Mordecai receives great honors. Haman mourns and is counseled by his wife. Esther reveals Haman’s plot to destroy the Jews. He is hanged on his own gallows. Mordecai is honored and placed over the house of Haman. Ahasuerus reverses the decree calling for the destruction of the Jews. The Jews slay their enemies, including Haman’s ten sons. The Feast of Purim is instituted to commemorate their deliverance and victory. Mordecai, the Jew, stands next to Ahasuerus in power and might.
• Queen of Persia and Advocate for Her People — Comments on Esther
“Esther’s beauty was such that it could catch and hold the eye of an oriental emperor accustomed to being surrounded by loveliness. Combined with physical charms were qualities of spirit that revealed that she had inward beauty as well. The qualities were loyalty, love, and dedication. Submissive yet courageous, yielding yet faithful, she was able to avert the intent of evil individuals determined to destroy her people. Indeed, she saved God’s covenant people from an intended extinction.
“The story of Esther is sacred to the Jews and compelling to all because of her dauntless defense of her convictions and her people. Her name, in the Persian tongue, means ‘a star’; the many meanings of that symbol are most fitting.”
This is the introduction to the notes and commentary on Esther in the church educational system's institute course on the Old Testament. If you wish to read this, please click on this link.
Job 1; Job 2
Job, a just and perfect man, is blessed with great riches. Satan obtains permission from the Lord to tempt and try Job. Job’s property and children are destroyed, and yet he praises and blesses the Lord. Satan obtains permission from the Lord to afflict Job physically. Job is smitten with boils. Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar come to comfort him.
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