Watchman on the Wall

Southwest Radio Ministries: Welcome to Watchman on the Wall, a daily outreach of Southwest Radio Ministries and swrc.com. God is still on the throne, and prayer changes things.

Today we learn about the Jewish feast of Purim, which begins today. Later this week, author Mike Spalding will help us understand replacement theology, and Josh Davis will have the latest headlines from the end times. Thank you, friends, for praying and supporting Watchman on the Wall with your gifts. Your financial gifts this week will ensure we can continue to bring you this daily program, as well as our weekly Prophecy in the News television program and publications. Please give your most generous gift today. 1-800-652-1144 is the number to call and show your support. You can also give online; simply visit swrc.com. Thank you for giving a gift this week to the work and outreach of Southwest Radio Ministries and Watchman on the Wall.

Today is the beginning of the Jewish holiday of Purim. This holiday commemorates the saving of the Jewish people from extinction at the hand of Haman. Jewish follower of Jesus Larry Stam is here to help us better understand this special Jewish holiday.

Clayton Van Huss: I'm so glad you joined us today for Watchman on the Wall. I'm your host, Clayton Van Huss, and I am joined in the studio with my good friend Larry Stam, a Jewish believer in Jesus. Larry, welcome to the program.

It's a great day. Today is one of the Jewish feast days, and so we're going to be talking about this day. It starts at sunset tonight and goes through sundown tomorrow. What is the feast? What's the holiday?

Larry Stam: The feast is the feast of Purim, which we find in the Old Testament book of Esther. This is actually the fourth in the series that we've done with Beacon Street Media, the publishing arm of Southwest Radio Ministries. I'm grateful for the ministry for partnering with us, Larry Stam Ministries. If your audience wants to know more about our ministry, they can go to larystam.org.

This is Walk Through the Feasts, Purim, which is number four. We previously have done teachings on Hanukkah, Passover, and the Feast of Tabernacles, otherwise known as Sukkot. Now Purim, which begins as you said tonight at sundown.

Clayton Van Huss: We've got Passover coming up in about a month. We're going to kick off our season here biblically. Where does it come from?

Larry Stam: Purim is a Jewish holy day that commemorates the Jewish people's deliverance from the evil Haman, who tried to have them exterminated in the 5th century BC at the time of the Persian Empire. This Hebrew word, pur, means lot, luck, or fate. Purim, therefore, is the plural. We find this Hebrew word pur in Esther chapter 9, verse 24, where Haman casts lots to determine a day to exterminate the Jews throughout the Persian Empire.

I'm going to give the people now, your audience, a basic summation of the holiday, which we find in Esther chapter 9, verses 24 through 27, where the word of God will provide us a starting point for our conversation today and tomorrow as we unpack Purim.

In Esther chapter 9, beginning in verse 24, we read, "Because Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, had plotted against the Jews to annihilate them, and had cast Pur, that is the lot, to consume them and destroy them. But when Esther came before the king, he commanded by letter that this wicked plot which Haman had devised against the Jews should return on his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows.

So they called these days Purim after the name Pur. Therefore, because of all the words of this letter, what they had seen concerning this matter, and what had happened to them, the Jews established and imposed it upon themselves and their descendants and all who would join them, that without fail they should celebrate these two days every year according to the written instructions and according to the prescribed time."

So there biblically from the book of Esther, we get a basic summation of the feast of Purim. Haman, a picture of anti-Semitism, which we'll talk about later on in our conversation, trying to exterminate the Jewish people. As we like to say, we can summarize many Jewish feasts and holidays in this way: they tried to kill us, we won, let's eat.

Clayton Van Huss: Yes, and I know there's some wonderful things to eat on Purim. Okay, so Haman, bad dude. Why does he hate the Jews so much? Historically, they're in Persia. This is after they were taken by the Babylonians, and then the Persians came in and conquered the Babylonians and took the Jewish people to Persia. Then Cyrus the Great lets them go home, but we still have a lot of Jewish people in Persia. Who is this Haman the Agagite who hates Jews so much?

