Editor’s Note: Dr. Hernandez’s article was previously published on March 13, 2017. This year (2024), Purim takes place from sundown March 23 to nightfall on March 24.

Imagine a holiday in which kids dress up, wander around the neighborhood in costumes, make joyous noise, and receive sweets from all over the place. No friends—I am not speaking of Halloween. Rather, I am referring to an actual biblical holiday that involves costumes, candy, and the reading of the scriptures.

“Purim” is the name of the biblical holiday celebrated worldwide by Jewish communities on the fourteenth or fifteenth of the Hebrew month of Adar—depending on whether one lives in a walled city (March 12-13 this year). Purim has been celebrated by masquerading for about the last 500 years—starting as a European tradition—despite the fact that masquerading is generally not looked upon favorably by Jewish people (cf. Deuteronomy 22:5). The reason for these festivities is simple:

Purim is a joyous day on which the Jewish people celebrate the rescue of their people group, as recorded in the biblical book of Esther.

One of the ways in which the preservation of the Jewish people is celebrated is by reading Megilat Esther (the Scroll of Esther). By reading the entirety of this biblical narrative in the synagogue or other public arena, the Jewish people are reminded of the deliverance of their ancestors from the hands of their enemies. Specifically, they are remembering their rescue from the plot of the tyrannical Persian despot, Haman. Indeed, every time Haman’s name is mentioned during the public reading of Esther, those in attendance boo and rattle noisemakers to demonstrate their displeasure with his memory (cf. Exodus 17:14). Accompanying the reading of the entire book of Esther, Jewish people celebrate with all types of festive activities, eating Oznai Haman (Yiddish: Hamentaschen), and singing typical Purim folk songs like this one:

שושנת יעקב
צהלה ושמחה
בראותם יחד
תכלת מרדכי

The people of Israel (Shoshanat Ya’akov)
Rejoiced and became overjoyed
When together they saw
Mordecai wearing royal blue

תשועתם
הייתה לנצח
ותקוותם
בכל דור ודור
ברוך מרדכי היהודי

Their salvation was from eternity
And their hope is from generation to generation
Blessed is Mordecai the Jew! Blessed is Mordecai the Jew!

In order to better understand the reason for the holiday Purim—even the word “Purim”—it is necessary to know a little bit of the history and setting of the book of Esther. The historical setting of the book of Esther goes back to about the late sixth century BC. This is when many Jewish people from the Jerusalem area were taken into exile by the Babylonians. The Babylonians were then conquered by the Persians, which brings us to the time period in which the book of Esther takes place.

The Story

The book of Esther commences by telling the story of King Ahasuerus of Persia—ruler of 127 provinces from the continent of Africa through east Asia. In the third year of his reign, this king has a grand feast in which the kingdom’s aristocrats are at the king’s palace in Susa—the capital of the Persian empire.

During this festival, King Ahasuerus calls his wife, Queen Vashti, to appear before him and his nobles in her royal crown. Vashti, for unstated reasons, refuses to come before the king, which absolutely enrages him (Esther 1:11-12). And so, based on the council of his friends, the king divorces Queen Vashti.

Upon divorcing Queen Vashti, the king misses her (Esther 1:21) and desires to marry again. The king’s servants then travel around the city gathering the most attractive maidens, so that the king might chose his next wife. This is when protagonists Mordecai and Esther appear. Mordecai is Esther’s older cousin and had raised her because she was an orphan. Esther, being remarkably beautiful, is taken into the king’s custody with other young women of the city (Esther 2:7-8).

In a noteworthy turn in the story—when Esther is taken into the custody of the king, she is explicitly commanded by her cousin Mordecai not to reveal her identity as a Jew (Esther 2:10, 20). This is an interesting point of foreshadowing for the reader. King Ahasuerus falls in love with and marries Esther, not knowing her full identity as a Jewish woman. The story could end here, except for the one question that lingers: Why would Mordecai tell Esther not to mention that she is a Jew?

The Situation

At this point in the story another character, Haman the Agagite, advances to a position somewhat akin to a prime minister role in the Persian kingdom. Upon this promotion, the king commands that all should bow down and pay homage to Haman. For reasons unexplained in the text, Mordecai not only refuses to bow down, but also reveals that he is a Jew (Esther 3:4)—doing the very thing that he commanded Esther not to do.

Those somewhat familiar with the 10 Commandments know that the second one explicitly states that you shall not make or bow down to idols. Mordecai may have admitted that he was a Jew and refused to bow down before the Persian leader because treating someone like God was where he had to draw the line. Perhaps there was a crisis of conscience (cf. Exodus 20:2–5a).

Nevertheless, Haman hates the fact that not all people will bow down to him and hates Mordecai—personally. Because of this, he develops a hatred for Mordecai’s people, whom Mordecai had implicated through admitting that he was a Jew. For Haman, it was not enough that everyone else in the kingdom bowed down to him, and it was not enough to kill only Mordecai. Haman determines to kill all of the Jewish people because of Mordecai’s rebellion (Esther 3:6). And so, Haman casts lots in order to determine the dreadful day in which all of the Jewish people would be put to death (Esther 3:7).

Many Bible readers are surprised to find that through all of these happenings, God is not mentioned. He is conspicuously absent. His name is not stated even once. At the time when the Jewish people needed God most, He is apparently nowhere to be found.

The Silence

How many times in our lives have we felt in need, desperate, physically/emotionally/spiritually destitute—and God is absolutely nowhere to be found? God seems absent. God is silent.

HERE IS A PRINCIPLE THAT WE LEARN THROUGH THE REST OF THE BOOK OF ESTHER: SOMETIMES, WHEN CIRCUMSTANCES LOOK DIRE, WHEN WE ARE GOING THROUGH DIFFICULT SITUATIONS AND GOD SEEMS TO BE ABSENT—GOD IS ACTUALLY RIGHT THERE, WORKING EVERYTHING TOGETHER FOR HIS GLORY.

Sometimes, when we have absolutely no assurance that God is concerned about a given situation, He is right there, completely involved in the situation, but not revealing the details of His work.

Here is the amazing thing that we must appreciate about the Esther narrative: God gives us, as readers, insight into a past occasion in which He is intricately involved in human affairs to carry out His purposes. It is this divine providence, that we start to see as God—without being named or officially credited with the actions—shaping the circumstances of the characters in order to accomplish His purposes.

For example, the following are specific circumstances in our story that are clearly divinely guided. In our story, it just so happened that:

Esther, out of all of the women, found favor in the eyes of the king.
Esther was a Jew.
Esther gained direct access to the king because of her position as Queen.
Esther and Mordecai were related.
Mordecai gained access to the Persian throne through Esther.

This last fact is key, because upon hearing the plans to slaughter the Jewish people, Mordecai dressed in clothes representing mourning and went to the entrance of the king’s gate. This permitted him to have access to his cousin, Queen Esther, who he convinces to help her own people—the Jews. Mordecai’s message to Esther serves as his plea for personal help and for the lives of all of his people:

“Do not think to yourself that in the king’s palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:13–14).

In his message, Mordecai urges Esther not to forget that she is a Jew. She too will feel the effects of Haman’s wicked plot to kill her people. But, Mordecai believes that Esther has been placed in a position of power and influence for the very purpose of helping her people through this time. Esther, in turn, communicates with the king, inviting him and Haman to a series of banquets. During the second of these banquets, Esther reveals to her husband that she is a Jew and that Haman’s wicked plot to kill the Jews would include her. This is dreadful revelation, not only to the king, but also to Haman, who pleads for his life—but to no avail. Haman is taken away and hung (Esther 7:7-10).

Nevertheless, the redemption of the Jewish people is still not complete. Using his ring, the king of Persia had sealed the edict to kill the Jews and therefore, the decree could not be overturned (Esther 8:8). This meant that another decree needed to be put into place to counteract the first (Esther 8:10-14). This new decree permitted the Jews to defend themselves against anyone who was still intent on causing them harm (in accordance with the king’s initial command). It also permitted the Jewish people to take force against their enemies over two days, which resulted in the killing upwards of 75,500 people across the Persian Empire (Esther 9:6, 12, 16).

By this, the annihilation of the Jewish people was avoided and their preservation in the Persian Empire was accomplished. Here is the irony—this salvation began on the very same day that Haman had planned for their destruction by the casting of lots (Purim). For the Jewish people, this was a cause for great celebration. And that is why the holiday of Purim was instituted.

Again, through all of this, God is not mentioned. God is apparently not present. God’s title is not stated even once. Salvation from their enemies comes for the Jewish people, and yet the pages of this book are silent as to who gets the credit. At the time when the Jewish people needed God the most, why is his name not even mentioned? Let us deal with this question for a second. The reality of our story is that, despite what some traditions might suggest concerning how honorable Esther and Mordecai are, some simple observations about them might help us to understand why God may not have been mentioned.

There seems to be no concern for the Jewish law by either of these two main characters.
Esther conceals her Jewish identity (lies by omission) when taken into the king’s court at the command of Mordecai. The implication of this is that Esther had to have violated the Torah (purity, Sabbath, food laws).
It is not until there is severe danger, and perhaps a threat from her uncle, that Esther reveals her true identity.
Esther marries a gentile king. Intermarriage with non-Jewish people is not explicitly forbidden, but we do not have any indication that the king has any intention of following the one true God of Israel.

