Through the Bible – Day 173

_1-2King Xerxes of Persia lived in his capital city of Susa and ruled one hundred and twenty-seven provinces from India to Ethiopia. ₃During the third year of his rule, Xerxes gave a big dinner for all his officials and officers. The governors and leaders of the provinces were also invited, and even the commanders of the Persian and Median armies came. ₄For one hundred and eighty days he showed off his wealth and spent a lot of money to impress his guests with the greatness of his kingdom.

₅King Xerxes soon gave another dinner and invited everyone in the city of Susa, no matter who they were. The eating and drinking lasted seven days in the beautiful palace gardens. ₆The area was decorated with blue and white cotton curtains tied back with purple linen cords that ran through silver rings fastened to marble columns. Couches of gold and silver rested on pavement that had all kinds of designs made from costly bright-coloured stones and marble and mother-of-pearl.

₇The guests drank from gold cups, and each cup had a different design. The king was generous ₈and said to them, “Drink all you want!” Then he told his servants, “Keep their cups full.”

₉While the men were enjoying themselves, Queen Vashti gave the women a big dinner inside the royal palace.

₁₀By the seventh day, King Xerxes was feeling happy because of so much wine. And he asked his seven personal servants, Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, Abagtha, Zethar, and Carkas, ₁₁to bring Queen Vashti to him. The king wanted her to wear her crown and let his people and his officials see how beautiful she was. ₁₂The king's servants told Queen Vashti what he had said, but she refused to go to him, and this made him terribly angry.

_13-14The king called in the seven highest officials of Persia and Media. They were Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena, and Memucan. These men were very wise and understood all the laws and customs of the country, and the king always asked them what they thought about such matters.

₁₅The king said to them, “Queen Vashti refused to come to me when I sent my servants for her. What does the law say I should do about that?”

₁₆Then Memucan told the king and the officials:

₂₁King Xerxes and his officials liked what Memucan had said, ₂₂and he sent letters to all his provinces. Each letter was written in the language of the province to which it was sent, and it said that husbands should have complete control over their wives and children.

₁After a while, King Xerxes got over being angry. But he kept thinking about what Vashti had done and the law that he had written because of her. ₂Then the king's personal servants said:

King Xerxes liked these suggestions, and he followed them.

₅At this time a Jew named Mordecai was living in Susa. His father was Jair, and his grandfather Shimei was the son of Kish from the tribe of Benjamin. ₆Kish was one of the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken from Jerusalem, when he took King Jeconiah of Judah to Babylonia.

₇Mordecai had a very beautiful cousin named Esther, whose Hebrew name was Hadassah. He had raised her as his own daughter, after her father and mother died. ₈When the king ordered the search for beautiful women, many were taken to the king's palace in Susa, and Esther was one of them.

Hegai was put in charge of all the women, ₉and from the first day, Esther was his favourite. He began her beauty treatments at once. He also gave her plenty of food and seven special maids from the king's palace, and they had the best rooms.

₁₀Mordecai had warned Esther not to tell anyone that she was a Jew, and she obeyed him. ₁₁He was anxious to see how Esther was getting on and to learn what had happened to her. So each day he would walk back and forth in front of the court where the women lived.

₁₂The young women were given beauty treatments for one whole year. The first six months their skin was rubbed with olive oil and myrrh, and the last six months it was treated with perfumes and cosmetics. Then each of them spent the night alone with King Xerxes. ₁₃When a young woman went to the king, she could wear whatever clothes or jewellery she chose from the women's living quarters. ₁₄In the evening she would go to the king, and the following morning she would go to the place where his wives stayed after being with him. There a man named Shaashgaz was in charge of the king's wives. Only the ones the king wanted and asked for by name could go back to the king.

_15-16Xerxes had been king for seven years when Esther's turn came to go to him during Tebeth, the tenth month of the year. Everyone liked Esther. The king's personal servant Hegai was in charge of the women, and Esther trusted Hegai and asked him what she ought to take with her.

