בַּחֹדֶשׁ הָרִאשׁוֹן הוּא־חֹדֶשׁ נִיסָן בִּשְׁנַת שְׁתֵּים עֶשְׂרֵה לַמֶּלֶךְ אֲחַשְׁוֵרוֹשׁ הִפִּיל פּוּר הוּא הַגּוֹרָל לִפְנֵי הָמָן מִיּוֹם לְיוֹם וּמֵחֹדֶשׁ לְחֹדֶשׁ שְׁנֵים־עָשָׂר הוּא־חֹדֶשׁ אֲדָר
In the first month, that is, the month of Nisan, in the twelfth year of King Achashveirosh, pur (which means the lot) was cast before Haman concerning every day and every month, [until it fell on] the twelfth month, that is, the month of Adar.
The Talmud in Megilah 13b tells us that once the lot fell on the month of Adar Haman rejoiced because he saw this as a favorable omen. He said, "The lot has fallen in the month that Moshe died," which is consequently a time of calamity for the Jewish people. But what he didn’t know was that Moshe was also born on the seventh of Adar, and therefore it is also a time of rejoicing for the Jewish people.
The question that needs to be asked is that if Haman knew enough of Moshe’s life story to know during which month he died, wouldn’t he also know during which month he was born?
Under the leadership of Moshe the Jewish people experienced miracles on the highest level. With his death that miraculous life of the Jewish people was diminished. Haman understood that this was not a one time deal rather an omen for the month in which it occurred.
The month of Adar is not a time for miracles for the Jewish people. What better month to annihilate them since no miracles would occur for them as they did in the past.
Haman actually knew that Moshe was also born in the month of Adar. But he didn’t understand what that meant.
The Talmud in Sotah 12a tells us that once Pharoah decreed that all the newborn boys should be thrown into the Nile, Amram, the leader of the Jewish people in Egypt divorced his wife Yocheved. He took her back under his daughter Miriam’s urging. Moshe was then born and hidden for three months (see Shemot 2:2). Then The Torah states (Shemot 2:3), “When she could hide him no longer, she got a wicker basket for him and caulked it with bitumen and pitch. She put the child into it and placed it among the reeds by the bank of the Nile.” Rashi explains that Yocheved couldn’t hide him any longer because the Egyptians were watching them when Amram took her back. Now Yocheved bore Moshe after a term of six months and one day and the Talmud in Niddah 38b says that a woman who gives birth to a child in the seventh month may do so in incomplete months (i. e. the seventh month of pregnancy may not be completed). The Egyptians were calculating a full pregnancy which means that they would start searching and the end of nine months of their calculation when Moshe was already three months old.
Moshe’s birth occurred naturally but in an unexpected fashion that allowed him to be born under the menacing gaze of the Egyptians and for his mother to save him before they could snatch him away. His birth represents Hashem’s watchful guidance of the Jewish people when no miracles are occurring and the Jewish people are in their darkest times. The salvation enters the world quietly and unnoticed.
That was Haman’s mistake. He thought that the Jewish people must come on to supernatural miracles to be saved. Moshe’s birth teaches that salvation doesn't have to come with a splash. It can come concealed in nature. And that is exactly the story of Purim!
Purim teaches all generations that even when our situation appears bleak and the odds are against us that nothing defines our lives other than Hashem’s loving guidance.
Shabbat Shalom & Happy Purim!
Yitzchak