The feast of Purim recalls how Haman chose to have all the Jews in the empire destroyed on the 13th of the 12th month. This message was enscribed and sent out across the empire 11 months earlier – again on the 13th.
In this way, the 13th of the month looked like it would be a cursed number for Israel as they would then be destroyed on that day… But God!
I once did a study on the ‘unlucky’ number 13 and discovered that it is a number of maturity and victory biblically speaking.
Maturity as it relates to the coming of age ceremony of a bar/bat mitzvah (and the 13 years from Joseph’s dream until his ascension to the throne of Egypt, the 13 years from Paul’s encounter with the Messiah until he entered ministry).
13 is also the number of victory – the Israelites marched 13 times around the walls of Jericho before they came tumbling down.
In summary, 13 is an unlucky number for our enemy as this is when we reach maturity and see God break through in victory for us.
And 13 is the number of Purim – when God turned the evil schemes of Haman around and brought deliverance to Israel. So as we celebrate God’s victory for Israel over Haman’s schemes, let us remember that He is the same today for any evil situation we may face.
Enoch Lavender was born in Australia, raised in Norway, spent time living in China and is now based in Melbourne, Australia. He has been studying Hebrew and the Jewish roots of our faith for the past decade, and has a keen interest in the Middle East from a Bible prophecy perspective.
