"Celebration: The Feast of the Jews" (Ester 9:17-32)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/19/2011 7:23:31 AM

 

 

My Worship Time                                                      Focus:  “Celebration: The feast of the Jews”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                      Reference:  Ester 9:17-32

 

            Message of the verses:  “17 This was done on the thirteenth day of the month Adar, and on the fourteenth day they rested and made it a day of feasting and rejoicing. 18 But the Jews who were in Susa assembled on the thirteenth and the fourteenth of the same month, and they rested on the fifteenth day and made it a day of feasting and rejoicing. 19 Therefore the Jews of the rural areas, who live in the rural towns, make the fourteenth day of the month Adar a holiday for rejoicing and feasting and sending portions of food to one another. “20 Then Mordecai recorded these events, and he sent letters to all the Jews who were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near and far, 21 obliging them to celebrate the fourteenth day of the month Adar, and the fifteenth day of the same month, annually, 22 because on those days the Jews rid themselves of their enemies, and it was a month which was turned for them from sorrow into gladness and from mourning into a holiday; that they should make them days of feasting and rejoicing and sending portions of food to one another and gifts to the poor. 23 Thus the Jews undertook what they had started to do, and what Mordecai had written to them. 24  For Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the adversary of all the Jews, had schemed against the Jews to destroy them and had cast Pur, that is the lot, to disturb them and destroy them. 25 But when it came to the king’s attention, he commanded by letter that his wicked scheme which he had devised against the Jews, should return on his own head and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows. 26 Therefore they called these days Purim after the name of Pur. And because of the instructions in this letter, both what they had seen in this regard and what had happened to them, 27 the Jews established and made a custom for themselves and for their descendants and for all those who allied themselves with them, so that they would not fail to celebrate these two days according to their regulation and according to their appointed time annually. 28 So these days were to be remembered and celebrated throughout every generation, every family, every province and every city; and these days of Purim were not to fail from among the Jews, or their memory fade from their descendants. 29 Then Queen Esther, daughter of Abihail, with Mordecai the Jew, wrote with full authority to confirm this second letter about Purim. 30  He sent letters to all the Jews, to the 127 provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus, namely, words of peace and truth, 31 to establish these days of Purim at their appointed times, just as Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther had established for them, and just as they had established for themselves and for their descendants with instructions for their times of fasting and their lamentations. 32 The command of Esther established these customs for Purim, and it was written in the book. “

 

            As we first look at when the celebration of Purim took place there seems to be some disagreement as to which day it was to be celebrated on because in Susa there was two days of fighting and in the rural areas of the kingdom there was only one day of fighting, thus the disagreement.  Mordecai wrote a letter to the Jews and told them to celebrate it on both days, and in the end both he and Ester wrote another letter to the Jews to affirm the first letter.  It has been written “Too often God’s people defeat the enemy and then celebrate the victory by fighting among themselves!” 

           

            What follows will be a brief explanation of how Purim is celebrated today by the Jews.  Pur is the Babylonian name for lot, as they cast lots to see which day the Jews would be destroyed, and Purim is the plural for Pur.  “Today, the Jews begin their celebration with a fast on the thirteenth day of the month (V.31), commemorating the date on which Haman’s evil decree was issued (3:12).  They go to the synagogue and hear the Book of Ester publicly read; and whenever the name of Haman is mentioned, the cry out ‘May he be accursed!’ or ‘May his name perish!’  Children bring a special Purim rattle called a ‘gregar’ and use it to make noise every time they hear Haman’s name read.

           

            “On the morning of the fourteenth day of the monthly, the Jews again go to the synagogue, where the Ester story is read again and the congregation engages in prayer.  The story about Moses and the Amalekites (Ex. 17:8-16) is also read.  Then the celebrants go home to a festive holiday meal with gifts and special foods, and the celebrating continues on the next day.  They also send gifts and food to the poor and needy so that everybody can rejoice together.”

 

            I suppose that what we can learn from all of this is that first of all God is faithful to His promises as can be seen in this story.  We can also remember that the true Christians roots go into the “Olive tree” of the Jews as Paul explained in Romans 11:17-24.  Christians who are from a “wild Olive tree” are grafted into the “Olive tree” of Israel.  The Scriptures come from Israel, all of them, and our Lord Jesus Christ was born into a Jewish family.  All of the first Christians were from Israel, and of course Jesus said to the woman at the well in John chapter four “Salvations is from the Jews, (John 4:22).” 

