SPIRITUAL
DIARY FOR 9/24/2011 6:29:24 AM
My Worship Time Focus: The Intervention of Mordecai
Bible Reading
& Meditation Reference:
Ester
2:19-23
Message
of the verses: “19 When the virgins were gathered together the second time, then
Mordecai was sitting at the king’s gate. 20 Esther had not yet made known her
kindred or her people, even as Mordecai had commanded her; for Esther did what
Mordecai told her as she had done when under his care.21 In those days, while
Mordecai was sitting at the king’s gate, Bigthan and Teresh, two of the king’s
officials from those who guarded the door, became angry and sought to lay hands
on King Ahasuerus. 22 But the plot became known to Mordecai and he told Queen
Esther, and Esther informed the king in Mordecai’s name. 23 Now when the plot
was investigated and found to be so, they were both hanged on a gallows; and it
was written in the Book of the Chronicles in the king’s presence.”
When we look at verse nineteen we
seen two developments and I want to write about these. First we seen Mordecai sitting at the king’s
gate and this was likened to our modern day law courts and this is seen in
other parts of Scripture. Ruth 4:1 and
also Daniel 2:48-49 are two examples of this.
Mordecai was probably given this job at the influence of Ester and it
would be important that he have this job as we will see in a moment.
There is a mention of a second time
that the virgins were gathered together.
Dr. Wiersbe points out that there are some who think that this whole
process of choosing a queen was like a beauty contest and so when this contest
was over and Ester was crowned queen there was no need for the rest of the
virgins to be there thus this second gathering was to tell them to leave and go
back home. There is another view and
that is that the king was gathering more beautiful girls to put into his harem
and this is the view that Dr. Wiersbe believes was true and the reason he
believes this is because of the history of these kings from the Middle East at
that time.
Verse twenty tells us that Ester had
not yet told anyone that she was a Jewess and again this is bothersome to some
of those who are opposed to the book of Ester being in the Scriptures. Let us look at it from other people who have
done similar things that are recorded in the Scriptures. Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea were known
as secret disciples of Jesus and because of this they were able to get the body
of Jesus after he died and put it into Joseph’s own grave. This was actually prophesied in the OT that
Jesus’ body would be buried where the rich are buried. I believe that through the providence of God
He placed Ester and Mordecai in the positions that they were in to bring about
what He wanted to accomplish, mainly save the Jewish nation.
As we move to verses twenty-one
through twenty-three we see of a plot on the king’s life and this was
discovered by Mordecai and told to Ester and thus the king was saved and
Mordecai received the credit for saving the plot. He was not really rewarded for this at this
time, but will be later, again in the providence of God.
Bigthan and Teresh were upset with
the king and so they wanted to kill him.
Perhaps these men were upset with the king because of what he did with
Vashti, or perhaps they were upset because Ester was an outsider that came to
the throne. These are only speculations
but they were upset enough with the king to try and kill him.
For their reward they were killed
and the method of execution is told to us that they were hung on a tree. This probably means impaled on a stake. We will see this later on in this drama. When the Jewish people executed people they
would be stoned to death and if their crime was bad enough their bodies would
be hung on a tree until evening and then taken down and buried. “"If
a man has committed a sin worthy of death and he is put to death, and you hang
him on a tree, 23 his corpse shall not hang all night on the tree, but you
shall surely bury him on the same day (for he who is hanged is accursed of
God), so that you do not defile your land which the LORD your God gives you as
an inheritance (Deu. 21:22-23).”
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: I want to
look at the fact that Mordecia was not given any kind of recognition for saving
the king’s life at the time that he did it.
Proverbs 13:21 reads as follows “Adversity
pursues sinners, But the righteous will be rewarded with prosperity.” I must admit that there are times when I do a
good deed for someone and kind of expect a reward from them or from the Lord
for doing this, and yet I must realize the truth of the Proverb. I have heard it said that God does not settle
His accounts at the end of the week, and this is true with those who do evil
and for those who do good. It is all in
the perfect timing of the Lord, but rest assured both groups will be paid for
their deeds.
My Steps of
Faith for Today:
1.
As I continue
to think about contentment and learning to be content I must remember that when
I do something that is good I must be content that in God’s timing I will
receive my reward. The judgment seat of
Christ will be a time when rewards will be given out for the deeds done while
in the body.
2.
Continue to work on a better prayer life.
9/24/2011
7:10:12 AM
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