Purim–Mourning in Sackcloth and Ashes

Well, we can say that we’re still in the Purim season as we work through the latter half of this Adar Bet—the 13th Month of the Biblical Calendar year—and I would refer you to STAR episodes 49 and 51 where I discussed the issue of the Adar Bet. But as I record and publish this episode, we find ourselves just under a month away from Passover and I wanted to take this opportunity to spend more time on Purim before the Passover season officially begins. As I mentioned in episode 47, Purim is NOT one of the seven mandated Feasts of Yahovah that we find listed in Leviticus 23. Of course the Festival or Holiday of Purim would not be mentioned in Torah because the historical events that formed the basis of the Purim holiday would not occur for another 900-years or so beyond the giving of Torah to Moshe by Yahovah. Purim became a Jewish Festival or holiday on the fiat or by direction of Queen Ecter/Haddash and her cousin Mordecai after the Haman controversy, which we will discuss in future episodes of this Purim series, was resolved through the providence and grace of Yahovah. So no, Father never mandated or instructed us to keep or observe this festival and certainly I would be remiss or possess great hubris to push Purim observance or celebration on any Netzarim or Hebrew Rooter. What I will say, however, is that Father in His infinite wisdom has allowed us the opportunity to have record of these tremendous, spiritually and prophetically significant historical events—such as Hanukkah and Purim—for our edification and development. Although the great Apostle Shaul wrote the following passage concerning the events and associated conflicts that took place in the Exodus and in the Sinai Desert, the premise of this passage certainly applies to the megillah of Ecter and the Jewish Festival of Purim. Shaul wrote:

Now these things happened to them as an example, but athey were written down for our instruction, bon whom the end of the ages has come. (1Co 10:11 ESV)

George Santayana, a mid-19th century Spanish philosopher, poet and novelist, will forever be remembered for his great quote: (paraphrasing)—”Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” I believe this quotation and mindset is certainly befitting of Purim and the story of Ecter. Like Hanukkah, Purim details critical historical events that almost resulted in the extinction of the Jews and if that extinction were to have taken place, the bloodline leading to the birth of our Master Y’shua would have been severed and the redemption plan hindered. Oh, one could certainly argue that the Father, in His infinite wisdom, would have made provisions for His Plan to redeem man to ultimately succeed despite the best laid plans of man and hasatan–and indeed this did happen in both instances of Hanukkah and Purim—for the plans of hasatan and Haman were foiled by Yahovah’s providence and grace. But the point that must not be overlooked in the debate over plans of the Father conceivably being foiled by hasatan or whether Father would ever allow His plans for man to be destroyed by hasatan, is that the enemy is constantly on the prowl and seeking ways to destroy Yahovah’s people. The examples of Hanukkah and Purim provide the people of Yahovah with examples of how we must live and avoid the snares of the enemy; as well as they provide us with invaluable instruction on how we too must live our lives in complete trust and faith in the Creator and thus defeat the works of hasatan as we live out these last days and the end of our present age. So the celebration of Jewish festivals such as Hanukkah and Purim serve to remind us of the acts of faith and obedience that were fulfilled by those who came centuries before us. Those acts of faith and obedience serve as crucial life-lessons for us who are servants and children of the Most High. Again, when we fail to remember the failures and tragedies of the past, we are condemned to repeat it.

Churchianity, through the workings of hasatan, have not only rejected and forgotten the ancillary festivals of Purim and Hanukkah, but they’ve also rejected and forgotten the 7-mandated Feasts of Yahovah. So what has been the fallout from the Christian’s rejections and ignoring of these Feasts and Festivals: an inability to understand the foundational requirements Father places upon His people such as obedience to His laws; how to love Him and how to love one another; what our sole purpose as His servants are in the earth today; and what our ultimate potential as Father’s redeemed creation will be. Purim reminds us each calendar year, as we stop to really re-visit the story, learn the valuable spiritual lessons contained therein. So far, we’ve covered just the first 3-chapters where we gained some understanding of what it takes to become a Bride of the King, or in our case, the Bride of Messiah. Additionally, although we did not specifically discuss it, we saw how alcoholism can have adverse effects upon one’s life and the lives of those who are within that alcoholic’s individual circle of influence. In chapter 1 of Ecter, we saw how unbridled alcohol consumption on the part of Achoshverosh—King of the Medo-Persian Empire–resulted in his embarrassment before the elite of his 127-provinces when Queen Vashti refused to respond to his drunken command to make an appearance before the party attendees. This embarrassing incident resulted in Achoshverosh’s divorce from Vashti and then a few years later, the creation of a beauty contest and development of a harem that would tear apart countless families across the entire Medo-Persian realm. This was the beauty contest that Hadassah found herself forced to participate in. These women would never have families of their own. You will not find very many ministers of Churchianity making the link between alcoholism and the story of Ecter, but rest assured, the link does in fact exist. Furthermore, we find that Achoshverosh’s drinking problem resulted in him blindly agreeing to Haman’s plan to exterminate the Jews. The plan was struck during a bout of drinking between Haman and Achoshverosh. Certainly, alcoholism is a scourge that affects all segments of our secular and Faith-based societies even today. Alcohol is an effective tool of the enemy that he obviously uses to destroy the lives of men and their families, especially the lives of Yahovah’s chosen people. In this case, as we will see, it was Achoshverosh’s drinking problem that nearly led to the extinction of the Jewish nation.

