The Feast of Purim
In Memory of God's Deliverance
Virtually every society throughout history has established a "memorial" day or days for its people to reflect on those who have died and to consider their legacies. In the Old Testament, a great memorial feast was instituted to remember the fact that men didn't die. The godly man Mordecai instituted the two day celebration of "feasting and joy" known as Purim in Esther 9:20-28. It's important to note that this "Feast of Purim" wasn't simply something Mordecai came up with because the people "needed" a holiday. He instituted it because he saw how important it was to remember the incredible grace that was shown to him and his fellow Jews.
Mordecai had become aware of Haman's plot to hang him and exterminate the Jewish people. He recognized that God had "turned [these days] from sorrow to joy" and "from mourning to a holiday" (Esther 9:22). Humans, by our very nature, are forgetful. When others do good things for us, we don't always do a real great job of remembering their kind deeds or telling them "thank you." The same is true in terms of our relationship with God. If someone were to ask, sure, we appreciate what God has done. Yet we, like those in the time of Mordecai, have a horrible habit of forgetting the good things as the days, months, and years go by and rarely express how much we really appreciate our Creator.
The Feast of Purim was the perfect time to remember what God had done. Haman had chosen a specific date to kill the Jews based on casting the lot (or literally, the fate or "Pur") and instead of that date being the end of their lives, the Jews saw the date as the beginning of the redemption (Esther 3:7). When naming the feast, it made perfect sense to call the feast "Purim" so as to remind future generations that while their grandparents had come close to dying horrible deaths, God had provided deliverance. Each day we live is a day wherein we can reflect on our own deliverance. Our "Feast of Purim" ought to be a daily experience as there should never be a day wherein we don't recall the greatness of our God and the greatness of His grace.