There were two great cities, Nineveh and Jerusalem, with a lot of similarities and one big difference.
One was a gentile city and one was a Jewish city.
They both were large and important cities. One was the capital of Syria… the other the Capital of Judah.
They were both extremely wicked cities.
God sent prophets to both cities, Jonah to Nineveh and 150 years later Jeremiah to Jerusalem, to correct the wickedness. Both cities were given ultimatums and threatened with destruction unless they repented.
One city listened to the prophet and repented and was spared destruction. The other city molested the prophet of God and refused to repent and was destroyed with great misery and violence.
Why Jonah? Why does the Bible contain a book about the salvation of a gentile city? Jonah’s message to Nineveh was written as a message to Jerusalem. Unfortunately, 150 years later, Jerusalem failed to heed it and suffered great destruction at the hands of the Babylonians.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Mordecai the Magnificent
Mordecai was a man of responsibility
- When Esther was orphaned he took her in “as his own daughter”.
Mordecai was a man of advice
- He instructed Esther not to reveal her nationality… she was a Jew.
Mordecai cared about Esther
- He walked “back and forth” every day outside the harem where Esther was kept to learn “how Esther was and how she fared”.
- After Esther was made Queen he sat outside the King’s gate.
Mordecai was loyal to King Ahasuerus and the Persian Empire
- He obeyed the command to bring Esther to become a wife of the King.
- He became aware of a plot to assassinate the King and made it known. The conspirators were hanged and Mordecai’s name was recorded in the “Book of Chronicles”.
Mordecai was loyal to God
- He refused to bow down and pay homage to Haman. Even after Haman devised and implemented a plan to annihilate the Jews Mordecai still refused to pay homage to him.
- Mordecai made a public display in the middle of the city in “sackcloth and ashes… wailing loud and bitterly”, when Haman’s plan to annihilate the Jews was made public. By doing so he announced his loyalty to God as a Jew.
Mordecai planned and made provision to thwart Haman
- He prepared by acquiring a copy of the edict and finding out the “exact amount of money Haman had promised to the King”.
- He equipped Esther with this information.
- He managed Esther’s concerns about approaching King Ahasuerus.
Mordecai’s actions caused many people to convert to Judaism because of the “dread of the Jews”. While Haman was alive no one wanted to be a Jew… with Mordecai’s rise to power it was cool to be a Jew.
Mordecai was politically wise
- Even though King Ahasuerus had authorized the Jews to “annihilate the entire army of any people or province that might attack them” and to “plunder them”. The Jews did not take any “plunder” Why? Because “plundering” was not their motivation and Mordecai did not want it to be charged against them.
Mordecai instituted an annual celebration for the Jews to commemorate their great victory… Purim.
Mordecai was a man of great faith (obviously), that is made abundantly clear in his conversation with the reluctant Queen Esther when he told her,
“For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise from the Jews from another place and you and your father’s house will perish…”
Mordecai placed all his hope not on Esther but on God. Mordecai’s name is recorded 55 times in the book of Esther. Esther’s name is recorded 54 times. They were both important to the story. Esther was not just a pretty face, she was wise and faithful as well. More on her next week.
- When Esther was orphaned he took her in “as his own daughter”.
Mordecai was a man of advice
- He instructed Esther not to reveal her nationality… she was a Jew.
Mordecai cared about Esther
- He walked “back and forth” every day outside the harem where Esther was kept to learn “how Esther was and how she fared”.
- After Esther was made Queen he sat outside the King’s gate.
Mordecai was loyal to King Ahasuerus and the Persian Empire
- He obeyed the command to bring Esther to become a wife of the King.
- He became aware of a plot to assassinate the King and made it known. The conspirators were hanged and Mordecai’s name was recorded in the “Book of Chronicles”.
Mordecai was loyal to God
- He refused to bow down and pay homage to Haman. Even after Haman devised and implemented a plan to annihilate the Jews Mordecai still refused to pay homage to him.
- Mordecai made a public display in the middle of the city in “sackcloth and ashes… wailing loud and bitterly”, when Haman’s plan to annihilate the Jews was made public. By doing so he announced his loyalty to God as a Jew.
Mordecai planned and made provision to thwart Haman
- He prepared by acquiring a copy of the edict and finding out the “exact amount of money Haman had promised to the King”.
- He equipped Esther with this information.
- He managed Esther’s concerns about approaching King Ahasuerus.
Mordecai’s actions caused many people to convert to Judaism because of the “dread of the Jews”. While Haman was alive no one wanted to be a Jew… with Mordecai’s rise to power it was cool to be a Jew.
Mordecai was politically wise
- Even though King Ahasuerus had authorized the Jews to “annihilate the entire army of any people or province that might attack them” and to “plunder them”. The Jews did not take any “plunder” Why? Because “plundering” was not their motivation and Mordecai did not want it to be charged against them.
Mordecai instituted an annual celebration for the Jews to commemorate their great victory… Purim.
Mordecai was a man of great faith (obviously), that is made abundantly clear in his conversation with the reluctant Queen Esther when he told her,
“For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise from the Jews from another place and you and your father’s house will perish…”
Mordecai placed all his hope not on Esther but on God. Mordecai’s name is recorded 55 times in the book of Esther. Esther’s name is recorded 54 times. They were both important to the story. Esther was not just a pretty face, she was wise and faithful as well. More on her next week.
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Chase Finds a Sick Cat
Chase found a sick cat outside his house in the bushes this morning. Cody said it was pretty sick. Chase drew me this picture and a note tonight after church. I don't think he knew the cat died that afternoon. The picture is of a sad cat and a sad boy.
I think the note reads, "Chase cat is dine plees halp rob".
