Esther 1:5

Esther 1: 5 says, And when these days were expired, the king made a feast unto all the people that were present in Shushan the palace, both unto great and small, seven days, in the court of the garden of the king's palace;  After this time of celebration with the nobles and princes, Ahasuerus had another feast for all the people that lasted seven days.  The feast for everyone wasn’t nearly as long as the feast for the nobles and rulers, and people today often want the rich and powerful to feast more than the average person and even more so than the really poor people.  As Christians, we should never be this way.  If anything, we should be the opposite, doing more for the poor and downcast than for the rich and powerful.   

Verse six adds. Where were white, green, and blue, hangings, fastened with cords of fine linen and purple to silver rings and pillars of marble: the beds were of gold and silver, upon a pavement of red, and blue, and white, and black, marble.   The places they met were ornate with fine hangings dividing these places according to Matthew Henry.  The beds or benches were made of silver and gold and even the pavement was made of various colors of marble.  We often look for church buildings, our meeting places as Christians to be ornate and very comfortable, but I believe we should put more emphasis on meeting the needs of people than on church buildings, but that is just my opinion.   

Verse seven continues, And they gave them drink in vessels of gold, (the vessels being diverse one from another,) and royal wine in abundance, according to the state of the king.  They had different vessels of gold to drink the wine from, which the wine was said to be in abundance too.  Often when people get together today, they want the wine or other alcoholic drinks to be available in abundance.  I will not say that it is a sin to drink alcoholic drinks, but it is if we drink them to excess while ignoring the needs of others.  Matthew Henry says some of the Temple vessels were used in this celebration.  I do know that we should never use the things dedicated to God for our own pleasure. 

Verse eight concludes, And the drinking was according to the law; none did compel: for so the king had appointed to all the officers of his house, that they should do according to every man's pleasure.  We are told that the drinking was done in accordance with the law, which Matthew Henry says was some manmade law of the time and not God’s law.  We can never afford to follow man’s law if it goes against God’s law but should always be obedient to His law first.    

Esther 1:1

 Esther 1:1 says, Now it came to pass in the days of Ahasuerus, (this is Ahasuerus which reigned, from India even unto Ethiopia, over an hundred and seven and twenty provinces.  Esther was written during the same time frame as Ezra and Nehemiah, but was written about those people of Israel who did not have enough zeal for Jerusalem and the Temple to return to rebuild them.  It tells of God’s providence in saving them from destruction even though they were not being faithful to Him.  They were not spared because of their worthiness but because of God’s promise to Abraham.  We are still saved by that same promise that was fulfilled when Jesus Christ died for our sins, but for it to benefit us, we must accept Him individually as our Savior and Lord.  God spares us until we have a chance to do so.  Matthew Henry says that the book was most likely written by Mordecai though we aren’t really told who wrote it.  As this verse states, it was written during the reign of Ahasuerus over Persia, though as Matthew Henry states, we are not sure exactly who he was.  I am sure that some people who do not believe in God would say that since we cannot find mention of Ahasuerus anywhere else that this proves the Bible is wrong, but we either put our faith in the word of God regardless of any earthly proof or we don’t.  Google says it is a transliteration of the name Xerxes or Artaxerxes.   The Persians ruled over a great deal of the country at that time.   

Verse two adds, That in those days, when the king Ahasuerus sat on the throne of his kingdom, which was in Shushan the palace,  This verse simply repeats that Ahasuerus ruled over Persia when this was written.   

Verse three continues, In the third year of his reign, he made a feast unto all his princes and his servants; the power of Persia and Media, the nobles and princes of the provinces, being before him:  In the third year of his reign, he made a feast for all his princes and servants in Persia and Media.  I believe this was to glorify himself before all the princes and nobles who served under him.  Matthew Henry says that they weren’t all present at the same time, but came a few at a time throughout this period so he would always have someone present to praise him.  I believe that as Christians we should always be wary of anyone who needs everyone around him or her to praise them.  We may still have rulers in the world today who have if not feasts then parades to glorify themselves and everyone under their rule is expected to participate.  As followers of Christ, we cannot glorify any earthly ruler.   

Verse four concludes, When he shewed the riches of his glorious kingdom and the honour of his excellent majesty many days, even an hundred and fourscore days.  This feast celebrating the glory of Ahasuerus lasted for a hundred and eighty days.  They celebrated for almost half a year honoring him.  We cannot spend even one day glorifying anyone but God if we are a Christian. 

Nehemiah Review

 Like Ezra, Nehemiah was a part of the people of Israel who returned to Jerusalem to rebuild the walls of the city and the Temple after their exile in Babylon.  He had been given permission to do this by Cyrus, the king of Persia.  He had been a cup bearer to Artaxerxes and not a military man nor a prophet or priest.  We as followers of Christ may have ordinary jobs, but if we are doing God’s will, then we become extraordinary people, whether the people of the world ever acknowledge this or not.   

Nehemiah was passionate about rebuilding the wall and the Temple, and even though he still faced opposition, with people from other nations around Jerusalem even lying about his intention, he never gave up on this mission.  We as Christians will face opposition but should never give up on what God calls us to do. 

