to slay, and to cause to perish, all the power of the people and province that would assault them, both little ones and women, and to take the spoil of them for a prey, Upon one day in all the provinces of king Ahasuerus, namely, upon the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar. (Esther 8:11-12)
Just this week, the Jews celebrated the ancient feast of Purim.[1] Purim is not one of the “Feasts of the Lord” given by God in Leviticus 23. It is a celebration instituted by Jews in commemoration of their salvation from extermination under Persian rule.
Some have questioned whether the Book of Esther belongs in the canon of the Bible because the name of God, in any of its various forms, does not appear anywhere in the book. However, when one reads this account, the unmistakable hand of God is seen working throughout the narrative.
For those unfamiliar with this historical account[2], King Ahasuerus of Persia, became annoyed with his queen Vashti when she refused to dance for his drinking buddies and he removed her from being queen, i.e., he divorced her. The law of the Medes and the Persians was such that when a law was decreed by the king, it could not be rescinded.[3] When Ahasuerus sobered up, he regretted his decision, but the deed was done and could not be undone.
Kings get lonely without a wife and Vashti was gone now. What was the king to do? His servants suggested that Ahasuerus hold a beauty pageant of all the most beautiful virgins of the realm the winner of which would become the new queen. In short, Esther (a.k.a., Hadassah), a Jewess and cousin of Mordecai, who was in the service of the king,[4] was chosen and became the new queen of Persia. The king was unaware of their relationship nor did he know Esther’s ethnicity. As he “sat in the king’s gate” carrying out his duties, Mordecai overheard a plot to kill the king. He relayed the information to Esther who informed the king, and the two would-be assassins were hanged for their treason.
Later, King Ahasuerus promoted a Jew-hater by the name of Haman to a high position. Haman was rather full of himself, and when Mordecai refused to bow down to him – no God-fearing Jew would ever bow down to a mere man – he concocted a plot kill all the Jews in the realm. He convinced the king that all the Jews throughout the kingdom should be killed because they followed their own law and did not submit to the king’s law, i.e. to bow down to Haman. So it was decreed that all the Jews throughout the kingdom would be killed the following year on Adar 13.[5]
When Mordecai heard of the decree, he “rent his clothes, and put on sackcloth with ashes, and went out into the midst of the city, and cried with a loud and a bitter cry” (Esther 4:1). Mordecai pleaded with Esther to go before the king and intercede for her people, but because of palace protocol, Esther could not go before the king without being summoned.
In the meantime, Ahasuerus had trouble sleeping one night and stayed up reading court records. (That should put anyone to sleep!) There he found the record of Mordecai exposing the assassination plot against him that had gone unrewarded. So he summoned his top advisor, Hamon (who just happened to be hanging around looking for some excuse to send Mordecai to the gallows), to determine how to reward someone who had done something very special for the king. Since Ahasuerus did not name the beneficiary, Haman assumed the king was speaking of him.
And Haman answered the king, For the man whom the king delighteth to honour, Let the royal apparel be brought which the king useth to wear, and the horse that the king rideth upon, and the crown royal which is set upon his head: And let this apparel and horse be delivered to the hand of one of the king’s most noble princes, that they may array the man withal whom the king delighteth to honour, and bring him on horseback through the street of the city, and proclaim before him, Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delighteth to honour” (Esther 6:7-9).
That was just the thing only a narcissist like Haman could appreciate, but the joke was on him when Ahasuerus instructed him to do that very thing for Mordicai.[6] As any humble man might do, Mordecai graciously accepted the accolade, but quietly returned back to his post at the king’s gate. “But Haman hasted to his house mourning, and having his head covered” (Esther 6:13).
The prior day, Esther invited the king and Haman to a banquet she had prepared in her chambers.[7] At the banquet, Esther revealed that she was a Jewess and her people, the Jews had been targeted for slaughter by “this wicked Haman” (Esther 7:6). This angered the king and he ordered that Haman be hanged on the very gallows he constructed for hanging Mordecai. However, because the law could not be abrogated,[8] Ahasuerus authorized Mordecai to write a subsequent law that would allow the Jews to take up arms and defend themselves against anyone who would do them harm.
When Adar (February/March) 13 arrived, when the first law took effect, the Jews met their assailants with equal force. The Jews kill several thousand of their attackers, and Esther records no losses on the part of the Jews. Since the law was instituted to take effect only on that one day, the Jews were safe afterward. “On the thirteenth day of the month Adar; and on the fourteenth day of the same rested they, and made it a day of feasting and gladness” (Esther 9:17).
“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, To stablish this among them, that they should keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar, and the fifteenth day of the same, yearly” (Esther 9:20-21). So was the Feast of Purim established.
So what does this have to do with the Second Amendment (2A) of the United States Constitution? We learn from this account in Esther that an armed populous can defend itself against those who would do them harm or violence. A well established historical fact teaches (for those with the ability to learn) that the first thing a tyrannical government does to subjugate the people is to disarm them. An unarmed populace cannot defend itself against tyranny nor even effectively protest – take Venezuela for example. Take note of the socialist-leaning Democrat Party in the USA and their incessant drumbeat for “gun control.” They are not interested in “gun control.” Most of the leftist elites surround themselves with armed bodyguards and hide behind high walls designed to keep out unwanted invaders. Their main interest is to disarm the populous so that they can control and exercise power over the people. The Second Amendment prevents them from doing that. So whenever some heinous crime takes place involving a firearm of any kind – even if that crime takes place in New Zealand – the cries for stricter gun laws increase in frequency and amplitude.
The One who said, “But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also” (Matthew 5:39), also said, “he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one” (Luke 22:36). The Second Amendment is our Purim.
Notes:
[1] Purim (plural) comes from “Pur” meaning “a lot (as by means of a broken piece)” See Esther 3:7; 9:24, 26.
[2] This synopsis omits many important details. For a better appreciation of the account, the reader should read the entire book of Esther. It is only 10 short chapters!
Ernie's Musings 
Yes! Thank you.
Thank you for this great post. Love it when Christians see deeply into Torah history. It was all due to Esther who ordered the Hebrews to fast besides her own pleading with the Almighty YHWH for their sake just like Moses did in the past. The Almighty not just hears but LISTENS and CAN have a change of heart from our fervent prayers. This is proof that Fasting and Prayer cuts thru evil like a 2-edged-sWORD. And what’s most interesting is that History never dies but repeats itself and so what happened to Haman and his 11 children, the same happened to Hitler and his Nazis. Watch .. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzaJZ0bGe0s
And yes, I do agree, Yahshua did say buy a sword, for His Apostles did not need a sword while He was with them but they sure needed that weapon after He was gone. Lesson: “In order to Conquer, we must Confront”. If only Christians had followed the Old Covenant instead of only the New Covenant (Testament), the many who were slaughtered and still being today, would have lived.
Through all that is happening in the world today and those parasites who are killing us without even most of the sheep knowing it, The Almighty YHWH is telling us to prepare both spiritually by putting on His Armor as well as to physically equip ourselves for we are in a battle both spiritual and physical with the “evil one and his minions”. My prayer is that “May our soon coming Almighty King and Warrior Wake all the sleeping sheep before its too late.
Amen! Thank you for sharing our insight.
I love your rendition of Purim!
Great teaching 🙂
An aspect of this book that I had not considered, and a lesson for the ages! Thanks Ernie.