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  It is good to take time to look back at all of the good things that God has provided for me and the best thing is salvation.  Not taking salvation for granted is something that is very important and not being proud of it in the wrong way is also something that I should never do.  The Pharisees did this and it got them into a lot of trouble.  I want to also remember the price the Jews had to pay so that I could receive this great salvation provided for by the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:

 

1.     Remember to put on the spiritual armor:  The belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.  Remember to use it today when it is needed to defeat the enemy.

2.     Continue to learn contentment.

 

10/19/2011 7:57:51 AM

"Vindication: The Fear of the Jews" (Ester 9:1-16)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/18/2011 8:14:02 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                      Focus: “Vindication:  The Fear of the Jews”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                        Reference:  Ester 9:1-16

 

            Message of the verses:  “1 Now in the twelfth month (that is, the month Adar), on the thirteenth day when the king’s command and edict were about to be executed, on the day when the enemies of the Jews hoped to gain the mastery over them, it was turned to the contrary so that the Jews themselves gained the mastery over those who hated them. 2  The Jews assembled in their cities throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus to lay hands on those who sought their harm; and no one could stand before them, for the dread of them had fallen on all the peoples. 3 Even all the princes of the provinces, the satraps, the governors and those who were doing the king’s business assisted the Jews, because the dread of Mordecai had fallen on them. 4 Indeed, Mordecai was great in the king’s house, and his fame spread throughout all the provinces; for the man Mordecai became greater and greater. 5 Thus the Jews struck all their enemies with the sword, killing and destroying; and they did what they pleased to those who hated them. 6 At the citadel in Susa the Jews killed and destroyed five hundred men, 7 and Parshandatha, Dalphon, Aspatha, 8 Poratha, Adalia, Aridatha, 9  Parmashta, Arisai, Aridai and Vaizatha, 10  the ten sons of Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Jews’ enemy; but they did not lay their hands on the plunder. 11 On that day the number of those who were killed at the citadel in Susa was reported to the king. 12 The king said to Queen Esther, "The Jews have killed and destroyed five hundred men and the ten sons of Haman at the citadel in Susa. What then have they done in the rest of the king’s provinces! Now what is your petition? It shall even be granted you. And what is your further request? It shall also be done." 13  Then said Esther, "If it pleases the king, let tomorrow also be granted to the Jews who are in Susa to do according to the edict of today; and let Haman’s ten sons be hanged on the gallows." 14 So the king commanded that it should be done so; and an edict was issued in Susa, and Haman’s ten sons were hanged. 15 The Jews who were in Susa assembled also on the fourteenth day of the month Adar and killed three hundred men in Susa, but they did not lay their hands on the plunder. 16  Now the rest of the Jews who were in the king’s provinces assembled, to defend their lives and rid themselves of their enemies, and kill 75,000 of those who hated them; but they did not lay their hands on the plunder.”

 

            We now begin the last chapter in “Be Determined” and the last two chapters in the book of Ester.  This also ends the historical part of the Scriptures, as we will then move into the pottery portion of the Scriptures beginning with the book of Job.

           

            Dr. Wiersbe entitles this chapter “God Keeps His Promises,” and writes this at the beginning of this last chapter “In which the tables are turned, and then the tables are spread,”  There are three main points in this last chapter with the last main point covering the short tenth chapter of Ester.

 

            I want to point out some interesting things that I have found out concerning this section of Scripture and then take a look at how this section applies to the Church today.  Some think that what happened was vindictive, but it must be remembered that the Jews were only defending themselves from the people who hated them.  The Jews had nine months to ready themselves for these attacks, and the text even points out that there were leaders in the providences that were Persian who were adding the Jews in their effort to defend themselves. 

           

            People in the empire feared the Jews and also feared Mordecai and this is something that has been seen in different parts of the Scriptures.  This fear of the Gentiles comes about when the children of Israel are obeying the Lord.  The twenty-eight chapter of Deuteronomy speaks of this in a section that some entitle “The Palestinian Covenant.”   When Joshua was leading the people into the Promised Land the report was given to him from the spies who has spoken to Rahab, and she told them about the fear that all of the people had on the children of Israel, in fact it speaks of them being paralyzed with fear.