It's good to care about God's creatures.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
A Great Hero
Every great hero is born of great necessity and great adversity. Mordecai the Jew faced both; Great necessity... the threat of the annihilation of his people and a great adversary… Haman the Agagite.
Haman was second in command of the great Persian Empire. He carried King Ahasuerus’ signet ring which carried the authority of the king. Haman was informed that Mordecai refused to bow and pay homage as Haman entered through the king’s gate. He was also informed that Mordecai was a Jew.
Instead of reserving punishment for Mordecai alone Haman devised a scheme to punish all the Jews. He schemed and “cast the lot” (astrology) and got King Ahasuerus to agree to issue an edict that all the Jews in the entire kingdom, which stretched from India to Ethiopia, could be “destroyed, killed and annihilated” including “young and old, and women and children” on the 13th day of the month of Adar.
Seems a little excessive doesn’t it? Every word in the Bible means something and the word, ”Agagite”, is huge in the understanding of Haman. An Agagite is a descendant of King Agag who was king of the Amalekites. The Amalekites were a people who, centuries before, God had ordered the Jews to annihilate. Undoubtedly Haman knew this and now he was in a position to do something about it. To do to the Jews what the Jews had done to his people.
In comparison to Haman, Mordecai the Jew appeared to be a nobody, but to God he was a somebody, a simple man of faith selected by God to overcome a great adversary so that God’s people could be preserved.
More on Mordecai next week.
Haman was second in command of the great Persian Empire. He carried King Ahasuerus’ signet ring which carried the authority of the king. Haman was informed that Mordecai refused to bow and pay homage as Haman entered through the king’s gate. He was also informed that Mordecai was a Jew.
Instead of reserving punishment for Mordecai alone Haman devised a scheme to punish all the Jews. He schemed and “cast the lot” (astrology) and got King Ahasuerus to agree to issue an edict that all the Jews in the entire kingdom, which stretched from India to Ethiopia, could be “destroyed, killed and annihilated” including “young and old, and women and children” on the 13th day of the month of Adar.
Seems a little excessive doesn’t it? Every word in the Bible means something and the word, ”Agagite”, is huge in the understanding of Haman. An Agagite is a descendant of King Agag who was king of the Amalekites. The Amalekites were a people who, centuries before, God had ordered the Jews to annihilate. Undoubtedly Haman knew this and now he was in a position to do something about it. To do to the Jews what the Jews had done to his people.
In comparison to Haman, Mordecai the Jew appeared to be a nobody, but to God he was a somebody, a simple man of faith selected by God to overcome a great adversary so that God’s people could be preserved.
More on Mordecai next week.
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Church Message Board
I had a few members Wednesday night ask me, hey what's up with the Kermit message on the sign? I hadn't seen it but after doing a little investigation I found out that Don puts the messages up. When I called him he said it was a "test message". He puts up a new message every week or so and he wasn't sure anyone noticed so he wanted to run a test to see if anyone actually read the message board. I told Gus that he and I failed the test because we didn't notice it. Gus said we passed it because our spies noticed it.
The Book of Esther
The selection of Esther as queen of the Persian Empire has sometimes been characterized as a “beauty contest”… which in my mind is a complete mischaracterization of the event.
When King Ahasuerus decided he needed a new queen he had young virgins selected from all 127 provinces in his kingdom ranging from Ethiopia to India. If just one young woman from each province was selected that’s 127 young virgin women. At the time of their gathering they were placed in the “first Harem” and were considered to be concubines/wives of the king. Unlike a beauty contest there would be no going home for these young women. One of them would become queen but they would all be concubines/wives.
There was a 12 month education/beautification process involving cosmetics, choice food, oil of myrrh and spices before the selection would be made. The interview for the queenship was a personal one with the king himself. Esther was not an unwilling participant in this process. When it was Esther’s turn, she went to King Ahasuerus palace in the evening and spent the night with him and was taken to a new harem the next morning… the second harem. No longer a virgin she had consummated her marriage to King Ahasuerus and in the process won his favor and become queen of the Persian Empire.
Esther could have been quite young at the time, perhaps as young as 14 years, and now she was the second most important person on the royal side of the Kingdom. Her older cousin Mordecai, who had been her guardian, would become the second most important person on the political side of the Kingdom. For me, the story of Mordecai is more important than the story of Esther. In fact, the book could easily be named the Book of Mordecai. Amazing that God would place two Jews in such high places in a world empire… more on Mordecai next week.
Uncle Rob
When King Ahasuerus decided he needed a new queen he had young virgins selected from all 127 provinces in his kingdom ranging from Ethiopia to India. If just one young woman from each province was selected that’s 127 young virgin women. At the time of their gathering they were placed in the “first Harem” and were considered to be concubines/wives of the king. Unlike a beauty contest there would be no going home for these young women. One of them would become queen but they would all be concubines/wives.
There was a 12 month education/beautification process involving cosmetics, choice food, oil of myrrh and spices before the selection would be made. The interview for the queenship was a personal one with the king himself. Esther was not an unwilling participant in this process. When it was Esther’s turn, she went to King Ahasuerus palace in the evening and spent the night with him and was taken to a new harem the next morning… the second harem. No longer a virgin she had consummated her marriage to King Ahasuerus and in the process won his favor and become queen of the Persian Empire.
Esther could have been quite young at the time, perhaps as young as 14 years, and now she was the second most important person on the royal side of the Kingdom. Her older cousin Mordecai, who had been her guardian, would become the second most important person on the political side of the Kingdom. For me, the story of Mordecai is more important than the story of Esther. In fact, the book could easily be named the Book of Mordecai. Amazing that God would place two Jews in such high places in a world empire… more on Mordecai next week.
Uncle Rob
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