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.
When Mordecai learned of Haman’s edict, he went into mourning. Dressed in sackcloth he sat at the gate to the king’s palace. When Esther heard that he was doing this, she sent a messenger with new clothes for him. Mordecai refused the clothes and sent a message back to Esther telling her the details of Haman’s edict. Mordecai asked Esther to intervene for her people with the king. Esther replied that if she approached the king without being summoned, she might be killed unless the king extended grace to her and she had not been summoned to the king in over a month.
Mordecai replied to Esther that she would not escape the coming purge just because she was in the palace. If she remained silent, deliverance and relief would arise for the Jews from some other place, but she and her family would die. He then suggested that perhaps she had been made queen for this very purpose. Esther took this to heart and replied asking Mordecai to gather all of the Jews in Susa together to fast for three days and nights. She and her servants would do the same. On the fourth day she would go to see the king, submitting herself to the hand of God, whether she lived or she died.
This passage is one that touches me very deeply and is at the heart of my understanding of my duties as a follower of God. We are where we are in life in order to fulfill God’s purpose in this world. We cannot avoid the risks associated with doing God’s will. If we refuse to do that which we know God desires us to do because we are afraid of possible consequences, those consequences will still fall upon us and God will find some other means to do His will. On the other hand, if we step forth in God’s will, despite the risks, God may protect us from harm. We are called to live our lives as Esther did here and as Daniel’s three friends (Meshach, Shadrach, and Abednego) did. Esther said, “If I must die, I must die.” Meshach, Shadrach, and Abednego said, “If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us. He will rescue us from your power, Your Majesty. But even if he doesn’t, we want to make it clear to you, Your Majesty, that we will never serve your gods…” All too often I have failed to live up to these examples because I was afraid that someone would mock me. I pray that the Holy Spirit will give me the strength going forward to echo Esther and say, “If I must die, I must die,” or, “If I will be mocked, so be it.”
On the fourth day, Esther went to see the king. When the king saw her enter his presence he extended her an invitation to be there, thus sparing her life. He then asked her what she desired of him. Esther invited the king to come to a banquet she had prepared and to bring Haman with him. The king granted her request. When they came to the banquet the king asked Esther what she really wanted. promising to grant her request, even up to half of his kingdom. Esther merely replied that she desired that the king and Haman come to a banquet she had prepared for the following day. She told the king that she would explain what this was all about at that banquet. The king agreed.
As he was leaving the palace at the end of the day, Haman passed Mordecai and his rage at Mordecai was rekindled. When he got home, he boasted of his wealth and power, and about being invited to a banquet a private banquet with the king and Queen Esther. However, all of this was unsatisfying as long as Mordecai sat at the palace gates. Haman’s wife suggested that Haman set up a tall sharpened pole and in the morning request the king’s permission to impale Mordecai on it. Haman liked this idea and ordered the pole set up.
Meanwhile, the king had trouble sleeping so he had the book recounting the history of his reign read to him. While it was being read, he heard an account of Mordecai revealing the plot against him. He asked what reward Mordecai had been given for this act. The answer was that nothing had been done for Mordecai. At that moment, Haman arrived, intending to request permission to impale Mordecai. The king summoned Haman into his presence and asked him what he should do to honor a man who truly pleased him. Haman, assuming that the king meant to honor him, told the king that he should dress the person in royal regalia and mount him on a royal horse. Then he should have one of his high officials lead the man to be so honored through the city square on the king’s horse, with the official declaring that this what the king does for one he wished to honor. The king liked Haman’s plan and ordered him to do this for Mordecai. Haman did as ordered. Afterwards Haman rushed home dejected and humiliated. When he told his wife and friends what had happened his wife told him that since Mordecai was a Jew, his plans against him would never come to fruition and to continue to oppose him would be fatal.
Once she had said this, the king’s servants arrived to escort Haman to Esther’s banquet. Once they were at the banquet, the king once again asked Esther what she truly desired. Esther answered by requesting that her life and that of her people be spared. She told the king that she and her people had been sold to those who wished to kill and annihilate them. The king asked her who would dare do such a thing. Esther told him that it was none other than Haman. The king jumped to his feet in rage and went out to the palace garden. Meanwhile Haman attempted to plead for his life with Esther. However, in his grief he fell upon her couch just as the king returned. The king assumed that he was assaulting Esther and called for his servants to seize him. One of the king’s servants told the king that Haman had set up a sharpened pole intending to impale Mordecai upon it, noting that Mordecai had saved the king from assassination (this suggests that Haman was not popular among the palace servants). The king ordered that Haman be impaled upon the very pole he had set up.
Paul moves on to his next topic, spiritual gifts. The first thing he tells us about recognizing spiritual gifts is how to distinguish between true and false spiritual gifts. No one speaking by the Spirit of God will curse Jesus and everyone who honors Jesus is doing so by the Spirit of God. He then tells us that there are different spiritual gifts and that God calls us to different kinds of service. Despite these differences there is only one God working in and through us. We are each given a spiritual gift in order to help each other. The Spirit gives the gift of wise advice to some and that of special knowledge to others. Other gifts which the Spirit gives are great faith, healing, miracles, prophesy, distinguishing between spirits, speaking on various languages, and interpretation of languages. All of these gifts are different, but they all come from the same Spirit. God distributes these gifts according to His designs in this world, not according to human desire.
The human body is made up of many parts, but it is still only one body. In the same manner, the Church is made up of many different people, with different skills and gifts nevertheless we are all baptized into one body, the Body of Christ, and we all share one Spirit. Just as the human body needs all of its various parts, placed according to God’s design, to function properly, so, too the Church requires all of the different parts which are placed according to God’s designs. In the same way that we honor certain parts of our body and protect other parts, so too in the Church should we be careful to honor and protect different parts of the Body according to their needs and their vulnerability. If one part of our body is honored, our whole body is honored, if one part of our body is hurt, our whole body suffers. The same is true of the Church, the Body of Christ, even if we do not always recognize this.
There is a wonderful insight into human nature in this psalm:
they cannot see how wicked they really are.
No one thinks of themselves as truly evil. People constantly justify their actions to themselves, explaining why it was not wrong of them to do things which they know are wrong. Once we have done wicked acts, we lie to ourselves continuously, following up one evil act with another. Each one justified in our own minds. It is only when we acknowledge that without God we are wicked and then confess our sins that we can break this cycle of ever increasing evil.
It is only through the pursuit of righteousness and love that we can find life and honor. Wisdom will overcome strength every time.