“Go, assemble all the Jews who are found in Susa, and fast for me; do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my maidens also will fast in the same way. And thus I will go in to the king, which is not according to the law; and if I perish, I perish” (Esth 4:16).
The outbreak of the war with Iran on the eve of the Jewish feast of Purim had many people speaking about the striking echoes of ancient Jewish history. Once again, two ancient peoples associated with the book were caught in a similar conflict, with non Persian ideologues openly threatening Israel’s annihilation.
Our greatest problem is not ultimately those who seek to destroy us, but our unwillingness to surrender to the One who seeks to save us.
But several weeks into the conflict, as people are forced to go in and out of bomb shelters at all hours of the night, many in Israel are beginning to grow very tired. This chronic exhaustion highlights one of the most crucial features of the book of Esther, one that, at least until now, has not been repeated.
At the moment when it seemed most necessary for Esther, Mordecai, and the Jewish people to be strong, Esther called all the Jews of Susa to become as weak as possible. One day without food and water is difficult enough. Esther instructed her people not to eat or drink for three days. Israel’s three days of physical deprivation provide one of the most explicitly theological messages in the book: although the enemy seeks to kill, steal, and destroy, the battle belongs to the LORD.
As a nation, we continue to put our trust in horses and chariots (Psa 20:7). But spiritual problems require spiritual solutions. Our greatest problem is not ultimately those who seek to destroy us, but our unwillingness to surrender to the One who seeks to save us. And as it was in the days of Esther, so there is coming a day when we as an entire nation will stop fighting and finally surrender ourselves completely into the loving embrace of our pierced God.