In chapter 4 of the megillah of Ecter, we are exposed to the unimaginable drama that resulted from the posting of the extermination order drafted by Haman, backed by the power and might of King Achoshverosh and his Medo-Persian Army. Although the extermination order would potentially affect every Jew in the Medo-Persian realm, this chapter focused primarily on Mordecai’s reaction to the extermination order. The text reads:

“When Mordekai perceived all that was done, Mordekai rent his clothes and put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the midst of the city and cried with a loud voice and a bitter cry; and came even before the king’s gate: for none might enter into the king’s gate clothed with sackcloth. And in every province, whitersoever the king’s commandment and his decree came, there was great mourning among the Yahudiym, and fasting and weeping and wailing; and many lay in sackcloth and ashes.” (vss. 1-3)

 

Every Jew reading Haman’s edict against them as a nation realized that they had but just one year before their lives would be extinguished under the might and power of the Medo-Persian Empire. This realization spread throughout the Empire like wildfire as Jew after Jew no doubt felt that bitter and nauseating pit form in the core of their stomachs as they either read or had read to them or heard second or third-hand of this execution order. Certainly, this was not the first time, nor would it be the last time, that the nation would face total and utter extermination at the hands of a powerful people and their government. We endured bitter bondage while we sojourned in Egypt, always just an edict away from our nation being exterminated. As we traveled across the Sinai Desert we faced destruction from the Amalekites but by the grace of Yah we were delivered. While we sorjoruned in the Land of Israel we faced extermination at the hands of the Philistines but by the protective hands of Yah and His deliverers, we prevailed. The Assyrians and Babylonians both came close to destroying our people but Yah’s providence and grace would have the final say. Later would come the Greeks and the Romans and then the German Nazis—all agents of hasatan, bent on destroying Yah’s people. Granted, Yah in His sovereignty and wisdom and will would often use these powerful nations to teach us a lesson and bring us back to Himself, there would always be another enemy standing at the door, ready and willing to destroy us, the people of Yahovah. And not just the Jews mind you. The true people of Yahovah have always, throughout the last 2-millennia, been just a heartbeat away from total annihilation at the hands of the crazies of this world, who would ceremoniously use the bible and their twisted understanding of the Person and purpose of the Son of God, to justify their evil against Yah’s chosen.

But for Mordekai and the Jews of the 127 providences of Achoshverosh’s kingdom, upon hearing about or reading the extermination order against them, what can one say when the reality of the matter finally pierces through one’s understanding—that you and everyone you’ve ever loved has but just one year to live—then, one can but only wail as if experiencing the most dire pain and loss one could ever imagine. That wail leads then to the tearing away of one’s garment and collapsing to the ground in an inconsolable heap of weeping humanity. And if that weren’t enough, one is compelled to do the only other thing besides wailing that we’ve ever known to do in such dire situations: to lower ourselves to wearing sackcloth and to lay in ashes. This desperate act of profound and utter mourning was our natural response to seemingly unsolvable life-threatening situations such as this. What other means was there for one to coax the very attention of the Creator of the Universe and provoke Him to act on our behalf because of His unfailing love for us as His people—albeit His prodigal children–than to wail in mourning and to lay in sackcloth and ashes? As Mordekai and his fellow Jews saw it, this was the obvious end to our nation; our people; our way of life. Certainly it was always conceivable that a much stronger nation would someday come along and take advantage of our weakened state throughout various times in our history. Oh, we would always tell ourselves that this would never happen—that Yah would always stay true to His Word to protect and deliver us from all hurt, harm and danger. But we were also cognizant of the fact that we had not been the most loyal and obedient of people and that we’d violated the Creator’s Torah as a nation throughout our history so often that Yah’s Spirit physically left the Temple and we were left defenseless and ripe for utter destruction—reference Ezekiel 10. Yes Yah was true to His word to protect and deliver us throughout our history as a nation, but when we were true to Him and His Torah. We’d gotten away from Torah and had grown fat and obtuse to Yah’s way—Yah’s Torah—so much so that we’d forgotten about Him and His Torah altogether—reference Deuteronomy 32:15—

