Mike Blogs

Esther and Mordecai have pulled off the first step of a rescue operation by discovering and removing an obstacle to God’s plans for the remaining children of Israel. Mordecai had conceived a diabolical plan, a final solution to the “Jewish problem.” Of course, the language has similarities to Nazi Germany, and the problem was not a Jewish problem but rather a Gentile problem. Their problem was race hatred aka ethnocentrism. The key person in this ancient story was a governmen

God is in the middle of a long sermon that he is preaching through the prophet Jeremiah. And ‘No’ God doesn’t care if you are out of church by noon. God has a lot to say about the ungodly behavior of the nation of Judah. Moreover, God places the blame for the people’s failures directly on the shoulders of the leaders of the nation. God’s understanding of what leaders should be doing is not the same as the common understanding today. What is God’s sense of the primary duties

The cat is out of the bag. What was hidden has seen the light of day. The king flushes so hot with anger that he goes outside into the garden to cool down a bit. Now he has a real problem; his chief advisor may implicate him in a personal plot to endanger a certain group of people. Further, it turns out that Queen Esther is a member of that group. What can he do? ” The king rose from the feast in wrath and went into the palace garden, but Haman stayed to beg his life from Qu

Jeremiah’s message has been generic in the sense that he seems to address any and all kings who sit on the throne. He does follow up with some current kings and they will appear later in this sermon (next week). This sermon began back in 21:11, but like the wandering preacher that he is, Jeremiah repeats himself as we begin Chapter 22. Jeremiah 22:1-4. Thus says the LORD: Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and speak there this word, and say: Hear the word of the LORD

Haman is stepping carefully, hoping that what he had planned for Mordecai is not revealed now that the king has honored him. He does not realize that the stakes are much higher than his personal vendetta. Esther continues to slow walk her request until the right moment arrives. ” So the king and Haman went in to feast with Queen Esther. On the second day, as they were drinking wine, the king again said to Esther, ‘What is your petition, Queen Esther? It shall be granted to y

No one can hide from God’s judgment. After giving a warning and a prophecy, Jeremiah under God’s direction speaks some specific words for the leaders of Judah, the remaining descendants of the house of David. Remember that somewhere in this line of descent there is a strand that will lead to Joseph, the adoptive father of Jesus, who therefore is also of the house of David. The future of the house of David balances on a knife blade, one step could end the line. The stakes ar

The king has shown kindness to Esther and invited her to come into the court. Now she is at the height of power, before the ruler of the largest empire of its time. Under Xerxes (c. 475; or some argue that it was later under Artaxerxes) the empire stretched from Libya to Pakistan and encompassed around 50 million people. Much of the empire was made up of conquered and displaced peoples (the Persian homeland is only Iran), but the empire was also known for its religious tole

During World War I the British army adopted the motto “For God, King and Country.” It appeared in speeches, banners, and as a patch on some uniforms. Meanwhile, German soldiers had on their belt buckle the phrase “Gott mit uns.” This war cry went back to Prussian sources and was central to the ideology inspiring the army. Assuming that the same God/Gott was implied, one wonders who’s side the Lord was on. Probably neither as they both suffered tremendous loses. As Treebeard

Esther is standing in the outer courts waiting for Ahasuerus (Xerxes), King of Persia, to notice her. If he is not in a good mood, it could go badly for Esther. If he reaches out his scepter, then she is recognized and welcomed into his presence. Her heart races, emotions swirl inside her as she tries to look composed yet in urgent need. How did she get here? A racist government official has convinced the king to let him issue a decree (thus keeping the king’s name out of it

Jeremiah has been called by God into prophetic service that is more difficult than he imagined. Being called to preach is one thing but being called to preach to people who not only won’t listen to God’s word but also turn on the preacher is another. They didn’t tell me in seminary that it would be like this! Jeremiah says: ‘I hear what they are saying about me, the plans they are making against me, and it scares me to death’. Jeremiah 20: 10. For I hear many whispering:

