OT: The Book of Esther, Chapter 4

Esther 4:1-17

4:1-2 The king and Haman's inhumane decree drove Mordecai into despair. He changed into his mourning clothes and went into the middle of the city. He grieved aloud and loudly. He was unafraid to emotionally demonstrate the cruelty of the decree. Mordecai mourned in front of the king's gate; he would have gone further had it been allowed. 

It is helpful to examine the grief of faithful people in scripture. Their tribulations were not different from our own; they experienced the same wide rage of emotions we experience. Yet from them we learn that when we respond to grief and injustice with faith in God, not only is our perspective changed but so is our outcome. 

4:2 Mordecai was not alone in his grief. All of God's children within the king's provinces mourned and fasted. Haman's decree fell over the provinces like a pall. From Haman we should learn that whatever our position of leadership, our actions impact others. We should be careful not to make selfish decisions that corrode justice. We should be self-aware; we should pay close attention to our motivations and intentions. If our priorities are skewed, we create potential to truly harm the people around us. 

4:4 Esther was informed of Mordecai's grief and presence at the king's gate and she became distressed. She organized for Mordecai to be brought new clothes but he refused them; he wanted to remain in his mourning clothes. 

4:5-9 Esther sent Hathach, one of the king's servants, to Mordecai; she wanted to know why he was in such despair. Mordecai explained the decree, gave Hathach a copy and asked him to show it to Esther. Mordecai believed that Esther, as queen, would be able to plead for her people to the king. 

4:10-12 Initially, Esther was too afraid to approach the king. It was law that only a person holding the golden sceptor could enter the inner court of the king. Anyone else would die. Esther was somewhat removed from the decree: she felt sympathy but not yet empathy. She was not evil but her perspective was short: as the queen (and secret Israelite), she did not believe herself tied to the decree.

4:13 Mordecai was frank with his adopted-daughter: she was not exempt from the decree. Her life was as subject to the decree as his and all of their people. She had a chance to risk her life in order to save it, before her death was final. In Matthew 16:25-26, Jesus says this: 

For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?

It was Esther's opportunity to offer her life to save the lives of many others (as well as her own soul). 

4:14 Despite his grief, Mordecai was confident in God's ability and commitment to rescuing His people. He knew that if Esther refused to serve her people righteously, someone else would be chosen for the task. Our life and our position is strategic. God offers us purpose within our individual life and it is our decision whether or not to claim it. It is our decision whether or not to fulfill it. 

Sometimes purpose seems difficult, often it seems scary but refer to the book of Acts. In Acts 18:10, the Lord explained to the apostle Paul that he did not need to be afraid "for I am with you, and no one will attack you to hurt you; for I have many people in this city." God strategically places us in areas where He can provide those most effective and abundant support.

4:15-17 Esther made a decision: she would help her people regardless of the potential, dangerous consequences. She asked Mordecai to gather their people in the city to participate in a three day fast. Esther herself chose to fast: she would use that time to pray to God  for guidance and instruction and to build her courage in faith. 

Create a habit of consulting God on all life matters. Trade haste for spiritual contemplation and conversation with God. Esther's purpose in life was rather apparent but often life purpose is not so. If we keep our communication open with God, throughout our day and month and year and life, we arrive at the specific places He chose for us to be the happiest and most impactful.

OT: The Book of Esther, Chapter 3

Esther 3:1-15

3:1-3 King Ahasuerus promoted a man named Haman as his second in command. Everyone within the kingdom, no matter how high their station, bowed to Haman. Everyone bowed to Haman except for Mordecai. Mordecai had made a life commitment to bow to God alone and despite the tumult that would create in his life, he remained faithful to it. 

3:4 The quality and depth of our life is determined by the steadfastness of our faith. Mordecai recognized God's authority over his life; he respected the government of the land he lived in, but refused to bow to it. As more people noticed Mordecai's consistent refusal to bow to Haman, Mordecai's life became more difficult. Temporarily.

Faithful children of God are placed by Him into circumstances which generate unlikely, and yet inevitable results.

3:5-6 Haman was infuriated with Mordecai's refusal; Haman was an arrogant man, greedy for power and praise he did not deserve. In an act of wounded pride and cruelty, Haman sought to punish Mordecai by punishing all of God's children within the provinces. 

These were likely not the results Mordecai foresaw. Through so many accounts of people in the Bible, we learn that our journey with God sometimes seems murky and difficult. In those times we must remember that from God's perspective, the journey is clear and easy for Him to accomplish through our faithful life.

Mordecai would have had to ask himself: will my steadfast faith in God result in the slaughter of the rest of his people? He would then have had to remembered that faith in God never yields negative results. We should recognize adversity as the materials with which God builds something grand. Ultimately, Mordecai must have recognized his situation in such a way because he remained obedient to God. The threats and ominous outlook did not diminish his faith.  

