Bible Reading Challenge Blog

I didn’t remember how the end of Esther came about.  I remembered Haman being hung and also all of his family, but I had forgotten that since the original edict of the king could not be reversed the king had to allow for another edict in order to counter ballance the first one.  If the first one said that the Jews were fair game and anyone could attack them and steal their property the perfect foil for that would be an edict that says that not only could the Jews defend themselves but they could also proactively take out their enemies.  It sounds a lot like the purge if you have seen any of those movies.  They are not great movies, so hopefully you haven’t seen any of them.

All that is carried out and we also get the command to celebrate this day in the future and the name of the celebration was to be called Purim because pur was the lot that was cast against the Jews was turned on its head and against Haman and his family.  

The three psalms that we read point to how the ungodly have become a very strong presence in the world and the Lord is not happy about it.  Psalm 14:3 states: “All have turned aside, they have together become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.”  It should sound a lot like Romans 3:23

Providentially this past Sunday Pastor Konstantin Reznik preached on Esther and gave us four impactful ways in which we as a church have been formulated for such a time as this.  But the story of itself is very disturbing and quite violent.  You have a petulant king who wants to assert his dominion over his wife and basically kicks her out of the house and then wants to find one who is more amenable to his desires and whims.  Along comes young Esther and she pleases the king and she is made queen in place of Vashit.  Did you know that Esther’s original name was Hadassah?  You can find that in 2:7.

But the story of the salvation of the Jews is one that repeats itself time and time again in history.  Remember the Jews only find themselves in the reign of Xerxes because they had been taken into captivity by the Babylonians and so were captives in that land during this entire story.  Haman was plotting against basically a slave who would not bow down to him.  But this slave, Mordecai, who was the cousing of Esther, had already saved the king’s life.  Providence allows the king to discover once again how he was saved which in turn saved all of the Jews in the land.  But the story does not end there.  Let’s see what these last chapters hold.

Zephaniah contains the words of the prophet who prophesies against the nation of Judah during the reign of Josiah who turned out to be one of the more righteous kings that the south ever had.  But Zephaniah’s warnings are meant to remind the people that the worship of God had to be pure and without blemish.  He speaks about the future of Jerusalem as one of a city of oppressors.  The primary complaint that the prophet has is that were not righteous and the poor were not taken care of.

In the Psalms you have David writing about his God who will deliver him from the day of trouble.  Interestingly enough the psalm is to be sung to the tune: “The death of a son.”  You would think that it would be written around the time of Absalom who died as a result of David’s unfaithfulness with Bathsheeba.

Proverbs once again lays out the dichotomy between a righteous person and a person who follows the way of the foolish.  

The prophet Amos finishes his words on the ruin and destruction of both the norther and southern kingdoms.  We find the example of a plumb line that will be used to measure the people of Israel and it is obvious that they do not measure up.  There is also a basket of ripe fruit that is used as a metaphor that the time has come to destroy both Israel and Judah because they have been so unfaithful.  But at the end of this prophecy we do see that Israel will one day be restored and the tent will be restored and Israel will be replanted in their own land once again.

Obadiah is a short little prophecy, hence the term minor prophet, and it describes the destruction of the people of Esau.  The people of Esau were the Edomites and while not one of the twelve tribes, they were still relatives of Abraham and so connected in some way to the people of Israel.  Their destruction is assured in this prophecy.

Proverbs 10 once again gives us this ying and yang of wisdom and foolishness.  Since the land is so crucial to Israel the statement in vs.30 is pretty critical: “The righteous will never be uprooted, but the wicked will not remain in the land.”

In Amos we find the words of the prophet who is a shepherd of Tekoa.  He rebukes and gives warning to the surrounding nations around Israel and Judah.  But then he launches into similar warnings for both Judah and Israel and reminds them why God is so upset with them.  He sent plagues in Egypt so that they could be freed, but they still turned their back on God.  As a result they will have the same plagues descend on them as well.  

We also see a reference to the day of the Lord, similar to what was described in Joel, but it is called a day of darkness and not light.  Amos lifts up this day as a day that the Lord will not accept the offerings that are given to them.  There does not seem to be much help in the horizon for the people of God becuse they have consistently turned their back on God.

Psalm 25 emphasizes quite the opposite, the trust that we have in God because God has been faithful in all things.  The first line is a line of a VBS song that we sing every time that we go to Italy: “To you, O Lord,  I lift up my soul; in you I trust, O God.”  Our trust in God is necessary in order for the love of God to have an impact on our lives.

