Esther 5 - Ego

Oh my... Haman has some serious ego issues.  Invited to eat with the King Xerxes at Queen Esther's table he's so excited, he's running about bragging how important he is.  He does not even suspect that Queen Esther is dear and related to the man at the gate, Mordecai, whom Haman desires to be destroyed.  He does not suspect that he is walking into a trap.

Deluded..  Haman is pretty delusional.  He has been blinded by his own glory!  Haman thinks he can manipulate people for his own purposes (personal and political) and get away with it.  He will not. The tables are turning and Esther is playing the game.  She will use his ego to save her people.

Ego - will blind us to reality and prevent us from living lives in God's glory.

God's Peace - Pr. J

Esther 4 - Nothing New Under the Sun - Money Buys Just About Anything?

Has anything changed under the sun?  "What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. Is there anything of which one can say, “Look! This is something new”? It was here already, long ago." Eccl 1:9-10

Mordecai's life is in danger.  Esther's life is in danger.  The death of all Jews is imminent.  Their deaths have been secured with payment to the king's treasury by Haman. Esther, although the wife of King Xerxes, finds it out, not from her husband, but from Mordecai. And... yet, she is reluctant to go to the king to intercede for her people.  The king is not aware, yet, that she is a Jew and what is more anyone who enters (including the queen) the presence of the king without being called is in danger of being put to death.  I think maybe she thinks that somehow she will be immune from the destruction that has been decreed upon all Jews.  She's got a pretty good chance of dying either way.  When she finally agrees, she asks that all her people, all of the Jews, spend the next three day fasting.

The payment is my concern this morning.  Has anything changed under the sun? Money has been known for changing the way we live for the good or bad.  How much money is spent in manipulating (lobbying) for specific interests that in the end changes our lifestyles and sometimes to the degree that it has killed a lifestyle?  Since, we just finished with a week of confirmation classes, the commandments "thou shall not kill" and "thou shall not bear false witness against thy neighbor" come to mind.  How much money is spent on false advertising to undermine opponents.  And in the end, how much of this bearing false witness actually affects the lives of both the candidates and constituates?  How many spirits are weakened by this lack of integrity?  According the Luther's Small Catechism what is the meaning of the 5th commandment about murdering mean? 
     "We should fear and love God that we may not hurt nor harm our neighbor in his body, but help    and befriend him in every bodily need [in every need and danger of life and body]." 

So does what goes on in politicing prior to elections actually help or harm our neighbor?  Will we do what we need to do to help all people or will we first think, as Queen Esther did, about what the best thing to protect our own lives is?

Just wondering....

God's Peace - Pr. J

 

Esther 3 - You Shall Not Bow Down

"And God spoke all these words:  “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. “You shall have no other gods before me. “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.""  (Ex 20:1-6 NIV)

Mordecai, Queen Esther's mentor of sorts, would bow down to no one but God.  He would not bow down to Haman, so "Haman looked for a way to destroy all Mordecai’s people, the Jews." (vs 6 NIV)  And.. he found it.  He convinced the King Xerxes to allow him to have the Jews destroyed. 

We just completed a week of confirmation, at which we spent much of our time on the ten commandments, so these verses from Exodus are still at the top of my mind.  What does this mean?  Simply this:  You shall have no other gods.  You shall not bow down to other gods.  No one, nothing, should come before the LORD your God.  Mordecai held fast to this, even to the point that he could be killed. 

How about us?  How fast will we hold to keeping God first in our lives?  How many other things in our lives do we allow to replace the worship of the one true God - the one who has freed you from bondage? 

God's Peace - Pr. J
 

Esther 2 - Marriage Made In Heaven?

A marriage made in heaven?!  Well, actually knowing the outcome of the whole story, God's hand probably was guiding this whole transaction.  But, what a way to find a wife!  Not so unlike today!  Try them all out, first! 

Here's the difficulty that I have with the whole thing:  the women allow themselves to be treated like property, like clothes in a department store - tried on for size with the very real possibility of being cast aside.  Then and now.  I just don't get it.  Of course, so many women are trying on men, as well.
And when a husband or wife is finally found, suitably fitting one's ego, now is that a marriage made in heaven?  No wonder there are so many divorces today.  With so much unknown baggage being carried into the marriage, it's no wonder there are so many divorces today.  Course, there are quite a few marriages being entered into, that begin, with the mindset of King Xerxes - try it - see if it fits - if not - send them back to the harem they came from. 

Yes, I am being a little cynical this morning.  I see how so many of our young people (not just young people - they've learned well from the older generations) treat their relationships.  Like shopping in a department store for the fanciest or most expensive (name brand) clothes or like when that old pair of old blue jeans don't fit any longer, casting them aside.  Sometimes divorce may be very necessary. (We'll get to that in the New Testament) But, just because you find something, someone, who pleases you more at the moment is not a reason to end the covenant you've made with someone else.

Marriages made in heaven?  I don't know about that.  But, I do know that when you ask God to bless your union - He joins you as one 'till death parts you.

God's Peace - Pr. J
 

Esther 1 - Feasting - With Wine

Ok... I'm confused.  After about a half of a year of showing off his kingdom, King Xerxes (Ahasuerus) declares a seven day feast, during which there is much wine drunk.  Seven days of partying.  Then on the seventh day when King Xerxes is in high spirits from the wine (drunk), he sends for his beautify wife, Queen Vashti so that he can show her off to his company.  She refuses.  He is embarrassed and there are consequences for her. 

What is this? Would this king have commanded her to come so that everyone could ogle her, if he'd been sober.  Would she have said no, if he and his company had been sober?

The book of Esther; however, I think we will enjoy.  Scene 1:  Xerxes gets rid of his present wife, the queen.

(Edited title on 8/25/2011 due to typo - feasting not fasting.)