           

            Now we come to the part when after the first day of these battles that the king tells Ester that the ten sons of Haman had been killed and he ask what she wanted to do next.  Her answer seems to puzzle some people because she asks the king to extend it for one more day and also to hang the ten sons of Haman on a gallows.  Since Ester was the queen it is possible that she may have gotten some intelligence reports that there would be more attacks the next day, at any rate there was nothing wrong with her doing this because the Jews were only defending themselves from the attacks of the people who hated them without a cause.

           

            Dr. Wiersbe points out that in the Hebrew text when the ten sons of Haman are named that their names in the text look like gallows, and that on the celebration of Purim their names are said in one breath. 

           

            One more interesting fact to remember and that is to remember that Haman was an Amalekite and so those who were fighting against the Jews were acting like the Amalekites who were enemies of God.  Now when King Saul was given orders to kill all of the Amalekites he failed to do this and because of this he lost his throne.  He was told not to take any plunder, yet he did.  I like what Samuel said to Saul when he came to talk to him about not fulfilling the command that the Lord had given to him.  We pick up the story in 1Samuel 15: 13 “Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him, "Blessed are you of the LORD! I have carried out the command of the LORD." 14 But Samuel said, "What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?" 15 Saul said, "They have brought them from the Amalekites, for the people spared the best of the sheep and oxen, to sacrifice to the LORD your God; but the rest we have utterly destroyed."   The point here is that it seems to me that this story is continued in the book of Ester for in Ester the Jews were allowed to take the plunder, but did not and Saul was not suppose to take the plunder but did.

           

            In Dr. Wiersbe commentary he points out the weakness of the Church in the world today, now I do not believe that all the churches are weak, but that the majority of them are weak.  There are many scholars who believe that the list of churches that are found in the book of Revelations, in chapters two and three are prophetic in the order that they are listed.  In other words in the history of the Church the dominance is seen in these listings from Revelations.  In his book “There is a New World Coming” Hal Lindsey gives the dates of when these churches were dominant in the world.  He dates the last church, Laodicea as beginning in 1900 and ending at the tribulation.  Dr. Wiersbe quotes Revelations 3:17 in his commentary on this section of Ester to point out the weakness of the Church in today’s society:  “’Because you say, "I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing," and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.”

           

            When we honestly look at the Church in the world today we can see that it is weak, not all but the majority is weak.  The Church is also rich too, but in reality is poor.  I do believe that the book of the Bible that perhaps is the most prophetic book of the Bible, does prophecy the history of the Church through the listing of the seven churches in chapters two and three.  I also believe that we are living in the age of the church of Laodicea.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I must continue to battle in the way that the Bible tells me to battle.  There are two sections of Scripture that come to my mind concerning “battle plans” for the believers.  The first is in Ephesians 6:10-18, and the second that comes to mind is in 2Cor. 10:3-4 “3  For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, 4  for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.”  Believers do not fight like the Jews did in the OT, but make no mistake we still need to fight.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:

 

1.      Put on the whole armor of God; the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.

2.      Remember that I am in a battle and need to fight the way that the Scriptures command me to fight.

3.      Continue to learn contentment.

 

10/18/2011 9:33:19 AM    

"The King's Proclamation" (Ester 8:7-17)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR10/17/2011 8:16:11 AM

 

 

My Worship Time                                                                    Focus:  “The King’s Proclamation”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                        Reference:  Ester 8:7-17

 

            Message of the verses:  “7 So King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther and to Mordecai the Jew, "Behold, I have given the house of Haman to Esther, and him they have hanged on the gallows because he had stretched out his hands against the Jews. 8  "Now you write to the Jews as you see fit, in the king’s name, and seal it with the king’s signet ring; for a decree which is written in the name of the king and sealed with the king’s signet ring may not be revoked." 9 So the king’s scribes were called at that time in the third month (that is, the month Sivan), on the twenty-third day; and it was written according to all that Mordecai commanded to the Jews, the satraps, the governors and the princes of the provinces which extended from India to Ethiopia, 127 provinces, to every province according to its script, and to every people according to their language as well as to the Jews according to their script and their language. 10 He wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus, and sealed it with the king’s signet ring, and sent letters by couriers on horses, riding on steeds sired by the royal stud. 11 In them the king granted the Jews who were in each and every city the right to assemble and to defend their lives, to destroy, to kill and to annihilate the entire army of any people or province which might attack them, including children and women, and to plunder their spoil, 12  on one day in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month (that is, the month Adar). 13 A copy of the edict to be issued as law in each and every province was published to all the peoples, so that the Jews would be ready for this day to avenge themselves on their enemies. 14 The couriers, hastened and impelled by the king’s command, went out, riding on the royal steeds; and the decree was given out at the citadel in Susa.