Larry Stam: It's interesting because at the time contextually, the Jewish people were living in peace under the control of the Persian Empire and King Ahasuerus. Haman is a picture of anti-Semitism. He hates Jews. We understand biblically that Satan has opposed all things God from the beginning of time in the Garden of Eden. When God cast down judgment upon Adam and Eve for their rebellion, He also judged the serpent and said in Genesis 3:15, "I'm going to set the seed of the woman against your seed." So there sets the boundaries or the parameters for this cosmic conflict that all of us are part of.

We go all the way back to the Old Testament, and we know that redemption comes through the Jewish people. God establishes a relationship with Israel, and through Israel comes forth the Messiah. If no Jews, no Israel, no Messiah; and if no Messiah, no redemption, no hope. Satan has been opposing the Jewish people from the beginning of time, in the beginning of Adam and Eve when God created them in the garden. We see historically there's a satanically compelled, satanically inspired anti-Semitism and hatred of Israel and the Jewish people historically and biblically. We see it even manifest today in our modern geopolitical world in 2026 as we record this.

Haman hates the Jews. We don't know exactly why except he does. One other thing just from the text, Mordecai, the uncle of Esther in the story, he doesn't bow down to Haman. He worships Yahweh, he worships the one true God, and he's not going to bow down to a man. He only bows down to God. On a human level, you can see why Haman would hate Mordecai and the Jewish people, but on a broader level, there's a satanically inspired and satanically compelled hatred, whether people realize it or not. So there's a little bit of the background of Haman. He represents anti-Semitism and hatred of the Jewish people.

Clayton Van Huss: Right, and I know in tomorrow's program we're going to talk a lot more about this anti-Semitism. But we need to understand it's everywhere. It's in the church. It's scary. Satan doesn't let that go.

Larry Stam: It's amazing. We don't like to cast aspersions upon our brothers and sisters, and so we speak the truth in love. These are not condemnations, but they are observations of what you're just touching upon. We go to the word of God. If Jesus Himself will tell Peter, "Peter, get behind me, Satan," we can share the truth in love. Jesus called out Peter when Peter was off. So we call out brethren if we must, and I want people to call me out if I'm not speaking the truth in love. We have to say that unfortunately, there is anti-Semitism within the professing church in certain sectors around the world today, and it is unfortunate.

Clayton Van Huss: Absolutely unfortunate. So let's talk a little bit about Purim culturally. I do want to remind our listener that we are talking about the holiday of Purim, the Jewish feast. If you want to know more about it, Larry has this wonderful DVD series about walking through the Jewish holidays, and Purim is the new one on DVD. So if you're interested, you can visit us at swrc.com and find it there, or you can give us a call at 1-800-652-1144. That's 1-800-652-1144 or visit us online at swrc.com. Okay, Larry, we're talking about Purim, and so we understand the biblical background of it from the book of Esther. What about culturally? How did little Larry celebrate Purim as a boy?

Larry Stam: I grew up in a reformed Jewish household. Your listeners should know that I'm a second-generation Holocaust survivor. My father and his family escaped Bonn, Germany, in 1939 and made their way to the United States. I grew up in Florida in a reformed Jewish household, a liberal expression of Judaism. I went to Hebrew school. I was bar mitzvahed at 13. We celebrated Purim at our synagogue, and we dressed up. We didn't dress up as Haman. We dressed up as Esther and Mordecai. We had other people dress up as Haman.

Whenever Haman's name is evoked in the synagogue and when we're telling the story, Haman is always booed. We understand Haman's the bad guy. We celebrated Purim, and Purim is very festive. Why? Because the unseen hand of a mighty God delivers us once again from the jaws of those who would seek to exterminate us and eliminate us from the face of the earth. Purim is a very festive event. Actually, on the Hebrew calendar, it is celebrated on the 14th day of Adar. Here in the United States, that usually falls sometime on our Gregorian calendar during the month of March. This year it's early, occurring as we've mentioned tonight beginning at sundown, March 2nd, and will continue through tomorrow, Tuesday, March 3rd.