₁₇Xerxes liked Esther more than he did any of the other young women. None of them pleased him as much as she did, and straight away he fell in love with her and crowned her queen in place of Vashti. ₁₈In honour of Esther he gave a big dinner for his leaders and officials. Then he declared a holiday everywhere in his kingdom and gave expensive gifts.

₁₉When the young women were brought together again, Esther's cousin Mordecai had become a palace official. ₂₀He had told Esther never to tell anyone that she was a Jew, and she obeyed him, just as she had always done.

₂₁Bigthana and Teresh were the two men who guarded King Xerxes' rooms, but they got angry with the king and decided to kill him. ₂₂Mordecai found out about their plans and asked Queen Esther to tell the king what he had found out. ₂₃King Xerxes learnt that Mordecai's report was true, and he had the two men hanged. Then the king had all of this written down in his record book as he watched.

₁Later, King Xerxes promoted Haman the son of Hammedatha to the highest position in his kingdom. Haman was a descendant of Agag, ₂and the king had given orders for his officials at the royal gate to honour Haman by kneeling down to him. All of them obeyed except Mordecai. ₃When the other officials asked Mordecai why he disobeyed the king's command, ₄he said, “Because I am a Jew.” They spoke to him for several days about kneeling down, but he still refused to obey. Finally, they reported this to Haman, to find out if he would let Mordecai get away with it.

₅Haman was furious to learn that Mordecai refused to kneel down and honour him. ₆And when he found out that Mordecai was a Jew, he knew that killing only Mordecai was not enough. Every Jew in the whole kingdom had to be killed.

₇It was now the twelfth year of the rule of King Xerxes. During Nisan, the first month of the year, Haman said, “Find out the best time for me to do this.” The time chosen was Adar, the twelfth month.

₈Then Haman went to the king and said:

₁₀The king handed his official ring to Haman, who hated the Jews, and the king told him, ₁₁“Do what you want with those people! You can keep their money.”

₁₂On the thirteenth day of Nisan, Haman called in the king's secretaries and ordered them to write letters in every language used in the kingdom. The letters were written in the name of the king and sealed by using the king's own ring. At once they were sent to the king's highest officials, the governors of each province, and the leaders of the different nations in the kingdom of Xerxes.

₁₃The letters were taken by messengers to every part of the kingdom, and this is what was said in the letters:

_14-15King Xerxes gave orders for these letters to be posted where they could be seen by everyone all over the kingdom. The king's command was obeyed, and one of the letters was read aloud to the people in the walled city of Susa. Then the king and Haman sat down to drink together, but no one in the city could work out what was going on.

₁What should we say? Should we keep on sinning, so that God's wonderful kindness will show up even better? ₂No, we should not! If we are dead to sin, how can we go on sinning? ₃Don't you know that all who share in Christ Jesus by being baptized also share in his death? ₄When we were baptized, we died and were buried with Christ. We were baptized, so that we would live a new life, as Christ was raised to life by the glory of God the Father.

₅If we shared in Jesus' death by being baptized, we will be raised to life with him. ₆We know that the persons we used to be were nailed to the cross with Jesus. This was done, so that our sinful bodies would no longer be the slaves of sin. ₇We know that sin doesn't have power over dead people.

₈As we died with Christ, we believe we will also live with him. ₉We know that death no longer has any power over Christ. He died and was raised to life, never again to die. ₁₀When Christ died, he died for sin once and for all. But now he is alive, and he lives only for God. ₁₁In the same way, you must think of yourselves as dead to the power of sin. But Christ Jesus has given life to you, and you live for God.

₁₂Don't let sin rule your body. After all, your body is bound to die, so don't obey its desires ₁₃or let any part of it become a slave of evil. Give yourselves to God, as people who have been raised from death to life. Make every part of your body a slave that pleases God. ₁₄Don't let sin keep ruling your lives. You are ruled by God's kindness and not by the Law.

₁₅What does all this mean? Does it mean we are free to sin, because we are ruled by God's wonderful kindness and not by the Law? Certainly not!