Today, I am reading and commenting on  Esther 4-7.

When the Jews in Susa, and then later in other parts of the Persian Empire, learned of the edict against them they went into mourning by fasting, weeping, and wailing.  Then, before Esther takes the risk of going before the king without being summoned, she asks Mordecai to have all of the Jews in Susa fast for her.  Nowhere in the Book of Esther does the writer mention God, or prayer.  Yet, I find it hard to believe that the writer did not mean to imply that the Jews were praying to God for deliverance when they mourned and fasted.  I am also convinced that when Mordecai told Esther that deliverance would come from somewhere else if she did not act that the writer meant us to understand that Mordecai was expressing his faith in God.  My main point is that deliverance came to the Jews because they fasted and prayed.  We live in a nation facing great problems brought upon us by those who rule over us.  As Christians within this nation, we need to fast, pray, and pour out our hearts in mourning before God for the wickedness around us and ask for His deliverance.  There is much more to this passage than this, but this is what calls out to me.  I fail to pray as I ought and fasting has rarely been part of my spiritual discipline.  I feel called out by this passage today to change that.  Perhaps it is time for Christians to fast before God in prayer, seeking His guidance in the face of the terrible violence which occurs around us.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Esther 1-3.

I noticed a couple of things I find interesting today when I read the beginning of the Book of Esther.  In his anger after Queen Vashti refused his order to appear before him, Xerxes consulted his experts into the law to see what he could do.  That reads to me as if he was seeking an existing precedent in law to take action against her.  His advisers were unaware of any such precedent, but they wanted there to be one, so they gave Xerxes advice to create one.  I am unsure that there is any significance to that, just something I found interesting.  Also interesting, Haman did not notice that Mordecai refused to bow down or otherwise give him honor.  He only became aware of it when other officials reported it to him.  We do not know why Mordecai refused to give honor to Haman, but the writer seems to link it to him being a Jew.  Or, at least, the fact that Mordecai was a Jew was why the other officials wanted to see if his actions would be tolerated.  So, Haman felt it necessary to make Mordecai pay for failing to honor him, even though Mordecai never did so in a way which brought itself to Haman’s attention directly.  Not only that, but Haman wanted to punish all of the Jews for Mordecai’s refusal to honor him.  In doing so, Haman demonstrated an ambition which exceeded his grasp.  A wise official would have chosen to ignore Mordecai’s “insubordination” so long as they did not observe it themselves, an official who was not a fool would have satisfied themselves with bringing suffering to just Mordecai for the slight he had committed against them.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.