3:7 The men against Mordecai cast lots (threw dice) to determine when to attack the people of Israel. Yet for months the lot fell in Israel's favor; God was busy organizing the details of Israel triumph over the malicious attack. This is a perfect example of how random and senseless life is without commitment to our righteous God. These corrupt men cast lots to murder innocent people.

3:8 Haman then approached the king with an embellishment against the people of Israel. He did not name the people, but he told the king that there was a large group of people dispersed within his kingdom who disobeyed the kings laws. Haman did not mention that his anger was personal. He did not mention that it was actual to Haman that Mordecai would not bow; the issue was unrelated to the king. 

Haman is the type of person the book of Proverbs often speaks of. Proverbs 22:12 explains that malicious lies are an abomination to God, and that God delights in the trustworthy, the truthful. As a truthful, righteous man, Mordecai was protected by God against Haman's deceit. 

3:9-11 Haman asked the king for permission to destroy the group of people who were supposedly disobeying the king and was granted permission by him. But Mordecai trusted the King of kings to protect him and his people and no plotting can stand against the almighty power of God. 

3:12-15 A decree was sent to every province: to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate... both young and old, little children, and women. On the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the people of Israel were to be killed. Sometimes God waits until the last minute; Esther 3 is our perfect example to never lose hope, no matter how far or deep we are in tribulation. For God had a plan and was able to perfectly execute it; that terrifying decree had no power but it likely did not feel that way when it was issued. 

OT: The Book of Esther, Chapter 2

Esther 2:1-23

2:1-4 Four years after the events of the previous chapter, king Ahasuerus returned from an unsuccessful conquest with, bluntly: lust. The king did not desire a companion; he did not seek love. It was arranged that beautiful women from the provinces of his kingdom would be gathered into a harem. The most appealing woman to the king would be chosen as queen. 

2:5-7 This chapter and the rest of the book of Esther, is a perfect example of how God is able to manipulate the self-centered motivations of others to push forward and elevate the purpose and power of His humble children. 

A faithful man of God (and of the tribe of Benjamin) named Mordecai was in the citadel with his uncle's orphaned daughter: Hadassah, also known as Esther. Mordecai took responsibility of his cousin because she lived in a patriarchal society and was without parents; she needed a provider and protector. Mordecai adopted Esther as his own daughter. 

2:8-9 Esther became a member of the king's harem. The man in control of the harem was named Hegai and he had partiality for Esther, who is described to have been beautiful. Esther, previously unknown by the king or anyone else of consequence (except for her uncle), became a candidate for queen. 

2:10 Esther and Mordecai chose to keep her identity as an Israelite a secret. It was a secret that would eventually serve to advance the welfare and save the population of the children of God within the king's provinces. 

2:11 Mordecai cared about Esther and ensured her well-being every day that she was in the women's quarters of the king's place. 

2:12-14 The beauty preparations for the women of the harem was a luxurious, albeit ridiculous, and extensive (year-long) process. The king met each of the women but they were not allowed to return to him unless he called for them. 

2:15-18 When the king met Esther, he liked her best of all the women. He chose Esther as queen and held a feast. Esther suddenly had position and power, yet the new position and power qualified her as a candidate for a servant of God's will. The true celebration, though no one had known it at the time, was God's infiltration into the system of the world to bring about the agenda of heaven. 

2:19-20 Even as queen, Esther kept her identity as an Israel from everyone except her uncle.

2:21-23 While Mordecai was waiting to her about Esther's well-being by the king's gate one day, he overheard a plot to kill the king. Mordecai passed the information on to Esther, and Esther then informed the king. The deceitful plot was revealed to be true and the guilty men were hanged. God placed Mordecai in the right spot at the right time to create a situation by which Esther would earn the trust and respect of the king.

OT: The Book of Esther, Chapter 1

Esther 1:1-22

The book of Nehemiah was a portion of scripture which told the account of a man who was faithful enough to recognize (and utilize) his position as an opportunity to assertively implement spiritual restoration among his people. The book of Esther is the account of two people who had no position, yet still had faith enough to be vigilant and resourceful in order to accomplish the same goal of spiritual restoration among their people. 

1:1-4 The account begins with a king: Ahasuerus (or Artexerxes). This king had a massive kingdom that stretched over twenty-seven provinces. From his throne in Shushan, the citadel, he began a one-hundred and eighty day long feast. The feast was a boastful display of his wealth and power more than a celebration. 

1:5-8 Afterward, the king held an extravagant seven day feast for the people within the citadel.

