Hitler was once delivering a fiery speech in Nazi Germany. As he was ranting and raving and clinching his fists, and calling for the destruction of the Jewish people, he noticed an elderly Jewish man in the front row who was laughing. The Führer stopped in the middle of his speech, marched down to where the man was sitting and said to him, “What are you laughing about? Your people are as good as dead!”
The Jewish man answered the Führer, “You are not the first person to say this. There was once a great Pharaoh in Egypt who enslaved our people. And when God got done with him, we ate matzah and celebrated the feast of Passover. Then sometime later, there arose a Haman who sought to annihilate our people, just like you. And when God got done with him, we ate hamantaschen and celebrated the feast of Purim. Sometime later, an Antiochus Epiphanes appeared who called for an end to the distinctiveness of our people. He banned the Jewish way of life and forced us to live like the Greeks. When God got done with him, we ate latkes and celebrated the feast of Chanukah! And so…. as I was listening to your speech, I couldn’t help but think, “When God gets done with you, I wonder what we’ll be eating?!”
Jewish people around the world will begin celebrating the feast of Purim this year at sundown on March 13, 2025 and the festivities continue for most Jews until sundown on March 14 (if you happen to live in Jerusalem or another ancient walled city, the festival concludes at sundown on March 16 this year). Purim is a time to read the Megillah (the scroll of Esther) and eat hamantaschen (delicious triangular pastries) to remember the story of how the Lord saved our people from Haman’s plan of annihilation.
The book of Esther is all about the Lord turning the tables on Haman
We are told in Proverbs 16:9: The heart of man plans his course, but Adonai directs his steps.[1]
The story of Esther highlights a number of divine reversals, occasions when Haman planned one thing but the Lord reversed it and turned it into the very opposite of what Haman intended. Here are several examples of divine reversals in the book of Esther:
Divine Reversal #1
Haman planned to kill Mordecai before all the people because Mordecai did not honor Haman at the king’s gate. But when Haman went to the king to get permission to kill Mordecai for this reason, the Lord turned the tables and the king commanded Haman to honor Mordecai instead, and to do this before all the people.
We are told in Esther 6:4-11:
Now Haman had just come into the outer court of the king’s palace to speak to the king about hanging Mordecai on the gallows that he had prepared for him.
The king’s servants answered, “Haman is standing in the courtyard.”
The king said, “Let him come in.”
When Haman entered, the king asked him, “What should be done for a man whom the king desires to honor?”
Now Haman thought to himself, “Whom would the king desire to honor rather than me?” So Haman replied, “For the man whom the king desires to honor, let them bring a royal robe that the king has worn, and a horse on which the king has ridden, one with a royal crest placed on his head. Then let the robe and the horse be placed into the hand of one of the king’s most noble princes. Let them clothe the man whom the king desires to honor and parade him on horseback through the city streets, proclaiming, ‘This is what is done for a man the king desires to honor!’”
The king said to Haman, “Go quickly! Take the robe and the horse, just as you suggested, for Mordecai the Jew, who sits at the king’s gate! Do not neglect anything that you recommended.”[2]
So Haman took the robe and the horse, robed Mordecai, and paraded him through the city streets, proclaiming: “This is what is done for the man whom the king desires to honor.”
Divine Reversal #2
The king gave Haman the royal signet ring, and Haman used it to try to annihilate the Jewish people. But the Lord turned the tables and had the royal ring transferred to Mordecai instead.
We are told in Esther 8:2:
The king took off his signet ring, which he had taken back from Haman, and gave it to Mordecai.
Divine Reversal #3
Haman used his great wealth to try to destroy Jews. But the Lord turned the tables and caused all of Haman’s wealth to be transferred to two Jews.
We are told in Esther 8:1-2, 7:
That same day King Ahasuerus gave Queen Esther the estate of Haman, the enemy of the Jews….Esther then appointed Mordecai over Haman’s estate. King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther and Mordecai the Jew, “I have decided to give Haman’s estate to Esther…because he stretched out his hand against the Jews.”