There are various cultural expressions and celebrations during Purim, but there remains a constant four mitzvot or commandments of Purim that guide all our observance, whatever your expression. The rabbis have identified and created four main commandments for my Jewish people to observe on Purim. Number one, we read aloud in the synagogue the scroll or the book of Esther. We read the entire book. As I do the teaching and the video teaching on Purim, you and I recorded it together, it's a 70-minute teaching, and there's a lot of good stuff in there.

The four main things that we do is we read aloud the scroll or the book of Esther, we send food as gifts to friends, we give money to the poor, and as we've mentioned, we eat a special holiday meal. Another really cool thing that I remember that even our kids, my wife Lori and I, we have two children who are now adults, but when they were little they would also celebrate Purim when we were missionaries in New York City. It was wonderful. There is a theatrical depiction of the story of Purim, and it's called the Purimspiel. Colorful costumes and skits have been part of the Purim celebration for some 600 years, beginning in the 15th century in Europe. Ashkenazi Jews, those of German and Eastern European descent, celebrated the feast with funny monologues or short plays called spiels, which is a Yiddish word meaning plays or skits.

Clayton Van Huss: It's the German word for play as well.

Larry Stam: Yes, and sometimes we know in modern parlance, perhaps your audience may be familiar with this word, spiel, that has made its way into the American lexicon. For example, the boss says to the employee who's late for work one more time, "Why are you late for work?" and the employee gives an elaborate explanation, and the boss says, "Okay, let's hear your spiel." That's where the word spiel is used in a modern context. But for the book of Esther and the celebration of Purim, you have the Purimspiel. In many a Purimspiel, the brunt of this comedic expression is the wicked Haman. In fact, around the world, either during the reading of the book of Esther or during a Purimspiel, whenever Haman's name is named, people in derision are going to wave and make a ruckus with what is known as a gragger. We don't have a gragger here in the studio.

Clayton Van Huss: No, it's that ratcheting noise that goes around and around.

Larry Stam: It's the ratcheting noise that goes around and around, and it's pretty obnoxious because Haman was pretty obnoxious. Gragger is a Yiddish word for a rattle. So it goes around and around, it's a rattle, and whenever we say Haman, we boo. My remembrance of Purim at Temple Beth-El growing up in St. Pete, Florida, I can remember dressing up in costumes and doing little Purimspiels and eating lots of yummy food. Do you want me to talk a little bit about the food?

Clayton Van Huss: Yeah, tell us about the food.

Larry Stam: Once again, we're Jewish folk, we like to eat during celebrations. Certainly even in 2026 as we speak, there are celebrations going on around the world which will occur tonight. Purim in Israel is a big party. It's very festive. One of the things that we eat during Purim is what's called hamantaschen. Hamantaschen is really practically any type of filling, sweet or savory. The classic hamantaschen is a pastry that's always filled with poppy seeds. Indeed, the very word Haman can either refer to the wicked Haman or poppy seeds from the word mohn. The Yiddish word tasche means pocket. So hamantaschen literally means poppy seed-filled pockets.

That's a mouthful. But interestingly, there's also some spiritual principles that the rabbis draw from the hamantaschen. According to the rabbis, a well-known insight into the hamantaschen points to the fact that the filling inside the hamantaschen, it's hidden inside the dough.

Clayton Van Huss: I love it. Everything's an object lesson.

Larry Stam: Exactly. And boy, do the rabbis have object lessons. In earlier times our ancestors were accustomed to experiencing open miracles like the parting of the Red Sea during the Exodus story. But in the book of Esther, which we're going to talk about further in our conversation, God, though not mentioned specifically in the book, His mighty hand is operating behind the scenes nonetheless in delivering His people, just as the filling of the hamantaschen is hidden with the dough. So there's a little rabbinic application which is pretty cool.