Taking these observations into consideration, it does not seem like Esther or Mordecai are particularly concerned about following the Law that God gave the Jewish people. It does not seem like Esther or Mordecai are especially interested in inviting God into their narrative.

Despite the fact that God is not overtly present in the lives of these people, and does not plainly show up in the book, He still demonstrates His ability to control all circumstances and situations for His own glory. Why did God save the Jewish people while—quite frankly—not being invited into the story? A biblical principle that we must remember is the following: God does not save people because they are extraordinary in and of themselves. God saves people because He is a magnificent God demonstrating extraordinary love for humans, who by nature do not invite Him into their story (Romans 5:8).

This is what happened at the first Purim festival. God saved the Jewish people from their enemies—not because they were extraordinary in and of themselves. God saved them because He is an extraordinary, faithful God of integrity.

God’s Promise

You see, all the way back in the first book of the Bible, God promised a man named Abraham that all the nations of the earth would be blessed through him (Genesis 22:18). This indeed happened by God choosing Abraham’s son, Isaac, and Isaac’s son, Jacob—again, not because of anything they did, but for the purposes of God (Romans 9:6-13). As we continue to read through the Old Testament, we see that Jacob—who was renamed Israel—had 12 sons. Out of these 12 sons of Israel, his son, Judah—the name from which we get the title of the “Jewish” people—was chosen to bear the royal lineage (Genesis 49:8-10). King David came from the people of Judah, and Jesus the Messiah was a descendant of King David (Matthew 1:3-6, 16). Jesus came from the Jews, to the Jews (John 1:11-14). God was determined to carry out His promise of bringing blessing to all nations through the Jewish people by way of the person and the work of Jesus the Messiah.

One writer states it like this:

“Esther is part of a much larger story that runs all the way from Abraham to Christ and, through him, to the church. If Haman had succeeded, the Jewish people as a whole would have been destroyed, and the story of God’s saving work in and through Abraham’s descendants would have come to an end. There would have been no fulfillment in Christ, and therefore, no Gospel and no Christian church. Nothing less than that was at stake” (Barry G. Webb, ESV Study Bible, 961).

Our God is a God of integrity. He is a God who keeps His word. God’s integrity is not contingent upon human beings. Our God does not—cannot—let His word fail (Romans 9:6), and He is willing to work behind the scenes of humanity’s vain activity and inattentiveness to His work in order to carry out that which He has promised.

Purim and Christians

The book of Esther is part of our own heritage as Christians—not just because it is a small book tucked away in a part of our Bibles where books are difficult to find. Rather, it is because it is another part of the greater story of redemption, showing God’s love for humanity by bringing someone from the line of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah and David to save humankind from their problem of sin.

The fact that God is not mentioned at all in Esther seems to point out that it is during those times of silence—the times in which we do not overtly see God’s hand at work—that God is most active. Sometimes, God is simply in the act of preserving and saving our lives so that He might accomplish His purposes in and through us.

The preserving power of God is not limited to one people group that He used for His purposes. For Christians, Purim serves as an occasion in which we are reminded of God’s providence and sovereignty over all human lives and over our lives specifically. We are all the beneficiaries of God’s providence. As God guides all circumstances for His glory, we as humans are blessed to get a glimpse of what God does through people—including ourselves.

Editor’s Note: Editor’s Note: This article was previously published on September 16, 2021. This year (2023), the 10th day of the Jewish month of Tishrei runs from the evening of September 24 until sunset on September 25.

Background to Yom Kippur:

The Temple Mount and the tension surrounding this particular location are common themes of contemporary discussions concerning the Modern State of Israel. However, when the people of Israel came out of Egypt (Exodus 12:33-14:31), they did not have a fixed location in which they would worship God. In fact, the building of the first Israelite Temple, which was ultimately established on what we now know as the Temple Mount, did not start until 480 years after the Israelite’s Exodus from Egypt. This project was undertaken by King Solomon (1 Kings 6:1)—the third king of the nation of Israel.

Nevertheless, prior to the existence of a permanent Temple building, the people still worshiped. In Exodus 25-40, God gives instructions to the people of Israel regarding the construction of a portable tabernacle—and all of its component parts—as a place of worship and sacrificial activity. The people transported the Tabernacle with them during the wilderness wanderings, prior to entering the Promised Land.

Subsequent to the instructions relating to the building of the Tabernacle came very specific commands pertaining to the regulation of sacrifices in the Tabernacle (Leviticus 1-7). These sacrifices were performed by priests who interceded between humankind and God by implementing divine instruction on behalf of the people. Aaron (Moses’ brother) and his sons were divinely appointed and inaugurated as the leaders of the community of priests (Leviticus 8-9).

Yet, immediately following their call to the priesthood, the book of Leviticus relates the account of the death of Aaron’s two sons—Nadab and Abihu—by the hand of God (10:1). The text does not explicitly state why God put these two men to death. They were apparently guilty of entering the tabernacle and making an offering in a manner that was not ordained by God (cf. 10:2).

This episode is presented as the historical foundation for the instruction presented in Leviticus 16:1-2 relating to the Day of the Atonement. In short, as a preface to the instructions for Yom Kippur, God declares to Aaron through Moses, “You are going to atone for your sin and the sin of your community exactly the way I am about to command you so that you do not die like your sons died.” The following provides a summary of the rest of the events that were to take place on Yom Kippur that are crucial to our understanding of the significance of this day.

Summary of Biblical Yom Kippur:

Initially, the high priest would enter the Holy Place of the Tabernacle with offerings of a bull and a ram. He was then commanded to remove his ordinary, yet majestic, priestly garb and dress in holy, simple linen vestments after properly bathing his body. After taking two more goats from the congregation to serve as sin offerings, the high priest would offer the bull as a sin offering for himself and his family, prior to making atonement for the people. He then entered the Holy of Holies and sprinkled the blood of the bull that was sacrificed on his behalf, on and in front of the mercy seat—the place where God’s presence was manifested (16:3-6, 11, 14).

This initial stage of the Day of Atonement is extremely important in that the high priest—the person who was chosen by God to intermediate between God and the community of Israel—demonstrated his own shortcomings. The need for the priest to bathe his body is the typical example of his constant need to renew the physical body in order for it to thrive. The sin offering that the high priest offered for himself was representative of (even) the high priest’s need to be cleansed of his sin. It indicated the necessity of the priest to attend to his own spiritual need prior to interceding on behalf of his community.

Next, the high priest was commanded to take two goats and cast lots over them at the entrance of the tent of meeting. God determined, through the casting of lots, which of these two goats was to be offered as a sin offering to the Lord (16:7-9). After this goat was killed, its blood was taken into the Holy of Holies and was sprinkled on and in front of the mercy seat. In this way, atonement was made by the high priest for the Tabernacle as well as on behalf of the people (16:15-16). The high priest then spread the blood of the bull he sacrificed for himself and the goat he sacrificed on behalf of the people on the horns of another altar, outside of the Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle complex (16:18).

The sprinkling of the blood in different areas of the Tabernacle indicated that God permitted the high priest to enter into His presence to make atonement for himself, the people and the Tabernacle (which was defiled by the sin of the people) ONLY through the death of a substitute. That is to say, the life of the animal was sacrificed in order for there to be communion with God. These were God’s terms of worship. The people, through the priest, could only receive the forgiveness of their sin through the blood of a sacrifice (17:11).

In the midst of all of the blood sprinkling, there is a somewhat unexpected turn of events. Just when one might expect more bloodshed, the high priest is instructed to lay his hands on the head of the goat, that was not fated to death by the casting of lots, and confess the transgressions of the people. This act seemingly represents the transmitting of the sin of the people onto the goat. That goat—traditionally known as the “scapegoat,” though not without dispute—was taken by a helper and set free into the wilderness, evidently carrying away the sin of the people (16:20-22).

The last stage of the day was one of cleansing. The high priest was instructed to enter the tent of meeting, take off all of his garments and leave them there. The high priest was to bathe, get dressed in (presumably) his normal garments, and then make another sacrifice for himself and for the people. The person who was responsible for letting the goat go alive was also to purify himself. Lastly, all of the remains of the sacrifices were taken outside of the camp of the people of Israel and burned. The person who was responsible for burning the remains of the sacrifices was also commanded to purify himself (16:23-28).

Problems with Yom Kippur:

Since June 19, 2007—the day in which the first iPhone was released—I have consistently yearned to possess every generation of the iPhone. Ten years later, 18 different iPhone models have been produced with the latest and best being the iPhone X. At this point in history, it is possible to look back at the first generation of the iPhone, and while recognizing its splendor at the time of its debut, also acknowledge that it is not a desirable phone at this juncture. The reason is that there were several, if not many, shortcomings inherent to the original model.

For example, the first generation of the iPhone could not multitask in the manner in which it is possible on almost every phone nowadays. It was not possible to copy and paste text; third party applications could not be downloaded; there was no GPS system; the camera did not have a flash; it could not video record; the screen was minute compared to the screens on current phones; and the absolute best model had a memory of only 16GB. In light of all of these deficiencies, the best way to evaluate the value of the current iPhone X is by looking at the shortcomings of the initial model and reflecting upon how those shortcomings foreshadowed a greater end result.

