Dinner for Three
Read: Esther 5:1-8 And Esther said, “If it please the king, let the king and Haman come today to a feast that I have prepared for the king.” (v. 4) From this time forward, Esther is every inch a queen. Fortified only by her three-day fast, she dons her “royal robes” and enters the throne […]
God Save the Queen
Read: Esther 4 And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this? (v. 14) News of the death edict seems to have spread everywhere except inside the palace. Esther is oblivious to it when she sends to see why Mordecai is sitting outside the palace gates in […]
Haman’s Way with Words
Read: Esther 3:7-15 “If it please the king, let it be decreed that they be destroyed, and I will pay 10,000 talents of silver into the hands of those who have charge of the king’s business, that they may put it into the king’s treasuries.” (v. 9) Whoever coined the proverb “Sticks and stones may […]
Unjust Deserts
Read: Esther 2:1-18 So, as they had made known to him the people of Mordecai, Haman sought to destroy all the Jews, the people of Mordecai, throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus. (v. 6) It must have irked Mordecai to be passed over for promotion. After all, he had just saved the king from two […]
The Morning After
Read: Esther 2:1-18 “And let the young woman who pleases the king be queen instead of Vashti.” This pleased the king, and he did so. (v. 4) When Ahasuerus wakes up after his one-hundred-eighty-seven-day drinking bash, he discovers that he has banished Queen Vashti. His courtiers comfort him by suggesting a contest for a new […]
Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous?
Read: Esther 1 The army of Persia and Media and the nobles and governors of the provinces were before him, while he showed the riches of his royal glory and the splendor and pomp of his greatness for many days, 180 days. (vv. 3-4) The first chapter of Esther introduces us to the Persian emperor, […]
A Change in Status
Read: Ephesians 2:11-22 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple […]
A New Commandment
Read: John 13:21-38 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. (vv. 34-35) Jesus’ new commandment fell on the night […]
Jesus Asks for a Change
Read: Matthew 26:36-46 And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” (v. 39) I frequently coached my daughters as children (and still do), “Ask for what you need and […]