Mike I am trying to keep my emails to you down to a minimum. I know you have quite a load to keep up with. Lately the Lord has put on my heart to study the book of Esther. So far I think I have a pretty good understanding of the flow of the book. The Lord has shown me many spiritual applications hidden within this book. My question is this…. I had never even heard of the feast of Purim. After learning of this and using several commentaries about it, I noticed a connection between

Est 9:21  To stablish this among them, that they should keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar, and the fifteenth day of the same, yearly,
Est 9:22  As the days wherein the Jews rested from their enemies, and the month which was turned unto them from sorrow to joy, and from mourning into a good day: that they should make them days of feasting and joy, and of (sending portions one to another, and gifts to the poor.)

and….

Rev 11:10  And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and (shall send gifts one to another); because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth.

And then this reference from Luke….

Luk 18:12  I fast twice in (the week), [ the week of unleavened bread] I give tithes of all that I possess. Est 4:16  Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day: I also and my maidens will fast likewise; and so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law: and if I perish, I perish.

Do you think the giving gifts in this Purim feast is the same as what is referred to in Rev. 11:10? And is the fast that is referred to in Luke the same as the fast of Est 4:16? What is the significance of this gift- giving of Rev 11:10? (how do we live by this)? Your brother in the Christ,
R____

Good morning R____,
 
Thank you for your concern for my work load, but please don’t fail to share with me the things you are seeing in God’s Word. I am still so very thankful that shortly before Ray Smith “separated me from His company,” (Luk 6:22) you had written me an e- mail telling me what God had revealed to you about the spiritual significance of Christ being born in a manger. The instant I read that e- mail, the spirit of God witnessed to me that what you were saying was indeed from God and was in line with the words of God. Beasts come to a manger to get nourishment, just as men come to Christ to get the “words of life… the bread of life.”
So do take the time to continue sharing with me the revelations God gives to you. I promise I will not hoard them up for myself. I love to tell others where I have learned what God has given me, and I take every opportunity to do so.
This letter about Esther is no exception.  I had never before noticed that the decree for the destruction of the Jews in the Persian Empire was proclaimed at the time of the preparation for the Passover.

Est 3:12  Then were the king’s scribes called on the thirteenth day of the first month, and there was written according to all that Haman had commanded unto the king’s lieutenants, and to the governors that were over every province, and to the rulers of every people of every province according to the writing thereof, and to every people after their language; in the name of king Ahasuerus was it written, and sealed with the king’s ring.

Knowing this makes this whole story of Esther coming before the king, contrary to the law, a type of Christ laying down His life for us. Esther, like Abraham before her, and like Daniel and like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednigo, before her, had determined to obey the Lord, typified by Mordecai, and let the Lord Himself determine what would be the outcome of obedience to His Word.

Dan 3:16  Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we [ are] not careful to answer thee in this matter.
Dan 3:17  If it be [ so], our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver [ us] out of thine hand, O king.
Dan 3:18  But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.

Est 4:16  Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day: I also and my maidens will fast likewise; and so will I go in unto the king, which [ is] not according to the law: and if I perish, I perish.

Abraham, we are told “received Isaac as one raised from the dead”, simply because Abraham had determined to obey God, and “sacrifice His only son.”
And so too, do Daniel coming forth from the Lion’s den and the three Hebrew children represent those who are raised from the dead as they come forth of the fiery furnace. All who lay down their lives as living sacrifices to God are being buried with Christ in His death and have been and will be raised with Him in glory.

Rom 6:3  Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
Rom 6:4  Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
Rom 6:5  For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:
Rom 6:6  Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
Rom 6:7  For he that is dead is freed from sin.

That is just how “Christcentric” are the scriptures. (I got that word from Joe Beeler). The scriptures are ‘Christcentric’ from Genesis to Revelation. It is all the revelation of Jesus Christ, and this book of Esther is no exception to that rule. It too, is all about Christ [ Esther] and His relationship to His Father [ Mordecai].

Est 2:10  Esther had not shewed her people nor her kindred: for Mordecai had charged her that she should not shew [ it].

Est 2:19  And when the virgins were gathered together the second time, then Mordecai sat in the king’s gate.
Est 2:20  Esther had not yet shewed her kindred nor her people; as Mordecai had charged her: for Esther did the commandment of Mordecai, like as when she was brought up with him.

In the sense that Ester obeyed the commandment of Mordecai, Mordecai, typifies our heavenly Father.
Now suppose that the Pharisee is speaking of fasting twice in every week? That does not change the fact that the Jews were fasting during the days of unleavened bread at the time Haman had gotten permission to destroy all Jews in the kingdom of Ahasuerus.
Yes, when we take God’s gold and appropriate it to ourselves as if it were something that had not been given to us, and we use God’s gold, His word and His doctrines, to exalt ourselves as does the Pharisee within us all, then we are taking God’s commanded fasts and His commanded gift- giving and using it to celebrate the destruction of God’s elect.
So whether the Pharisee’s “fasting twice in the week” is a direct reference to the fasting of the Jews during the days of unleavened bread in Esther or not, the Pharisees fasting while looking down on the publicans is the same as Haman looking down his nose at Mordecai and seeking the destruction of Mordecai.
Apparently the Jews were already fasting before Esther asked them to fast three days and nights for her.