Likewise, there were indeed shortcomings in the original High Holy day of Yom Kippur that foreshadowed a greater end result. God gave the people of Israel specific instructions for the Day of Atonement that contained certain inadequacies, implying the necessity for the atonement of sin in a more excellent manner. There are at least four main issues that arise with regard to the atonement for sin as depicted in Leviticus 16:

1) The Temporary Nature of the Atonement:
Why did the people have to continually sacrifice in order to atone for their sin? Why couldn’t their sin be atoned for once and for all?

2) The Blood of Animals:
How could the blood of animals take away the sin of humans? These first two issues bring to mind the inextricable connection between sacrificial activity and a physical Tabernacle or Temple. According to the Law set out in Leviticus 16, the people needed an actual location to carry out the sacrifices necessary in order to comply with God’s commands for legitimate atonement. Does the absence of a Tabernacle or a Temple—as is the present state of affairs—eliminate the possibility for the remission of sin?

3) The Imperfection of the Priesthood:
The priests had to perpetually sacrifice for themselves, symbolizing the guilt of the intermediator that was to represent the people to God, and God to the people. The priest had his own issue with sin, requiring him to sacrifice for his own sin before he could sacrifice for the sin of others. Aaron was indeed imperfect (cf. the Golden Calf narrative in Exodus 32), as were his sons (see above, e.g. Nadab and Abihu). This begs the question: Could there ever be forgiveness of sin by means of an innocent mediator as opposed to the guilty interceding on behalf of the guilty?

4) The Affliction of the People:
Is the self-affliction of the people related to the forgiveness of sin?

Christ in Yom Kippur.

This past summer, my family spent about seven weeks in Israel. Upon returning home, we were greeted by an enormous underground beehive in our front yard.This beehive grew to be extremely problematic because it was located about 10 feet from the front porch, meaning that we would have to pass many bees upon exiting the front door. I am as incompetent as anyone when it comes to problems with bees, so in my mind, I was sure I could eliminate the problem by killing the bees.

Our family and friends subsequently conducted a series of experiments with the intent of eliminating the bee problem. The experiments consisted of: spraying entire cans of bee spray on the bees, covering the bees with dirt, pouring water on the bees and even running over the bees with the lawnmower. To our dismay, the bees insisted upon endlessly occupying our front yard.

In reality, we were not addressing the source of the problem.

The reason the bees persisted in holding our family hostage was that their hive remained relatively unscathed. Despite our repeated attempts to resolve the matter by facilitating the demise of our unwanted neighbors, our solution to the problem was only representative of what needed to be accomplished. The problem continued to return after an hour, a day or a week. In order to obtain true liberation from the threat of the bees, something greater needed to happen. We needed to deal with the root of the issue—the underground beehive.

Correspondingly, atonement through the blood of animals could not truly eliminate humankind’s plight stemming from their sin. The high priests—impaired by the depravity of their own transgressions—were incapable of interceding in a manner worthy of absolute divine sanction. Thus, it was commanded that sacrifices be repeatedly carried out so that atonement could be made for sin, regardless of how much the people of Israel afflicted themselves.

These systemic inadequacies relating to Yom Kippur foreshadowed a day in which the shortcomings would be perfected—namely, through the person and the work of Jesus the Messiah. Jesus perfected the imperfections of Yom Kippur. This is an implicit message read through the pages of the New Testament.

However, Jesus is explicitly stated to be the culmination of the sacrificial system in Hebrews 7:26-27: “For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself.”

Jesus is the Perfect High Priest.

As we see in this passage from Hebrews, Jesus is “holy.” By His divine character, He is set apart for the service of God the Father. Jesus is “innocent.” He is without any deficiencies and completely blameless. Jesus is “unstained.” He is perfectly free from the character flaws and blemishes with which all of the previous high priests struggled as a result of their sin. Jesus is “separated from sinners.” He is completely disconnected from the sinful nature. Because of who He is and what He has done, Jesus is rightfully “exalted above the heavens.”

By virtue of these attributes and His exalted position, Jesus is the only Perfect High Priest who does not need “to offer sacrifices daily, first for His own sins and then for those of the people.” Jesus was not guilty of any sin as He offered a blood sacrifice for the remission (cancellation) of sin, thereby being the only one who ever lived who could serve as a perfect intermediator between God and humankind.

Jesus is the Perfect Sacrifice.

Notice that in Hebrews 7:27, Jesus functions in two roles:

1) Jesus is the Priest:
Jesus is the subject of the final phrase. He is the one that is carrying out the act of sacrificing. This is what Jesus did on the cross.

2) Jesus is the Sacrifice:
Jesus is the direct object of the final phrase of Hebrews 7:27. He is the one being sacrificed. This is what Jesus did on the cross. When Jesus was on the cross, He exclaimed, “It is finished” (John 19:30). These words indicated that the ultimate sacrifice had been offered. There was no longer a need for any other priest or sacrifice because Jesus, the Perfect Priest, perfectly offered Himself as the Perfect Sacrifice (Hebrews 10:1-4).

The Levitical high priest could only offer the blood of animals, which never truly removed sin, but rather, temporarily covered human sin. Our High Priest, Jesus, offered Himself as a blameless sacrifice on behalf of humanity, alone in the heavenly Holy of Holies, suffering an agonizing death, so that He could serve as an impeccable mediator between humankind and God. As a result of His actions, the veil of the Temple was torn (Matthew 27:51; Mark 15:38; Luke 23:45), giving all who are covered by His blood access to the Holy of Holies and, thereby, the presence of the Most High God.

Louis Goldberg summarizes: “…The Mediator of the New Covenant, in His ministry, did not have to confess His sin because there was no sin in Him. Jesus the Messiah, acting in the capacity of High Priest, was holy, innocent, undefiled; He did not have to offer sacrifices before He could minister for us, taking our place perfectly before the exalted and holy God. Jesus alone faultlessly bridges the infinite gap between God and man, and because of His death, He can give us His life.”¹

The events that were commanded by God on Yom Kippur were signs of even greater things. They were representative of what the perfect High Priest Jesus would do in the heavenly Holy of Holies, satisfying the wrath of God toward sin by taking it upon Himself, spilling His own blood, and suffering the death penalty on the cross. Our sin was transferred to Jesus, paid for by His blood, and completely taken away (Hebrews 9:11-14; cf. Leviticus 16:20-22).

Conclusion: Affliction vs. Familiarity

The old adage “familiarity breeds contempt” seems to be why God commanded the people to afflict themselves in Leviticus 16 in addition to the other sacrificial obligations of Yom Kippur. Consider this fact: The people of Israel actually had the presence of the living God dwelling among them in the Tabernacle, and subsequently, in the Temple (cf. 2 Chronicles 5:14). This is the type of experience that might have become humdrum, and consequently, the people could have become complacent in their worship. Nevertheless, when the Day of Atonement came around, and with it multiple sacrifices to atone for the sin of the community, the people were reminded of who they were before a perfect God. Seeing what God required to make atonement as a result of the gravity of their sin, the people’s self-affliction was to serve as an additional reminder for them not to sin against God.

Nevertheless, believers in Jesus have no contemporary mandate to afflict ourselves on any particular day. Now, it is by looking at Jesus and how He intentionally permitted Himself to be afflicted, that we are reminded of the gravity of our sin.

God is not vindictive toward humankind but rather has established a way in which people can come to Him, completely liberated of their sin. God is not resentful and angry at human beings but rather has always loved those whom He created in His image. Through the sacrifice of Jesus, God has created a way for us to recognize Him and love Him back. In this, God has demonstrated that He indeed has never wanted anyone to perish in their sin but for all to come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9; cf. 1 Timothy 2:3-4).

It is because of God’s love exhibited through Jesus that humankind is not currently called to afflict our soul. Rather, we experience the affliction of our souls by fixing our eyes on the cross of Jesus. We meditate on the affliction He underwent, suffering mental and physical anguish, and eventually being put to death so that we might live. Our soul cannot be any more afflicted than that of Jesus who willingly died for humanity, suffering the wrath of God for sin that He did not commit.

An inadequate understanding of the ancient Israelite sacrificial system necessarily leads to an incomplete understanding of Jesus’ work for humanity. Because of this, we treasure every single page of written correspondence we have received from God. All of Scripture is relevant, and there is no section of Scripture that deserves to be read with my fantasy fiction attitude.

Yom Kippur is not simply another important Jewish holiday that Christians witness from a distance. Yom Kippur is a day in which we are reminded what the blood of Jesus actually did—and thereby, what it means to humankind. Jesus’ blood provided absolute forgiveness of sin, so that by looking to Him as our great High Priest, and believing in Him as our perfect sacrifice, we have the privilege of entering into the Holy of Holies and communing with the Most High God.

¹ Louis Goldberg, Leviticus, p. 85

Editor’s Note: This article was previously published on September 15, 2021. This year (2023), the 10th day of the Jewish month of Tishrei runs from the evening of September 24 until sunset on September 25.

Biblical Law and My Contempt for Fantasy Literature

Watching, reading or listening to fantasy literature are insufferable experiences for me. I do not like The Lord of the Rings; I have a difficult time following The Chronicles of Narnia; Harry Potter is frustrating to me. It is safe to say that I simply do not appreciate, nor do I really see any value in, the fantasy genre.

