Friday, June 20, 2014

To Know

12 When Esther’s words were reported to Mordecai, 13 he sent back this answer: “Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape. 14 For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?" Esther 4

We don't know what Esther was thinking her own future would be as a result of Haman's actions, but Mordecai really lays it on Esther.  He essentially tells her, "If you do nothing, the Jews will be saved by another, because our God is that great that he will prevent this from happening.  And so the Jews will survive, but you will still die.  God placed you here to stop this!"

In doing a little more research on the book of Esther, one very interesting nugget of information that I've picked up is that this is one of two books in the entire bible that do not speak of God.  So we're missing key pieces here.  Later verses say that there was fasting and prayer before Esther visited the king, but there's no mention of "Esther felt God on her heart," or "Esther questioned God," or "God told Esther."

Most of the interpretations of this are that the author wrote the book to be a purely historical account of events.  They wanted anyone to be able to read this book and understand what happened, and infer God's role in the events without explicitly stating such.  There are examples throughout the bible of people that obeyed God's word without question, people who doubted, and people who even ran from God.  We don't really know what categories Esther and Mordecai fall into.  We can infer, but we do not know.

What about you?  If someone meets you, would they have to infer your relationship with God, or is it obvious with you that there is no doubt you're a follower of Christ?  If you remain silent about God, won't you and your father perish?  So then, do not be silent!  Do not let people infer and make sure they know!

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