Category Archives: Esther

Of Superstitions and Unknown Gods

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Temple-Minerva-AthensAre you superstitious?  Whenever I think about superstitions I can’t help but think of the Apostle Paul and his speech to the men of Athens. By all accounts, Paul was quite a character. I can just picture him standing on the ancient Areopagus (Mars Hill) of Athens nearly two thousand years ago calling out to those gathered at the famous altar to the Unknown God:

“Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious.”

I admit, I would like to have been there for that speech. To see Paul in his billowing robes challenging the highly educated Atheneans about their unfounded superstitions would have been quite a sight. Anyway, Paul goes on to explain to the men of Athens that the God they ignorantly worship was the living God of the Bible. If the Apostle Paul was here today, I can just see him chiding our generation with similar advice.

Let’s take the number 13 for example. Even among Christians this number has a certain evil connotation about it. Have you ever wondered why the number 13 has such a superstitious aura? What if I told you, that like the ignorance of those men of Athens concerning the altar to their Unknown God, the superstitions surrounding the number 13 are but the vestiges of a similar story that involves that same “Unknown God”? Continue reading →

The Jewish Queen of Persia

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Bow_Down_EarThis week is Purim, a celebration that honors YHWH, the living God of the Bible and a young Jewish maiden who changed the course of history. The maiden’s Hebrew name was Hadassah which means myrtle, but most of us know her by her Persian name of Esther or star.

 It’s the story of a young girl with a courageous heart who answered the call when others would or could not, a story of one who was willing to sacrifice her place amongst the people she loved in order to protect them. You know, we often focus on Hadassah’s bravery as queen when approaching the king unannounced, but seldom do we appreciate the sacrifice she made for her people long before that day arrived.

 You see, Hadassah, in order to be considered a potential future queen of Persia, had to be willing to sacrifice her virtue and her place amongst her own people. This was not just a beauty pageant where the losers got to go home with a consolation prize. The best she could hope for in a second place finish was concubine to the king, forever an outcast without respect and place amongst her own people.

 But that is not how it turned out. Hadassah’s bravery and her love for her people changed the history of the Jewish people and those efforts even reached across the ages to touch the lives of you and me. Can you imagine what the history of the Jewish people might have been had Hadassah not acted? To be sure, YHWH could have raised up another brave soul to take her place in order to fulfill His redemptive plan for mankind, but surely the historical landscape would have changed.

 Today I’d like to give you a unique glimpse of how YHWH used Hadassah to change the history of the Jewish and Persian people. The history we will explore in this article is a little known aspect of that Jewish / Persian history which finds roots in the superstitions surrounding the number 13 and the celebration of April Fool’s day. Continue reading →

Queen of 127 Provinces

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Chapter-8“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 1:1

To me one of the coolest statements in the book of Nehemiah is an often overlooked mention of the queen of Persia. It’s a statement that frankly seems out of place unless you understand the chronological context of the Persian era. In the past few chapters, we’ve learned that the Jewish people were shown amazing favor during the reign of Darius ‘the Great’ Artaxerxes. This king over 127 provinces went out of his way to financially support and encourage the construction of the temple of Jerusalem as well as the city itself. It turns out there is more to the story than most of us have realized, and the book of Nehemiah gives us a clue: Continue reading →