Thurs.’s Devo - Esther

Read: Esther 1:1-3:15; 1 Corinthians 11:17-34; Psalm 35:17-28; Proverbs 21:19-20 King Xerxes was a king of great opulence and loved a party. He held one for his nobles and officers throughout his kingdom that lasted 180 days, then one for the common people that lasted a week. He was generous with his wine. While he was throwing his party for the men, Vashti, his queen was throwing a party for the women. When Xerxes got good and drunk he wanted to flaunt his trophy wife, Vashti and sent his eunuchs to bring her to his party so the men could see her. He instructed that she wear her crown and I wonder if that was all she was to wear. She refused to come naked to a party full of vulgar men. Xerxes was so offended he asked his advisors what he should do to her. They were afraid that her rebellion would spread to their wives and they would refuse them. So they had him pass an edict where Vashti would be exiled and replaced and all women would have to do whatever their husbands asked of them. It was a set-up and Xerxes fell into it. He passed the edict and Vashti was banished. The beauty pageant was now instated and all the beautiful virgins were brought to go through a year of beauty treatments. The king would then choose his new queen. There was a beautiful Jewish girl named Esther who had been adopted by her uncle Mordecai when her parents died. She was chosen and instructed by her uncle not to tell her origin. She was so favored, they fast-tracked her to the king’s harem. Mordecai checked on Esther daily to see how she was doing. One day he told her of a plot he had learned to kill the king. He told her to tell the king and told her the men’s names. She did and it was recorded in his book. The men were killed and the threat was over. Some time after that, Xerxes promoted an evil man named Haman to be over his nobles. Everyone was to bow down and show him respect. Mordecai, who was a city official refused to bow to Haman. This made Haman extremely angry. He found out that Mordecai was a Jew so he set out to kill not only Mordecai, but all the Jews. Haman deceptively got Xerxes to sign an edict to issue a decree that they all be destroyed. He offered to give 10,000 sacks of silver to the government as a bribe. The king agreed and the Jew’s fate was sealed. The edict gave the people of the kingdom the right to kill any Jew in the land and take their possessions. This edict threw the city of Susa into confusion. The date would be set at a later day. As the Jews got their death warrant, the king and Haman sat down to eat. In Corinthians, Paul had much to say about their meetings. They were having some heated discussions. They were meeting to fellowship but they were only concerned with their own stomachs instead of feeding the poor first. Some were even getting drunk…at church! They were calling this the Lord’s Supper. So Paul took them back to the last night Jesus had with his disciples and walked them through his last supper with them. He explained what each element stood for and how holy that supper was suppose to be. If they did not honor that supper they would bring sickness and maybe death on themselves. He told them to examine their hearts before they ate and drank the Lord’s Supper and to do it to honor God. The Lord’s Supper was not to fill them up physically, they should do that at home. The Lord’s Supper was a symbolic rite to remember what Jesus had done for them. Lord, may we honor all you have done for us by the way we live our lives. We thank you for saving us and giving your life as a ransom for us.