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.
After the death of Haman, Esther and Mordecai still had a problem. The edict that Haman had sent out under King Xerxes seal to destroy all of the Jews was still in force. Esther approached King Xerxes to request it be overturned. King Xerxes gives Esther and Mordecai authority to send out any edict they wish on this matter, however he reminds them that no previous edict can be revoked. Mordecai sent out under King Xerxes seal an edict giving the Jews authority to unite to defend themselves and permission to kill those who attacked them and seize their property. In the meantime, King Xerxes appointed Mordecai as second in the empire only to King Xerxes himself. In the past when I read this passage I never quite understood how the edict that Mordecai sent out countered that sent out by Haman. If the Jews uniting to defend themselves was sufficient to withstand the assault, why did they need an edict granting them permission? Today when I read it, I realized the difference that Mordecai’s edict made. When Haman’s edict was the only one in force, those attacking the Jews would have had the backing of the Persian government and its agents. However, Mordecai’s edict in King Xerxes name changed that. Under Mordecai’s edict, the Jews had the full backing of the Persian government and its agents. The book of Esther concludes with the account of Queen Esther and Mordecai sending out a letter establishing the holiday of Purim to celebrate the way in which God rescued the Jews from a plot to exterminate them.
Paul continues his discussion of spiritual gifts by reiterating his point that while we each have different gifts we are all part of one body. He points out that of course we do not all have the same spiritual gifts. What would be the point of that? Paul tells us that we should desire the greater gifts. The New Living Translation translates that as “the most helpful gifts.” I think that is a good interpretation of what Paul meant there. Especially since the next sentence is (from the NIV), “I will show you the most excellent way.” Which serves as the introduction to chapter 13, also known as the Love Chapter. Here Paul starts out by saying that if he were to have all of the spiritual gifts he mentioned in the previous section but not love, it is to no purpose and of no value.
Paul then lists characteristics of love. I personally like the NIV translation of this portion best:
Paul tells us that the other spiritual gifts will pass away, but love will endure for eternity. He goes in to compare the way we live now vs what is to come to being a child vs being an adult. As children we did not understand the things that adults needed to understand in order to make decisions. When we became adults our perspective changed and we realized that things we thought were important when we were children were not so important. So too, when we enter into eternity with God our perspective will change and things that we currently think of as important will be revealed as not so significant. Paul tells us that only three things will keep their value into eternity: faith, hope and love. And of those three, love is the most important.
All too often when we discuss how we should think and believe and act as Christians we forget to remember to put love first. I was having a discussion with someone about a movement in the Church today that I had been unfamiliar with. The person I was exchanging thoughts with expressed the opinion that one of the movement’s teachings was hurtful after quoting the teaching. I could see nothing that was not fully Christian in the quote and told her so. I looked up information on the movement and could find nothing to oppose in its teachings. But perhaps it fails to give sufficient emphasis to love.
The psalmist gives us three pieces of advice that are related. The first is to neither worry about nor envy the wicked, their apparent good fortune and success is temporary. The second piece of advice is that rather than worry about or envy the wicked, we should commit everything we do the Lord. If we trust God and do good, He will help and protect us. The final piece of advice is to stop being angry. We should not lose our tempers because doing so only leads to harm. We should trust God and commit ourselves to doing His good works. The wicked, those we are tempted to justify our anger against, will be destroyed in God’s time. We should patiently wait for God to act. If we allow our anger at them overcome our commitment to doing God’s work, we will become wicked ourselves. If instead of becoming angry with the wicked we focus on trusting God and doing His work, we will be kept safe and live in peace and prosperity.
The two proverbs today link to other passages that I read today. The first one, tells us to watch our tongues and keep our mouths shut. I see this as being related to the psalm I just read. Often times when I have said something that gets me into trouble it is because I have lost my temper, as the psalm tells me not to do. Although I need to remember that it is not only in anger that we have a tendency to say things that can get us into trouble. The second proverb tells us of another circumstance where our tongues can get us into trouble. That is when we are proud and haughty. This relates to what Paul says about love. Paul tells us that love does not boast and is not proud. If we remember what Paul said about love and act on it, we will not act arrogantly which this proverb warns against.