When I started this sub-series on Esther, I told you that her given name was Hadassah “myrtle.” This family of trees gives us several essential oils Notice that Isaiah 41: 19 implies that God will plant useful trees in the wilderness, “the cedar, the myrtle, and the olive” (See also Isaiah 55: 13). As she rises in the Persian hierarchy, her name is changed to ‘Esther’ which is a form of Ishtar, a Mesopotamian goddess recognized by several cultures. Since Persian is an Indo-E

Under God’s orders, Jeremiah has been persistent in preaching warnings about sinful behavior and the effect of national sin on the fortunes of the kingdom of Judah. People don’t like what he is saying. The government doesn’t like to be reminded of how corrupt they are. Even his own family gets tired of it. So, some begin to take action against the preacher. “Justice must be served,” or so they say, but that depends on who is being prosecuted, doesn’t it? Why do those who dema

King David’s downfall was his illicit affair with Bathsheba. David’s power met his lust and in his self-serving the woman became pregnant and the husband was killed to cover it up. “The thing that David had done displeased the LORD.” Bathsheba then gave birth to their son, but the child “became very ill.” David fasted and prayed; he even lay all night on the cold floor, to the dismay of his counselors. The child died anyway. David then rose up, washed, changed his clothes,

Jeremiah 19: 1-2. Thus said the LORD: Go and buy a potter’s earthenware jug. Take with you some of the elders of the people and some of the senior priests, and go out to the valley of the son of Hinnom at the entry of the Potsherd Gate, and proclaim there the words that I tell you. Cultural and Historical Context. The potter’s house is his place of business. Pottery began to appear around 12,000 years ago in Japan, then China, and finally in the Near East by about 10,000 yea

In the 1800s, Christian missionaries from England and Australia sailed to the South Seas to preach the Gospel and gain converts. Often new converts joined them in spreading the Good News to the next islands. The London Missionary Society, the Church Missionary Society, and the Wesleyan Methodists all sent missionaries who began in the east (Tahiti and the Cook Islands) and sailed across Polynesia to the west (Tonga, Samoa, and Fiji). Catechisms were developed and schools were

Jeremiah 18: 12. But they say, “It is no use! We will follow our own plans, and each of us will act according to the stubbornness of our evil will.” Now, no one would really say this to God; but people certainly act like they secretly believe this. Their behavior reveals how hard-headed and stubborn they are. They refuse to recognize their sin and admit their guilt, let alone apologize and ask for forgiveness. In fact, in our day and age, it’s just the opposite. The tenden

“So much death. What can men do against such reckless hate?” So said King Theoden of Rohan. “Ride out with me. Ride out and meet them,” answered Aragorn, the returning king of Gondor (Lord of the Rings, J. R. R. Tolkien). One could ignore the threat and hope that it goes away. With the Nazis, it just got worse. Or, one could find a place to hide and hope that, if trouble comes, one could keep on fleeing from danger. In our days of immediate communication and rapid transport

Jeremiah 18: 1-4. The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: “Come, go down to the potter’s house, and there I will let you hear my words.” So, I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was working on his wheel. The vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as seemed good to him. Have you ever watched a potter working at his or her wheel? The potter begins the way God began at creation, with a lump of cla

Last week we learned that Esther and Mordecai are in trouble; there is a substantial threat to their lives, and it comes, of all places, from the government. How did this happen? What will Esther and Mordecai do? My friend Bill Mefford (The Fig Tree Revolution: Unleashing Local Churches into the Mission of Justice, 2017) points out that their antagonist, Haman the Agagite, is skilled in using the strategies of racism fanning the flames of hatred of certain ethnic groups in

We have come a long way from depending on the town crier for news. Back in the day, news was announced (cried out) in the town center, then spread from house to house with some adjustments by gossipy neighbors. The medium for messages, either news or proclamations, then moved from voice to print, that is, to newspapers, pamphlets (for example, during the Revolutionary War period), and to books. Still, the news could be slanted as the term ‘the yellow press’ reminds us. N