October 3, 2024: Thursday Old Testament Bible Study - Esther 3:22 - 4:27
Good morning on this beautiful day which the LORD has made. I am up early so that you will have this available when you wake up today. Please pray for peace in the Middle East during these next days. It would appear that the war between Iran's terrorist groups, Iran, Israel, and the Palestinians of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank may be expanding. I Pray that God will move the hearts of His people, which includes all of the people in these parts of the Middle East. Offer a prayer of thanksgiving that Melody is finally getting some relief from the case of shingles that she has been suffering with for the past week and a half. Offer prayers also for Robert for relief from his back pain. Pray too that your life is blessed because you engage in studying God's Word.
Today in our study we are in a very different part of this story of Esther. Haman has succeeded in getting the King's proclamation out to the conquered kings and the people in their lands that the Judahites are to be destroyed, as we all might expect, there is a great deal of grieving by the Judahites over their plight. Now that we are this far in the Book of Esther, we ought to have noticed something that is absent from the Book of Esther. Nowhere in this text of the Old Testament is there any mention of God. When we read about Joseph, God's presence is spoken about, or if we are reading in the Exodus, the story of the plagues and Passover, it is about the action of God to set His people free. Everything that we are reading in Esther infers that she and her uncle Mordecai are indeed faithful. It must be that the author of this text we are using believed that anyone who reads this story would know that the LORD is present throughout this story. When we speak about miracles in the Word of God, it often seems that the people who are involved with them are unaware of this direction and action which God has set in motion. Esther is this kind of story. Though not spoken or written in the text God is truly present. We must know that as this horrific thinking of Haman and the king's seeming vulnerability to trusting Haman, or perhaps out of the king's own vanity and ego, God will find a way to move these lives and circumstances in the direction that He desires. In the Exodus God makes it clear that He will always be with this people. After all, that is the Old Covenant (Old Testament) agreement between God and His children. I will be your God, and you will be my people if you are obedient to my Law. Here in Esther God is certainly present without His being mentioned, and His covenant agreement with the Hebrews remains in effect in this part of Scripture too. In our text for today we find that Esther and Mordecai, along with others who are in sack cloth and ashes around the kingdom are grieving Xerxes' royal decree. God's deliverance comes through all who accept the places in life, who act with responsibility, and who act with courage because they know that their God is with them through it all. Here in Esther, we see her and Mordecai acting with courage that can only come from those who know the God all creation is present with them. Though we see Esther as a victim of a manipulative king, and she is caught up in all of this because she is beautiful, she acts out of her love for Mordecai and for her Judahite people, but not without fear and hesitation. Fear and hesitation are not incompatible with faith! In this text we have the juxtaposition of Esther's plight as a victim, along with all of her people, while King Xerxes and Haman sit down to do what they both do so well, congratulating themselves on their action against the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob with impunity.
I want to thank you for being here with me, whether you are doing this on the internet, or are receiving it via snail mail.
I hope that you will rejoice in this new day and allow it to fill you with His Grace and Love.
In Christ, Pastor Kim
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