This is an interesting compillation of Psalms.  We begin with a Psalm of lament that gives us the words that Jesus uses when he is on the cross and his cry of desperation as he cries out: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me.”  There is then a listing of grievances that this person crying out has suffered including in vs.16 – “they have pierced my hands and my feet.”  This is a very clear reference to what Jesus underwent when he was on the cross.

From this very clear lament that raises up points of contact, many of them, with Jesus’ suffering and crucifixion we have one of the most well known Psalms, if not the most well known, in Psalm 23 where we find images of docile and pascal scenes that puts a mind to ease.  What a difference it is from Psalm 22.  We really go from persecution to almost a scene of resurrection.  Certainly a scene of comfort and care which is a direct contradiction to the previous psalm.

Then Psalm 24 gives us insight into a triumpant victory that will take place at the hands of the Lord.  All who come to God will receive a blessing and that blessing is a result of the Lord being the king of glory.  From there we go to Proverbs 9 that shows us a battle between wisdom and folly.  That battle rages in our own lifetime.  I love the line in vs.7 “whoever rebukes a wicked man incurs abuse…rebuke a wise man and he will love you.”

We finish the prophet Hosea who describes now less his relationship with his wife, as an object lesson, and more the relationship between God and Israel, or the Northern kingdom.  God has made Israel prosperous, but the more prosperous they become the more they are interested in the other gods attributing to the other gods their success.  In spite of their unfaithfulness, we read in chapter 11 of God’s love for Israel and that one day there will be restoration.  Look at vs.9: “I will not carry out my fierce anger, nor will I turn and devastate Ephraim (the would be Israel or the northern kingdom).  For I am God, and not man – the Holy One among you.  I will not come in wrath.”

In the midst of unfaithfulness, in the midst of obvious disrespect, God shows his love for us which is never ending.  This should not be an incentive for us to sin more, but rather humble us to put sin behind us in our lives.

The story is quite simple and tragic and yet it is meant to be a metaphor.  God commands the prophet Hosea to marry a person that we know is going to be unfaithful, what we would call and adulteress.  There is no chance that she will keep her wedding vows, but God calls the prophet to marry her anyway.  God then uses this marriage, this union, between Hosea and the unfaithful wife, to show what it is like to commit yourself to someone for eternity and that person constitently turns their back on their vows and your love.  Unrequited love reveals itself in this story as it does in our relationship with God.  For the New Testament this is a verse that speaks to this same point, you can find it in Romans 5:8 – “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

I mentioned on Sunday that it is difficult to understand exactly what is taking place in the minor prophets unless you read the entire books, then, at least, you can get a bit more of an understanding of the bigger picture.  Today we get to read two minor prophets in their entirety.  Both Nahum and Habakkuk were written at a time when Israel and Judah were divided and were off in captivity.  Nineveh is addressed in Nahum, remember Jonah was also one who went to Nineveh to address the people so that the Ninevites, these foreigner, would repent.  Which they did of course.  In Nahum you have an oracle against Nineveh and the statements that it will fall and that the day of the Lord will be a terrible day for Nineveh.

With Habakkuk we find ourselves with the prophet complaining against the Lord because it is obvious to the prophet that those who are doing evil are making out better than those who are righteous.  He asks God how long will this be.  So you have the first chapter contains two complaints and one answer, the second chapter contains the second answer and the last chapter contains a prayer by the prophet asking Got not to forget his people.  

Don’t we all love the story of Jonah?  I’m thinking we love it because it is a success story of God sending a whale to swallow one of his prophets so that he could carry on his work of evangelizing and evnentually an entire population is saved as a result.  I guess that is the big picture perspective.  But think about it from Jonah’s perspective.  He ran from God, he was grumpy when God saved the people, he didn’t understand his role in God’s kingdom which one of supporting cast, not of decision maker.  Are we comfortable with that role of supporting cast to God’s plans and not the decision maker?  

Haggai takes us to the call to rebuild the temple after the people have returned from captivity.  He calls out the leaders and say why is it that you have prioritized rebuilding your homes when the house of the Lord is in ruins.  Remember, the Babylonians destroyed the temple completely and so there it was, in ruins, while the people worked hard to get their life back in order, God calls them out for not focusing on their relationship, their duty to God.