The Devotional

  The Devotional – Search the Scriptures – 307 Esther 9:29-32 New King James Version (NKJV) The Feast of Purim 29  Then Queen Esther, the daughter of Abihail, with Mordecai the Jew, wrote with full authority to confirm this second letter about Purim. 30  And Mordecai sent letters to all the Jews, to the one hundred and twenty-seven provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus, with words of peace and truth, 31  to confirm these days of Purim at their appointed time, as Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther had prescribed for them, and as they had decreed for themselves and their descendants concerning matters of their fasting and lamenting. 32  So the decree of Esther confirmed these matters of Purim, and it was written in the book. Esther – Meditation in The Wisdom and knowledge of God A Gentile Dynasty (Babylon)   of 127 provinces ruled by King Ahasuerus ( Zerxes) from 486 BC TO 465 BC. By the time Esther opens, many Jews had returned from the Exile to Palestine to re-e

  The Devotional – Search the Scriptures – 306 Esther 8:15-17 New King James Version (NKJV) The Providential Will of God is to Evangelize 15  So Mordecai went out from the presence of the king in royal apparel of blue and white, with a great crown of gold and a garment of fine linen and purple; and the city of Shushan rejoiced and was glad. 16  The Jews had light and gladness, joy and honor. 17  And in every province and city, wherever the king’s command and decree came, the Jews had joy and gladness, a feast and a holiday. Then many of the people of the land became Jews, because fear of the Jews fell upon them. Esther – Meditation in The Wisdom and knowledge of God Here in the United States of us are celebrating our National beginning. The first harvest in 1621 of our ancestors (Pilgrims) in Plymouth, Massachusetts. This thanks was given to our Creator (God). I was taken back a bit this morning when I decided to look up some of the historical facts of our early

  The Devotional – Search the Scriptures – 305 Esther 7:8-10 New King James Version (NKJV) Haman Hanged Instead of Mordecai 8  When the king returned from the palace garden to the place of the banquet of wine, Haman had fallen across the couch where Esther was. Then the king said, “Will he also assault the queen while I am in the house?” As the word left the king’s mouth, they covered Haman’s face. 9  Now Harbonah, one of the eunuchs, said to the king, “Look! The gallows, fifty cubits high, which Haman made for Mordecai, who spoke good on the king’s behalf, is standing at the house of Haman.” Then the king said, “Hang him on it!” 10  So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the king’s wrath subsided. Esther – Meditation in The Wisdom and knowledge of God Going back to chapter 3:7-11 of Esther we find that Haman found favor with King Ahasuerus in his request to destroy the Jews. Roughly, one year has passed since the decree to

 The Devotional – Search the Scriptures – 304 Esther 7 New King James Version (NKJV) Haman Hanged Instead of Mordecai 1  So the king and Haman went to dine with Queen Esther. 2  And on the second day, at the banquet of wine, the king again said to Esther, “What is your petition, Queen Esther? It shall be granted you. And what is your request, up to half the kingdom? It shall be done!” 3  Then Queen Esther answered and said, “If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it pleases the king, let my life be given me at my petition, and my people at my request. 4  For we have been sold, my people and I, to be destroyed, to be killed, and to be annihilated. Had we been sold as male and female slaves, I would have held my tongue, although the enemy could never compensate for the king’s loss.” 5  So King Ahasuerus answered and said to Queen Esther, “Who is he, and where is he, who would dare presume in his heart to do such a thing?” 6  And Esther said, “The adversary

  The Devotional – Search the Scriptures – 303 Esther 6 New King James Version (NKJV) The King Honors Mordecai 11  So Haman took the robe and the horse arrayed Mordecai and led him on horseback through the city square, and proclaimed before him, “Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to honor!” 12  Afterward, Mordecai went back to the king’s gate. But Haman hurried to his house, mourning and with his head covered. 13  When Haman told his wife Zeresh and all his friends everything that had happened to him, his wise men and his wife Zeresh said to him, “If Mordecai, before whom you have begun to fall, is of Jewish descent, you will not prevail against him but will surely fall before him.” 14  While they were still talking with him, the king’s eunuchs came, and hastened to bring Haman to the banquet which Esther had prepared. Esther – Meditation in The Wisdom and knowledge of God The operational hub of the Persian Empire in those days was the Citad

  The Devotional – Search the Scriptures – 302 Esther 6 New King James Version (NKJV) The King Honors Mordecai 6  So Haman came in, and the king asked him, “What shall be done for the man whom the king delights to honor? ”Now Haman thought in his heart, “Whom would the king delight to honor more than me?” 7  And Haman answered the king, “ For the man whom the king delights to honor, 8  let a royal robe be brought which the king has worn, and a horse on which the king has ridden, which has a royal crest placed on its head. 9  Then let this robe and horse be delivered to the hand of one of the king’s most noble princes, that he may array the man whom the king delights to honor. Then parade him on horseback through the city square, and proclaim before him: ‘Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to honor!’ ” 10  Then the king said to Haman, “Hurry, take the robe and the horse, as you have suggested, and do so for Mordecai the Jew who sits within the king’s ga

