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

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

    When Mordecai first asked Esther to approach the king regarding the decree calling for genocide against the Jews, she pointed out the danger to herself in approaching the king proactively. Mordecai replied by pointing out that her presence in the king’s household would not be sufficient to shield her from the genocide and that perhaps she had been placed there for this very reason. I am not going to go into much more detail about the events recorded here. It is a short passage and an easy read at that. Instead I want to focus on the idea that God places us in particular places at particular times for a reason. In this case, God arranged for Esther to become queen in order that she might counter Haman’s hatred.
    There is another lesson to be learned here as well. Once the doors of violent hate are let loose upon society, no one is safe. No matter how wealthy, or politically powerful you are, when violence and hate are turned loose only the hand of God can keep you from falling victim to it. If you look around, you will see people encouraging anger and violence, thinking that they can direct it against their political enemies. While this sometimes works, history is replete with examples of people who set the mob on their enemies only to find themselves overwhelmed by it.

    We have another lesson here as well. Haman was arrogant and proud. When the king asked for his advice on how to honor someone who pleased the king, he assumed the king was asking how he himself would like to be honored. As a result, Haman was forced to honor throughout the city the man whose death he had come to the king to request. Haman had taken the time to research the fact that Mordecai was a Jew, but he had failed to discover that Mordecai was also responsible for saving the king’s life. Haman had become so caught up in his own self-importance that he could not see the dangers which were coming his way.