    “15 Then Mordecai went out from the presence of the king in royal robes of blue and white, with a large crown of gold and a garment of fine linen and purple; and the city of Susa shouted and rejoiced. 16 For the Jews there was light and gladness and joy and honor. 17 In each and every province and in each and every city, wherever the king’s commandment and his decree arrived, there was gladness and joy for the Jews, a feast and a holiday. And many among the peoples of the land became Jews, for the dread of the Jews had fallen on them.”

 

            At the beginning of the commentary on this section of Scripture I want to quote from Dr. Wiersbe’s commentary on what all of this means to believer’s in today’s world.  It is not real difficult to read this portion of Scripture as see what the king, Mordecai, and Ester did in order to make it known that the Persians should not attack the Jews.  I will comment on a few things about this section latter but I thought it was best to first quote this section:  “Ever sense the fall of Adam, ‘the law of sin and of death’ has been in force in this world (Romans 8:2; 5:12-21); and God will not rescind that law.  The wages of sin is still death (Romans 6:23).  Through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God put another law into effect, ‘the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus’ (8:2).  God obeyed the law of sin and death when He gave His Son, Jesus, to bear our sins and die on the cross.  But then God raised Him from the dead and put a new decree into effect that makes it possible for sinners to be saved.  Now He wants us to put that good news into every tongue and take that good news to every nation.” 

           

            When we look at the passage above we see that the good news for the Jews was taken by the fastest available transportation in the Persian Empire to all the people of the Persian Empire in all the languages that were spoken in the Persian Empire.  Jesus said in Matthew 28 that we are to do the same with the Gospel.

           

            Now as we look at this new decree we must understand that “The thing that made the difference was not the writing of the decree or even its distribution in the various provinces. The thing that made the difference was the fact that the Jews believed the decree.  It was their faith in Mordecai’s word that changed their lives.  They had hope, joy, and peace because they had faith in what the prime minister said.  ‘Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.’” (Romans 5:13 NKJV)

 

            There is a statement in verse seventeen of Ester eight that is difficult to understand:  “And many among the peoples of the land became Jews, for the dread of the Jews had fallen on them.”  Let us look at in this way so that we can better understand it.  When President Reagan was shot and then transported to the hospital where he would receive an operation in order to save his life he joked with the surgeon who was to operate on him by saying “I hope all of you are Republicans,” to which the doctor replied “Mr. President, today all of us are Republicans.”  I think that this was what these who said that they became Jews meant.

 

            At the beginning of this chapter we saw weeping by Queen Ester and now at the end we see joy and happiness throughout the Jewish community.  I cannot get over the courage of this young woman who took her life into her own hands in order to save her people.  She had the courage that I would like to have in standing up for the Gospel, for Paul wrote “I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ” and the reason he was not ashamed of it was because it had the power to change lives and he wanted all he came into contact with to hear this wonderful message.  This is a good goal to have.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Have the kind of faith and courage that is seen in the lives of Ester and Mordecai.  Trust that the Lord will bring into my life those who are willing to take a moment to hear the truth of the Gospel, and that I have the courage to tell them this wonderful news that will change their lives.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:

 

1.     Not to be ashamed of the Gospel.

2.     Continue to learn contentment.

3.     Have a great trust in the Lord to do what He desires me to do for the cause of Christ.

 

10/17/2011 9:07:23 AM

 

 

 

"Ester's Petition" (Ester 8:3-6)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/16/2011 8:19:11 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                                    Focus:  “Ester’s Petition”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                          Reference:  Ester 8:3-6

 

            Message of the verses:  “3 Then Esther spoke again to the king, fell at his feet, wept and implored him to avert the evil scheme of Haman the Agagite and his plot which he had devised against the Jews. 4 The king extended the golden scepter to Esther. So Esther arose and stood before the king. 5 Then she said, "If it pleases the king and if I have found favor before him and the matter seems proper to the king and I am pleasing in his sight, let it be written to revoke the letters devised by Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, which he wrote to destroy the Jews who are in all the king’s provinces. 6 “For how can I endure to see the calamity which will befall my people, and how can I endure to see the destruction of my kindred?’”

