I am using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study. For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I have found that by writing this daily blog of what I see when I read these scriptures, I get more out of them. I hope that by posting these ruminations others may get some benefit as well. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them.
The book of Esther takes place during the reign of Xerxes, king of Persia. The account starts with Xerxes holding a three month festival celebrating the opulence and power of the Persian Empire (it strikes me as being a sort of World’s Fair). At the end of the festival, he threw a week long party for everyone in his palace in the capital. Xerxes ordered that the wine flow freely and it did. At the same time, his queen, Vashti, threw a similar party for the women in the palace. On the seventh day, Xerxes was rather in his cups and ordered his eunuchs to bring Queen Vashti to him where he was partying with his attendants in order to show off how beautiful his wife was. Vashti refused to come. Xerxes was furious and, upon the advice of his advisers, divorced her (well, probably not technically divorced, but that’s close enough for understanding the rest of the story).
Once Xerxes got over his anger, he began to regret not having a queen. His servants came up with a plan to find a replacement for Vashti by searching for the most beautiful women throughout the Empire. Xerxes could then choose a new queen from among them. Xerxes approved this plan. Among the women who were brought in as part of this plan was a young Jewess named Hadassah (also called Esther). Esther was the cousin of a Jew named Mordecai. Mordecai had adopted her and raised her as his own daughter after the death of her parents. Esther, along with the other young women brought in through this program, was put under the care of the eunuch Hegai. Hegai was impressed by Esther and gave her the best room in the harem. In addition, Hegai gave her a special menu and additional beauty treatments. While she was undergoing the one year preparation, Mordecai passed near the courtyard of the harem everyday in order to keep informed about how she was doing.
When the young women were called to Xerxes bed, they were given their choice of clothes and jewelry. When it was Esther’s turn, she wore only what Hegai recommended. Xerxes was taken with Esther and made her his queen in place of Vashti. Through all of this Esther kept her nationality a secret, even after Mordecai became a palace official. Through all of this, Esther continued to consult with Mordecai and follow his directions. At one point, Mordecai overheard a plot to kill King Xerxes and reported it to Queen Esther. Esther passed this report on to the king, giving Mordecai credit for it.
Some time later, Xerxes appointed Haman as the most powerful official in the Empire, after the king. All of the king’s officials would bow down to Haman when he passed, except for Mordecai. When Haman realized that Mordecai would not bow down to him, he became furious. He investigated and discovered that Mordecai was a Jew. Haman felt that it was not enough to punish Mordecai for the slight. He decided to destroy all of Mordecai’s people as well. Haman had lots cast in his presence to decide when to do this. The result was for a time 11 months in the future. Haman went before King Xerxes and told him that there was a people scattered throughout the Empire who obeyed their own laws and refused to obey the king’s decrees, a people who it was not in Xerxes interest to allow to continue to live. Haman told Xerxes that he would deposit a large sum of money into the royal treasury if Xerxes would authorize him to destroy these people. Xerxes gave Haman authority to issue such a decree as Haman saw fit. Haman composed a decree to be sent throughout the Empire instructing Empire officials that all Jews, young and old, male and female, were to be killed on March 7 of the following year. Those who killed them were authorized to appropriate their property.
Paul continues his critique of the Corinthian Church. He tells them that he is not surprised that there are divisions among them. Then he says something that seems like sarcasm to me. He tells them that there must be divisions among them in order to show who does, and does not, have God’s approval. This strikes me as sarcasm, because if there are no divisions in the Church than there is no need to distinguish between those with God’s approval and those without since everyone either has His approval or does not have His approval.
Paul then goes on to discuss what is happening when they gather to eat the Lord’s Supper (which in this case seems to be more like our modern fellowship meals than what we call the “Lord’s Supper”, more on that in another blog…someday). He tells us that when they gather, rather than waiting and sharing the food and drink equally, some people hurry up and eat their meals. This results in some going hungry while others get drunk. Paul continues by telling them that they are disgracing God’s Church and shaming the poor. Paul immediately dismisses the argument of, “We were hungry and could not wait for them to be ready,” by saying that, in that case, you should have eaten something at home. Paul points out that the Lord’s Supper is a symbolic joining together of the congregation in the death of Jesus. He talks about how when we eat the bread, we are taking into ourselves the Body of Christ and when we drink the cup we are taking into ourselves the Blood of Christ. What is the Body of Christ, but the Church, which is composed of our fellow believers? If we eat the bread or drink the cup without honoring the Body of Christ, we are eating and drinking God’s judgment upon ourselves. Paul tells us that such behavior causes us to have weakness and illness. Finally, Paul reinforces his message that when we have fellowship meals and the Lord’s Supper, we should wait for each other. If we are too hungry to wait for everyone, we should eat at home before we go.
Paul’s teaching applies to meetings where the meal is the purpose of the gathering. However, there is a principle that can be applied to shared meals at Church gatherings of all sorts. In those cases where we have gathered together for some other purpose and share a meal somewhere in the middle, we may not be able to wait for everyone to get there to begin eating. However, in that case we should make sure that we do not take so much food that there is none left for those who have been delayed. It also means that we should strive to be on time to the meals at such gatherings so as to not inconvenience others.
There are two other things this passage says that strike me. The first is that I think we should more often make our Communion celebrations fellowship meals, as apparently was the practice in the Corinthian Church. The second is that Paul recommends (perhaps “commands” is a more appropriate word) that we examine ourselves and our motives before we take part in Communion. I would recommend that we do the same for fellowship meals, something which the Corinthian Church did not apparently distinguish from Communion.
The psalmist begins today’s psalm with a phrase I think we can all sympathize with at some point or another:
The psalmist expresses the desire that God take action to address the injustice he is suffering. He asks how long God will allow the injustice to continue, but he never has any doubt that God will take action against those guilty of unjustly causing suffering on others. We may look at the world around us and think that there is a lot of injustice going on and that God has done nothing. However, God will take action when the time is ripe and all will see His goodness and love for those who worship Him.
If you wish to acquire wealth, do not spend everything you get on pleasures today. Rather save some of your income for a later day.