365 Reflections

For all the fear and hesitation in Esther's life regarding her approach to the King in Esther 4, the response of the King to her mere appearance suggests she's living completely disconnected from reality. The king sees her and instantly favors her and invites her into the throneroom. Then, when she arrives, he's more than willing to give her whatever she may desire: Esther 5:3 (ESV) And the king said to her, “What is it, Queen Esther? What is your request? It shall be given you, even to the half of my kingdom.” Perhaps we need to realize something about God here. He WANTS us to approach Him with our requests. He wants us to ask and not doubt. He wants us to be bold in our approach and grand in our desires of Him. This whole event reminds me of the parable Jesus tells of the widow who cried out to the unjust judge who cared neither about God nor man but saw that she got justice because she never stopped asking.  Now what Esther asks for here is NOT what she really wants. Es...

At some point, you're going to die. I know this is hard to hear but it's also important to realize. An important question is: "How should you live when you know you are dying?" Esther entered the royal harem and was selected among all as queen and in many ways, it had to cause her to think she was truly alive. But she was still dying, as we all are. No matter how high you climb, you're still dying. No matter who loves you or admires you, you're still dying.  And I would like to suggest something to you.  You don't start really living until you are ready to die for something.  That is the place Esther came to in Esther 4 after Mordecai's stinging rebuke to her for hesitating to step in to save her people. The phrase that must have clinched it for her were these words, "if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish ." (Esther 4:14). In other words...

Esther 4:1–3 (ESV) When Mordecai learned all that had been done, Mordecai tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the midst of the city, and he cried out with a loud and bitter cry. 2 He went up to the entrance of the king’s gate, for no one was allowed to enter the king’s gate clothed in sackcloth. 3 And in every province, wherever the king’s command and his decree reached, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting and weeping and lamenting, and many of them lay in sackcloth and ashes. A favorite phrase among the Jews (I learned this week from a podcast) is, "We survived, let's eat." Of course, that would refer to the countless attacks and campaigns to wipe out the children of Abraham from their inception. Mind you, it has never happened and it will never happen. Why? Because the Lord is faithful to work through the histories of societies and bring the right person to the right moment to bring them back from the brink.  Now you cons...

Esther 3:1–2 (ESV) After these things King Ahasuerus promoted Haman the Agagite, the son of Hammedatha, and advanced him and set his throne above all the officials who were with him. 2 And all the king’s servants who were at the king’s gate bowed down and paid homage to Haman, for the king had so commanded concerning him. But Mordecai did not bow down or pay homage. To bow or not to bow. That dilemma has faced the people of God in different ways in all generations. Sometimes we cry persecution over the smallest of inconveniences. But we should examine the Bible. So far, Esther has been taken into the King's harem without consent while Mordecai lives in exile from his homeland powerless to save her from this event. What comes next is the result of Mordecai's first act in civil disobedience. Haman the Agagite has been promoted to a place of honor. As a result, the people bow before him. But Mordecai will not. And you wonder, why does Mordecai choose this moment to act in defianc...

Esther 2:1–4 (ESV) After these things, when the anger of King Ahasuerus had abated, he remembered Vashti and what she had done and what had been decreed against her. 2 Then the king’s young men who attended him said, “Let beautiful young virgins be sought out for the king. 3 And let the king appoint officers in all the provinces of his kingdom to gather all the beautiful young virgins to the harem in Susa the citadel, under custody of Hegai, the king’s eunuch, who is in charge of the women. Let their cosmetics be given them. 4 And let the young woman who pleases the king be queen instead of Vashti.” This pleased the king, and he did so. So far, in the book of Esther, for all the pomp, power, glory and authority that Xerxes has going for him, he still largely plays victim to the events of his life and the opinions of those around him. It was his wife that refused him and sent him into a rage, it was his advisors that told him to cast her out and now in chapter 2 it is once again his you...

The world has always had a number of bad men in charge. These men have usually seen fit to glorify themselves at the expense and/or embarrassment of others without much thought. Take for instance the beginning of the story of Esther. We often focus on Mordecai and her efforts to save the Jews but we should take a long look at chapter 1 which underscores the culture into which both of these "heroes" of faith found themselves. It was a culture of chauvinistic dominance at the hands of the Persian king, Xerxes (Ahasuerus). Esther 1:1–4 (ESV) Now in the days of Ahasuerus, the Ahasuerus who reigned from India to Ethiopia over 127 provinces, 2 in those days when King Ahasuerus sat on his royal throne in Susa, the citadel, 3 in the third year of his reign he gave a feast for all his officials and servants. The army of Persia and Media and the nobles and governors of the provinces were before him, 4 while he showed the riches of his royal glory and the splendor and pomp of his greatn...

In the final chapter of Nehemiah, we see that getting the walls built and the people located in the city was just the beginning. The fight for the community commences almost immediately thereafter.  The old saying goes, "When the cat's away, the mice will play." That's what happens to Nehemiah in the thirteenth chapter. He travels back to Persia for a time and comes back to the unconscionable news that his arch-enemy Tobiah has been given an important place in the temple precinct! Nehemiah 13:4–5 (ESV) Now before this, Eliashib the priest, who was appointed over the chambers of the house of our God, and who was related to Tobiah , 5 prepared for Tobiah a large chamber where they had previously put the grain offering, the frankincense, the vessels, and the tithes of grain, wine, and oil, which were given by commandment to the Levites, singers, and gatekeepers, and the contributions for the priests. Nepotism with the enemy is what causes Eliashib to do this terrible thi...

Nehemiah 12:27 (ESV) And at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem they sought the Levites in all their places, to bring them to Jerusalem to celebrate the dedication with gladness, with thanksgivings and with singing, with cymbals, harps, and lyres. More and more I see great lessons on building the house of God in the book of Nehemiah. Here in chapter 12, as the people inhabit the city and the work is dedicated, there is a commission on his part to make certain the people are deliberately GIVING THANKS on a regular basis. Nehemiah 12:31 (ESV)  Then I brought the leaders of Judah up onto the wall and appointed two great choirs that gave thanks. One went to the south on the wall to the Dung Gate. Nehemiah 12:38 (ESV) The other choir of those who gave thanks went to the north, and I followed them with half of the people, on the wall, above the Tower of the Ovens, to the Broad Wall, Now you think of this. Nehemiah appoints not one but two choirs to give thanks. One goes to the sou...