The Choice of Ester Part-1

9/22/2011 8:09:07 AM

SPIRITUAL DIARY

My Worship Time                                                                                             Focus:  The choice of Ester Part-1

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                         Reference:  Ester 2:5-7

                Message of the verses:  “5  Now there was at the citadel in Susa a Jew whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjamite, 6  who had been taken into exile from Jerusalem with the captives who had been exiled with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had exiled. 7  He was bringing up Hadassah, that is Esther, his uncle’s daughter, for she had no father or mother. Now the young lady was beautiful of form and face, and when her father and her mother died, Mordecai took her as his own daughter.”

                Today’s SD begins the second evidence of the hand of God working in the affairs of the people as we are introduced to two of the main characters in this drama, Mordecai and Hadassah (who is Ester).  There are three sub-points under this second main point and today’s SD will deal with the first sub-point. 

                Mordecai was from the tribe of Benjamin the same tribe that King Saul came from, and it was Saul who was given a task from the Lord to kill all of those who were Amalek.  These were the people who attacked the children of Israel when they were traveling through the wilderness and Joshua fought against them at that time.  Moses had to go up on the hill top and hold his hands up in order to ensure the victory for the children of Israel.  The tribe of Amalek began with the grand-son of Esau who was the brother of Jacob, so the history of Israel and the people of Amalek goes back a long way and it was not a good relationship from the beginning.  Haman who will be introduced as the third main character in this drama is from that people of Amalek and so this bad blood between the children of Israel and Amalek will continue.  The ironic thing is that is Saul who was from the tribe of Benjamin would have followed his instructions from the Lord then this dram would have never taken place for Haman would not have been born. 

                As mentioned Mordecai was from the tribe of Benjamin and his ancestor, Kish was deported from Israel to Babylon in the second deporting that took place in 597 BC.  In 539 after the Persians took over Babylon Cyrus offered to the Jews a chance to go back to Jerusalem, but Mordecai did not go.  He was raising his cousin Ester (her Persian name) and worked for the government of Persia.  Hadassah means “myrtle” and Ester means star.  The myrtle tree produces flowers that look like a star.  It was because of her beauty that she would be taken into the king’s harem.  An English proverb says “Beauty may have fair leaves, yet bitter fruit,” and it could be that there were many beautiful women in the kingdom of Persia at that time who were exercising the truth of that proverb. 

                It is key to remember that the fact that these two key players who were Jews did not reveal that they were Jews at the beginning of this story.  Mordecai reveals it first and then Ester when it becomes important for the king to know it. In keeping this truth away from the Persians could present itself as a problem to some, yet no one had asked them if they were Jews and so they did not lie about it. Dr. Wiersbe quotes Matthew Henry to help explain this “All truths are not to be spoken at all times, though an untruth is not to be spoken at any time.” 

                Dr. Wiersbe brings up another point here and that is that it seems that either Ester or Mordecia were living a kosher life and this would mean that they were breaking that law.  He asks “Why would God overlook the unfaithfulness of Mordecia and Ester and still use them to accomplish His purposes? 

                There are other problems that come up and that is that Ester was chosen by the king to go into his harem and this surely was against the law along with being married to a non Jew.  I think back to the story of Ruth who was from Moab and yet married Boaz who was a Jew and we find Ruth in the bloodline of Christ along with another Gentile woman who was a prostitute, Rahab.  Paul writes that the grace of God is more powerful than sin and in the case of these three ladies we can surely see that the grace of God is seen in a mighty way. 

                When you read the books of Ezra and Nehemiah you find that there was trouble when the Jews were marrying gentiles and they were disciplined for that, but in the cases of these three women the situation is different for there was purpose in their marriages.  Again we need to look at the grace of God. 

                In his introduction to the book of Ester John MacArthur writes about these issues.  “The following observations help to shed some light on these issues.  First, this short book does not record everything.  Perhaps Mordecai and Ester actually possessed a deeper faith than becomes apparent here (cf. 4:16).  Second, even godly Nehemiah did not mention his God when talking to King Artaxerxes (Ne. 2:1-8).  Third, the Jewish festivals which provided structure for worship had been lost long before Ester, e.g., Passover (2Ki. 23:22) and Booths (Ne. 8:17).  Fourth, possibly the anti-Jewish letter written by the Samaritans to Ahasuerus several years earlier had frightened them (ca. 486 B. C.; Ezr. 4:6).  Fifth, the evil intentions of Haman did not just first surface when Mordecai refused to bow down (3:12).  Most likely they were long before shared by others which would have intimidated the Jewish population.  Sixth, Ester did identify with her Jewish heritage at the most appropriate time (7:3, 4).  And yet, the nagging question of why Ester and Mordecai did not seem to have the same kind of open devotion to God as did Daniel remains.  Further, Nehemiah’s prayer (Ne. 1:5-11, esp. v. 7) seems to indicate a spiritual lethargy among the Jewish exiles in Susa.  So this issue must ultimately be resolved by God since He alone knows human hearts.”   I think that that is the best place to leave it.  Paul writes that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and so again we must look at the grace of God, for without the grace of God all would have to deal with the judgment of God.  I for one am thankful for the courage of both Mordecai and Ester for without their courage the entire Jewish race may have been wiped out and then how would the Savior been born??

                Spiritual meaning for my life today:  The quote from Matthew Henry seems to have hit home with me as I did the SD.  I suppose that there are times when I do not follow that quote and it gets me into trouble that could be avoided.  I surely make it a practice never to lie and as I look at Ester she was not lying when she did not divulge that she was a Jew.  This is the kind of thing I am talking about. 

My Steps of Faith for Today:

1.        Continue to word on a better prayer life.

2.       Continue to learn to be content.

9/22/2011 9:28:10 AM