Today's Readings and Stuff -- Wednesday, 08 August 2018

Happy Wednesday to all who might stop by.  When we headed off to bed last night, the "experts" who predict the weather (and the climate for the next 100 years, By The Way) confidently assured us that we'd have heavy thunderstorms all day today.  Oooops!  Not quite.  Cloudy and ugly overcast, that we certainly have.  The downpour, not quite.  OK, not at all.  But I won't make any mention of that, to do so would get me labeled as a "science denier".  Whatever.

First,"song of the day".

It's inspired by our reading in the Psalms, but also pertinent to the setting of the book of Esther.   By The Rivers Of Babylon.  I'd not heard this one in a long time, but always liked it.  And it brings to a very human level what was in the minds of those in the Captivity.  So, read, and re-read, and meditate upon, and then repeat, with Psalm 137 and Psalm 19:14 as well.  And, yes, I'm preaching to myself on that.




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Today, chapters 7 and 8 of Esther.  As dread and hopelessness are being dispelled.
Reading today from the Holman Standard version
By the way, the term "hanged" is perhaps not quite correct.  We tend to think of a gallows and a noose.  More likely, the method was "impaled".  Not a very nice mental image, true, but these were not nice cultures.

Esther 7  

Haman Is Executed

1The king and Haman came to feast Lit drink Gn 40:20 with Esther the queen. 2Once again, on the second day while drinking wine, Est 5:6the king asked Esther, “Queen Esther, whatever you ask will be given to you. Whatever you seek, even to half the kingdom, will be done.” Est 5:3,6

3Queen Esther answered, “If I have obtained your approval, Lit If I have found favor in your eyesmy king, and if the king is pleased, Est 2:17; 5:8 spare my life — this is my request; and spare my people — this is my desire. Est 4:12-14 4For my people and I have been sold out Est 3:9,13; 4:7 to destruction, death, and extermination. Est 3:13; 8:11; 9:5-10 If we had merely been sold as male and female slaves, Dt 28:48,68 I would have kept silent. Indeed, the trouble wouldn’t be worth burdening the king.”

5King Ahasuerus spoke up and asked Queen Esther, “Who is this, and where is the one who would devise such a scheme? ” Lit who would fill his heart to do thisEst 3:5-6,8-9

6Esther answered, “The adversary and enemy Est 3:10 is this evil Haman.”

Haman stood terrified Est 4:4 before the king and queen. 7Angered Est 1:12; Pr 20:2 by this, the king arose from where they were drinking wine and went to the palace garden. Est 1:5-6 Haman remained to beg Queen Esther for his life because he realized the king was planning something terrible for him. Est 6:13 8Just as the king returned from the palace garden to the house of wine drinking, Haman was falling on the couch Est 1:6 where Esther was reclining. The king exclaimed, “Would he actually violate the queen while I am in the palace? ” As soon as the statement left the king’s mouth, Haman’s face was covered. Est 6:12; Jb 9:24

9Harbona, one of the royal eunuchs, Est 1:12 said: “There is a gallows 75 feet Lit 50 cubits tall at Haman’s house that he made for Mordecai, Est 5:14 who gave the report that saved Lit who spoke good for the king.” Est 2:21-23; 6:1-2

The king commanded, “Hang him on it.”

10They hanged Haman on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai. Est 5:14; Ps 7:16; 94:23; Pr 11:5,6; Dn 6:24 Then the king’s anger subsided. 

Esther 8

Esther Intervenes for the Jews

1That same day King Ahasuerus awarded Queen Esther the estate Est 3:9; 5:11 of Haman, the enemy of the Jews. Est 3:10; 7:6 Mordecai entered the king’s presence because Esther had revealed her relationship to Mordecai. Est 2:7,10 2The king removed his signet ring he had recovered from Haman Est 3:10,12 and gave it to Mordecai, and Esther put him in charge of Haman’s estate.

3Then Esther addressed the king again. Est 7:3-4,6 She fell at his feet, wept, and begged Est 7:7 him to revoke the evil of Haman the Agagite, Ex 17:8-16; Est 3:1 and his plot he had devised against the Jews. Est 3:5-6,8-15 4The king extended the gold scepter Est 4:11; 5:2 toward Esther, so she got up and stood before the king.

5She said, “If it pleases the king, and I have found approval before him, if the matter seems right to the king and I am pleasing in his sight, Est 2:17; 5:8; 7:3 let a royal edict be written. Let it revoke the documents the scheming Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, wrote to destroy the Jews who are in all the king’s provinces. Est 3:13-146For how could I bear to see the disaster that would come on my people? Est 4:13-14; 7:3-4 How could I bear to see the destruction of my relatives? ” Est 3:13

7King Ahasuerus said to Esther the Queen and to Mordecai the Jew, “Look, I have given Haman’s estate to Esther, Est 3:9; 5:11; 8:1; Pr 13:22 and he was hanged on the gallows because he attacked Lit stretched out his hand against the Jews. Est 7:9-108You may write in the king’s name whatever pleases you Est 3:11concerning the Jews, and seal it with the royal signet ring. Est 3:10,12; 8:2; Hg 2:23 A document written in the king’s name and sealed with the royal signet ring cannot be revoked.” Est 1:19; Dn 6:8,12

9On the twenty-third day of the third month Est 3:7,12 (that is, the month Sivan), = May–June the royal scribes were summoned. Everything was written exactly as Mordecai Est 3:12 ordered for the Jews, to the satraps, Ezr 8:36 the governors, and the officials of the 127 provinces from India = modern Pakistan to Cush. Est 1:1; 3:13; 9:30 The edict was written for each province in its own script, for each ethnic group in its own language, Neh 13:24; Est 1:22; 3:12 and to the Jews in their own script and language.

