I’m amazed when I read the stories about Jesus’ own keen wisdom for living. In our New Testament, the Gospel stories continue the sub-themes of the covenant – pilgrimage and promise, bondage and freedom, duty and blessing, famine and plenty, barrenness and fertility – all these experiences of living turn our attention to God’s faithfulness and the great need for wise living. This is this wisdom that is the “hope of the earth.” She is committed to participate in the way of God in the world because she knows it is the future of God’s people that matters. The book of Esther is a story of high drama, filled with ironic turns of fortune and karmic twists of fate.Įsther and Mordecai acknowledge that she has been put right here in this place “for such a time as this.” Her destiny drives her forward because whatever happens to her personally, it is the covenant that matters. Not like the Proverbs or Ecclesiastes that recite proverbial wise sayings, this is story – a story that embodies the lived wisdom of Jewish understanding. Many scholars place the Book of Esther in the category of Wisdom literature. This is the human side of covenant responsibility. “If I perish, I perish…” she said.Įsther gave herself over to the salvation and redemption of her people, risking her own life in the process. It is bold faith indeed that Queen Esther demonstrates. Her story shines as an example of the human side of covenant responsibility … Esther, read through the prism of Christ, points us beyond fatalism toward the hope of the earth. The Book of Esther, with its tale of suffering, crisis and eventual triumph, testifies that we are not trapped helplessly in a destructive global fate … With bold faith, Esther took events into their own hands to secure the future of the covenant. Sub-themes of the covenant - experiences of pilgrimage and promise, bondage and freedom, duty and blessing, famine and plenty, barrenness and fertility - weave their way through both testaments.” “The unity of Scripture lies in the central theme of covenant that runs through every book of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. Some years ago, the Christian Century journal published an article that reflected on some of the ways the book of Esther fits into the larger story of God’s covenant: Gene Boring says) it is often associated with deliverance, validation of life and security, total well-being and peace, shalom it is a saving act. We’ve explored the notion of “covenant” recently: The covenant is the gracious act of God, (Dr. It is also about how God’s people participate in covenant. Even so, the story is powerful testimony to ways the Hidden God keeps promises and continues to work on behalf of the Divine covenant. We are all in this together.Įsther is the only book in the Bible that does not mention the name of God. I encourage you to have more life also.” Having life. “And I want you to know, we will all keep having life. “We were all having life,” she said as she described the activities of the day before the shooting. Even so, at the community prayer vigil that evening, Mindy spoke and celebrated their life and love even as she grieved. Mindy Corporon got there just after the shooting and she found her own father and her teenaged son dying. At the Jewish Community Center in Overland Park Kansas, an angry, pathetic, shriveled up soul killed three people, but in a strange and tragic twist, none of the victims were Jewish. In 2014, around the season of Purim, yet another hater of the Jews sought to wreak havoc and destroy. But they also get into it by making it personal.ĭuring Passover, at every Seder meal Jewish worshipers affirm: “God delivered US from the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery.” So at Purim and other times as they remember their history, they confess: “WE have been saved from disaster.” They “get into it” by thoroughly enjoying themselves and having fun with the story. Afterwards, when we gathered for refreshments in the community room, the favorite cookie to gobble up was called “Haman’s Ear.”
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