Living well. Deuteronomy 16

v19 - 20: "Do not ...show partiality. Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the innocent. Follow justice and justice alone, so that you may live and possess the land the Lord your God is giving you."

Whitney Capps of First Five says: "As the benchmark for what is right and just, God leads, guards and guides his people to act justly."

God is the standard for what is right. And to act justly is a component of right worship and holy living. It reflects humility before God and others - Micah 6:8 says "The Lord God has told us what is right and what he demands:
“See that justice is done,
let mercy be your first concern,
and humbly obey your God.”

Simple.

Celebration. ?

The numbers of the massacre are chilling:

"But they took no plunder. That day, when it was all over, the number of those killed in the palace complex was given to the king. The king told Queen Esther, “In the palace complex alone here in Susa the Jews have killed five hundred men, plus Haman’s ten sons. Think of the killing that must have been done in the rest of the provinces! What else do you want? Name it and it’s yours. Your wish is my command.”

The king is STILL asking Esther what she wants. Isn't that enough? Is he himself insatiable or does he realise that she is still not entirely happy/satisfied?

She asks for still more.
“If it please the king,” Queen Esther responded, “give the Jews of Susa permission to extend the terms of the order another day. And have the bodies of Haman’s ten sons hanged in public display on the gallows.”
So the carnage had almost certainly stopped in the provinces - there would have been no way of extending it one more day with no easy means of communication - but this would ensure that all sympathy for Haman in the capital would be squashed.
The king commanded it: The order was extended; the bodies of Haman’s ten sons were publicly hanged. The Jews in Susa went at it again. On the fourteenth day of Adar they killed another three hundred men in Susa. But again they took no plunder.

It made me wonder how I, as a Christ-follower, deal with those who have fallen out of favour with the authorities.  If it is someone who has hurt or offended me, perhaps I could identify with Esther and the Jews; but if I am more of a bystander - perhaps a colleague has been reprimanded for a work offence - do I make sure I am 'in' with management, or do I offer sympathy and support. Or is it possible to do both?

Jesus preached love and forgiveness. Perhaps I am missing the point. Perhaps this is simply a story of how God loves his people so much that he WILL protect and save them, and that those who are enemies should be warned. Or perhaps I can still grieve for an 'enemy's' misfortune while still maintaining an attitude of justice.

And perhaps, like the Jews, I should be ready to celebrate extravagantly when justice is done:

"I will talk to others all day long about your justice and your goodness. For all who tried to hurt me have been disgraced and dishonoured." Psalm 71:24

"Meanwhile in the rest of the king’s provinces, the Jews had organized and defended themselves, freeing themselves from oppression. On the thirteenth day of the month of Adar, they killed seventy-five thousand of those who hated them but did not take any plunder. The next day, the fourteenth, they took it easy and celebrated with much food and laughter. But in Susa, since the Jews had banded together on both the thirteenth and fourteenth days, they made the fifteenth their holiday for laughing and feasting. (This accounts for why Jews living out in the country in the rural villages remember the fourteenth day of Adar for celebration, their day for parties and the exchange of gifts.)

Mordecai wrote all this down and sent copies to all the Jews in all King Xerxes’ provinces, regardless of distance, calling for an annual celebration on the fourteenth and fifteenth days of Adar as the occasion when Jews got relief from their enemies, the month in which their sorrow turned to joy, mourning somersaulted into a holiday for parties and fun and laughter, the sending and receiving of presents and of giving gifts to the poor."

Esther 9:10 - 22

Esther saves the people!

It wasn't over yet. Haman had been killed for his plot to kill all the Jews and Esther had been given his estates, with Mordecai in charge of them. Not only that, but the king had reclaimed his signet ring from Haman and given it to Mordecai.

But the Jews were still not safe, because a royal edict had already been written, sealed and distributed. The order to massacre still stood.

Esther still had work to do: she threw herself at the king's feet and begged him for the lives of her people.

So:" So the king’s secretaries were brought in on the twenty-third day of the third month, the month of Sivan, and the order regarding the Jews was written word for word as Mordecai dictated and was addressed to the satraps, governors, and officials of the provinces from India to Ethiopia, 127 provinces in all, to each province in its own script and each people in their own language, including the Jews in their script and language."
Esther 8:1 - 10

Eternal Significance

Within a few minutes recently, through two very different blog posts, I started to think about what is of eternal significance. And what that means in my life. Eternal. abiding, ageless, always, amaranthine, boundless, ceaseless, constant, continual,continued, continuous, dateless, deathless, enduring, everlasting, forever, illimitable,immemorial, immortal, immutable, imperishable, incessant, indefinite, indestructible,infinite, interminable, lasting, never-ending, perdurable, perennial, permanent, perpetual,persistent, relentless, termless, timeless, unbroken, unceasing, undying, unending,unfading, uninterrupted, unremitting, without end The opposite is:brief, changeable, changing, ending, ephemeral, stopping, temporary, terminable,transient What is my eternal significance? What is my eternal purpose? What is my eternal job? What do I do that is of EVERLASTING, ENDURING significance? In the words of Micah 6:8 "But he’s already made it plain how to live, what to do, what God is looking for in men and women. It’s quite simple: Do what is fair and just to your neighbor, be compassionate and loyal in your love, And don’t take yourself too seriously— take God seriously." (The Message) My own little job is, I think to help and encourage others to 'fix our eyes on Jesus....' Hebrews 12:2. The Message says: "Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. And now he’s there, in the place of honor, right alongside God." So I love to get together with others to 'study how he did it'. To find out more about how to follow him.  And to think about the things that really matter, trying to put it all into practice. To be fair AND just. To be loving AND merciful. AND not to think too much of myself, remembering my example: "Don’t push your way to the front; don’t sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don’t be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand. Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, becamehuman! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn’t claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that—a crucifixion." (Philippians 2:3 - 8)

Act justly, love mercy - and be wise!

I had many things on my mind this morning, but somehow I ended up in 1 Samuel Chapter 14. The part where Jonathan, Saul’s son has been very brave with the result that, through his obedience to God’s prompting, the whole army rallies and defeats their enemies. Meanwhile, his father Saul tells the army they will be cursed if they eat anything: Jonathan doesn’t know this, eats some honey which revives him – while everyone else is fainting from hunger – and then Saul says Jonathan has to die because he broke the oath. Fortunately, the men won’t have any of it and rescue Jonathan.

How foolish! Among other things, power had gone to Saul’s head. The other verse I was thinking about was Micah 6:8 - He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

Or, in The Message version: But he's already made it plain how to live, what to do, what God is looking for in men and women. It's quite simple: Do what is fair and just to your neighbour, be compassionate and loyal in your love, and don't take yourself too seriously— take God seriously.

Difficult, sometimes, in our complicated lives – and no doubt too much of a challenge for Saul as king – but so simple!