Esther 6 – “Haman’s Humiliation”

horsecloseup Hebrew-English Text
I. Summary
King Ahasuerus remembers the good deed that Mordecai did for him. He asks Haman, “What should be done for a man whom the king desires to honor?” Haman thinks that Ahasuerus is speaking about him, and suggests that the person be dressed in royal garb and led around the city. The king agrees, and Haman is forced to parade Mordecai around the city.

II. Photo
Mordecai is led around the city: “… let the man whom the king desires to honor be attired and paraded on the horse through the city square, while they proclaim before him: This is what is done for the man whom the king desires to honor!”

III. Important Verses
vv. 7-9: So Haman said to the king, “For the man whom the king desires to honor, let royal garb which the king has worn be brought, and a horse on which the king has ridden and on whose head a royal diadem has been set; and let the attire and the horse be put in the charge of one of the king’s noble courtiers. And let the man whom the king desires to honor be attired and paraded on the horse through the city square, while they proclaim before him: This is what is done for the man whom the king desires to honor!”
v. 13: There Haman told his wife Zeresh and all his friends everything that had befallen him. His advisers and his wife Zeresh said to him, “If Mordecai, before whom you have begun to fall, is of Jewish stock, you will not overcome him; you will fall before him to your ruin.”

IV. Outline
1-3. Ahasuerus remembers Mordecai’s good deed
4-10. Haman unknowingly proposes that Mordecai be treated as a king
11. Mordecai is paraded through the streets by Haman
12-13. A bad omen for Haman
14. Haman is led off to Esther’s banquet

V. Comment
No comment today. Stay tuned.

VI. Works Used
(see “Commentaries” page)
Murphy, Wisdom Literature (Forms of Old Testament Literature)
Photo taken from http://www.talismanfarmlv.com/images/horsecloseup.jpg

Esther 5 – “Esther’s First Banquet; A Plan to Hang Mordecai”

FofF_wine-glasses Hebrew-English Text
I. Summary

Esther regales Ahasuerus and Haman with a wine feast. Although Haman is proud to have attended the banquet, he is vexed by Mordecai’s refusal to rise for him. Haman and his family subsequently decide to have Mordecai hanged.

II. Photo
Ahasuerus is delighted to attend Esther’s banquet: “At the wine feast, the king asked Esther, ‘What is your wish? It shall be granted you. And what is your request? Even to half the kingdom, it shall be fulfilled!'” (v. 6)

III. Important Verses
v. 2: As soon as the king saw Queen Esther standing in the court, she won his favor. The king extended to Esther the golden scepter which he had in his hand, and Esther approached and touched the tip of the scepter.
v. 14: Then his wife Zeresh and all his friends said to him, “Let a stake be put up, fifty cubits high, and in the morning ask the king to have Mordecai impaled on it. Then you can go gaily with the king to the feast.” The proposal pleased Haman, and he had the stake put up.

IV. Outline
1-2. Esther is accepted by Ahasuerus
3-8. Esther regales Ahasuerus and Haman at a wine feast
9. Mordecai refuses to rise for Haman
10-13. Haman is vexed by Mordecai
14. A plan is made to hang Mordecai

V. Comment
No comment today. Stay tuned.

VI. Works Used
(see “Commentaries” page)
Murphy, Wisdom Literature (Forms of Old Testament Literature)
Photo taken from http://www.flemingssteakhouse.com/Friends/images/FofF_wine-glasses.jpg

Esther 4 – “Esther Agrees to Help Her People”

GOLDSCEPTER Hebrew-English Text
I. Summary
After attempting to shy away from her responsibilities, Esther is persuaded by Mordecai to see King Ahasuerus and plead that the Jews be spared. She and the people of Shushan fast for three days as a preparation for the high-risk event.

II. Photo
Esther describes the riskiness of approaching the king unannounced: “All the king’s courtiers and the people of the king’s provinces know that if any person, man or woman, enters the king’s presence in the inner court without having been summoned, there is but one law for him — that he be put to death. Only if the king extends the golden scepter to him may he live…” (v. 11)

III. Important Verses
v. 3: Also, in every province that the king’s command and decree reached, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping, and wailing, and everybody lay in sackcloth and ashes.
vv. 13-14: Mordecai had this message delivered to Esther: “Do not imagine that you, of all the Jews, will escape with your life by being in the king’s palace. On the contrary, if you keep silent in this crisis, relief and deliverance will come to the Jews from another quarter, while you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows, perhaps you have attained to royal position for just such a crisis.”