1:9 The king's wife, queen Vashti, also held a feast for the women in the royal palace.

1:10-11 On the seventh day of his feast, the king ordered his servants to bring his wife to be paraded around. The queen was beautiful and the king wanted, more than her company, to show off her beauty as another display of his excellence. Yet the queen refused the king's command, though we are not given the specific reason why. 

We can perhaps deduce that queen Vashti was resistant to the patriarchal society of her time. 

1:12-15 The queen's refusal infuriated Ahasuerus; he consulted the wise men around him for advice on how to respond to her disobedience. He wanted advice on how to punish her. 

1:16-18 A man named Memucan answered the king: he decided that queen Vashti's disobedience was not only a marital issue but a social one as well. He felt that her refusal might start an uprising among women within their own homes and marriages across the kingdom. 

1:19-20 Memucan suggested that the king essentially divorce queen Vashti and replace her with another woman. King Ahasuerus was not a faithful man; he did not rule his kingdom with righteousness or compassion. It was not difficult for him to divorce and replace the woman he entered into a union with. 

1:21 Memucan wanted to threaten women into disobedience; the king was pleased with the suggestion. 

1:22 Letters (which no doubt had harmful consequences) went out to every household declaring the husband's superiority over his wife. Every man and women in the kingdom was informed of Vashti's refusal and subsequent punishment. 

The marriage between the king and queen was an unrighteous union. The king forced his dominance and commanded his wife to behave in a demeaning and inappropriate manner. He responded to her with anger and divorce. God asks spouses to respect each other and to serve each other just as he instructs us to serve our neighbors, God's fellow-children. 

Ahasuerus and Vashti had no such union. Yet the turmoil of their marriage became an opportunity for God's people through Esther and Mordecai. 

OT: The Book of Nehemiah, Chapter 13

Nehemiah 13:1-31

13:1 Fledgling kingdom that it was, they read from the Book of Moses to familiarize themselves with God's commandments and instructions. While reading, they learned of the importance of keeping separate from peoples and institutions that harm rather than heal, hurt rather than help. In Deuteronomy 23:3-4, Ammonites and Moabites were restricted from Israel because of their refusal to help during Israel's time of need in the wilderness. 

13:2 The Ammonites and Moabites were given the opportunity to be a haven to a people struggling to survive but rejected it. In reading the book of Moses, they learned what we learn: we may not have the support of anyone around us, but we always have God's support; and He is all we need. God was able to turn their desperation into deliverance; He turned the curses cast against them (Numbers 22-24) into blessings. 

Our relationship with God is so powerful. He goes before us; He exists in our periphery; He is behind and around us, he transforms our plights into provision, chaos into order, and fear into peace. 

13:3 They read and obeyed. They trusted His counsel over anything, anyone else. We should be willing and even eager to rearrange our life according to God's law and will. We should be grateful that He provides the instruction that delivers us from harm. 

13:4-9 Nehemiah entered Jerusalem and discovered corruption. He began an complete spiritual overhaul. Nehemiah cleaned up the evil work of the men before him, namely Eliashib and Tobiah, and restored the house of God. Be someone so connected with God's work that you constantly work to restore His kingdom. It grieved Nehemiah that the kingdom was out of order. 

13:10-13 Nehemiah placed faithful men into positions within the temple. He fought to restore what other men had forsaken. This was a spiritual battle; Nehemiah contended not with men but with a principality, Ephesians 6:12. Had the temple not been restored, the people of Israel's spirituality would have quickly fallen into disrepair. 

13:14 Like most humble souls, Nehemiah likely thought more of his short-comings than he did his successes. He prayed to God, asking Him to remember the good that he had done. It can sometimes feel as though the bad outweighs the good but God is a champion for our successes. He is a proud parent; He remembers and appreciates our well-intentioned efforts. 

13:15-16 Nehemiah restored the Sabbath. God commanded that a day be set aside for spiritual rest and reflection. In our own hectic generation, it is easy to understand why God and His prophets would stress the importance of consistently scheduled rest. From within a busy lifestyle, it becomes more difficult to spend restful, quality time with God. The chaos is a detriment to the health of our spirit. When our spirit is undernourished, the rest of our mind and body suffers.

13:17-18 Everything Nehemiah did for Jerusalem was a courageous effort. He had to fight for spiritual restoration. He had to know the commandments of God well enough to recognize when they were absent from society. Israel badly needed to remain connected with God; their former wayward lifestyle was proof of that. 

13:19-20 Nehemiah commanded the gates within the walls around Jerusalem be shut during the entire Sabbath. He posted guards to ensure that they remained closed. With the gates shut, people were forced to cease working and procuring money to focus on other, more important things like God and family.

