Esther 9

What an amazing victory again for the Jews! God saw them through every aspect of this trial and took care of them. The Jews took victory over their enemies but did not take the plunder because it was a holy war, a war commanded by the Lord and not for their financial gain. Haman and his sons had been made an example of as a deterrent if anyone would think to attack the Jews again.

Purim became a time of celebration for the Jews instead of a day of destruction for the Jews. This would be a celebration that would never die throughout the ages and would be a reminder for all generations of how the Lord had delivered the Jews. It was made to be a day of generosity and goodwill to all people. What an amazing God we serve!

Esther 8

What a beautiful thing. God's favor poured out once again on the Jews through King Xerxes. Mordecai must have stood back and looked at Esther as proud as any father could be for her courage and willingness to sacrifice all for the good of her people. However, the trouble is not yet over. In those days, what the king said was it. They couldn't just change their minds and say we aren't doing that now. So the Jew were still in danger. Esther, once again, pleads with the king begging him to put an end to Haman's plan. Even though Haman was dead - he plan was still very well in tact. The only way to help the Jews was to allow another decree to be written and sent out in the king's name that could supersede the previous one. This one would allow the Jews to fight back, to protect themselves instead of just be lined up and executed with no chance of survival. I love that this was the king idea to have them write this decree. I don't know if that shows that he really cared but it was a decision that HE made. All throughout the rest of the book, I'm not sure he made any good decisions and the majority of them weren't his ideas. Maybe this shows hope for King Xerxes. The Lord must have looked favorably upon that decision.

This chapter also shows us just how organized and together the king's palace is. The secretaries were there ready to get things in order and did the job of writing a new edict very quickly and getting it out by courier prior to the time it would have been too late for action. I can't even imagine the work that went in to this. It wasn't like they had copy machines and FedEx. This was all done swiftly by hand and by horse. Pretty amazing.

I love how this chapter end with Mordecai wearing royal robes... Haman must have rolled over in his grave or on his stick. There was much celebration and joy and many came to be Jews because of it. What a great encouragement for them.

Hope you all have a very blessed weekend! See you again on Monday!