All this is true until we come to Purim, and then all the rules change. The world is not run in the same way anymore.
How so?
The Jewish people sinned so greatly that their doom was written and sealed. And when Hashem signs off on something, when He places His holy seal on a decision, it becomes a reality. The seal of truth was stamped on the Divine decree of להשמיד להרוג ולאבד את כל היהודים – “To destroy, kill and annihilate all the Jews.” It says in the Midrash that Hakadosh Baruch Hu replied to Moshe Rabbeinu that the decree is already sealed. The Jewish people were dead-ended with no way out.
Then the miracle of Purim took place without the participation of the Jewish people. It was as if Hashem said: Go stand on the side and let Me do the job.
Hashem did it alone, out of love and mercy. He paid no attention to the sins and saved the Jewish people despite it all. The sealing of the Divine decree created a reality which, according to the rules by which the world is run, should have produced an inexorable result. But Hashem is not bound by the rules of the world. He is above all that.
In order for Hashem to act on His own, it is necessary to push the person aside. It is necessary to make him drink wine until he can’t tell left from right, arur Haman from baruch Mordechai. And when the person is drunk, Hashem makes the miracle.
As long as the person thinks he is holding the reins, Hashem says to him, so to speak: I can’t work like this. It’s either you or Me.
But when the person steps to the side and lets Hashem take over, when he is drunk and knows that he is incapable of doing anything, then he can feel a deep sense of joy in the knowledge that there is Someone who does the whole job for him.
This is what makes Purim unique among the holidays of the year. All the rules change. So it was back then, and so it is now.
Chazal say that in the future, all of the Tanach will cease, except for the the Chumash and Megilas Esther. This shows that the entire Torah divides into two parts. There is the Chumash and there is Megilas Esther. The books of the Nevi’im, of Yehoshua and Yeshayahu, the Trei Asar and all the other Nevi’im, they all can cease, because they are all included in the Chumash. But that which is written in Megilas Esther is not included in the Chumash, so it cannot cease.
In other words, we learn a chiddush from Megilas Esther that is not found in the Torah itself. The Torah articulates a system of running the world that depends on the deeds of the Jewish people. והיה אם שמע תשמעו אל מצותי וגו’ ונתתי מטר ארצכם בעתו – “If you will surely obey My commandments... I will give the rain of your land in its time.”
We learn something else from Megilas Esther. We learn that after all is said and done, and there is still no way in the world to save the Jewish people, then Hashem’s exclusive mastery over the world reveals itself, and He does as He wishes. He disregards the rules.
This is the story of the Megilah, and it is something that we don’t learn from the Chumash or from the Nevi’im. It is the great chiddush of Megilas Esther. This is why it will never cease.