IV. Outline
1-4. Mordecai and the Jews lament
5-11. Esther shies away her responsibility
12-14. Mordecai urges Esther to help
15-17. Esther agrees; The people of Shushan fast on her behalf

V. Comment
No comment today. Stay tuned.

VI. Works Used
(see “Commentaries” page)
Murphy, Wisdom Literature (Forms of Old Testament Literature)
Photo taken from http://www.velvetchokers.com/images/GOLDSCEPTER.gif

Esther 3 – “Haman’s Plot Against the Jews”

ravennwax Hebrew-English Text
I. Summary
King Ahasuerus appoints Haman as his chief officer. When Mordecai refuses to bow before Haman, Haman convinces Ahasuerus that all Jews are to be killed.

II. Photo
Ahasuerus agrees to Haman’s plan in v. 12: “The orders were issued in the name of King Ahasuerus and sealed with the king’s signet.”

III. Important Verses
v. 2: All the king’s courtiers in the palace gate knelt and bowed low to Haman, for such was the king’s order concerning him; but Mordecai would not kneel or bow low.
v. 7: In the first month, that is, the month of Nisan, in the twelfth year of King Ahasuerus, pur — which means “the lot” — was cast before Haman concerning every day and every month, [until it fell on] the twelfth month, that is, the month of Adar.
v. 15: The couriers went out posthaste on the royal mission, and the decree was proclaimed in the fortress Shushan. The king and Haman sat down to feast, but the city of Shushan was dumfounded.

IV. Outline
1. Haman rises to power
2-4. Mordecai refuses to bow to Haman
5-6. Haman is angered
7. The lots are cast
8-11. Haman convinces Ahasuerus to exterminate the Jews
12-15. The Decree is promulgated

V. Comment
No comment today. Stay tuned.

VI. Works Used
(see “Commentaries” page)
Murphy, Wisdom Literature (Forms of Old Testament Literature)
Photo taken from http://nmb366.aisites.com/images/ravennwax.jpg

Esther 2 – “Esther Becomes Queen; Mordecai Exposes A Seditious Plot”

mascara Hebrew-English Text
I. Summary
King Ahasuerus chooses Esther as his new queen. Shortly after, Mordecai discovers Bigtan and Teresh’s plot to kill king Ahasuerus. Mordecai tells Esther, who immediately tells the king, and the two conspirators are killed.

II. Photo
Esther and the other girls prepare immensely to meet the king: “When each girl’s turn came to go to King Ahasuerus at the end of the twelve months’ treatment prescribed for women (for that was the period spent on beautifying them: six months with oil of myrrh and six months with perfumes and women’s cosmetics, and it was after that that the girl would go to the king)…” (vv. 12-13)

III. Important Verses
v. 7: [Mordecai] was foster father to Hadassah — that is, Esther — his uncle’s daughter, for she had neither father nor mother. The maiden was shapely and beautiful; and when her father and mother died, Mordecai adopted her as his own daughter.
vv. 12-13: When each girl’s turn came to go to King Ahasuerus at the end of the twelve months’ treatment prescribed for women (for that was the period spent on beautifying them: six months with oil of myrrh and six months with perfumes and women’s cosmetics, and it was after that that the girl would go to the king), whatever she asked for would be given her to take with her from the harem to the king’s palace.
vv. 17-18: The king loved Esther more than all the other women, and she won his grace and favor more than all the virgins. So he set a royal diadem on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti. The king gave a great banquet for all his officials and courtiers, “the banquet of Esther.” He proclaimed a remission of taxes for the provinces and distributed gifts as befits a king.

IV. Outline
1-4. A new queen is to be picked
5-7. Mordecai and Esther are introduced
8-18. Esther prepares to meet the king; Esther is made queen
19-20. Esther does not divulge her Jewish ancestry
21-23. Mordecai exposes a seditious plot; Esther informs Ahasuerus

V. Comment
No comment today. I hope to revisit this chapter at the end of the cycle. Stay tuned.

VI. Works Used
(see “Commentaries” page)
Murphy, Wisdom Literature (Forms of Old Testament Literature)
Photo taken from http://www.bbc.co.uk/switch/slink/images/255×143/hb/mascara.jpg

Esther 1 – “The Royal Banquets”

beer_toast1 Hebrew-English Text
I. Summary
King Ahasuerus and Queen Vashti entertain their citizens with a series of lavish banquets. When Vashti spurns her husband’s request to “display her beauty,” the minister Memucan convinces Ahasuerus that she is a threat to the country’s social order and must be sent away.

II. Photo
The king’s banquet is described in vv. 7-8: “Royal wine was served in abundance, as befits a king… And the rule for the drinking was, ‘No restrictions!’ For the king had given orders to every palace steward to comply with each man’s wishes.”

III. Important Verses
vv. 7-8: Royal wine was served in abundance, as befits a king, in golden beakers, beakers of varied design. And the rule for the drinking was, “No restrictions!” For the king had given orders to every palace steward to comply with each man’s wishes.
vv. 10-12: On the seventh day, when the king was merry with wine, he ordered Mehuman, Bizzetha, Harbona, Bigtha, Abagtha, Zethar, and Carcas, the seven eunuchs in attendance on King Ahasuerus, to bring Queen Vashti before the king wearing a royal diadem, to display her beauty to the peoples and the officials; for she was a beautiful woman. But Queen Vashti refused to come at the king’s command conveyed by the eunuchs. The king was greatly incensed, and his fury burned within him.
vv. 16-17: Thereupon Memucan declared in the presence of the king and the ministers: “Queen Vashti has committed an offense not only against Your Majesty but also against all the officials and against all the peoples in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus. For the queen’s behavior will make all wives despise their husbands, as they reflect that King Ahasuerus himself ordered Queen Vashti to be brought before him, but she would not come.
vv. 21-22: The proposal was approved by the king and the ministers, and the king did as Memucan proposed. Dispatches were sent to all the provinces of the king, to every province in its own script and to every nation in its own language, that every man should wield authority in his home and speak the language of his own people.

IV. Outline
1-9. The banquets of King Ahasuerus and Queen Vashti
10-12. Vashti refuses her husband’s call
13-22. The minister Memucan convinces Ahasuerus to send Vashti away

V. Comment
Brief comment today. I hope to revisit this chapter at the end of the cycle. Stay tuned.

One question that scholars ask is, “What is the book of Esther’s literary genre?” Murphy writes (p. 159), “Dommerhausen characterizes this [chapter] as a ‘wisdom narrative’ on the basis of the following elements: Xerxes [= Ahasuerus] is a type of ‘foollish king’ (Eccl 9:18-10:1); the talion law (Vashti did not appear, now she is to disappear); the phrase ‘that every man be lord in his own house” (v. 22) recalls a wisdom ideal about the husband-wife relationship (Prov 32:10ff; Sir 9:2; etc.) While there may be wisdom motifs underlying the book of Esther… these characteristics in vv. 10-22 do not make it a specific wisdom narrative. More simply, it is a narrative, and it moves the story along in order to bring Esther on the scene.”

VI. Works Used
(see “Commentaries” page)
Murphy, Wisdom Literature (Forms of Old Testament Literature)
Photo taken from http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd164/eric_lambert/beer_toast1.jpg

Ecclesiastes 12 – “Death and Dying; Postscript”

brokenpot Hebrew-English Text
I. Summary
Chapter 12 speaks about the joys of youth, the gradual process of dying, and Qoheleth’s wisdom. The book ends with an exhortation to revere God and observe His commandments.

II. Photo
Qoheleth gives a metaphor about the body’s deterioration: “Before the silver cord snaps And the golden bowl crashes, The jar is shattered at the spring, And the jug is smashed at the cistern.” (v. 6)

III. Important Verses
vv. 6-7: Before the silver cord snaps And the golden bowl crashes, The jar is shattered at the spring, And the jug is smashed at the cistern. And the dust returns to the ground As it was, And the lifebreath returns to God Who bestowed it.
v. 9: A further word: Because Koheleth was a sage, he continued to instruct the people. He listened to and tested the soundness of many maxims.
v. 11: The sayings of the wise are like goads, like nails fixed in prodding sticks. They were given by one Shepherd.
v. 13: The sum of the matter, when all is said and done: Revere God and observe His commandments! For this applies to all mankind.

IV. Outline
1-2. Youth
3-8. The process of dying
9-11. Qoheleth and wisdom
12-14. Postscript: revere God

V. Comment
No comment today. I hope to revisit this chapter at the end of the cycle. Stay tuned.

VI. Works Used
(see “Commentaries” page)
Murphy, Wisdom Literature (Forms of Old Testament Literature)
Photo taken from http://chicanery.fibergeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/brokenpot.png

Ecclesiastes 11 – “Assorted Wisdom Sayings”

youth Hebrew-English Text
I. Summary
Chapter 11 contains a variety of wisdom sayings. The major topics are the distribution of food, concentration, God’s mysterious ways, and the joys of youth.

II. Photo
Qoheleth tells adolescents to enjoy their early years: “O youth, enjoy yourself while you are young! Let your heart lead you to enjoyment in the days of your youth. Follow the desires of your heart and the glances of your eyes… For youth and black hair are fleeting.” (vv. 9-10)

III. Important Verses
v. 4: If one watches the wind, he will never sow; and if one observes the clouds, he will never reap.
v. 5: Just as you do not know how the lifebreath passes into the limbs within the womb of the pregnant woman, so you cannot foresee the actions of God, who causes all things to happen.
v. 7: How sweet is the light, what a delight for the eyes to behold the sun!
vv. 8-10: Even if a man lives many years, let him enjoy himself in all of them, remembering how many the days of darkness are going to be. The only future is nothingness! O youth, enjoy yourself while you are young! Let your heart lead you to enjoyment in the days of your youth. Follow the desires of your heart and the glances of your eyes — but know well that God will call you to account for all such things — and banish care from your mind, and pluck sorrow out of your flesh! For youth and black hair are fleeting.

IV. Outline
1-2. Distributing bread
3-4. Laziness
5-6. God works in mysterious ways
7-10. The joys of youth

V. Comment
No comment today. I hope to revisit this chapter at the end of the cycle. Stay tuned.

VI. Works Used
(see “Commentaries” page)
Murphy, Wisdom Literature (Forms of Old Testament Literature)
Photo taken from http://www.deltaartscouncil.com/yac/youth.jpg

Ecclesiastes 10 – “Assorted Sayings”

h6_29curr Hebrew-English Text
I. Summary
Chapter 10 contains a group of assorted wisdom sayings. The major topics are wisdom and folly, political decorum, and unexpected occurrences in life.

II. Photo
Qoheleth points to one of life’s ironies in v. 8: “He who digs a pit will fall into it…”

III. Important Verses
v. 1: Dead flies turn the perfumer’s ointment fetid and putrid; so a little folly outweighs massive wisdom.
v. 7: I have seen slaves on horseback, and nobles walking on the ground like slaves.
v. 8: He who digs a pit will fall into it; he who breaches a stone fence will be bitten by a snake.
vv. 16-17: Alas for you, O land whose king is a lackey and whose ministers dine in the morning! Happy are you, O land whose king is a master and whose ministers dine at the proper time — with restraint, not with guzzling!
v. 20: Don’t revile a king even among your intimates. Don’t revile a rich man even in your bedchamber; For a bird of the air may carry the utterance, And a winged creature may report the word.

IV. Outline
1-3. Proverbs about wisdom and folly
4. Proverb about a kings’ wrath
5-9. Unexpected occurrences
10-11. Wisdom and ability
12-15. The fool
16-20. Political decorum

V. Comment
No comment today. I hope to revisit this chapter at the end of the cycle. Stay tuned.

VI. Works Used
(see “Commentaries” page)
Murphy, Wisdom Literature (Forms of Old Testament Literature)
Photo taken from http://archive.seacoastonline.com/2004news/hampton/h6_29curr.jpg

Ecclesiastes 9 – “Reflections on Life and Death”

happycouple Hebrew-English Text
I. Summary
Qoheleth implores people to enjoy their lives because there is no existence in death. He also reflects on the arbitrary nature of success, and praises the supreme value of wisdom.

II. Photo
Verse 9 says, “Enjoy life with a woman you love all the fleeting days of life that have been granted to you under the sun — all your fleeting days. For that alone is what you can get out of life and out of the means you acquire under the sun.”

III. Important Verses
vv. 1-2: or all this I noted, and I ascertained all this: that the actions of even the righteous and the wise are determined by God. Even love! Even hate! Man knows none of these in advance — none! For the same fate is in store for all: for the righteous, and for the wicked; for the good and pure, and for the impure; for him who sacrifices, and for him who does not; for him who is pleasing, and for him who is displeasing; and for him who swears, and for him who shuns oaths.
vv. 7-10: Go, eat your bread in gladness, and drink your wine in joy; for your action was long ago approved by God. Let your clothes always be freshly washed, and your head never lack ointment. Enjoy happiness with a woman you love all the fleeting days of life that have been granted to you under the sun — all your fleeting days. For that alone is what you can get out of life and out of the means you acquire under the sun. Whatever it is in your power to do, do with all your might. For there is no action, no reasoning, no learning, no wisdom in Sheol, where you are going.
v. 11: I have further observed under the sun that The race is not won by the swift, Nor the battle by the valiant; Nor is bread won by the wise, Nor wealth by the intelligent, Nor favor by the learned. ¶ For the time of mischance comes to all.
v. 17: Words spoken softly by wise men are heeded sooner than those shouted by a lord in folly.

IV. Outline
1-3. Reflection on life
4-6. Reflection on death
7-10. Exhortation to enjoy life; Reasons
11-12. Reflection on the arbitrary nature of life
13-16. A story about a wise man in a besieged city and its lesson

V. Comment
No comment today. I hope to revisit this chapter at the end of the cycle. Stay tuned.

VI. Works Used
(see “Commentaries” page)
Murphy, Wisdom Literature (Forms of Old Testament Literature)
Photo taken from http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa204/mpschweitzer/happycouple.jpg