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.
Today we begin the Book of Esther. The story begins when the king of Persia, King Xerxes, throws a six month celebration. At the end of it, he threw a seven-day “open bar” feast. On the seventh day, King Xerxes was quite lit and decided that he wanted to show off his queen, Queen Vashti, to his guests, so he sends for her to come to him. Queen Vashti refuses the summons. King Xerxes is furious and turns to his advisers as to what he should do. Now keep in mind that King Xerxes and his advisers have been drinking heavily for seven days at this point. One of his advisers tells him that Queen Vashti has wronged not only the king, but everyone in the entire empire because women throughout the empire will follow her example and treat their husbands with contempt. Therefore he recommends that Xerxes issue a decree that Queen Vashti be forever banished from his presence. King Xerxes issues this decree that in addition says that every husband should be ruler in his own home.
When the wine wears off and his anger subsides, King Xerxes begins to regret banishing Queen Vashti. His attendants suggest that he have the most beautiful unmarried young women from throughout the empire brought into his harem. From among these women, King Xerxes can then choose a replacement for Queen Vashti. King Xerxes orders that this plan be implemented.
Here we are introduced to Mordecai, a man of some standing among the Jews. We are told that he is Esther’s cousin and when her parents died, he adopted and raised her. Esther is chosen by the king’s agents to enter into his harem. Each woman who was brought in was given twelve months of beauty treatment. Esther made a positive impression on the eunuch in charge of this portion of the harem and he treated her with favoritism. During this time (and up until the critical point in this whole story) Esther kept her heritage a secret because Mordecai had told her to do so. When each woman was first taken to King Xerxes bed, she was given her choice of clothes and jewelry to wear. When Esther’s turn came, she followed the advice of the eunuch in charge of the harem as to what to wear. Esther made a positive impression on the king and he chose her as his queen to replace Queen Vashti.
Mordecai throughout this time maintained communication with Esther and when Esther was made queen she used her influence to get Mordecai a post in the palace. Shortly after taking up this new post, Mordecai uncovered a plot against King Xerxes that he passed on to Esther. Esther informed King Xerxes of the plot while giving credit to Mordecai.
Some time after this King Xerxes appoints a man named Haman to the number two spot in the empire. All of the king’s officials bowed down before Haman whenever he passed, except for Mordecai. Other palace officials told Mordecai that he ought to bow down to Haman, but he refused. The account does not tell us outright why he refused, but it suggests that no other Jew would have either. This in turn suggests that Mordecai refused to bow down because he viewed doing so as worshiping Haman in place of God. When Haman became aware of Mordecai’s refusal to bow down to him, he was furious. He decided to destroy all of the Jews. Haman used divination to determine when the best time to carry out his plan would be. Once he had made his plan, he approached King Xerxes and, presenting the Jews in the worst possible light, offered King Xerxes a large sum of money if he would order them destroyed. King Xerxes does not issue the decree, but gives Haman the authority to do so. Haman sends out a decree to the entire empire that all of the Jews, men, women and children, should be killed on the day he selected, with all of their property going to those who killed them. We are told that this order threw the capital into confusion.
Today’s passage is teaching from Paul on the celebration of the Lord’s Supper. The first thing Paul says as introduction to this topic is that he has no praise for them on this topic. He says that he hears that when they meet it causes more harm than good because of the divisions among them. Then before he goes on he says something that I have never noticed before. Paul says that some division in the Church is necessary in order to tell who has God’s favor. Then he gets back on topic. He condemns them for gathering for the Lord’s Supper and then some hurrying to eat their own meal. This results in some going hungry while others get drunk. He tells them that this sort of behavior disgraces the Church and shames the poor. He then reiterates the meaning of the Lord’s Supper. Paul says that when we eat the bread and drink the cup of the Lord’s Supper we are announcing His death again, something we are to continue doing until He returns. We should examine ourselves before we partake of the Lord’s Supper because if we take it in an unworthy manner we are guilty of sinning against the body and blood of Christ. When we do that we are bringing God’s judgment upon ourselves. Paul suggests that this sort of behavior is why some are weak and sick. Paul concludes his teaching on the Lord’s Supper by saying that when we gather such a meal we should wait for each other. Paul answers the argument of those who say, “But I can’t wait, I’m really hungry,” by saying, “If that’s the problem eat something at home before you come to this meeting.”
The psalmist calls on the Lord to come to his defense. He proclaims that his enemies are bearing false witness against him. He calls on God to humiliate and bring disgrace against those who are unjustly attacking him, but bring joy to those who are coming to his defense. This brings up an important point we should keep in mind when people claim that someone of otherwise good reputation has done wrong. We should consider two things in judging such accusations. The first is, what do the accusers stand to gain from ruining the reputation of the person they are accusing? The second is, what sort of person is the accuser? If the accuser fails on both accounts, it does not necessarily mean that their testimony is false, but it does mean that we should seek corroboration before we accept it as true.
Every time I write about how grateful I am that I do not have a quarrelsome wife (which is every time the proverbs for the day talks about it) my wife thanks me and expresses her concern that she is a quarrelsome wife. There is nothing wrong with her concern because remaining conscious of not wanting to behave in a certain way is part of avoiding behaving that way.
The second proverb tells us that if we spend our money as soon as we get it, we will never accumulate wealth and be able to enjoy luxury. This is one of several proverbs that tell us that in most cases poverty is the result of the actions of those who are impoverished.