I have tried to engage with this material—whether through obtaining the books, or mostly, by viewing the movie versions of these stories. I have repeatedly tried to watch The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter. I fall asleep. I have all of The Chronicles of Narnia on my bookshelf. They have been there for years.

I cannot—for the life of me—get into these stories.

I’ve started to realize why I have a difficult time appreciating fantasy; I do not care for anything that I perceive as not immediately applicable to life. Once a child goes into a closet and enters another world, or an 11-year-old boy starts to ride on a broomstick, I completely lose focus. Since these types of things simply do not happen in reality, I find myself questioning why I would fiddle with watching/reading these stories.

I know, beloved reader, that you might be angling your mouse toward the corner of this page, ready to dismiss the rest of this article because of my criticism of a genre that so many Christians hold close to their hearts—But, I beg you not to leave!

My contempt for fantasy literature is an apt illustration of what I (a professor of Old Testament) perceives to be a prominent Evangelical view toward many sections of the Old Testament. This perspective is especially typical as it pertains to sections of the Hebrew Bible that relate to Biblical Law. Christians tend to approach reading sections of the Old Testament like I approach reading fantasy literature, determining that this text does not immediately apply to our lives and, therefore, questioning why we would waste our time reading it.

However, it is not cogent for Evangelicals to, on the one hand, claim to hold the verbal plenary inspiration view of Scripture while, on the other hand, undermine the significance of portions of Scripture we may perceive to be irrelevant to our lives.

Perhaps we need to change the way we look at Biblical Law. I would suggest that there is no Biblical book in which a change of paradigm is more necessary concerning application for the church than Leviticus.

Why Read Leviticus?

Why would we ever want to read the book of Leviticus? Well, the following is a non-comprehensive summary of one of the more important reasons.

Those who have read through the book of Leviticus cannot help but notice how much blood is mentioned or alluded to through sacrifice. This coincides with the book’s extensive emphasis on the sacrificial system that God gave through Moses to his brother Aaron (the first high priest), and thereby, to Ancient Israel. One of the main focuses of the book of Leviticus is how the priests were to intercede on behalf of the people of Israel by performing blood sacrifices for the remission of sin (Leviticus 4-7; cf. 17:11, 14). This sacrificial activity comes to a pinnacle on the High Holy day of Yom Kippur—The Day of Atonement (Hebrew: Yom “Day”, HaKippurim “The Atonement(s)” [literally “sin coverings”]).

But what can we as Christians learn from the Day of Atonement? Isn’t Yom Kippur exclusively a Jewish holiday?

Yes, Yom Kippur is a Jewish holiday. But rather than this fact reducing the significance of the Day of Atonement for Christians, it drastically increases the importance. One of the main reasons for this heightened significance is that all of the writers of the New Testament—except for Luke—were Jews. Because of this fact, the motifs of sacrifice, blood, priesthood, intercession and remission of sins (evident in the book of Leviticus, and especially on the Day of Atonement) are all conspicuously present in the New Testament.

When one studies the Biblical passages concerning Yom Kippur, it becomes evident that it is absolutely necessary to understand aspects of the book of Leviticus in order to grasp the completed work of Jesus on the cross. Jesus’ work on the cross was the climax of that which was depicted during the Yom Kippur High Holy Day. Comparing and contrasting Leviticus 16 with select passages from the New Testament demonstrates the ultimate and perfect culmination of Yom Kippur by Jesus the Messiah.

Yom Kippur among Jews Today

The 10th day of the Jewish month of Tishrei runs this year from the evening of September 29 until sunset on September 30 on our Gregorian calendar. Many Jewish people consider this the holiest day on the Jewish calendar, despite the fact that the consequences for dishonoring the Sabbath are more severe than the consequences for violating Yom Kippur (death [cf. Numbers 15:32-36] as compared to excommunication [cf. Leviticus 23:29]). Many Jewish people who are not normally religious, or even traditional, observe Yom Kippur. Jewish men don a yarmulke/kippa on their heads, wear white clothes to symbolize purity and spend much of their day praying in a local synagogue where there are five prayer services, confessing the sin of the Jewish community. During one of these Yom Kippur prayer services (the Minchah [“Offering”]), the book of Jonah is read to communicate the idea that humankind can turn back to God after having been disobedient.

Observant Jewish people refrain from enjoyable activities in honor of God’s command to afflict oneself on this day (cf. Leviticus 16:29, 31; 23:27, 32; Numbers 29:7). They fast for at least 25 hours (all boys age 13 and over, and girls age 12 and over), many even refraining from drinking water during this fast (cf. Isaiah 58:3, 5; Psalm 35:13). Jewish people refrain from sexual relations; they refrain from bathing or anointing their bodies (i.e. with lotions, creams, perfumes, etc.); they refrain from wearing leather shoes (something that was once considered a luxury), and they undergo a period of intense soul searching.

There are two main greetings that are common among Jewish people that observe Yom Kippur. Since Yom Kippur is a day in which people fast, Jewish people will say tzom qal (צום קל “light fast” [i.e. “may you have an easy fast”]) to each other in order to express their desire for their companions’ day of fasting to be as easy as possible for them.

The other greeting has a bit more of a spiritual ring. Because Yom Kippur is an occasion on which Jewish people pray for forgiveness, others in their community wish them well by stating “g’mar chatimah tovah” (גמר חתימה טובה) which, loosely translated, expresses the wish that one “be sealed in the book of life for good.”

After hearing all of this, you might be thinking, “Wow! Why do our Jewish friends intentionally put themselves through so much discomfort on this day?”

Surely, there is some Jewish interpretation as to how one is to afflict oneself on Yom Kippur. Nevertheless, what is interesting is that God is the one who instilled the requirement for hardship on this day in Leviticus 16. The Israelite people were under a divine imperative to intentionally create physical and mental distress for themselves on Yom Kippur. This is the only day on the Jewish calendar in which people were/are commanded to afflict themselves.

Why would God ever command people to afflict themselves on the Day of Atonement? Where can Christ be seen in all of this? What can Christians gain from a better understanding of Yom Kippur?

In order to tackle these difficult questions brought about by God’s command for the Israelites to afflict themselves on Yom Kippur, we shall review the history regarding the emergence of the Day of Atonement, the reason it was observed, and why it was intended to be memorialized for subsequent generations. Enjoy the second part of this in-depth look at Yom Kippur in my next post!

Imagine a holiday in which kids dress up, wander around the neighborhood in costumes, make joyous noise, and receive sweets from all over the place. No friends—I am not speaking of Halloween. Rather, I am referring to an actual biblical holiday that involves costumes, candy and the reading of the scriptures.

“Purim” is the name of the biblical holiday celebrated worldwide by Jewish communities on fourteenth or fifteenth of the Hebrew month of Adar—depending on whether one lives in a walled city (March 12-13 this year). Purim has been celebrated by masquerading for about the last 500 years—starting as a European tradition—despite the fact that masquerading is generally not looked upon favorably by Jewish people (cf. Deuteronomy 22:5). The reason for these festivities is simple—Purim is a joyous day on which the Jewish people celebrate the rescue of their people group, as recorded in the biblical book of Esther.

One of the ways in which the preservation of the Jewish people is celebrated is by reading Megilat Esther (the Scroll of Esther). By reading the entirety of this biblical narrative in the synagogue or other public arena, the Jewish people are reminded of the deliverance of their ancestors from the hands of their enemies. Specifically, they are remembering their rescue from the plot of the tyrannical Persian despot, Haman. Indeed, every time Haman’s name is mentioned during the public reading of Esther, those in attendance boo and rattle noisemakers to demonstrate their displeasure with his memory (cf. Exodus 17:14). Accompanying the reading of the entire book of Esther, Jewish people celebrate with all types of festive activities, eating Oznai Haman (Yiddish: Hamentaschen), and singing typical Purim folk songs like this one:

שושנת יעקב
צהלה ושמחה
בראותם יחד
תכלת מרדכי

The people of Israel (Shoshanat Ya’akov)
Rejoiced and became overjoyed
When together they saw
Mordecai wearing royal blue

תשועתם
הייתה לנצח
ותקוותם
בכל דור ודור
ברוך מרדכי היהודי

Their salvation was from eternity
And their hope is from generation to generation
Blessed is Mordecai the Jew! Blessed is Mordecai the Jew!

In order to better understand the reason for the holiday Purim—even the word “Purim”—it is necessary to know a little bit of the history and setting of the book of Esther. The historical setting of the book of Esther goes back to about the late sixth century BC. This is when many Jewish people from the Jerusalem area were taken into exile by the Babylonians. The Babylonians were then conquered by the Persians, which brings us to the time period in which the book of Esther takes place.

THE STORY
The book of Esther commences by telling the story of King Ahasuerus of Persia—ruler of 127 provinces from the continent of Africa through east Asia. In the third year of his reign, this king has a grand feast in which the kingdom’s aristocrats are at the king’s palace in Susa—the capital of the Persian empire.

During this festival, King Ahasuerus calls his wife, Queen Vashti, to appear before him and his nobles in her royal crown. Vashti, for unstated reasons, refuses to come before the king, which absolutely enrages him (Esther 1:11-12). And so, based on the council of his friends, the king divorces Queen Vashti.

