PURIM

THE FESTIVAL OF ESTHER

Around 1800 BCE, a part of the Aryan tribe living along the Caspian Sea moved southeast to India and the Fertile Crescent. This group of Aryans (from there Iranians) subdivided into the Mitannians, Medes and Persians.

In 570 BCE, a prophet called Zoroaster (Zarathustra) brought a new religion to the Persians. This turned them into warriors and by 525 BCE; the entire Middle East was in their power.

The underlying problem with all the philosophies and religions influenced by Zoroastrianism is that everything and everyone 'bad' is portrayed as being part of the 'Darkness'. The fear of belonging to the 'Darkness' became the driving force of Zoroastrians - and they spent all their time trying to prove they were part of the forces of 'Light'.

So as not to lose support, the Persians rulers had to place themselves permanently in the 'Light' even in defeat and misfortune. This they did in an ingenious manner.

By combining the already existing racial superiority belief of the Aryans with a claim of earthly representation by the most important Persian families of the seven most important angels of 'Light', they made themselves unassailable. The king could only have a queen who came from one of the seven noble families, and as positions and promotions were dependent on being a noble, all the Persians claimed to be descendents of the families. Intermarriage became a legal taboo. 

As women were regarded as being more susceptible to the 'dark forces' and capable of transmitting the 'darkness disease' to men, they had to be kept in harems and wore the veil when appearing in public. Even though this was not done for their modesty or their protection women willingly complied to ensure the forces of 'Light' would be victorious, as this was their only means of salvation.

The rule initially only applied to Persian women of nobility as they had more potential for evil power but obviously other Persian women took up the veil to show they also had class. Women of other races were not allowed to wear the veil and it became a symbol of racial superiority.

The veil originated as a practical device to prevent the spread of diseases like flu from the marketplace to the palace while the harem and using only virgins ensured the king did not pick up a sexually transmitted disease. The one-year quarantine of the virgins, as described in the Scroll of Esther, before contact with the king was also done for health reasons.

Archeology shows Persian society had become decadent by the time of Esther and women wearing little in the form of clothing provided the entertainment. This was permissible as these women were from other races and were regarded as being sub-human and incapable of absorbing and transmitting enough evil to overcome the Persian men.

In the west, the Persian Empire was prevented from further expansion as the Macedonians/Greeks grew in power. When the Greeks started pushing east the full support of the entire empire was needed in defense. To garner support King Xerxes (known in Hebrew as Ahasuerus) held a great feast in 483 BCE for all his subject rulers.

The name Xerxes is pronounced, 'Kh-sha-y-a-r-sha-a'. The 'sha' means ruler as in the later use of 'shah'. Xerxes was therefore a sort of title-name meaning 'king of kings'.

Xerxes was at pains to impress the various rulers and allowed them to act according to their customs (Esther 1: 8) but at some stage of the feast (1: 10) a clash arose around the issue of the veil. 

The rulers of the other nations were incensed when the Persian women turned up for the party wearing veils while the other women had to go without it. It was clearly an attempt to maintain Persian racial superiority and that is not a good way to win friends and influence people. They challenged Xerxes to produce Queen Amestris to appear in front of them without a veil to prove he was not racist. (Esther 1: 10 - 22) Amestris refused to appear as she was of the old religious school of Zoroastrianism.

Vashti means 'beautiful' - Amestris was reputed to be beautiful. Amestris was banished from the king's presence and she continued to be queen and lived to a ripe old age.

Xerxes consulted wise men who understood the times, as the world had changed. A new dispensation was called for but that had to wait until the war was over.

After a disastrous campaign against the Greeks, Xerxes returned and contemplated the future. Even if the Persians retained their personal belief in being the master race there had to be a public face of non-racialism to ensure future alliances as the Greeks were growing stronger. The new face of Persia had to be a non-Persian 'queen' of great beauty who could appear in public without the veil. Thus came about the selection process of the virgins described in the Book of Esther.

Amongst the aspiring virgins was Hadassah (Esther) who was brought up by her nephew and guardian, Mordecai. Hadassah had no chance in life until this opportunity came along as she was an orphan and Mordecai, being a beggar, had no money or power to make her a good marriage. Both she and Mordecai's fortunes were dependent on her doing well with the king. This she did and the future looked bright for the two orphans.

The future continued to look rosy until Mordecai got into conflict with Haman and refused to bow to him. Mordecai refused to bow because only the king's servants who were within the king's gate bowed and Mordecai as a Jew was under no orders to bow to Haman. Haman was therefore like Queen Amestris of the old school who believed the Persians to be a superior race while under the new dispensation, Mordecai saw himself as being Haman's equal even if he was a beggar. Haman in a rage plotted to kill all the Jews.

During the ancient Persian festival of Purim in the time of Esther people believed demons ran free on earth. The demons, they believed, brought misfortune to those who during the previous year had strayed too close to the 'dark side'. At the beginning of the year, lots were cast to determine the date.  

The entire empire prepared for this day and some of the practices to confuse the demons are preserved in the festival of Purim.

• People dress up or turn their coats inside out and wear masks so the demons won't recognize them.
• Knowing the demons are not easily fooled they get so drunk they can't recognize themselves.
• Demons are confused by noise and on Purim, there are rattles and firecrackers.
• Demons love to count things and can easily be occupied for the entire Purim by giving them little things to count and this is reflected in the food that sees pastries filled with poppy seeds and other foods like beans served.

The demons had free reign on Purim because the forces of 'Light' took a rest and left humanity unprotected. Haman fully believed this day was an auspicious day for dirty work. The law he promulgated was not for the soldiers to kill the Jews, as this would have been against the laws of the Empire but for the soldiers not to protect the Jews on this day so the non-Jewish people can do the killing without interference. A Persian law once made, could not be revoked. Esther and Mordecai overcame this by adding to the law. The non-Jews were not going to be protected either - the Jews could fight back without worrying about having to fight the soldiers.  

The 'miracle' happened when Esther took an incredible risk and appeared before the king after her successor had already been chosen and she had not been called to go in to the king these thirty days. Seeing her he suddenly realized he was in love and wanted to keep her as his queen. She found favor, was pleasing in his sight, and he gave her what no queen ever got - her freedom in the form of Haman's house. He no longer saw her as an object, but as a human being.

The festival was part of Zoroastrianism but it was such a lot of fun the Jews in the Persian Empire had adopted it long before the time of Esther. The saving of the Jews made it even more of a joyous occasion but it was still not regarded as a religious festival as God was not even mentioned in the Scroll of Esther. After the return to Jerusalem, the festival was barely acknowledged and mostly ignored - this changed through a strange coincidence.

In Israel the victory of Judah Maccabee over the Syrian general, Nicanor, was celebrated with great festivities on the 13th of Adar, exactly the same day Haman wanted to kill all the Jews in the world - the original day of Purim. The Pharisees could not for religious reasons and out of hatred for the Maccabees celebrate either festival. This made them highly unpopular with the very people they were trying to win to their cause.

Choosing, what was in their minds the lesser of two evils they decided to celebrate a 'purified' Purim. The date was moved from the 13th, so it was not a Maccabee festival, to the 14th to celebrate the days on which the Jews had rest from their enemies.

Though God is never mentioned in the Scroll, the entire book is about how God works invisibly behind the scenes using even the Pharisees and their political ambitions to get the Scroll of Esther included in the Bible.