In Esther 2, King Ahasuerus, at the advice of his attendants, sent out people to gather all the young beautiful virgins together. It would be from this group of girls that he would choose the next Queen. In Susa, the main city, lived a Jew named Mordecai who was bringing up his young cousin, Esther, […]
In Esther 1, King Ahasuerus of Persia threw a 7 day banquet to celebrate his greatness. On the 7th day of the banquet after 7 days of drinking, he decided to have Queen Vashti come and parade her beauty before his guests. Queen Vashti refused to come. King Ahasuerus was furious and ended up banning […]
In Nehemiah 8, Ezra the scribe was asked to bring out the book of the Law of Moses and read before people. The people stood in reverence as he read the Word. Upon hearing the Word of God read the people worshipped the Lord. The Levites read from the Word of God and then translated […]
In Nehemiah 2, Nehemiah approaches King Artaxerxes of Persia to request permission to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the walls around the city. The King grants his request and even sends letters giving Nehemiah the authority to rebuild as well as providing the materials to rebuild the walls. Nehemiah surveys the damage and then shares […]
In Zechariah 8, the LORD through Zechariah promises to come and dwell with is people in Jerusalem. Based on this promise HE charges the people to live righteously before him. God’s promises should always be an encouragement to live righteously. He promises peace and blessing to Israel. Based on HIS grace to Israel many other […]
Haggai 1 records the LORD’s message to the people who had return from Babylon to Jerusalem. Although they had finished the foundation of the Temple in 536 BC they had not continued to work on completing the Temple. Instead, they had become self centered and focused on their own concerns, not those of the LORD. […]
Daniel 6 records the jealousy of the other leaders in Babylon toward Daniel under the reign of King Darius. They tricked King Darius into issuing a decree for everyone to worship him for 30 days and those who did not would be thrown to the lions. Daniel, knowing full well the decree, went right on […]
When I was younger, my parents had a house built. I can remember driving out to the worksite after the foundation had been laid. It was a fun day. My brother, sister, and I all claimed our rooms. Together, we imagined what it would be like to live in that house. We chased each other […]
In Ezekiel 1, The LORD gives Ezekiel an amazing vision of HIS glory and HIS work in the world. The LORD’s vision to Ezekiel brought hope as HE reminded Ezekiel that HE was Holy, Sovereign and still at work accomplishing HIS purpose in the world. Ezekiel’s response to this vision is found in verse 28 […]
In Lamentations 3, Jeremiah laments over the fall of Jerusalem and over the failure of the people to follow after the LORD. The consequences of sin and the fact that God does not answer Jeremiah’s prayer are not because of Jeremiah’s personal sin, but the consequences of the continued rejection of the LORD by the […]