 

            There are some mornings when I come in to my office to do my devotions that just seem to be more alive than other mornings, and this is one of those mornings.  There are sometimes when I read Warren Wiersbe’s commentary and I am truly inspired and wish to just copy all that he has written about the subject of that morning, and this is one of those mornings.  I must say that I enjoy reading the Scriptures, but when I take the time to study the Scriptures they become alive to me and open up new things that I cannot get from just reading them, and today is one of those days.  Today’s devotion has different things in it that can be seen in these three short verses.  First we see a woman who has just been given more riches than most people will earn in a life time, and yet she is not concerned about those riches, but concerned about her people.  Ester is interceding for Israel like others in the past have interceded for them and others in the future will intercede for them.  When Moses led the children of Israel out of Egypt and went up on the mountain to receive the Ten Commandments the people began to worship an idol because Moses took so long on the Mountain.  God was angry with them and wanted to destroy all of them, but Moses interceded for them. He was even willing to have his name blotted out of the book of life.  Many years later when Paul was penning his letter to the Romans he wrote:  “1 I am telling the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience testifies with me in the Holy Spirit, 2 that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh.”  There were others as we have seen in the lives of Nehemiah and Ezra, and Daniel was also doing the same thing.

           

            What can as believers learn from this?  Allow me to go all the way back to the creation of the earth that is found at the beginning of the Bible.  God created all that we see in six days and the last thing that He created was man as can be found when reading Genesis chapter two.  God would state after certain parts of His creation that it was good, and yet after man was created He stated it was very good.  Why do you suppose that God waited until last to create man?  Well God took all of that time creating His creation in preparation for the creation of man whom was made in God’s image.  Now let us think about the end of the Scriptures when we find at the end of Revelations that God will un-create all that He created and it will all be gone in a flash. (See 2 Peter 3:9)  All will be gone with the exception of man for man was created in the image of God.  Just think about this for a minute, and take a look at what Peter wrote about this:  “Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness.”  (2Peter 3:11)   Ester understood this for she did not care about her gift from the king but only cared about the souls of her people and went to the throne to intercede for them with tears and pleadings to the king.  “It was her interceding at the throne that saved the people of Israel from slaughter.” 

           

            As believers we owe it all to a Jewish Carpenter who left the His heavenly home to become a man in order to take our punishment on Him at the cross so that we can one day go with Him to that home in heaven and serve Him throughout all of eternity.  We surely can learn from the example of Ester.

           

            In his book “How to Obtain Fullness of Power in Christian Life and Service” R. A. Torrey wrote “The Devil is perfectly willing that the church should multiply its organizations and its deftly-contrived machinery for the conquest of the world for Christ, if it will only give up praying.”

           

            The most important thing that God created is people, and the most important thing that believers can do is to pray that the Lord will bring you into contact with those He is going to save, and this takes prayer and action.  James says that we have not because we ask not, and he also wrote that we should show our works that come out of our true faith.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  When we began this study of Ester we saw little evidence of the spirituality of both Mordecai and Ester, but now we see people who have sacrificed much for the people of God.  Dr. Wiersbe writes “attorney Jacob Stam prayed ‘Lord, the only thing most of us know about sacrifice is how to spell the word.”  This is probably a true statement in my life.

            I can learn a lot from the lives of Mordecai and Ester, and this section contains great examples for me to follow.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:

 

1.     Have a heart for the lost.

2.     Pray that the Lord will lead me to those who are His that I may tell them the Good News.

3.     Continue to learn contentment.

 

10/16/2011 9:12:39 AM

"The Promotion of Mordecia" (Ester 8:1-2, 15)

 

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/15/2011 8:13:26 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                 Focus: “The Promotion of Mordecia”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                   Reference:  Ester 8:1-2, 15

 

            Message of the verses:  “1 On that day King Ahasuerus gave the house of Haman, the enemy of the Jews, to Queen Esther; and Mordecai came before the king, for Esther had disclosed what he was to her. 2 The king took off his signet ring which he had taken away from Haman, and gave it to Mordecai. And Esther set Mordecai over the house of Haman.

            “  15 Then Mordecai went out from the presence of the king in royal robes of blue and white, with a large crown of gold and a garment of fine linen and purple; and the city of Susa shouted and rejoiced.”