Upon divorcing Queen Vashti, the king misses her (Esther 1:21) and desires to marry again. The king’s servants then travel around the city gathering the most attractive maidens, so that the king might chose his next wife. This is when protagonists Mordecai and Esther appear. Mordecai is Esther’s older cousin and had raised her because she was an orphan. Esther, being remarkably beautiful, is taken into the king’s custody with other young women of the city (Esther 2:7-8).

In a noteworthy turn in the story—when Esther is taken into the custody of the king, she is explicitly commanded by her cousin Mordecai not to reveal her identity as a Jew (Esther 2:10, 20). This is an interesting point of foreshadowing for the reader. King Ahasuerus falls in love with and marries Esther, not knowing her full identity as a Jewish woman. The story could end here, except for the one question that lingers: Why would Mordecai tell Esther not to mention that she is a Jew?

THE SITUATION
At this point in the story another character, Haman the Agagite, advances to a position somewhat akin to a prime minister role in the Persian kingdom. Upon this promotion, the king commands that all should bow down and pay homage to Haman. For reasons unexplained in the text, Mordecai not only refuses to bow down, but also reveals that he is a Jew (Esther 3:4)—doing the very thing that he commanded Esther not to do.

Those somewhat familiar with the 10 Commandments know that the second one explicitly states that you shall not make or bow down to idols. Mordecai may have admitted that he was a Jew and refused to bow down before the Persian leader because treating someone like God was where he had to draw the line. Perhaps there was a crisis of conscience (cf. Exodus 20:2–5a).

Nevertheless, Haman hates the fact that not all people will bow down to him and hates Mordecai—personally. Because of this, he develops a hatred for Mordecai’s people, whom Mordecai had implicated through admitting that he was a Jew. For Haman, it was not enough that everyone else in the kingdom bowed down to him, and it was not enough to kill only Mordecai. Haman determines to kill all of the Jewish people because of Mordecai’s rebellion (Esther 3:6). And so, Haman casts lots in order to determine the dreadful day in which all of the Jewish people would be put to death (Esther 3:7).

Many Bible readers are surprised to find that through all of these happenings, God is not mentioned. He is conspicuously absent. His name is not stated even once. At the time when the Jewish people needed God most, He is apparently nowhere to be found.

THE SILENCE
How many times in our lives have we felt in need, desperate, physically/emotionally/spiritually destitute—and God is absolutely nowhere to be found? God seems absent. God is silent.

HERE IS A PRINCIPLE THAT WE LEARN THROUGH THE REST OF THE BOOK OF ESTHER: SOMETIMES, WHEN CIRCUMSTANCES LOOK DIRE, WHEN WE ARE GOING THROUGH DIFFICULT SITUATIONS AND GOD SEEMS TO BE ABSENT—GOD IS ACTUALLY RIGHT THERE, WORKING EVERYTHING TOGETHER FOR HIS GLORY.

Sometimes, when we have absolutely no assurance that God is concerned about a given situation, He is right there, completely involved in the situation, but not revealing the details of His work.

Here is the amazing thing that we must appreciate about the Esther narrative: God gives us, as readers, insight into a past occasion in which He is intricately involved in human affairs to carry out His purposes. It is this divine providence that we start to see as God—without being named or officially credited with the actions—shapes the circumstances of the characters in order to accomplish His purposes.

For example, the following are specific circumstances in our story that are clearly divinely guided. In our story, it just so happened that:

Esther, out of all of the women, found favor in the eyes of the king.
Esther was a Jew.
Esther gained direct access to the king because of her position as Queen.
Esther and Mordecai were related.
Mordecai gained access to the Persian throne through Esther.

This last fact is key, because upon hearing the plans to slaughter the Jewish people, Mordecai dressed in clothes representing mourning and went to the entrance of the king’s gate. This permitted him to have access to his cousin, Queen Esther, who he convinces to help her own people—the Jews. Mordecai’s message to Esther serves as his plea for personal help and for the lives of all of his people:

“Do not think to yourself that in the king’s palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:13–14).

In his message, Mordecai urges Esther not to forget that she is a Jew. She too will feel the effects of Haman’s wicked plot to kill her people. But, Mordecai believes that Esther has been placed in a position of power and influence for the very purpose of helping her people through this time. Esther, in turn, communicates with the king, inviting him and Haman to a series of banquets. During the second of these banquets, Esther reveals to her husband that she is a Jew, and that Haman’s wicked plot to kill the Jews would include her. This is dreadful revelation, not only to the king, but also to Haman, who pleads for his life—but to no avail. Haman is taken away and hung (Esther 7:7-10).

Nevertheless, the redemption of the Jewish people is still not complete. The king of Persia had sealed the edict to kill the Jews with his ring and therefore, the decree could not be overturned (Esther 8:8). This meant that another decree needed to be put into place to counteract the first (Esther 8:10-14). This new decree permitted the Jews to defend themselves against anyone who was still intent on causing them harm (in accordance with the King’s initial command). It also permitted the Jewish people to take force against their enemies over two days, which resulted in the killing upwards of 75,500 people across the Persian Empire (Esther 9:6, 12, 16).

By this, the annihilation of the Jewish people was avoided and their preservation in the Persian Empire was accomplished. Here is the irony—this salvation began on the very same day that Haman had planned for their destruction by the casting of lots (Purim). For the Jewish people, this was a cause for great celebration. And that is why the holiday of Purim was instituted.

Again, through all of this, God is not mentioned. God is apparently not present. God’s title is not stated even once. Salvation from their enemies comes for the Jewish people, and yet the pages of this book are silent as to who gets the credit. At the time when the Jewish people needed God the most, why is his name not even mentioned? Let’s deal with this question for a second. The reality of our story is that, despite what some traditions might suggest concerning how honorable Esther and Mordecai are, some simple observations about them might help us to understand why God may not have been mentioned.

There seems to be no concern for the Jewish law by either of these two main characters.
Esther conceals her Jewish identity (lies by omission) when taken into the king’s court at the command of Mordecai. The implication of this is that Esther had to have violated the Torah (purity, Sabbath, food laws).
It is not until there is severe danger, and perhaps a threat from her uncle, that Esther reveals her true identity.
Esther marries a gentile king. Intermarriage with non-Jewish people is not explicitly forbidden, but we do not have any indication that the king has any intention of following the one true God of Israel.

Taking these observations into consideration, it does not seem like Esther or Mordecai are particularly concerned about following the Law that God gave the Jewish people. It does not seem like Esther or Mordecai are especially interested in inviting God into their narrative.

Despite the fact that God is not overtly present in the lives of these people, and does not plainly show up in the book, He still demonstrates His ability to control all circumstances and situations for His own glory. Why did God save the Jewish people while—quite frankly—not being invited into the story? A biblical principle that we must remember is the following: God does not save people because they are extraordinary in and of themselves. God saves people because He is a magnificent God demonstrating extraordinary love for humans, who by nature do not invite Him into their story (Romans 5:8).

This is what happened at the first Purim festival. God saved the Jewish people from their enemies—not because they were extraordinary in and of themselves. God saved them because He is an extraordinary, faithful God of integrity.

GOD’S PROMISE
You see, all the way back in the first book of the Bible, God promised a man named Abraham that all the nations of the earth would be blessed through him (Genesis 22:18). This indeed happened by God choosing Abraham’s son, Isaac, and Isaac’s son, Jacob—again, not because of anything they did, but for the purposes of God (Romans 9:6-13). As we continue to read through the Old Testament, we see that Jacob—who was renamed Israel—had 12 sons. Out of these 12 sons of Israel, his son, Judah—the name from which we get the title of the “Jewish” people—was chosen to bear the royal lineage (Genesis 49:8-10). King David came from the people of Judah, and Jesus the Messiah was a descendant of King David (Matthew 1:3-6, 16). Jesus came from the Jews, to the Jews (John 1:11-14). God was determined to carry out His promise of bringing blessing to all nations through the Jewish people by way of the person and the work of Jesus the Messiah.

One writer states it like this:

“Esther is part of a much larger story that runs all the way from Abraham to Christ and, through him, to the church. If Haman had succeeded, the Jewish people as a whole would have been destroyed, and the story of God’s saving work in and through Abraham’s descendants would have come to an end. There would have been no fulfillment in Christ, and therefore, no Gospel and no Christian church. Nothing less than that was at stake” (Barry G. Webb, ESV Study Bible, 961).

Our God is a God of integrity. He is a God who keeps His word. God’s integrity is not contingent upon human beings. Our God does not—cannot—let His word fail (Romans 9:6), and He is willing to work behind the scenes of humanity’s vain activity and inattentiveness to His work in order to carry out that which He has promised.

PURIM AND CHRISTIANS
The book of Esther is part of our own heritage as Christians—not just because it is a small book tucked away in a part of our Bibles where books are difficult to find. Rather, it is because it is another part of the greater story of redemption showing God’s love for humanity by bringing someone from the line of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah and David to save humankind from their problem of sin.

The fact that God is not mentioned at all in Esther seems to point out that it is during those times of silence—the times in which we do not overtly see God’s hand at work—that God is most active. Sometimes, God is simply in the act of preserving and saving our lives so that He might accomplish His purposes in and through us.

