By Judith Niewiadomski, Yonkers
Today (March 3) is Purim, the day that celebrates the deliverance of God’s people from annihilation by the evil Amalekite Haman in Persia. The Amalekites were the people who attacked the weakest of the children of Israel as they were making their way to the Promised Land. Deuteronomy 25:17- 19 “Remember what Amalek did unto thee by the way, when ye were come forth out of Egypt; How he met thee by the way, and smote the hindmost of thee, even all that were feeble behind thee, when thou wast faint and weary; and he feared not God. Therefore it shall be, when the LORD thy God hath given thee rest from all thine enemies round about, in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance to possess it, that thou shalt blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven; thou shalt not forget it.”
The Amalekites were terrorists who preyed upon the weakest of the Israelites: the feeble, women and children, sneaking up behind them, cowards who avoided the warriors and slaughtered innocents. King Saul, the first king of Israel, lost his throne and the right of passing it down, to David because he spared Agag, the king of the Amalekites despite being told to execute him. His disobedience to spare a fellow king, had long term evil consequences. Centuries later, an Amalekite descendant of the royal line of Agag, highly placed in the Persian court named Haman, tried to exterminate all the Judeans (Jews) not only in their own country, but in all the realm that the Persian empire controlled. This would not have happened had Saul destroyed the royal line of Amalek and its murderous, genocidal ideology.
The Amalakite Haman, a man of Belial was a top tier advisor to the king of the Persian empire. Haman’s actions show that he wanted to be king, wanted adulation like a god. The highest levels of power weren’t enough for him and no freedom of thought or religion was acceptable to him. Second only to the king, like Lucifer, he wanted all control and all power over all. (Sounds like some mullahs we used to know.) Haman manipulated the king so he could use Persian government to kill all the Judeans because Mordecai recognized how evil Haman was spiritually and would not bow to him.
Through the courage of Mordecai’s niece, Esther, who was willing to sacrifice her life, God’s people were saved. Sometimes it takes one man or one woman in the right place at the right time, believing God and taking simple but often risky actions that enables God to move and bring deliverance. Our believing and willingness to put God’s ability above the circumstances enables Him to act in our lives. Unable to change the legislation, the king gave advanced notice and told the Judeans to arm themselves and fight for their lives. They did so, rid the land of their enemies, brought more people to the true God, and established a cultural principle of religious tolerance that continues among many of the Persian people to this day in spite of the islamonazi totalitarian mullahs.
The Bible is not a book of meaningless stories, but a record of real people, who believed God and overcame challenges, brought delieverance to individuals and sometimes to their nation. Their examples are for our learning, models of real people rising up above their emotions and the circumstances they see and feel, to reach up to trust God to deliver via His infinitely diversified wisdom, mercy, and power. Some had to go out and wage war. Esther had to risk entering the presence of the king without being summoned, which was an automatic death sentence–on the spot–unless the king granted mercy. In this case he did.
Contrary to the impulse to vent and rage that culture today encourages, Esther exercised discipline, wisdom, and self restraint to make a simple request and wait for the right time. God is omniscient. He understood the king’s thinking and nature and impulses in ways that Esther never could by her five senses knowledge. But God knows what is in the heart of every man and what inspires and enrages and motivates him. God guided her in how to handle the situation to get the best results.
Esther and Mordecai changed Persia forever. As a result of the deliverance of the Judeans, Persians had a tradition of religious tolerance. When Israel was occupied by the Romans, Persian Magi who were the only ones who recognized the spiritual significance of astonomical events at the time of the birth of Christ. These Magi were Persian Zoroastians. (Zoroatrianism is still one of the major religions of Persia and has several basic concepts similar to Judaism and Christianity.)
Iran has lived under Islamic repression since 1979. Today, they are much closer to freedom and self-determination, thanks to America and Israel. The takedown of the islamo-nazi regime will greatly curtail the terrorism of Hezbollah, which attacks Israel frequently. Hezbollah killed and drove out most of the Christians from Lebanon, which was supposed to be a Christian safe space country. Hezbollah, funded by the Iranian usurper mullahs, killed over 200 US Marines in Beirut. Iran’s mullahs have caused thousands of deaths, including teaching Al Qaeda how to take down two US embassies in Africa; Iran’s mullahs fund Hamas’ terrorist attacks as well. And they have killed more muslims in their devilish lust for totalitarian control than anyone else. It isn’t just Jews, Christians, and Hindus that they persecute.
Pray that the Iranians are able to establish what the Iranian Resistance has been fighting for years (and were betrayed by Obama) —a secular government, personal freedom, and religious toleration. The whole world will benefit if Iran becomes a tolerant, peaceful nation.