”But Jesurun (Jacob in the LXX; Israel in the NLT) grew fat and kicked; you grew fat, stout, and sleek (Kasah=sated, gorged); then he forsook Yah who made him and scoffed at the Rock of his salvation.” ESV

Mordekai had the greatest emotional burden to bear over this thing than any other, for it was as a result of His refusal to prostrate himself whenever Haman were to pass by him. But for whatever reason—Mordekai’s knowledge that Haman was a villainous Agagite or that he, Mordekai, remained devout in His Faith towards Yah and would never be found prostrating himself before men—Mordekai would not bow before Haman. And Mordekai knew within his very being that this pending act of genocide against His people was as a result of his insolence. It’s one thing to be responsible for something that gets oneself or one or two other people in hot water with the authorities. It’s an entirely different thing on an entirely different level, to be directly responsible for the pending deaths of all the members of one’s nation. What more can one do beyond mourn and repent and seek Yah’s deliverance from this dire situation?

How often have we found ourselves in situations that have the potential of negatively impacting our own lives and the lives of the people we love? I look back to my younger years and I see times when I made really bad decisions that resulted in problems for my family and I. I recall one incident in particular when I arrogantly ignored that which I knew I should do to avoid the trials and tribulations that were certain to come, but thought and felt that I would somehow, under my own strength and intelligence, come out of the thing smelling like a rose. Unfortunately, I came out of the situation smelling like a land fill and my family and I would face one of the greatest challenges of our family’s existence. The results of my “insolence” if you will, almost tore my family to shreds. Did I go down into deep repentance and seek deliverance and protection for my family and I? I’m so terribly sad to say that I did not. I was so much into myself, carrying around for all to see a misguided self-confidence that I believed that I would be able to escape the penalty of my actions (or inactions) and that my family and I would come out of the situation in better shape than when we entered the situation. Turns out that my stupidity and my refusal to repent and seek the Face of Father resulted in years of hardship for my beloved wife and children and for myself. If anything can be learned from this situation involving Mordekai and the Jewish nation, it is that Mordekai knew which side of the bread his toast was buttered. He knew that the only path that he could enter, with at least some modicum or chance for survival for him and his people, was Yah. Thus Mordekai sought the attention of Father through profound mourning and repentance which is a common characteristic of Yah’s people when they find themselves in troubles.

What is the significance of Mordekai’s sackcloth and ashes emotional display? Well, the use of sackcloth and ashes in the Holy Writ, despite there being no true understanding of the origin of this Hebrew practice, was commonly used as a means of profound mourning by the people of Yahovah as well as a means of supplication and appeal for Father’s help to deal with a matter that could not be dealt with by the one seeking deliverance and help.

The first mention of the use of sackcloth for purposes of mourning is found in Genesis 37:34, where Jacob—Ya’aqov—is presented with tainted evidence of his son, Joseph’s–Yoceph’s, alleged death. It is a symbol of mourning. Sackcloth in Hebrew is “saq” which denotes a mesh sack of some sort. Fausset’s Bible Dictionary defines “sackcloth” as course dark goats’ hair that was used for sacks in the day. Sackcloth was used for close fitting raiment in mourning that was secured by a girdle.

David commanded Joab (i.e., commander of Israel’s army under David, who killed Absalom, and who was son of David’s sister, Zeruiah) and the host of people with him, to don sackcloth and mourn before Abner (commander of Saul’s army, cousin of Saul, who was murdered by Joab)—2 Samuel 3:31

Elijah (Eliyahu) pronounced Yahovah’s judgment upon Ahab (Ach’av), who “sold himself to work evil in the sight of Yahovah” (1 Kings 21:20) and causing Israel to sin (vs. 22), resulting in Ach’av doning sackcloth and fasting—vs. 27.

In fear of Sennacherib’s (King of Assyria’s) invasion of Judah, Judah’s King Hezekiah rent his clothes and covered himself in sackcloth and went into the Temple—2 Kings 19:1.

In mourning over his tribulations, Job sewed and donned sackcloth and laid his pride—laid his strength—in the dust of the earth—Job 16:15.

The people of Nineveh repented of their ways upon receiving Jonah’s call to the people of Nineveh to repent, resulting in the nation’s fasting and wearing of sackcloth—Jonah 3:5, 6.

The two-witnesses will prophecy 1,260-days, clothed in sackcloth, as recorded in Revelation 11:3.

Matthew records our Master as saying:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit for their’s is the kingdom of heaven.”

