November 7, 2024: Thursday Old Testament Bible Study - Esther 8:3-17
Good morning in the Name of Jesus Christ who calls us to always live with hope, and to find joy in His abundant gifts which are ours each day.
Based on today's reading in Esther we can see in this Old Testament book an idea which the 10 Commandments do not support. That idea is the revenge of the Judahites on the people who have set out to destroy them after the Law of Xerxes which Haman convinced the King would be necessary because of his own need for revenge on Mordecai for his resistance to offering Haman the respect that Haman thought was his due because of his closeness to the king. It is also obvious that Esther has learned well what is pleasing to the king. It appears to be feeding his ego. There is the party, filled with wine, and the temptation that the king seems to be led to Esther's beauty and suggestive sexuality. All of these enable Esther the opportunity to take advantage of the king's goodwill and his attraction to this woman who has come before him, pleasing him, and asking for an audience with the king to make the request that will save her people from the destruction which Haman convinced the king was necessary, all out of his need to have revenge on Mordecai.
Now we come to our reading for today. Of course, when Esther convinces the king that Haman has done a great injustice by setting them up to be the victims of those who do not like the Judahites, or their life successes. After all, they came into exile to Persia, but after many years, they are an important part of Xerxes' broad kingdom, productive and gaining wealth and power in every part of Xerxes' lands. What we must know about the king's edicts is that once one is stated, it cannot be canceled. After all, the edict that Haman sent out still holds as the king's sovereign word. So how does the opportunity which Esther looked for change anything? It gives the Judahites the right to defend themselves against those who would choose to follow the first edict of the king. However, we know what human nature is and based on our view of the war in the middle east, the Judahites will act in revenge against those who have hurt them, or who have murdered those they love. All of this becomes very real as we see Mordecai dressed in royal clothing, prepared to signal his newfound authority in the lands of Xerxes, and specifically at the gate of the palace. Once again, though God is never mentioned, we see His presence in the process which unfolds in this Book of Esther. Esther is a wise, and sometimes shrewd, woman who works within a very male oriented circumstance to make it work for the needs of herself, her uncle, and the Judahite people. When the second edict is traveled around Persia and its conquered lands, the Judahites celebrate around the lands, because they no longer need to hide in the face of that first edict asking for their destruction. Effectively, the second edict neutralized the first. By the way, when we discover in this reading that Haman was an Agagite, and long-term enemy of the Judahite people, we ought to know how revenge might take priority. The Agagite were seen as an evil people by the Judahites, and in I Samuel 15 and Daniel 6 there is more information about the relationship between these peoples. It is not good! In today's world revenge is always out there, our president elect has vowed to take revenge on all of the justice department for the prosecutions they had started against him, and in the middle east, the modern day Jews have killed 45,000 in the name of revenge for the attacks perpetrated by the Hamas radicals last year in October, and lest we think we are above revenge, we only need to remember the war with Iraq at the need of a president who wanted to finish the war on behalf of his father. Another modern reality is the revenge of road rage which we often see just in our travel around Tucson. Hopefully, you and I can escape the revenge mode that is so easy to get into. Christ offers God's love and the peace which passes all understanding for our lives. Let us see if we can really know that in our lives every day.
With the love of Christ, Pastor Kim
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