Tuesday
Read Esther 7:1-6, 9-10, 9:20-22
7 And so the king and Haman went to eat with
Esther 2for a second time. Over the wine the king asked her again,
“Now, Queen Esther, what do you want? Tell me and you shall have it. I’ll even
give you half the empire.”
3 Queen Esther answered, “If it
please Your Majesty to grant my humble request, my wish is that I may live and
that my people may live. 4My people and I have been sold for
slaughter. If it were nothing more serious than being sold into slavery, I
would have kept quiet and not bothered you about it;g but we are
about to be destroyed—exterminated!”
5 Then King Xerxes asked Queen
Esther, “Who dares to do such a thing? Where is this man?”
6 Esther answered, “Our enemy, our
persecutor, is this evil man Haman!”
Haman stared at the king and queen in
terror.
9Then one of them, who was named Harbonah, said, “Haman even
went so far as to build a gallows at his house so that he could hang Mordecai,
who saved Your Majesty’s life. And it’s twenty-two metres tall!”
“Hang Haman on it!” the king commanded.
10 So Haman was hanged on the
gallows that he had built for Mordecai. Then the king’s anger cooled down.
20 Mordecai had these events written
down and sent letters to all the Jews, near and far, throughout the Persian
Empire, 21telling them to observe the fourteenth and fifteenth days
of Adar as holidays every year. 22These were the days on which the
Jews had rid themselves of their enemies; this was a month that had been turned
from a time of grief and despair into a time of joy and happiness. They were
told to observe these days with feasts and parties, giving gifts of food to one
another and to the poor.
Think
The whole book of Esther is read on the feast of Purim. Esther basically wins a beauty contest and
becomes the wife of Ahasuerus (Xerxes) of Persia in about 490BC.
She uses her position to prevent the extermination of the Jewish people by
Haman - one of Xerxes advisors.
Purim is celebrated with feasts, parties and gifts of food to one another
and to the poor.
Pray
How do you show your gratitude to God?
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