Clayton Van Huss: In your celebrations, you've got food, you have the hamantaschen and they're delicious, of course. What else is going on? I know there are costumes involved. Is that all part of the play or do these costumes come because I see people dress like pirates or characters from movies and things like Halloween?

Larry Stam: It really is. In the modern cultural expression, because Purim is about a wicked opposition, we can talk about scoundrels and we can depict scoundrels in a variety of ways. We can depict them as pirates. So whoever the bad guy may be in your cultural context, dress them up, call them Haman and then go boo. This is why you can see the expression of Purim and the celebration of Purim around the world occurring in different ways. I know that your wife Abigail has been in Israel. You've been in Israel but not during Purim, but Abigail has been in Israel during Purim and she's had some experiences.

Clayton Van Huss: I remember talking to her on the phone. She's like, "I'm not going outside today." I was like, "Why?" She said, "It's Purim." She said you just don't go out in the streets because they've got this Halloween/Mardi Gras, and this is amongst the non-religious, the secular Israelis. So there's a party. It's Mardi Gras and Halloween bound up together and thrown out in the streets. But that's not when you're looking biblically. You're looking at what the Bible says and you're celebrating this and you're teaching your children and you're using villains to again, another picture, another object lesson. So the kids are learning about their history and they're learning about the Bible and they're having fun doing it.

Larry Stam: It's a wonderful thing. Education can be entertaining and in this case, it is an entertaining and colorful object lesson. But there's also a heavy component in that there has been opposition to we the Jewish people for a long, long time. Unfortunately, it's continuing as we speak in 2026. In our next program, we're going to talk about biblically and historically anti-Semitism and how it's related to God's redemptive plan for mankind. This is a big deal. There's a lot going on here that we're going to unpack in our next lesson.

Clayton Van Huss: I think Purim, it's a perfect thing to look into with what's going on in the world today. Of course, the nation of Israel takes center stage. Of course, it's the world's only Jewish nation and they have many enemies. Today they're taking attacks, not just physical attacks from people like Hamas, but they're also being attacked by people on both sides of the political spectrum, left, right, it doesn't matter, even into the church. So I really want to talk about that a good bit in tomorrow's program. Larry, thank you for joining us today for Purim. How do we get ready for Purim this evening as the sun goes down?

Larry Stam: I think it may be good as Christians that we just pray for the nation of Israel and the Jewish people that God would protect them, that God would reveal Himself to them in the person of Jesus the Messiah. Jewish people need Jesus today just like all people need Jesus today. Pray that God would accomplish His plans and purposes for the Middle East, specifically that the gospel of Jesus Christ would go forth to Jews and Arabs in the region because the only hope for peace was born in the Middle East. Really the only hope for peace is found in the person of Jesus Christ who is the Prince of Peace. So I think that's a good place to start.

Clayton Van Huss: That's great. Thank you so much, Larry Stam, our guest today talking about walking through the Jewish holidays, Purim. Give us a call, 1-800-652-1144 or visit us online at swrc.com to get your copy of Purim, Walking Through the Jewish Holidays.

Southwest Radio Ministries: Today we are debuting the brand new teaching on Purim by Larry Stam. This special DVD is the latest entry in our Walk Through the Jewish Holidays series. The Jewish feast of Purim found in the Old Testament book of Esther is a powerful and profound story that reminds us that God often moves behind the scenes when His name is hidden, but His hand is at work. Order your copy of Walk Through the Jewish Holiday: Purim today when you call 1-800-652-1144. You can also order on our website swrc.com.

We receive many prayer requests here at Watchman on the Wall through the mail, from email, phone calls, and online. We hear from all over the country the concerns of you, our supporters and friends. Josh Davis, our staff evangelist and host of our monthly prayer time on Facebook, comes now for a special time of prayer as we begin this brand new week and brand new month together.

