Tuesday 13 September 2016

by David Rouxel

Esther 4:13-14 : “Then Mordecai sent this answer back to Esther: Do not have the idea that you in the king’s house will be safe from the fate of all the Jews. If at this time you say nothing, then help and salvation will come to the Jews from some other place, but you and your father’s family will come to destruction: and who is to say that you have not come to the kingdom even for such a time as this?”

The book of Esther is a book whose meaning is hidden, indicated both by its story and by the absence of the name of God in it. The wise teachers of the Talmud have actually found a similarity between the name of Esther and the word « hidden ».
The Purim celebration revolves around that period, when the people of God almost got erased from the face of the Earth. And after the Holocaust its pertinence was renewed, for Hitler had the same objectives as Haman did to destroy the Jewish people.

The study of these hebraic texts reveal the hidden meaning for our time. Indeed, the verse in which Esther asks for the hanging of the 10 sons of Haman, though they were already dead, can appear quite odd.

Yet the names of Haman’s sons were listed (unusual for a talmudic scripture), with 4 (ou 3?) small letters. Those letters enabled us to get a number (as in hebrew letters can also be numbers) : 400 (Tav), 300 (Shin), and 7 (Zayin), which equals to 707. Adding this to the Jewish way to count the years, it leads to 5707 on the jewish calendar, or 1947 on our calendar. And 1947 is the year when 10 nazi criminals were held responsible for the concentration camps.

Esther had a privileged position regarding this situation. Though Esther wasn’t really in danger with Haman’s plans to destroy her people, Mordecai helped her realise that her very position was God’s will. Therefore, she decided to enter a 3-day fast in order to gain King Assurérus’ favor.

The Holy Spirit shows us that our position as Christians is not due to chance. We, too, must beseech the Lord’s favor in order to have the grace of His people, and to triumph against our enemy’s plans throughout the world. We must leaveour comfort zone by enlarging our hearts to receive a hidden dimension that is still very present in our day.