13:21-22 The merchants were so desperate to make money that they slept outside of the walls. Nehemiah rather aggressively warned them not to do so again. From the beginning, Nehemiah wanted desperately for the people to return sincerely back to God. He wanted them follow the commandments of God out of trust and respect rather than reluctance. 

At a certain point in our relationship with God, as it deepens, we understand His "No's" to be blessings. We know that if He tells us to stop or to slow down, it is for our well-being. We begin to have deep gratitude for His every commandment. 

Again Nehemiah asked God to remember Him for what he did right. From within the turmoil, Nehemiah needed to be aggressive. Most of the progressive change that he made could happen if He contended with others for change. It is not that God wants us to fight, but He does want us to divide right from wrong, Luke 12:51. The cleaving process is often a messy task, and from within it, Nehemiah asked God to remember that his heart meant well.

13:23-27 The people married outside of their faith; this was especially dangerous because they married pagans and idol worshipers that led them astray. Nehemiah used the example of Solomon, who was the wisest man on earth but still not invulnerable to temptation or corruption. God wants us to choose to join our lives with people who had righteous values, for what and who we bring into our lives is going to determine the quality of our lives. 

A marriage is a union. You cannot unite righteousness with unrighteousness, justice with injustice, slavery to sin with freedom in God. Nehemiah was so angry. It was illogical to him that they would so openly disregard God's prudent commandment. 

13:28-29 Nehemiah was disturbed by people who defiled the priesthood and the covenant. When our emotion wells up like fire, we must do as Nehemiah did, he asked God to take care of the people/situation that was causing him so much anger and grief. One of our greatest blessings as children of God is to have the supplemental support of our Father in our weak and deficient moments. Sometimes there is nothing we can do, but always there is something He can. 

13:30-31 Nehemiah cleansed the temple of pagan and idol worship. He cleansed and organized not just the temple but all of Jerusalem and the wall around it. Nehemiah is known for the wall but the greatest work He did was the reconstruction of the faith of God's people. 

OT: The Book of Nehemiah, Chapter 12

Nehemiah 12:1-47

12:1-26 Listed are the priests and Levites who returned to Jerusalem with Zerubbabel. 

12:27-42 Nehemiah arranged for spiritual celebration throughout the city of Jerusalem on the day he dedicated the wall. He also appointed thanksgiving choirs; through song and instrument the people rejoiced at both the restoration of the wall and their renewed covenant with God. 

12:43 The celebration was kingdom-wide and was heard beyond the borders. In Revelation 19, we learn of the great, kingdom-wide celebration that the righteous will take part in at the fall of Babylon, the destruction of evil. 

12:44-47 People were appointed to fill certain responsibilities within the temple. 

So much like our actual life responsibilities: God plants willing souls in places where they can serve in a way specific to their personality, skills and purpose. Jerusalem had teachers, singers, gatekeepers, soldiers and so much more. Like them, we have varying skills and responsibilities but all of them are important within the kingdom:

1 Corinthians 12:12-27

For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit. 

For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. 

The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. 

Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.

Steadily, Jerusalem became a city of organization and dedication (to faith in God). Appreciate the process of spiritual restoration and all the work it requires, it is the most constructive work you will ever do.

OT: The Book of Nehemiah, Chapter 11

Nehemiah 11:1-36

11:1-2 The leaders made their home in Jerusalem. As only a fraction of the former people had spiritually returned, an effort needed to be made to establish the city as well as grow the population of the city. They were grateful to anyone who was willing to offer themselves as inhabitants of Jerusalem and therefore, servants of God.

11:3-4 Generally, each family returned to the portion of the city allotted to their ancestors. Each of Jacob's (renamed Israel by God) children represent a tribe of Israel, Genesis 49. It is fitting that Jacob's descendants would be named the Israelites: The name Israel means 'God Prevails' and God had prevailed despite their frequent immorality and negligence of faith. 

11:5-6 The children of Judah. 

11:7-9 The sons of Benjamin.

11:10-14 Of the priests.

11:15-18 (Also) Of the Levites. 

11:19 The gatekeepers. 

11:20-21 The Nethinim, 'temple servants,' lived in Ophel. 'Ophel' means hill; a ridge of hills in Jerusalem, fortified for defense of the city. Servants of God's temple, the kingdom of God within themselves, dwell indeed on a raised and well-defended platform. As servants of God, our perspective is heightened and the Lord is encamped around us. 

11:22-24 Also of mention were the overseer of the Levites as well as the singers in charge of the service of the house of God.

11:25-36 The people dwelling outside of Jerusalem.

Compared to what it could have been, had everyone remained faithful to God, it was a sparse group. But the sparse group was fervent in their love and obedience for God and thus, though small, they had great significance.