Divine Reversal #4
Haman planned to hang Mordecai. But the Lord turned the tables and Haman and his ten sons were hanged instead.
We are told in Esther 7:10 and 9:25:
So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai.
But when it came to the king’s attention, he issued a written edict that the wicked scheme Haman had devised against the Jews should come back on his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows.[1]
Divine Reversal #5
Haman hired armies to destroy the Jewish people. But the Lord turned the tables, and Haman’s armies were destroyed instead.
We are told in Esther 9:1, 5:
Consequently, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month (that is the month Adar), the king’s edict and his law drew near to be carried out. On that day the enemies of the Jews had hoped to overpower them, but contrary to expectations the Jews gained the upper hand over those that hated them…The Jews struck down all their enemies.
Divine Reversal #6
Haman wanted the twelfth month to be a time of rejoicing that the Jews were annihilated. But the Lord turned the tables and made the twelfth month a time of rejoicing that Haman was annihilated.
We are told in Esther 9:20-22:
Mordecai recorded these events and he sent letters to all the Jews throughout the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near and far, urging them to celebrate the fourteenth and fifteenth days of Adar every year as the days when the Jews got relief from their enemies, and as the month when their sorrow was turned into joy and their mourning into celebration. These were to be days of feasting, celebration and sending presents of food to one another and giving gifts to the poor.[4]
Divine Reversal #7
And finally, Divine Reversal #7. Haman wanted to exterminate all the Jews. But the Lord turned the tables and increased the number of people who identified as Jews.
We are told in Esther 8:17: Many peoples of the land became Jews…
Like Hitler, Haman had sought to exterminate the Jewish people. But the Lord turned the tables so that, in the end, there were more people who identified as Jews than there were before Haman hatched his evil plot. There is even a tradition in the Talmud that some of Haman’s descendants converted to Judaism and devoted their lives to studying the Torah (b. Gittin 57b).
About 2500 years have passed since the Lord turned the tables on Haman and there are still world leaders who seek the extermination of the Jewish people. Amazingly, in Iran today, where Esther and Mordecai are buried, there is currently (and I kid you not, just ask ChatGPT) a large digital clock in Tehran that counts down the number of days until Israel’s total destruction in the year 2040. Why 2040? Because Iran’s supreme leader, the Grand Ayatollah Ali Hosseini Khamenei, prophesied that Iran would annihilate Israel by that year. When I think of this Iranian/Persian doomsday clock counting down in the land where the story of Purim took place, I can’t help but think of what happened to Haman, and wonder what we will be eating in 2040 when we experience another divine reversal!
What does Purim have to do with Yeshua?
Yeshua is the son of David, the King of Israel, and he stands in solidarity with his people. Therefore, any attempt to annihilate Jews is an attempt to annihilate Yeshua’s own people. Zechariah 14:2-9 details how Yeshua will one day descend from heaven to defend his people Israel from an attack by “all the nations” and establish his throne in Zion. Moreover, as the Purim story is all about divine reversals, so too, the story of Yeshua the Jewish Messiah is all about the ultimate divine reversal in human history. Through laying down his life for Israel and the nations, for you and for me, Yeshua turned our need for salvation due to our sins into a Purim-like joy and celebration. Purim has everything to do with Yeshua the Messiah. He is the source of our joy.
Yeshua is our Purim gift from above, the mishloach manot (gift basket to the poor) that the Lord sent to us, so that we might not merely sit at the king’s gate but enter the gate of the King of Kings.
According to one Jewish tradition, Purim is a festival that will continue forever in the Messianic age to come. It outlasts and outshines all other festivals. Perhaps this is because the Lord wants us to remember for all eternity that he is a God who, through the Messiah Yeshua, turns the tables! He is a God of redemption, the master of divine reversals; in the life of Israel, and in all of our lives!
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Purim reminds us that God is the master of divine reversals—turning the tables on those who seek to harm His people. If the biblical themes of redemption and God’s faithfulness to Israel captured your attention, explore The King’s University’s Messianic Jewish Studies program. The MJS program offers bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees tailored to your calling.
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