Casting Lots

 Imagine having your fate decided by a roll of the dice. In many ways it is, but when your fellow man & people you thought as friends are casting lots deciding you &  your families fate…well that’s genocide.   

Today across the world in Jewish settlements the Festival of Purim is celebrated….it is also known as the Festival of Esther.   Esther is one of few prominent women in the Bible.  Her tale is in the Old Testament, it is only 10 short chapters & is before the Book of Job….for good reason.

I will not retell Esther’s Purim story, but I’ll recap it for you….it’s one more time God saved His people, directly or indirectly, in the history of this planet.

You think they’d be happy & humble, but as in life, many are not. Perhaps this is why….

If you read the Book of Esther it is a compelling tale with twists & turns, sex & murder, struggle & conquest.   All the things that make an epic film.  But to me it has a disturbing chapter that sums up mankind to date, so far.

The word purim in ancient text is the act of casting lots.   Due to jealousy & vanity lots were cast to kill all the Jews in King Xerxes realm, sound familiar?  Esther, the Queen, intercedes in consult with the King & saves her people.  It’s more tangled than that, but that’s the jist of it.  But what do the joyous Jewish people do???   

Retaliate and kill thousands of their oppressors.   Saved by the master plan of God, they react by delivering murder, agony & heartache to others, after being saved their own death.  The book details how the Jewish people simply killed while celebrating & feasting the deliverance from  their enemies, they did not loot or plunder, just killed for killings sake.  Hardly a godly reaction to His Grace & timing.  Long before He purposely put Esther in that spot to save the Jews, once again, & they thank the Heavens with the death & misery of others.  Guess they forgot to turn the other cheek.

Nine of the ten chapters of Esther & the celebration of purim are wonderful examples of grace, timing & salvation.  The other chapter is a horrid tale of revenge & suffering which is better left on the editors cutting floor.  But that’s life isn’t it, eye for eye & tooth for tooth….not me & it shouldn’t be you either.

If someone blackens your eye or knocks out your tooth, just be glad you can still see & eat.  They’ll get theirs, your hands need not get bloody or dirty.

Genocide, the worst word & calamity to bear on any race of humble people.  It’s happened there & it’s happened here.  But stories & memories remain for all of us to learn by.

Do not let your good fortune, be at the sake of others.  

As a Christian Gentile, I acknowledge Esther’s role in delivering God’s Grace, but I will not celebrate a holiday that involves the murder of innocent people.  One man was responsible for casting lots against the Jewish people…his name was Haman the most trusted & high ranking leader in the Kings court.  His jealousy, vanity & hate influenced others.  Haman & his entire family were executed for his genocidal decree against the Jewish people.

Sound familiar?  

The tale of Xerxes & Esther is recorded in “The Book  of  the History of the Kings of Media & Persia.” It’s not just a biblical tale…for you sceptics out there. 

The Bible is rooted in spiritual symbolism, but the Book of Esther & the celebration of purim is not symbolic…it is as real as real gets.  Enjoy your feast. 🐝