Yahweh's Assembly in Yahshua - Questions & Answers

Q. Is it okay to observe Purim?

A.  Purim is found in the book of Esther, in chapter nine, a celebration and memorial of how Yahweh turned things around on Haman’s head who wanted to destroy Mordecai and the Jewish nation. It is noteworthy to point out that it was “a custom for themselves … according to their regulation … according to their appointed time” (Est. 9:27, NASB).
   Today, we find national holidays from different nations. Just as the Chinese don’t observe Thanksgiving, Americans don’t observe Purim. However, Americans in China may observe Thanksgiving, just as Jews in America may observe Purim.
   It’s important to point out that Jews are often identified as Israel, but they are only one of twelve noted anciently in the promised land in the South. The Northern tribes, making up most of Israel, were dispersed through Assyria a little more than a century before Judah went into Babylonian captivity around 600 B.C.E. The book of Esther is placed around a century later, under the Persian Empire.
   With that said, there are 12 tribes of Israel, having descended from the 12 sons of Jacob, whose name was changed to Israel. Jacob is the son of Isaac, the son of the promise that Abraham and Sarah had in their old age. It is through Isaac, Jacob, and his 12 sons through whom we find the promises of Yahweh fulfilled. Those, and any who will join with them (Exod. 12:49; Num 15:15-16). (Read our free mini-study entitled, The Hope of Israel.)
   While one may want to become a Jew, it is not a necessary prerequisite to being saved. Our faith in Yahshua is reckoned us toward righteousness, and we are, therefore, no longer strangers from the covenants of promise and the commonwealth of Israel (Eph. 2:12), but are grafted into the Olive Tree (Rom. 11:17), which is identified as all of Israel (Jer. 11:16-17).
   Out of fear, many Persians converted to Jews at the time of Esther (Est. 6:13, 8:17). But today, converting to Judaism would mean adopting many traditions not sanctioned in the Bible. We should not be identified as either Christians or Jews, but rather as followers of “The Way” (Acts 9:2); relinquishing traditions of Jewry and of Christianity that are taught for commandment and the doctrine of Elohim (Matt. 15: 3, 6, 9), but which find nothing of support from Scripture; obeying the Law (Torah) of Yahweh, and receiving the salvation and deliverance of Yahweh through Yahshua. (Read our in-depth studies entitled, Orthodox Believers and What Happened to Christianity?)