  The Devotional – Search the Scriptures – 301 Esther 6 New King James Version (NKJV) The King and His Chronicles  1 That night the king could not sleep. So one was commanded to bring the book of the records of the chronicles; and they were read before the king. 2  And it was found written that Mordecai had told of Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s eunuchs, the doorkeepers who had sought to lay hands on King Ahasuerus. 3  Then the king said, “What honor or dignity has been bestowed on Mordecai for this?” And the king’s servants who attended him said, “Nothing has been done for him.” 4  So the king said, “Who is in the court?” Now Haman had just entered the outer court of the king’s palace to suggest that the king hang Mordecai on the gallows that he had prepared for him. 5  The king’s servants said to him, “Haman is there, standing in the court.” And the king said, “Let him come in.” 6  So Haman came in, and the king asked him, “What shall be done for the man whom the

  The Devotional – Search the Scriptures – 300 Esther 5 New King James Version (NKJV) Haman’s Plot Against Mordecai 9  So Haman went out that day joyful and with a glad heart; but when Haman saw Mordecai in the king’s gate, and that he did not stand or tremble before him, he was filled with indignation against Mordecai. 10  Nevertheless Haman restrained himself and went home, and he sent and called for his friends and his wife Zeresh. 11  Then Haman told them of his great riches, the multitude of his children, everything in which the king had promoted him, and how he had advanced him above the officials and servants of the king. 12  Moreover Haman said, “Besides, Queen Esther invited no one but me to come in with the king to the banquet that she prepared; and tomorrow I am again invited by her, along with the king. 13  Yet all this avails me nothing, so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king’s gate.” 14  Then his wife Zeresh and all his friends said to him, “Let a

  The Devotional – Search the Scriptures – 299 Esther 5 New King James Version (NKJV) Esther’s Banquet 1  Now it happened on the third day that Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the king’s palace, across from the king’s house, while the king sat on his royal throne in the royal house, facing the entrance of the house. 2  So it was, when the king saw Queen Esther standing in the court, that she found favor in his sight, and the king held out to Esther the golden scepter that was in his hand. Then Esther went near and touched the top of the scepter. 3  And the king said to her, “What do you wish, Queen Esther? What is your request? It shall be given to you—up to half the kingdom!” 4  So Esther answered, “If it pleases the king, let the king and Haman come today to the banquet that I have prepared for him.” 5  Then the king said, “Bring Haman quickly, that he may do as Esther has said.” So the king and Haman went to the banquet that Esther had

  The Devotional – Search the Scriptures – 298 Esther 4 New King James Version (NKJV) Esther Agrees to Help the Jews … 13  And Mordecai told them to answer Esther: “Do not think in your heart that you will escape in the king’s palace any more than all the other Jews. 14  For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” 15  Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai: 16  “Go, gather all the Jews who are present in Shushan, and fast for me; neither eat nor drink for three days, night or day. My maids and I will fast likewise. And so I will go to the king, which is against the law; and if I perish, I perish!” 17  So Mordecai went his way and did according to all that Esther commanded him. Esther – Meditation in The Wisdom and knowledge of God Mordecai understands the decree writ

  The Devotional – Search the Scriptures – 297 Esther 3 New King James Version (NKJV) Haman’s Conspiracy Against the Jews 3 After these things King Ahasuerus promoted Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, and advanced him and set his seat above all the princes who were with him. 2  And all the king’s servants who were within the king’s gate bowed and paid homage to Haman, for so the king had commanded concerning him. But Mordecai would not bow or pay homage. 3  Then the king’s servants who were within the king’s gate said to Mordecai, “Why do you transgress the king’s command?” 4  Now it happened, when they spoke to him daily and he would not listen to them, that they told it to Haman, to see whether Mordecai’s words would stand; for Mordecai had told them that he was a Jew. 5  When Haman saw that Mordecai did not bow or pay him homage, Haman was filled with wrath. 6  But he disdained to lay hands on Mordecai alone, for they had told him of the people of Mordecai. I

  The Devotional – Search the Scriptures – 296 Esther 2 New King James Version (NKJV) Esther Becomes Queen   1 After these things, when the wrath of King Ahasuerus subsided, he remembered Vashti, what she had done, and what had been decreed against her. 2  Then the king’s servants who attended him said: “Let beautiful young virgins be sought for the king; 3  and let the king appoint officers in all the provinces of his kingdom, that they may gather all the beautiful young virgins to Shushan the citadel, into the women’s quarters, under the custody of Hegai the king’s eunuch, custodian of the women. And let beauty preparations be given them. 4  Then let the young woman who pleases the king be queen instead of Vashti.” This thing pleased the king, and he did so… Please read the entire chapter two. Esther – Meditation in The Wisdom and knowledge of God Esther, having no mother or father in her life, matured obediently under the guidance of her uncle Mordecai. Although

  The Devotional – Search the Scriptures – 295 Esther 1 New King James Version (NKJV) The King Dethrones Queen Vashti 1  Now it came to pass in the days of Ahasuerus (this was the Ahasuerus who reigned over one hundred and twenty-seven provinces, from India to Ethiopia), 2  in those days when King Ahasuerus sat on the throne of his kingdom, which was in Shushan the citadel, 3  that in the third year of his reign he made a feast for all his officials and servants—the powers of Persia and Media, the nobles, and the princes of the provinces being before him— 4  when he showed the riches of his glorious kingdom and the splendor of his excellent majesty for many days, one hundred and eighty days in all. Esther – Meditation in The Wisdom and knowledge of God Kings and kingdoms shall all pass away, but there is JUST something about that NAME! Jesus is the King and Master over all of Creation, He is the Savior of all humankind. Jesus. When the name of Jesus is procla