The preserving power of God is not limited to one people group that He used for His purposes. For Christians, Purim serves as an occasion in which we are reminded of God’s providence and sovereignty over all human lives and over our lives specifically. We are all the beneficiaries of God’s providence. As God guides all circumstances for His glory, we as humans are blessed to get a glimpse of what God does through people—including ourselves.

Dominick Hernández will be a workshop speaker at the 2017 CCCM Pastors & Leaders Conference on June 26-29. For more information, please visit the website.

Over the past few days, news broke that there was a new cave found in the vicinity of Qumran. Twitter and Facebook nearly crashed as a result of the abundance of postings (hyperbole) concerning the possible twelfth Dead Sea Scrolls’ cave by the small percentage of world’s population that enjoys sifting dirt while looking for old documents in dead languages.

Though I admittedly enjoy reading the ancient documents in dead languages much more than exploring in caves, I too was caught up in the excitement manifested through social media. All jokes aside, if it turns out that this is actually a cave that formerly housed scrolls and artifacts related to the other previously-known 11 caves by Qumran, this is a very important discovery for those interested in archaeology of the land of Israel, Second Temple Judaism, the Hebrew Bible, Christian origins and the like.

As I have previously discussed in another article (prior to the finding of this potential twelfth cave), a basic knowledge of the Dead Sea Scrolls and how they apply to the study of the Bible is quite important for Christians. If the findings of the former caves were important, then the discovery of another related cave could be equally as beneficial to the study of the Bible. It is not yet clear what exactly the finding of this cave will mean for students of the Bible. Given the multiple reports that a cave was found that could be linked with the other 11 caves as well as the community that lived in the Qumran, it is reasonable to ask: What could the finding of a new cave by Qumran mean for those interested in the study of the Hebrew Scriptures and New Testament?

All of us that are invested in the study of the Dead Sea Scrolls hope that this question will be answered sooner rather than later. Nevertheless, if there is any truth to the adage “history repeats itself” (and there is—that’s why it is an adage), then we know that there are a few things we can expect to see in the future in relation to the finding of this cave. Below, I have listed just three issues that are bound to come to pass in the near future.

BLACK MARKET SCROLLS

Initial reports indicated that there were no new scrolls with writing on them found in the cave. However, there were the remains of jars found—the type of jars that evidently housed scrolls. This is significant because there were also jars found in cave one—the location of the discovery of several long and well-preserved scrolls (e.g. The “Great Isaiah Scroll” [aka 1QIsa]). Despite the fact that no scholar found a scroll in a jar, many have suggested throughout the years that the scrolls found in cave one were in fact originally stored in those jars. This suggestion was mostly based upon the pattern of erosion of the scrolls.

If scholars were right about the scrolls being stored in jars in cave one, then there is at least a chance that there were once scrolls in the jars that have been found in this new cave.

However, if there were scrolls in the jars, where are they now?

This simple question leads to the intriguing conclusion that there might be Dead Sea Scrolls circulating on the black market relatively soon that will provide us with even more insight into the world of Jesus, Second Temple Judaism, and maybe even, the Hebrew Bible. Obtaining scrolls from the black market has not been uncommon since the discovery of the first Dead Seas Scrolls in 1947. This method of acquiring scrolls is not particularly surprising, since most of the caves in which the scrolls were found were initially discovered by Bedouin, yet the contents of those caves have proven to be invaluable to Jewish-Israelis.

ARGUMENTS OVER OWNERSHIP

Argument over the ownership of the scrolls is no new thing. The fact is that Bedouin shepherds found Jewish documents (likely in late 1946, or early in 1947) prior to the establishment of the modern state of Israel (1948), in territory that is disputed up to this very day. Here you have all of the makings of a first-rate slugfest over the ownership of priceless artifacts—that are actually worth a boatload of money.

Professors Craig A. Evans and Jeremiah Johnston of Houston Baptist University have already written a brief article suggesting that this new find demonstrates that the Dead Sea Scrolls are the property of Israel. I recommend reading their explanations whether you are inclined to agree with them or not. In any case, there is a real possibility that more Dead Sea Scrolls—written by Jewish people in the land of Israel at the turn of the era—are in the hands of locals who are expecting to be compensated for these artifacts. Many would say that these artifacts were never their’s in the first place. Once again, this leads to difficult questions regarding the ownership of the documents. The artifacts found in the caves by Qumran are certainly part of the history of ancient Israel, but should Jewish-Israelis now compensate those who recovered the documents for the sake of possessing and preserving their heritage?

One does not need to be a soothsayer in order to predict that this brewing controversy will shortly be raised in the mainstream media.

MORE INSIGHT INTO SECOND TEMPLE PERIOD JUDAISM

Speaking of controversy, based on the fact that jars were found in the caves, we can pretty safely assume that someone at some point will at least claim to possess documents from this newly discovered cave. If there are any documents recovered, we should expect them to provide more insight into the Jewish world during the time of Jesus.

Let’s assume for a moment that just one more biblical fragment is found from the Second Temple Period. That particular fragment might be identical to and, thereby, support a specific manuscript tradition already found in the Qumran caves. This finding would then lend insight into the veracity of the theories relating to the families of manuscripts. If that fragment is different from other witnesses, it will provide a textual variant that may have been previously unknown, calling into question prior textual theories, and hopefully facilitating the ability to establish a more original form of a textual tradition.

Either way, the readers and lovers of the Bible win!

Bible students would also greatly benefit from the discovery of any extra-biblical Jewish document found from this particular time period (e.g. sectarian literature, pseudepigraphal compositions, apocryphal books, etc.). It is through this literature that we are able to gain an understanding of the cognitive environment of Second Temple Judaism, the languages of the Bible, and the life of the Qumran community (or whoever might have been responsible for putting those documents in the caves).

At any rate, whatever documents can be tied to this new cave will surely be of great value to readers of the Bible and are likely to fortify and/or challenge currently held theories. As a result of this, we should expect plenty of testing, striving to link the findings of the potential cave 12 to the Qumran settlement and the other 11 caves. Likewise, we can safely predict an assortment of opinions when the results of the analyses surface—initially in scholarly journals and then, by way of trickle-down effect—in more popular resources.

At this juncture, we can only make educated guesses regarding the issues that might emerge as a result of the discovery of this potential twelfth cave. Only time will tell the true significance of this discovery and what it may yield. Who knows—maybe the previously unfound book of Esther was hiding out in cave 12 and will make its grand homecoming during Purim 2017! Stay tuned!

To contact the researchers: Dr. Oren Gutfeld, Hebrew University Institute of Archaeology, gutfeldo@gmail.com.

Dominick Hernández will be a workshop speaker at the 2017 CCCM Pastors & Leaders Conference on June 26-29. For more information, please visit the website.

Introduction

Have you ever heard the story of the Bedouin lad who threw a stone into a cave on the western shore of the Dead Sea, unwittingly making the greatest find in recent centuries related to biblical studies?
This is the story behind the discovery of what are now called the Dead Sea Scrolls—conveniently named for the location in which they were unearthed. In late 1946 or early 1947, three Bedouin shepherds (Khalil Musa, Jum`a Muhammed Khalil, and Muhammed edh-Dhib [aka “the Wolf”]) tended their herds in the area of Khirbet Qumran. Jum`a—perhaps looking for an animal—threw a rock into a cave and heard pottery break. The story has it that they decided to return to the cave later, but the Wolf (Edh-Dhib) came back first without the other two. He found three scrolls in a clay jar and brought them back to his companions. Later, they returned to the cave again with another interested person, George Isha`ya Shamoun, and found several more sizeable scrolls, totaling seven.

Once scholars and seasoned archaeologists learned of the vicinity of the findings, they were able to conduct professional excavations. When all was said and done, there were ten more caves found in the proximity of the first between 1947 and 1956. These eleven caves contained fragments numbering in the tens of thousands, constituting between 900-1000 assorted manuscripts (depending, of course, upon which scholar you ask, and how the fragments are compiled and counted). These fragments are dated back to the third century BC through the first century AD, and were written in Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic.

Scholars also discovered the archeological remains of a nearby settlement and were able to make some deductions based upon the contents of the scrolls and the distinct structural features of the encampment. It was determined that these scrolls were likely conserved, preserved, and eventually, left behind by a radically ascetic Jewish group during the time of the first major Jewish rebellion against Rome (66-74 AD). Most scholars believe that the Qumran settlement was inhabited by the historically-documented (mostly by Josephus, Philo, and Pliny the Elder) Jewish group known as the Essenes.

Maybe you have heard this story, or perhaps have read something like this in your study Bible. Maybe you have even taken a trip to Israel, stood on the platform adjacent to the ruins of Qumran overlooking cave four and wondered if your tour guide would ever stop talking—after all, it is quite hot in the Judean hills almost year-round.

When it comes to the relevance of the Dead Sea Scrolls, even the serious Bible student who is interested in extra-biblical information might ponder, “Neat story—but what in the world do Qumran, the Essenes, and the Dead Sea Scrolls have to do with me now? How are the Dead Sea Scrolls important for the church today?”

These are perfectly fair questions, especially in light of the timeless scholarly tendencies to major in the minors. Bible students can sometimes become engrossed in peripheral minutia relating to the Bible, not giving priority to the important task of sound theological interpretation. Nevertheless, there are indeed numerous ways in which the Dead Sea Scrolls are immediately, pragmatically useful for students of the Bible. This brief article will outline three reasons as to why the Dead Sea Scrolls are important for Christians today.