 

            This SD begins the second to the last chapter of both the book of Ester and also the commentary written by Warren Wiersbe that covers both the books of Ruth and Ester.  He entitles this book “Be Committed,” and after studying the book of Ruth some time ago and now studying the book of Ester I truly agree with Wiersbe in choosing this title.

           

            I have all of the commentaries that Warren Wiersbe has written on the different books of the Bible and they are in a set of six hard bound books four of which are on the OT and two on the NT.  I began my quest of using these commentaries to aid me in writing my Spiritual Diaries sometime around 1995 and worked my way through the NT in about seven years.  I do not have all of those SD’s saved on my computer, as I wrote some of them out in long hand.  I began working on the OT on December 30, 2005 so it has been almost six years and there are a lot of books yet to study.  The hard back book that I am using now, goes from Joshua to Ester and is the second of which they both cover the “history” books of the OT.  I began this book on 7/27/2009 9:25 PM.  I must admit that in the past couple of years I have been much more faithful in completing these Spiritual Diaries everyday that I was earlier.  It seems that the more that I study God’s Word the more I want to study it.

           

            Dr. Wiersbe entitles this eighth chapter of “Be Determined” “From Victims to Victors,” and he writes this at the beginning of his commentary:  “In which the good news of a new law brings hope and joy.”

 

            It must be remembered that once a law was written in the Persian Empire that it could not be revoked and so even though Haman was dead the law that he constructed was not and never would be.  Dr. Wiersbe estimates that there were one hundred million people in the empire of which fifteen million were Jews and so the odds were not on their side.  However God’s people have always been in the minority, but one with God is a majority, and we must remember that Mordecai and Ester were brought into power “for such a time as this.” 

 

            When we look back at the beginning of this book we see a little known Ester and Mordecai that were probably living a kind of middle class living and even could have been in the poorer class, yet now in this chapter we see Ester receive Haman’s estate, which was worth a considerable amount of money.  We see Mordecai receiving the king’s signet ring, becoming the Prime Minister and in verse fifteen we see him wearing a new robe of white and blue with some kind of a crown on his head showing that he was a very powerful man in the kingdom of Persia.  Let us look at Psalm 37:34-36 “34 Wait for the LORD and keep His way, And He will exalt you to inherit the land; When the wicked are cut off, you will see it. 35 I have seen a wicked, violent man Spreading himself like a luxuriant tree in its native soil. 36 Then he passed away, and lo, he was no more; I sought for him, but he could not be found.” 

           

            I suppose that one of the reasons that the king gave Ester Haman’s estate was he was feeling guilty over allowing Haman to write such a foolish law.  Perhaps Ester would use some of her new found wealth to aid the Jews in the upcoming battle that they would be fighting in.

           

            I wish to quote the last paragraph that Dr. Wiersbe wrote in this section because I believe that in the culture that we live in today this is necessary to for us to understand.   “God doesn’t always give this kind of a ‘happy ending’ to everybody’s story.  Today, not all faithful Christians are promoted and given special honors.  Some of them get fired because of their stand for Christ!  God hasn’t promised that we’ll be promoted and made rich, but He assured us that He’s in control of all circumstances and that He will write the last chapter of the story.  If God doesn’t promote us here on earth, He certainly will when we get to glory.”

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  This statement that I have quoted above is something that I need to hang onto.  I want to serve the Lord in order to bring honor and glory to Him, and sometimes that kind of gets clouded and not done.  Sometimes I think that I am serving in order to get something from the Lord here on earth, but that should not be the case.  I believe that all believers should serve the Lord to give Him glory, but we serve Him also to receive rewards in heaven.  Both Paul and Peter write about these rewards and they are available to all believers for doing the things that God has called us to do.  Again I look at Ephesians 2:10 “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”  When we as believers do those good works that God prepared for us to do in eternity past we will receive rewards for doing them.  He has given us the gifts in order to do the works that we have been called to accomplish for Him while here on earth so there is no reason for us to be puffed up over accomplishing these works, but we should be thankful for the privilege of being allowed to accomplish these works.