The average reader of this passage of the Holy Writ would read right over this passage and believe that our Master was speaking about those who are financially destitute and reliant upon the alms of those in society with financial means. However, the true, invested student of Yah’s written word, will not simply read over poor in spirit as being someone who is financially challenged. To the contrary, the poor in spirit is one who is a “spirit begger”: someone so poor they cannot work for spiritual gain. Add to that the concept of being contrite in spirit—a close cousin to being poor in spirit—which we find an example in Isaiah 66:2—ani, refers to one who trembles at Yahovah’s word. The NET Bible refers to the poor in spirit as the “pious poor.”

Of being “poor in spirit,” the great Bible Commentator Matthew Henry wrote:

“…to think meanly of ourselves; of what we are, and have and do…The broken and contrite spirit with which the publican cried for mercy to a poor sinner, is that poverty of spirit. We must call ourselves poor, because always in want of God’s grace, always begging at God’s door, always hanging on in His house…poverty of spirit is put first among the Christian graces…those who are weary and heavy laden, are the poor in spirit,” search for rest in Messiah.

We are primed for destruction because of our sins and our refusal to turn to Yahovah. It’s when we realize that we are deserving of eternal death that those of us who are profoundly knowing of our condemned status as human beings, that we rent/tear our spiritual clothes and we don our spiritual sackclothes and lay in ashes in utter embarrassment and contrition over our situation. We never forget our base situation despite realizing what Y’shua did for us and Father’s acceptance of us as one of His children.

It’s not until we get down to the level of mourning that we see, in Mordekai’s example, that we truly realize that our hope is built on nothing less than our Master’s blood and the right-standing that we can have before Father because of Master’s sacrifice—Romans 5:21; 8:30, 33. But we must first present ourselves to Yahovah with a contrite heart—we must become poor in spirit—before we realize—before we achieve–the Kingdom of Heaven. We must never think ourselves as having arrived, especially as Netzariym. We must always have within us, a sackcloth and ashes mentality as it relates to our redemption. We must never forget from wince we’ve come. Our Father responds positively to such a heart:

“Yahovah is nigh—kaw-robe—near—unto them that are of a broken heart and saves such as be of a contrite ruach—that is a crushed spirit.” (Psalms 34:18; cf. Isa. 66:2)

This is a life lesson that we must learn as the people—as children of the Most High. We can not presume that we can fix every situation we find ourselves through our own means and abilities. Most importantly, we must realize that our salvation—our redemption—draws nigh—Luke 21:28; and thus we must be cognizant of that which gets the Creator of the Universe’s attention and that is profound mourning in response to our depraved state being looked upon and addressed by Yahovah’s perfect grace—through the workings of His Son Y’shua HaMashiyach. I’m not suggesting at all that we exercise some contrived mourning ceremony to get Father’s attention. That would be entirely stupid and disingenuous. On the contrary: I’m suggesting that we each take a close look at our lives and see ourselves as Father sees us—sinful and needful: spiteful, bitter, mean, hateful, lustful, envious, selfish, without law and in opposition to Him and His ways. Yet Father stayed the course and held true to His promise of a redemption plan for all of mankind despite our thumbing our nose up at Him at every turn—even to this very time in human history. Contrary to Charismatic Christianity that teaches one to demand of the Creator’s attention and to claim that which obviously hasn’t been given to us, we are not in any position to demand anything of Father. We deserve death. But we’ve received the free gift of Father’s grace that has been poured out upon us through the sacrifice and work of His Son, Y’shua Messiah. All that is required of us to receive that free gift is to turn from our evil ways, give everything over to Father, and follow our Master and be obedient to Father’s commandments. This scenario does not lend itself to demanding things from the Creator as so many of our cousins in charismatic churchianity are prone to do on a regular basis. This practice is nothing more than a haughty, arrogant practice and exercise that was taught to them by their hell-bound overlords who stand to gain handsomely from their follower’s blind obedience to their teachings. The true servant of Yahovah is one that has freely committed their lives to the Creator of the Universe and obediently fulfilling His purpose in the earth forever. These realize that they are most fortunate to have come to the true knowledge of the Creator and His of ways. These realize that if not for Yah’s perfect grace, they’d be eternally lost; and thus they react to this knowledge from time to time with contrition and yearning for the Creator’s gentle touch and love.

Whether we don spiritual sackcloth and ashes today or not, the world will some day experience this level of spiritual mourning at the coming of the Son of Man:

“And then shall appear the sign of the Son of Adam in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn and they shall see the Son of Adam coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.” (Matthew 24:30)

The earthly, maternal-biological brother of our Master Y’shua, Ya’aqov—James—wrote:

“Submit yourselves therefore to Yahovah. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to Yahovah and He will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands ye sinners and purify your hearts, ye double minded. Be afflicted and mourn and weep—see the Mordekai sackcloth and ashes connection?—be afflicted, mourn and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of Yahovah and He shall lift you up.” (Ya’aqov—James 4:7-10)