The Oldest Manuscripts—by Far

Of the 900-1000 manuscripts, about 250-300 of the Dead Sea Scrolls are biblical, with the books of Deuteronomy and Psalms represented the most. In fact, manuscript fragments of all of the books that constitute the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament are found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, except for the book of Esther. The inhabitants of Qumran studied, for the most part, the same scriptures that you and I have in the Old Testament of our Bibles today.

What is particularly noteworthy with regard to the Dead Sea Scrolls is the dating of these manuscript fragments. Through paleography (i.e. the analysis of handwriting) and radiocarbon testing, most of the fragments have been dated to the third century before Christ. That might not sound like such a big deal, but let’s look at what this means as far as Old Testament manuscript evidence is concerned.

There are currently no extant original manuscripts (autographs) of any section of the Bible. Despite there being a number of witnesses throughout antiquity—predominantly by way of translation—the earliest complete Hebrew edition of the Old Testament is the Leningrad Codex (aka, in published form, the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia [BHS]), which dates to the early eleventh century AD. This is still the main manuscript that translators utilize to render Old Testament versions in every major Bible translation, both traditional and modern (e.g. KJV, ESV, NIV, NASB etc.). In order to fully grasp the implications of this, it is important to understand a bit more of the history of the Qumran settlement. Why did the Qumran settlers apparently leave these scrolls in the caves?

The predominant theory concerning how and why the scrolls ended up in the caves proposes that the settlement at Qumran was destroyed during the First Jewish Revolt. This would have likely occurred either in 68 AD by Roman general Vespasian or in 73 AD by General Silva as he marched southward toward Masada, intending to subdue the last Jewish stronghold. In either of these proposed times, prior to the Romans arriving at Qumran, the settlers—and perhaps, other members of the sect from outside of Qumran—hid their scrolls in the caves surrounding the encampment with the intent of returning to them after the conflict with the Romans subsided. Qumran was destroyed and the scrolls were left relatively untouched until the Bedouin boy’s animal went astray, centuries later.

Granting that one of the aforementioned dates for the destruction of the Qumran site is legitimate, the latest possible date for the production of any of the Dead Sea Scrolls found in the caves was around 70 AD (the year of the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem). This means that the youngest Dead Sea Scrolls predate the completed manuscript of the Old Testament by at least 900 years, while some fragments are over 1,200 years older than their BHS counterparts. Prior to the publications of the major Dead Sea Scrolls materials in the years after which they were discovered, scholars did not have nearly the quantity of Hebrew and Aramaic manuscripts they could compare to the Leningrad Codex. The original language of Old Testament text that we read today can now be looked at alongside these texts from antiquity, and much of it is corroborated by a significant portion of the Dead Sea Scrolls. While there is no guarantee that older manuscripts always have the most original wording, the ability to compare the Bible with so many ancient copies is nevertheless a privilege no other generation of Christians since antiquity has been able to claim.

Textual Criticism

As scholars analyzed the biblical documents of the Dead Sea Scrolls, it quickly became evident that there existed various textual traditions in the Qumran library. For example, some of the biblical fragments that were found very closely represent the Leningrad Codex, yet other manuscripts closely resemble the Greek translation of the Hebrew text, commonly referred to as the Septuagint (LXX). There are additional texts that look very much like the Samaritan version of the Pentateuch and others remain unidentified. This diversity in manuscript traditions helps those interested in biblical studies engage in textual criticism (aka “lower criticism”)—a goal of which is to establish the most original form of any given text.

One example of how the Dead Sea Scrolls provide useful information for textual criticism is seen in the difficult Hebrew wording in the first half of Isaiah 53:11. A literal translation of the Hebrew can be awkwardly rendered, “From the suffering of his soul, he will see, he will satisfy…” (my translation).

It is certainly possible to understand the words, and even several distinct phrases in this passage, but the overall meaning is unclear. What exactly is the prophet trying to communicate? The difficult Hebrew is smoothed out in the NKJV of Isaiah 53:11a. We read, “He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied.”

Notice at least two interpretive moves by the translators of the NKJV in order to provide this difficult verse with a logical meaning. 1) The word “and” is inserted into the text. 2) The word “satisfy” is rendered in the passive, not conforming to the active form of the verb as it is written in the Leningrad Codex. Other Bible translations render similar versions of this verse, “Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied…” (ESV) “As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied…” (NASB)

Despite these interpretive translations, it still takes a little bit of imagination to grasp what the author is striving to communicate. After all, whom is Isaiah talking about? What is that person seeing? Why is this person satisfied?

Some of these questions are clarified a bit when considering the NIV translation of this particular verse, “After he has suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied…” (Isaiah 53:11 NIV). The NIV explicitly states that the subject of the sentence sees “the light of life” and implies that upon seeing that light, he will be satisfied. Where do these translators get the liberty to insert the phrase “light of life”? That is a question that is answered by a quick glance at this same verse in a Dead Sea Scroll called The Great Isaiah Scroll (aka 1QIsa^a). This scroll is the largest Dead Sea Scroll and contains the entire book of Isaiah in a very well preserved condition. This document rendered Isaiah 53:11 in the following manner, “From the suffering of his soul he will see light and satisfy (or: be satisfied).” (Translation mine).

The words “light” and “and” appear in the Great Isaiah Scroll. This reading also aligns with the Septuagint in that the Greek words for “light” and “and” appear in the same positions in the sentence. Now this is all starting to make sense.

Traditional Christian understanding of Isaiah 53 considers it to be prophecy of the passion of Jesus. Ultimately, Jesus would go to the cross as a sin offering, effectuating the words foretold by Isaiah hundreds of years before Jesus’ birth, “Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief…his soul makes an offering for guilt…the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.” (Isaiah 53:10 ESV)

According to the reading of the Great Isaiah Scroll, just after the Suffering Servant makes a sin offering through His death, He sees “light and satisfies (or: is satisfied).” Could it be that “light” in this context refers to Jesus’ resurrection? Is it through Jesus’ resurrection that He “satisfies” the will of the Father (or: He “is satisfied”)? Does the textual evidence in 1QIsa^a and the Septuagint in favor of reading “light” finally provide the information needed to understand this difficult text? Whether one adopts the reading by the NIV as is supported by 1QIsa^a or not, the Dead Sea Scrolls clearly enable us to have conversations about the biblical texts’ original forms that were impossible prior to their discovery.

Insight into the World of Jesus: Jewish Sects and Second Temple Judaism

Toward the end of the period in which the Qumran settlement was inhabited, a revolutionary Jewish teacher from the Galilee rose to prominence whose mission was carried out through performing miracles, challenging misguided interpretations of the Tanach (the Christian Old Testament), and boldly calling all people—regardless of gender, socio-economic class, or ethnicity, to believe in Him as the way to God the Father. While Jesus of Nazareth lived a much different kind of life than those of the Essenes of Qumran, He was born, conducted His ministry, died, and resurrected during their active years. Therefore, we look to the Dead Sea Scrolls—the main way in which we are able to access information about the religious Jews who inhabited Qumran—for insight into the world of Jesus.

As Christians, we are so used to turning the last page of Malachi, seeing a blank page bearing the almost arbitrary words “The New Testament” and moving on to Gospel of Matthew. Nevertheless, during that two-page flip of the index finger, several hundred years of history transpired. These years included the rise and fall of the Persian and Greek Empires, as well as the ousting of the Hasmonean dynasty by the Romans. Curiously, during this same time period, at least two distinct Jewish religious sects emerge, debuting on the pages of the Gospels—the Pharisees and the Sadducees.

Prior to the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the New Testament was the primary, though not exclusive, resource for Christian understanding of Jewish sectarianism during the Second Temple Period. The New Testament remains the fundamental means of knowledge concerning the Pharisees and Sadducees, but the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls has shed light upon the Gospels’ depictions of these groups as well as provided a more comprehensive picture of Judaism during this time period.

It is particularly evident through the sectarian writings of the Dead Sea Scrolls that the group that inhabited Qumran saw themselves as the real doers of the Law. That is, their strict interpretation of how to practically carry out the commands of the Old Testament were exclusively legitimate. In their writings, the Pharisees were pejoratively nicknamed the “Seekers after Smooth Things,” suggesting that their interpretation and application of the Law was exceedingly lenient. This is an accusation that apparently dissents from the New Testament assessment of the Pharisees. However, this does not imply that the Dead Sea Scrolls contradict the New Testament portrayal of the Pharisees. On the contrary, through the Essene community’s portrayal of the Pharisees and self-representation in their writings, we are able to observe that there was a group that was even more exacting in their understanding of the Torah.

Considering the devout religious nature of the Jews at Qumran, one would think that Jerusalem would be a more ideal location for such a sect. After all, Jerusalem is where the Temple was located. The Essene community was certainly concerned with the study of the Torah, worship, and purity—a fact evident by the large number of ritual cleansing baths (mikva’ot) found in the ruins at Qumran. However, the sectarian documents of the Dead Sea Scrolls indicate that the Essene community was not only dissatisfied with the leadership in the Jerusalem Temple, but they openly repudiated the establishment. This disavowal of the Jerusalem Temple implicitly assails two other Jewish groups from antiquity: The Hasmoneans, who—after liberating the Jewish people from Greek oppression—subjugated their own people, reigning as kings and High Priest; and the Sadducees, who the New Testament attests to as the autocratic rulers of the Temple. Hence, the Essene sectarians—believing themselves to be the righteous remnant and the voice crying in the wilderness (Isaiah 40:3)—retreated to the Judean hills to await their Anointed One.