Est 4:1  When Mordecai perceived all that was done, Mordecai rent his clothes, and put on sackcloth with ashes, and went out into the midst of the city, and cried with a loud and a bitter cry;
Est 4:2  And came even before the king’s gate: for none might enter into the king’s gate clothed with sackcloth.
Est 4:3  And in every province, whithersoever the king’s commandment and his decree came, [ there was] great mourning among the Jews, and fasting, and weeping, and wailing; and many lay in sackcloth and ashes.

A few verses later we read:

Est 4:5  Then called Esther for Hatach, [ one] of the king’s chamberlains, whom he had appointed to attend upon her, and gave him a commandment to Mordecai, to know what it [ was], and why it [ was].
Est 4:6  So Hatach went forth to Mordecai unto the street of the city, which [ was] before the king’s gate.
Est 4:7  And Mordecai told him of all that had happened unto him, and of the sum of the money that Haman had promised to pay to the king’s treasuries for the Jews, to destroy them.

Then we are told this:

Est 4:16  Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day: I also and my maidens will fast likewise; and so will I go in unto the king, which [ is] not according to the law: and if I perish, I perish.

All if this was done during the Passover and the days of unleavened bread, in the first month, the month of Nisan.

Est 3:7  In the first month, that is, the month Nisan , in the twelfth year of king Ahasuerus, they cast Pur, that is, the lot, before Haman from day to day, and from month to month, to the twelfth month, that is, the month Adar.

This was, as we noted above, all at the time of the Passover, all typifying and foreshadowing the sacrifice of Christ as our savior.
You also ask:

“Do you think the giving gifts in this Purim feast is the same as what is referred to in Rev. 11:10?… What is the significance of this gift giving of Rev 11:10? (how do we live by this)?

I had never before considered that there was any connection between the gift- giving of Esther at Purim and the gift- giving at the death of God’s elect in Rev 11, but knowing that Babylon is “that great city wherein our Lord was crucifed,” knowing that “as he is so are we in this world,” it follows that this is the only time in scripture where the Pharisees within us want to see Christ and those who are in Him, dead.
You ask “How do we live by this?” and the scriptures answer:

Mat 25:37  Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed [ thee]? or thirsty, and gave [ thee] drink?
Mat 25:38  When saw we thee a stranger, and took [ thee] in? or naked, and clothed [ thee]?
Mat 25:39  Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?
Mat 25:40  And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

Mat 25:44  Then shall they [ the wicked within us] also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?
Mat 25:45  Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.
Mat 25:46  And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.

What we do and what we don’t do is all “ye did it unto” Christ. What is done to Christ’s witnesses is done to Christ, and every time you or I have ever believed a false doctrine over the word of God, though it may have been in ignorance, we were still believing a lie over the Truth, over God’s word. Babylon is, was and will always be in the majority. Babylon is always slaying God’s elect and rejoicing over their death and refusing to bury God’s elect and sending gifts of joy to one another over the fact that they have successfully separated from our company:

Luk 6:22  Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man’s sake.

“Separating you from their company, reproaching you and casting out your name as evil for the Son of Man’s sake is the fulfillment of this verse:

Rev 11:9  And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves.
Rev 11:10  And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth.

 I know that you are aware that we “keep the sayings of the prophecy of this book.” I know also that you are aware that God’s Word is, was and will be “at hand.” Knowing this gives us the knowledge that we all, at our appointed time “see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves. And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another;”

Mat 4:4  But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
Rev 1:3  Blessed [ is] he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.
Rev 22:7  Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book.
Psa 139:16  Thine eyes did see mine unformed substance; And in thy book they were all written, Even the days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was none of them. (ASV)

So in review, the fasting may not be a the exact same number of days in Esther and in Luke, but both are fasting under the law, and I have no doubt that there is a connections between the gift- giving of Esther and Rev 11. Those who kill God’s elect, just like Haman, always think they are serving their king:

Est 3:8  And Haman said unto king Ahasuerus, There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the people in all the provinces of thy kingdom; and their laws [ are] diverse from all people; neither keep they the king’s laws: therefore it is not for the king’s profit to suffer them.

Babylon does not know that it is Babylon. They actually perceive themselves as God’s elect.
I hope this is of some help as you try to see the hidden things of the spirit, behind the letters of God’s Word.
Your brother in the Christ,
Mike