1) Today in synagogue we read a conspiracy theory.
2) The conspiracy was real.
This week Jews celebrate Purim to commemorate this.
3) The conspiracy started when a wicked man named Haman devised a secret plot against the Jews. https://mic.com/articles/170587/what-is-purim-the-history-and-meaning-of-the-jewish-holiday …
4) Haman was angry that the Jew Mordechai refused to bow down to him — a refusal that made him murderously angry, but he put on a good face to the king.
5) Mordechai would have been condemned, but he saved the king’s life — by uncovering a different conspiracy.
6) In fact, the story of Purim is a story of great wealth and feasting in the kingdom of Persia, combined with underlying terror due to a few truly evil people.
7) The king in the story is rich, but all he wants is a queen who will love him and stand by his side.
8) His first wife is nasty.
9) Mordechai brings the king his lovely niece, who marries him. It is not a good situation, because he isn’t Jewish and it’s a harem.
But Esther wins his heart in order to save the Jewish people.
10) Haman is so greedy and arrogant. He thinks he will get away with his plot.
11) But God is with the Jewish people.
12) Esther and Mordechai appeal to Haman’s arrogance — by orchestrating not one, but two lavish feasts.
13) At some point Haman realizes that Esther knows everything.
14) He begs her for mercy, but the king sees him encroaching on her space and has a different impression.
15) “So the Jews fast and pray
And Esther prepares a royal buffet
Mordechai is hopeful and is not scared
As Haman is having his gallows prepared”
https://www.chabad.org/holidays/purim/article_cdo/aid/1792177/jewish/A-Purim-Potpourri.htm …
16) Esther and Mordechai knew all along that Haman had orchestrated the death of the Jews.
Times were very dark.
How would they get the king to listen?
17) The truth is, it took meticulous planning, patience, and persistence —
18) — along with massive prayer.
19) In the end the truth about Haman came out—he would have had the Queen’s entire people killed—and the King was so furious, Haman was hanged on the same gallows he had prepped for the Jew Mordechai (who previously saved the King’s life).
20) There is more to the story, but the bottom line is this: In every generation there is an enemy, which seeks endless power and dominion over the earth.
Inevitably they conspire about this, and the plot includes decimating God-fearing people. We will never obey them.
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By Dr. Dannielle Blumenthal. All opinions are the author’s own. Public domain. You can also read this online here.
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