The longing for the ultimate redemption of their people by an Anointed One is seemingly a shared characteristic by the Jewish sects of the Second Temple Period. Despite the limited literature from this era directly addressing the messianic hope of the Jewish sects, the available sources suggest that the Jewish people expected an anointed figure to fulfill prophecies of the Old Testament and liberate the people of Israel. This messianic hope is shared by the Qumran sectarians who, along with the biblical writers, understood Genesis 49:8-12, Isaiah 11:1-5, and Numbers 24:17 to be messianic.

More specifically, there are several Dead Sea Scrolls that demonstrate the messianic hope using similar rhetoric to the writers of the New Testament and, perhaps, even shared theology concerning the messianic figure. For example, a scroll fragment entitled The War of the Messiah (4Q285) anticipates the Branch of David defeating the Roman army (the Kittim). The Melchizedek text from cave 11 (11QMelchizedek) suggests that Qumran sectarians may have understood this messianic figure to be divine, indicating that Melchizedek atones for his people.

Conclusion

We have barely scratched the surface of how the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Qumran community inform the studies of biblical language, textual criticism, and Jewish sectarianism during Jesus’ life. The significance of the Dead Sea Scrolls extends into many more arenas: eschatology, early Jewish interpretation of the Law, overlapping genres (e.g. apocalyptic, wisdom), and biblical metaphors and imagery (e.g. the dichotomy between light and darkness). These writings help to contextualize the scriptures and in turn give us a better grasp on the thought world of the New Testament.

A generation after the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, scholars and laypeople alike are still immersed in studying their content and implications. The benefits of these documents are not just for the academic world. The Dead Sea Scrolls have proven themselves to be very much alive, overflowing with helpful information for Christians who love to study their Bibles.

For further reading:

John J. Collins, The Dead Sea Scrolls: A Biography. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2013.

Craig Evans, Holman QuickSource Guide to Dead Sea Scrolls. Nashville: B&H Publishing Group, 2010.

Lawrence Schiffman, Reclaiming the Dead Sea Scrolls. New York: Doubleday, 1995.

James VanderKam, The Dead Sea Scrolls Today. 2d ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2010.

Peter W. Flint, The Dead Sea Scrolls. Core Biblical Studies. Nashville: Abingdon, 2013.

Official Dead Sea Scrolls sites:

The Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Library

The Digital Dead Sea Scrolls

A few years ago I was engaged in a spirited discussion with a seasoned Israeli pastor. The topic was Western Christian Zionism in relationship to Gospel proclamation in Israel. This pastor acrimoniously summarized what he perceived to be Western Christian Zionist support for Israel:

“I (says the Christian Zionist) am willing to fight for Israel to the very last drop of your (Israeli) blood!”
Wow! Ouch!
What this pastor was trying to communicate is that Christian supporters of Israel are generally willing to support Israel in realms which are not dangerous, or that will not threaten their good relationships with their Israeli friends (i.e. political, financial, tourism and, humanitarian aid). The eagerness to support Israel in these areas is generally based upon the theological belief in the uniqueness of ethnic Israel in the plan of God. This theological understanding is often transformed into a support of Israeli that incorporates endorsing the realization of land promises to the descendants Abraham through Isaac. Consequently, Israel’s military self-defense is perceived as a divinely given right. Indeed, many Christian supporters of Israel interpret Israel’s past and present military conflicts to be an essential part of end-times prophecies. Thus, what my Israeli pastor friend was communicating was his perception that Christian “supporters of Israel” are more than willing see Israelis go to war and be on the right side of end-times cataclysmic events. They are prepared to support these ideals at the cost of Israeli blood. This is not, by any means, authentic support of Israel.

Striving to understand Bible prophecy in light of current events is certainly a reasonable ambition, and there is no denying that Israel plays a significant role in eschatological sections of scripture. Yet, as believers in Jesus, we are compelled to think through Israel’s complex political issues, and even our theological and political assessments of Israel, with a “Gospel-first mentality.” As ministers of the Gospel of Jesus the Messiah, we must consider how our viewpoints bring honor to God through encouraging people towards repentance for the remission of sin and new life through faith in the Jesus. Supporting Israel through the “go get’em” mentality is not as constructive as inspiring Israeli people to restore their broken relationships with a loving God.

After having lived in Israel for several years, I have noticed that supporters of Israel actually support Israel quite abstractly as opposed to pragmatically. That is, they support the idea that Jewish people should have a homeland. They support the idea that Israel retains a special place in the plan of God, and they love the theological concept that “all Israel will be saved” (Rom 11:26). However, every Christian supporter of Israel should consider the following question: “Does my ideology produce pragmatic Gospel-centered action?”
This issue is particularly important when considering that Israel is essentially an unreached nation for the Gospel. Though it is challenging to conjecture (and it is notoriously difficult to define what a “Christian” is in Israel) it is safe to say that the absolute highest percentage of the population who identify themselves as Christian in Israel is 2%. Yep, you read correctly. Roughly two out of every one hundred people in Israel claim to have an affiliation with any type of Christian church (this includes Roman Catholic Churches, Orthodox Churches, Messianic Jewish Congregations, and Evangelical Christian Arab congregations). This information makes Israel one of the most unreached places in the world. In fact, in Israel most people are unaware of Jesus’ real name and refer to him by the unflattering nickname, “Yeshu.” Given the clear necessity there is for Gospel proclamation in Israel, maybe we “supporters of Israel” have been mistaken in equating our ideological/theological stances with backing Israel by fulfilling a practical need for Gospel.

How then, can Christians who love Jesus and desire to support Israel be an asset to Gospel proclamation in the land where there is great need? This can be done by overcoming our misconceptions of “support” and redirecting our efforts to the primary call of the Gospel. There are, in my opinion, a few misconceptions that have diverted the attention of the Church away from more overt Gospel ministry in Israel:

The misconception that tourism is support.

Every year, countless Christian tour groups come to Israel to explore the land of the Bible. In this way, Christians certainly support the Israeli economy and visiting believers are blessed through a fuller understanding of their Bible. It, however, is difficult to claim that tourism is the best form of support Christians can provide the Nation of Israel when the lion’s share of the population that benefits from the tourism industry is not Christian. Regardless of whether or not Christians use Christian tour agencies, the truth remains that Christians steadily travel to Israel without supporting any local Gospel ministry—or even visiting a local church. Tourism supports Israel’s economy, but it barely supports Israel’s greatest need of knowing Jesus.

Misconceptions that Israel is a moral & biblically literate place.

Because Israel is the land where most of the biblical events took place, many assume that Israelis are reasonably biblically literate. This misconception has led people to believe that (esp. religious Jewish) Israelis innately honor God, and consequently do not need to hear about the grace provided through the person and work of Jesus the Messiah. However, Israel deals with the same moral issues that Western countries do. Abortion is legal, prostitution is a problem, and Israel has had its share of political corruption (i.e. Israel’s former president Moshe Katsav is currently in prison for rape and Israel’s former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has been convicted of corruption and will be joining him soon). Simply because there is great religious tradition in Israel does not mean that there is great moral character.

A misconception of who the Israeli people are. This point is multifaceted.

It begins with a misunderstanding regarding the ethnic demographics of Israel, and leads to misconceptions concerning Gospel proclamation to all the people. Initially, it is important to remember that Israel is not solely ethnically Jewish. A conservative estimation is that there are 15-20% Arab Israeli citizens. These Arab people are, in theory, equal citizens of Israel and retain the same Israeli passport with an impression of a menorah stamped on it. This means that in any given place in Israel you may rub shoulders with an Arab person who may very well be a brother or sister in the Lord. Hence, it is important to remember that proclaming the Gospel in Israel, and supporting Israel politically, is not just for the Jewish Israeli; but also for the Arab Israelis, and all others who constitute the Nation of Israel.

A misconception that Israeli people are easily offended.

Christians tend to avoid ministry in Israel because they are concerned about offending people and not being able to maintain close connections with influential Israelis. Those who have spent a significant amount of time in Israel know that Israelis are very difficult to insult, especially if you talk to them in a respectful manner. Believers must not be overly concerned about offending people in Israel when conversing about what Messiah Jesus has accomplished for humankind. Christians should be genuine, using the same terminology they would use if they were talking to a neighbor. If an Israeli does not want to talk to you about Jesus, don’t worry! They will have no problem ending the conversation.

As Christians, our temptation at this juncture is to hide behind the smokescreen of what we have been doing in the past as authentic support of Israel. Our tendency is to develop a theology that makes us less responsible to support Gospel proclamation in Israel (i.e. hastily appealing to Israel’s hardening in part alluded to in Romans 11:25). Please don’t fall prey to these erroneous ideologies. Consider the following question: If you deem yourself a supporter of Israel, are you willing to make Gospel-centered ministry in Israel your theological and functional priority? If so, please take the first step and pray towards this end, for the sake of the inhabitants of Israel, as well as for the workers on the ground in this land.