            I must admit that it is hard to live all of this out, but through the power of the Holy Spirit it can happen.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:

 

1.     Humility is a key in accomplishing the work of the Lord.

2.     I want to continue to learn contentment.

 

10/15/2011 9:11:37 AM

 

 

 

 

           

"Haman's Reward" (Ester 7:9-10)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/14/2011 8:29:30 AM

 

 

My Worship Time                                                                                 Focus:  “Haman’s Reward”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                        Reference:  Ester 7:9-10

 

            Message of the verses:  “9 Then Harbonah, one of the eunuchs who were before the king said, "Behold indeed, the gallows standing at Haman’s house fifty cubits high, which Haman made for Mordecai who spoke good on behalf of the king!" And the king said, "Hang him on it." 10 So they hanged Haman on the gallows which he had prepared for Mordecai, and the king’s anger subsided.”

 

            Let us begin this morning with Proverbs 11:8:  “The righteous is delivered from trouble, But the wicked takes his place.”  This proverb surely goes along with the verses above.  Was it Haman’s pride that caused him to tell others in the palace what he had planned to do to Mordecai?  It probably was and now his pride caused him to be hanged on the gallows that he had made for Mordecai.

           

            I suppose that one of the reasons that Haman wanted to hand Mordecai on these gallows was to bring fear to the Jews in the city, but now the Jews were greatly encouraged when they saw Haman hanged on his own gallows.

           

            Here are some more verses that I have read in Dr. Wiersbe’s commentary on this section:  Galatians 6:7 “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.”  Job 4:8 “"According to what I have seen, those who plow iniquity And those who sow trouble harvest it.’”  Proverbs 22:8a “He who sows wickedness reaps trouble.”

           

            There is this law about sowing and reaping and it if both for believers and unbelievers and there are different places in the Scripture that teach this of which I will only give a couple just to show that this is a true statement.  We have already seen a good example of this in the verses above, but let us think about Jacob who deceived his father when he killed an animal to make a special dinner for him pretending to be his brother Esau and years later his sons killed an animal pretending its blood to be the blood of Joseph.  Then we read about Pharaoh drowning the Hebrew boys after they were born in order to stop the population growth of the children of Israel, and then years later Pharaoh’s army, (probably all men) were drowned in the Red Sea.

           

            That is a side of this law that most people look at, but there is the other side of this law, and that side is sowing good things and reaping good things, and that is the best part of this law.  Jesus said in Matthew 10:42 “"And whoever in the name of a disciple gives to one of these little ones even a cup of cold water to drink, truly I say to you, he shall not lose his reward.’”

           

            Jesus spoke a parable that is found in Luke 12:15-21 “Then He said to them, "Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions." 16 And He told them a parable, saying, "The land of a rich man was very productive. 17 “And he began reasoning to himself, saying, ’What shall I do, since I have no place to store my crops?’ 18 “Then he said, ’This is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 ’And I will say to my soul, "Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry."’ 20 “But God said to him, ’You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?’ 21 “So is the man who stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.’”  Haman was a man like described here, and we will soon find out where all of his possessions went to.

           

            When we speak of riches we must remember that the most costly thing that a person can have comes free, but at a great cost to the One who gives it to us:  “18 knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, 19 but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ (1Peter 1:18-19).”

           

            I want to make one more point from this section of Scripture and that is the last part of verse ten where we read “Then was the king’s wrath pacified.”  (KJV)  Dr. Wiersbe points out that the word Pacified is also used in Genesis 8:1 “But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the cattle that were with him in the ark; and God caused a wind to pass over the earth, and the water subsided.”  The word translated subsided is the same word that used in Ester 7:10.  The king’s anger went up like the flood waters and then after the hanging of Haman the king’s anger subsided.  I suppose that we can also see this when it comes to the wrath of God for after last plague that is found in the book of Revelations we can read that the wrath of God was satisfied.  We must remember that one of the attributes of God is justice, for God is a just God, and we have spoke of this before that all of God’s attributes bring Him glory including His justice.  We must also remember that God’s wrath is not a vindictive kind of wrath where God is getting even with those who do wrong against Him, but again we must remember that God’s wrath is just and equitable, for everyone will get exactly what he deserves, either good or bad. Haman’s punishment was equitable, and his punishment to come will be equitable.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I have again seen anger in this section and talked about the wrath or anger of God and how pure it is.  This is a good goal for me to follow, which is have a just reason to get angry and not be vindictive in my anger, but be just in it.  Good plan to follow. 

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:

 

1.     Be angry and sin not.

2.     Continue to learn contentment.

3.     Continue to trust the Lord even when things go badly.

 

10/14/2011 9:19:04 AM