10Mordecai wrote in King Ahasuerus’s name and sealed the edicts with the royal signet ring. He sent the documents by mounted couriers, Est 3:12-13 who rode fast horses 1Kg 4:26,28 bred from the royal racing mares.

11The king’s edict gave the Jews in each and every city the right to assemble and defend themselves, to destroy, kill, and annihilate every ethnic and provincial army hostile to them, including women and children, and to take their possessions as spoils of war. Est 3:13; 9:1012This would take place on a single day throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month Adar. = February–March Est 3:7

13A copy of the text, issued as law throughout every province, was distributed to all the peoples Est 3:14 so the Jews could be ready to avenge themselves against their enemies on that day. 14The couriers rode out in haste on their royal horses at the king’s urgent command. The law was also issued in the fortress of Susa. Est 3:15

15Mordecai went from the king’s presence clothed in royal purple and white, with a great gold crown and a purple robe of fine linen. Gn 41:42; Est 5:11; Dn 5:29 The city of Susa shouted and rejoiced, Est 3:15 16and the Jews celebrated Lit had light with gladness, joy, and honor. Ezr 4:1-3; Ps 97:11 17In every province and every city, wherever the king’s command and his law reached, joy and rejoicing took place among the Jews. There was a celebration and a holiday. Lit good day Est 4:3 And many of the ethnic groups of the land professed themselves to be Jews because fear of the Jews Dt 11:25; Est 9:3 had overcome them.

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Today, Psalm 137.  Ties in nicely.
As an aside, I am aware that in many places, and even to me, the language and attitudes of verses 8 and 9. is jarring and not in keeping with our sensibilities.  For what it is worth, the actions in verse 9 are in fact an "eye for an eye" attitude, because that sort of thing was pretty common in that time and place.  And, as we see even today, pretty much in keeping with the heathen cultures, like the Moslems, and their conduct towards others.  To This Day.  I'm not excusing it, and don't like it either.  But it's a reality.

1By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion.

2We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof.

3For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion.a song: Heb. the words of a songwasted…: Heb. laid us on heaps

4How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land?strange…: Heb. land of a stranger?

5If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning.

6If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy.my chief…: Heb. the head of my joy

7Remember, O Lord, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem; who said, Rase it, rase it, even to the foundation thereof.Rase it: Heb. Make bare

8O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed; happy shall he be, that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us.destroyed: Heb. wastedrewardeth…: Heb. recompenseth unto thee thy deed which thou didst to us

9Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones.

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Today, chapter 9 of the 2nd Epistle to the Corinthians.

Motivations for Giving

1Now concerning the ministry to the saints, it is unnecessary for me to write to you. 2For I know your eagerness, and I brag about you to the Macedonians: Macedonia was a Roman province in the northern area of modern Greece. Ac 16:9 “Achaia Achaia was the Roman province, south of Macedonia, where Corinth was located. Ac 18:12 has been prepared since last year,” and your zeal Nm 25:13 has stirred up most of them. 2Co 8:18; 12:183But I sent the brothers so our boasting about you in the matter would not prove empty, and so you would be prepared just as I said. 4For if any Macedonians come with me and find you unprepared, we, not to mention you, would be embarrassed in that situation. Or in this confidence 5Therefore I considered it necessary to urge the brothers to go on ahead to you and arrange in advance the generous gift Ac 11:30 you promised, so that it will be ready as a gift and not as an extortion. Eph 5:3

6Remember this: Lit And this The person who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the person who sows generously will also reap generously. 7Each person should do as he has decided in his heart — not reluctantly or out of necessity, for God loves Lk 6:35; Jn 3:16; 12:43; 2Th 2:13; Rv 12:11 a cheerful giver. 8And God is able Eph 3:20 to make every grace overflow to you, so that in every way, always having everything you need, you may excel in every good work. 9As it is written:

He scattered; Jn 16:32

He gave to the poor;

His righteousness endures forever. Ps 112:9; 1Jn 2:17 Ps 112:9

10Now the One who provides seed for the sower and bread for food will provide and multiply your seed and increase the harvest of your righteousness. Is 55:10-11; Hs 10:12 11You will be enriched 1Co 1:5; 2Co 6:10 in every way for all generosity, which produces thanksgiving to God through us. 12For the ministry of this service Heb 8:6 is not only supplying the needs of the saints, but is also overflowing in many acts of thanksgiving to God. 13They will glorify God for your obedience to the confession of Or your obedient confession to the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity Php 4:10 in sharing with them and with others through the proof provided by this service. 14And they will have deep affection for Or will long for you in their prayers on your behalf because of the surpassing grace of God in you. 15Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift.