#147 Esther 1-5

Day 147 of the podcast, reading Esther 1-5 NET, read along at: https://netbible.org/bible/Esther+1-5/ This is day 147 of our journey. The book of Esther is a great story of intrigue and deliverance. Esther is an orphan girl being raised by her cousin, but she is promoted to the queen of Persia! Esther is also a Jew, a descendant of the tribe of Benjamin. Her cousin, Mordecai, is well known at the gate to the palace and even exposes a plot to assassinate the king. But later, Mordecai refuses to bow before the highly ranked official, Haman. When Haman finds out that Mordecai is a Jew, he plots vengence against the entire Jewish race and convinces the king to pass a decree to annihilate them all. This is met with great mourning among the Jewish people and Mordecai convinces Esther to break the law by seeking an audience with the king. The king greets Esther when she appears and offers her anything she desires. Esther simply requests that the king and Haman come to a banquet she has prepared. At that banquet, she invites them back for another banquet the next day. After the banquet, Haman heads home jubilant about his status with the king and queen and with his great wealth but, when he sees Mordecai, he becomes depressed again. His wife and friends convince him that the time has come to petition the king to execute Mordecai. Join me in Esther 1-5 for the first half of this story, as the stage is set for a great deliverance. Key verses: Esther 1:20 And let the king’s decision which he will enact be disseminated throughout all his kingdom, vast though it is. Then all the women will give honor to their husbands, from the most prominent to the lowly.” Esther 2:17 And the king loved Esther more than all the other women, and she met with his loving approval more than all the other young women. So he placed the royal high turban on her head and appointed her queen in place of Vashti. Esther 3:10 So the king removed his signet ring from his hand and gave it to Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, who was hostile toward the Jews. Esther 4:16 “Go, assemble all the Jews who are found in Susa and fast in my behalf. Don’t eat and don’t drink for three days, night or day. My female attendants and I will also fast in the same way. Afterward I will go to the king, even though it violates the law. If I perish, I perish!” Esther 5:13 Yet all of this fails to satisfy me so long as I have to see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king’s gate.” All Scriptures are from the NET.