Josh Davis: God is still on the throne and prayer changes things. That's not just a slogan that SWRC likes to throw around here on Watchman on the Wall, but it truly is the heartbeat of this ministry. That describes what we do and the calling that God has placed upon this ministry. It's to remind people that God is still on the throne. Dear friends, we see that in this world with all the chaos, with all the trouble, with all the signs of the times that are appearing everywhere, we know that God is still on the throne. That means that no matter what happens in this world, nothing is going to impede, nothing is going to thwart, nothing is going to stop, nothing is going to delay God's actions and God's prophetic plans as He has laid them out for us in the pages of Holy Scripture.

Second to that is the other part of the phrase: prayer changes things. You see, friends, it's because God is still on the throne that prayer changes things. In other words, we're not talking about our ability to pray some awesome prayer that gets God to move. No. Prayer doesn't change God; God uses prayer to change us. God uses prayer to realign us with His will, His word, His way. In so doing, God is accomplishing His plans in this world as we seek Him in prayer.

Speaking of prayer, I want to invite you to join me for a special prayer event. It's going to be happening Tuesday, March 3rd, 7:00 PM Eastern Time, over on the Southwest Radio Ministries' Facebook page. Go follow us on Facebook. If you're not following us yet, go ahead and follow us there, Southwest Radio Ministries on Facebook. Then you can see that prayer event. By the way, we do this the first Tuesday of each month, 7:00 PM Eastern Time, unless we notify you otherwise. That's the time and the day that we have set aside to come together as the body of Christ. So I invite you to join me over on the Southwest Radio Ministries' Facebook page tomorrow evening, that's Tuesday, March the 3rd, 2026, 7:00 PM. Don't forget we do this the first Tuesday of every single month.

If you have a prayer request and there's something on your heart that you want us to be praying for, there's some great ways that you can get that request to us. We have a dedicated email address set up: prayer@swrc.com. You can send us that prayer request anytime you want to, any day of the month, any day of the year. prayer@swrc.com. You can also give us a prayer request or talk to us about your prayer request and we'd be happy to pray with you over the phone. Our toll-free number again is 1-800-652-1144. We also have a prayer wall set up on the homepage of our website, swrc.com. There's information about the prayer wall there and links to take you to that dedicated prayer wall where you can post a public prayer, and you can see other people's prayer requests that they have posted there and you can join us in that spirit of prayer.

Let's come together as the body of Christ and seek the Lord in prayer in these days that we live in. Thank you so much for joining me Tuesday, March 3rd, 7:00 PM live on the Southwest Radio Ministries' Facebook page. I look forward to joining you together in prayer tomorrow evening.

Southwest Radio Ministries: The Jewish feast of Purim found in the Old Testament book of Esther is a powerful and profound story that reminds us that God often moves behind the scenes when His name is hidden, but His hand is at work. The Jewish holiday of Purim declares deliverance through the bold and courageous witness of two ordinary people, Esther and Mordecai, who serve as wonderful examples of people who walked by faith, not by sight.

In the brand new study, Walk Through the Jewish Holiday: Purim, Jewish follower of Jesus Larry Stam reminds us of God's deliverance in the past and invites us to sense the weight of our times to rise, pray, speak, and act, all for God's glory. Order your copy of the brand new DVD Walk Through the Jewish Holiday: Purim when you call 1-800-652-1144. You can also order at swrc.com. In this unique study of Purim and the book of Esther by Larry Stam, we'll be inspired by the witness of Esther and Mordecai, learn about anti-Semitic hatred through the wicked Haman, and rejoice in the mighty hand of God's deliverance.

Larry Stam continues his study of Purim tomorrow, so be sure to tune in. Watchman on the Wall is a production of Southwest Radio Ministries and is supported by faithful listeners like you. Visit swrc.com.