Sunday, August 12, 2012

Bible Scripture Reading

"Greetings in the Name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for 13 August 2012"

Today's Blog Title: "Esther Becomes Queen"
Today's Blog Scripture Reading: Esther 2:1-23
Today's Blog Key Verse: Esther 2:17 "The king loved Esther more than all the other women, and she obtained grace and favor in his sight more than all the virgins; so he made her queen instead of Vashti."

After these things..he remembered "Vashti" would suggest a lapse of time, and since verse 16 of Chapter 1 tells us that it was the seventh year of Ahauerus before Esther went into the kings' presence, perhaps the Greek war intervened before the king gave a thought to Vashti.  Esther would become Queen in December 479 B.C. (verse 16) and more than a year would have elapsed between the decree of verse 3 and her marriage.  The king may have become attracted to Vashti while he was still waging his great campaigns against Greece (481-479 B.C.).

The princes realizing that the restoration of Vasthi would spell doom for them, abandoned the precedent of providing a queen from among their own daughters, and suggested that the king choose a new queen from among the most beautiful virgins in the empire.  "Hege the king's chamberlain" was a eunuch in charge of the "house of the women," a very responsible position.  The leaders were very well aware of the weakness of the character of the king, and used to the advantage of their own purposes.

Mordecai was a name current in Babylon incorporating "Marduk," the name of the state god of Babylon.  "Esther" is the Persian word for "Star"; it picks up the sound of Hebrew, and suggests the star like flowers of myrtle.  In verses 12-14 we see that each woman prepared herself for "twelve months," just for one night with the king (verse 12).  These verses highlight the inhumanity of polygamy.

In verse 19 it would seem that there was another occasion when the king added to his harem, after Esther had been made queen.  The sitting of Mordecai's "in the king's gate" would indicate that when Esther became queen, she had appointed him a magistrate or judge.  He is now in position to overhear what is being said by palace officials (verse 21) and to have access to the royal courts (verse 22).  He is found sitting at the king's gate on a regular basis (2:21; 3:2; 5:9,13; 6:10,12).  He would actually foil an attempt of an assassination against the king, and the report of this service was duly recorded in the king's diary (6:1,2).  Later Xerxes would lost his life through just a plot.

JESUS REIGNS!!!  May God's Love, Peace, Strength, and Grace be with you all.

Your Sister in Christ,
Cindi


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