Unlike Passover or Yom Kippur, Purim is not one of the holidays we are commanded to observe in the Torah—but we hardly need to be commanded to celebrate this festive reminder of God’s watch-care over the people of Israel! For some, Purim is a day for practical jokes and noisy, uninhibited fun. For others, it’s all about the hamantaschen. These delicious, jam-filled three-cornered pastries not only remind us of how our nemesis, Haman, received his just "desserts" but they just taste so good. And isn’t it refreshing to have a holiday with a woman hero? What Jewish girl wouldn’t like to be as brave and as beautiful as Queen Esther?

Yet we feel there is more to the holiday than the fun and pageantry we’ve all come to expect on Purim. The theme of deliverance is obvious, but have you stopped to think about how God used not-so-obvious people and situations over and over, throughout the Book of Esther? God does not always bring about deliverance according to our plans or expectations. The book of Esther is proof of that... and we Jews for Jesus invite you to consider a Messianic perspective, which is: God has a personal plan of deliverance for you that may also come from an unexpected source.