The priests of Nehemiah’s day had not kept themselves spiritually clean, so the Levites who had cleansed themselves spiritually had to do the job of the priests for a while.  If we are a born-again believer we are called for a purpose, but we cannot fulfill our purpose if we allow ourselves to become spiritually unclean.  Then, someone else will have to do what we should be doing, but God’s work will still be done.  Our disobedience does not stop God’s work but only costs us our reward for doing it.  

The people worked together in an orderly manner to rebuild the wall and were able to complete it, but they still were guilty of not following God’s law, in particular by marrying non-Jews and Nehemiah had them correct this.  They were told to divorce their foreign wives, and they did.   It might seem that Nehemiah was having them disobey God’s law about marriage, but they were already guilty of doing that in marrying foreign wives who often led them to disobey God’s law.  If we have married a non-Christian, which would still not be in accordance with God’s will, we are not told to divorce them, unless they ask for a divorce.  Still, we cannot allow them to pull us away from God’s will.   

The Persian king had provided much of the materials needed for the rebuilding, but the people of Israel were still required to bring their tithes and offerings to God.  Even if God’s work is somehow funded by those in power, we are still required to be faithful in giving to God.        

Next. we will look at Esther. 

 

 

 

 

 

Nehemiah 13:23

Nehemiah 13:23 says\s, In those days also saw I Jews that had married wives of Ashdod, of Ammon, and of Moab:  Nehemiah continued by stating that he had also seen the men of Israel marrying outside of the people of Israel, or God’s chosen people.  Once more, as Christians we should also marry other Christians, not because we are better than others, but because we need to be dedicated to God in our marriage. 

Verse twenty-four adds, And their children spake half in the speech of Ashdod, and could not speak in the Jews' language, but according to the language of each people.  Nehemiah said the children of those who married foreign women spoke the language of those foreigners and couldn’t speak the language of the people of Israel.  Too often, if a Christian marries a non-Christian, their children do not know God because the Christian begins to stop speaking about Him to keep peace in the family. 

Verse twenty-five continues, And I contended with them, and cursed them, and smote certain of them, and plucked off their hair, and made them swear by God, saying, Ye shall not give your daughters unto their sons, nor take their daughters unto your sons, or for yourselves.  Nehemiah said that he contended with certain of the people who had married those who were not Jews, even getting physical with them and cursing them.  This does not mean that he used profanity, but that he pronounced them to not be a part of God’s people, which does curse one to everlasting punishment I believe.  Of course, we aren’t to physically assault those who do not come to Christ for salvation, but we can point out to them they are forever cursed or doomed to everlasting punishment. 

Verse twenty-six states, Did not Solomon king of Israel sin by these things? yet among many nations was there no king like him, who was beloved of his God, and God made him king over all Israel: nevertheless even him did outlandish women cause to sin.  Nehemiah then pointed out that Solomon, the greatest king ever, who was loved by God, sinned by marrying foreign women and they caused him problems.  He was not saying that God accepted this as right, but that that as great as Solomon was, he still limited what he might have been by sinning in this respect. I believe that this should be the main reason we avoid sin as followers of Christ.  We will still be saved if we have put our faith in Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and Lord, but we can limit our effectiveness in doing what God has a called us to do. 

Verse twenty-seven adds, Shall we then hearken unto you to do all this great evil, to transgress against our God in marrying strange wives?  He then asked if the people of Israel should listen to these men when they were committing such great evil.  If we are sinning against God, we should not expect people to listen to us if we call them to accept Jesus Christ.  If we are guilty of sin, we must repent and ask God’s forgiveness' in order to be an effective witness for Him. 

Verse twenty-eight continues, And one of the sons of Joiada, the son of Eliashib the high priest, was son in law to Sanballat the Horonite: therefore I chased him from me.  Nehemiah said that one of the grandsons of Joiada the son of Eliashib the high priest was married to the daughter of Sanballat, so he chased him far from him.  Being a child or grandchild of a preacher or of any Christian for that matter does not save anyone, and if they are sinning, we need to point it out and pray for them.  I don’t believe that we should chase them away though. 

Verse twenty-nine says, Remember them, O my God, because they have defiled the priesthood, and the covenant of the priesthood, and of the Levites.  Nehemiah asked that God remember them because they had defiled the priesthood.  I don’t believe that he was asking that God remember them because they were priests but because they were unfaithful to their calling.   We certainly don’t want to be remembered this way by God. 

Verse thirty adds, Thus cleansed I them from all strangers, and appointed the wards of the priests and the Levites, every one in his business; Nehemiah said he cleansed all the priests and Levites from being married to foreign wives and appointed them to their role in the Temple.  We know that Nehemiah could not cleanse them spiritually, but he could only make sure that they were physically cleansed of this sin.  We cannot cleanse people of sin, but we can keep those who profess to be Christians but are openly leading lives that are not in accordance with God’s word from serving in the church.  

Verse thirty-one continues, And for the wood offering, at times appointed, and for the firstfruits. Remember me, O my God, for good.  He said that they were appointed to carry out the sacrifices at the appointed times, and then he asked God to remember him.  We must have God remember us for our accepting Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and Lord, and everything else is just a bonus if we are following His commandments and doing what He calls us to do.  Just as the great works that Nehemiah did weren’t what needed to be remembered but his relationship with God was, so it is with everyone.