Pey - Unveiling the Hidden

Esther had not shewed her people nor her kindred: for Mordecai had charged her that she should not shew it.

Esther 2:10 (Spoke 17, Cycle 1)

There is a profound Rabbinic tradition surrounding the Megillat (Scroll of) Esther which interprets it as "The Revelation of Things Hidden". The reason for this is explained by Rabbi Dov Ber Weisman in his article Revealing the Hidden :

In Hebrew, the word "megillah" shares the same root as the word "reveal". By contrast, the name "Esther" comes from the root word meaning "hidden". Megillat Esther (the Book of Esther), therefore, translates to mean: "Revealing the hidden." It teaches us a powerful lesson about cause and effect that we can carry with us wherever we go. We must not be satisfied with superficial evidence. Rather, we must delve into the root cause of the issues that we face.

The root of Megillah is also shared with Gilgal (Wheel) as discussed in Golgotha - The Axis of the Wheel. This coheres with the essential characteristic of the Bible as the revealed Word of God - down to its very geometric structure!

The traditional association of Esther with things hidden is very old and extremely broad - a simple search for the words Esther and Hidden on the internet produces thousands of hits, from which I will quote and to which I will provide links. Keep in mind that these are Rabbis speaking! They are not Christian apologists trying to support the thesis of the Wheel. Yet I myself could not have written a clearer exposition on Spoke 17! The witness of these Rabbis is an extremely strong testimony to the truth and reality of the divine design of the Bible in the form of the Wheel. (In all the quotes, the emphasis is mine unless otherwise noted.)

In his article The Holiday in Hiding  Rabbi Emanuel Feldman begins by explaining why masks and masquerades dominate the Feast of Purim, which originated in the Book of Esther:

Poor Purim. It has become the Jewish mardi gras, a day of revelry, drinking, and masquerades. But it is much more than this. Purim is the holiday in hiding. One has to probe beneath the surface to find the spiritual dimension that lies underneath. In fact, the disguises and the masks are all designed to underscore the essential hiddenness of this day.

This theme of concealment is found in the very name of the heroine of Purim. "Esther" derives from the root str, which in Hebrew means "hidden." In the Torah (Deuteronomy 31:18), God says to Israel: "I will surely hide (hastir astir) My face from you..." The sages see this Hebrew phrase as a subtle suggestion of the hiddenness of God during the time of Esther.

The root Rabbi Feldman refers to here as str is סתר (Satar, Hidden). This root is strongly correlated with the word face throughout Scripture. In the 80 verses in which it is found, 37 are in reference to the hiding of the face. This also is how it makes its first appearance:

And Cain said unto the LORD, My punishment is greater than I can bear. Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth; and from thy face shall I be hid;

Genesis 4.14

The exact words written are ומפנך אסתר (V'Mippanekah Estar, And from thy face I shall be hid). The word "estar" is an example of the grammatical function of Aleph which is prefixed to סתר form the first person future - I will. It coincides exactly with the spelling of the name Esther. It is a pun. The only difference is in pronunciation. The connection between Esther, the Face, and the idea of hiding is extremely strong and impossible to miss. This is all amplified by the fact that the story of Esther includes the explicit statement that Esther was ordered to keep her Jewish nationality a secret! Yet this is but the beginning of wonders. We have here in Esther nothing less than the greatest treasure house of God's "hidden wisdom" which He "the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory." I could write any number of volumes on this book alone! This is why I always feel so overwhelmed with wonder. It doesn't matter where I look in the Holy Bible - the wonders never cease. If I had ten lifetimes I could but scratch the surface.

The name of the feast originating in Esther, Purim, is a Pey KeyWord that partakes in the two consonants Pey - Resh that dominate the KeyWord set. The Bible Knowledge Commentary gives the reason for the name of the feast (empahasis added):

The feast was called Purim because of Haman’s use of the pur . . . the lot to determine the time of the execution (Vs. 3.7) The pur became a symbol of God's using circumstances to deliver His own.

In other words, the understanding derived from the name of the book coheres with its central theme and that of the Spoke on which it resides! This then manifests in the Isaiah - Bible Correlation in the debut of the word "lot" in Isaiah 17, as explained in God's Lot for His Enemies.

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