TLEE's Bible Character Daily Devotions for February {11,455 words}

According to Matthew 4:18 and John 1:40-42, the Apostles Andrew and Peter were brothers, and both had impulsive, yet sincere and committed attitudes. In Matthew 16:16-18, Peter was quick to speak when he told Jesus that He was the Christ, and in Matthew 26:31-35, he was again quick and even foolish to speak when he said that he would never dessert Jesus, no matter what. The New Testament is full of instances where Peter spoke and acted spontaneously without thinking through his actions. But sometimes, the results were favorable, and sometimes, they were not.

Peter’s brother, Andrew, had the same kind of impulsiveness about himself, but his speech and actions were not to the same extreme. In John 1:35-42, he once spent an entire day with a man simply because John the Baptist had said that the man was the Lamb of God. Others in the crowd that day had heard the Baptist speak, but only Andrew and another disciple were impulsive enough to actually investigate further. The other disciple to spend that day with Jesus was probably the Apostle John, but his name was not given in the passage.

Some people have questioned whether a person has always entered into a right relationship with the Lord in the same way because, before Jesus was born, obeying the Mosaic Law was considered to be extremely important. Many of those same people have concluded that obeying the Law is what somehow saved the Old Testament saints from eternal doom and that God’s Grace through faith has always been what saved the New Testament saints. But those conclusions about different ways to be saved are not correct. The same process has always been the agent of salvation for every person that has ever gotten saved, whether that person lived before or after Christ, and that process does not pertain to obeying the Mosaic Law.

Some people have also thought that Jesus was a great Man but that He has not existed forever and that He is not the Son of God. However, those negative beliefs about Him are not correct either, and He expressed as much in Matthew 22:41-46, when speaking to some Jews about His Lordship and deity. In that conversation with them, He quoted from Psalm 110:1, which says, "The LORD says to my Lord: 'Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.'"

Revelation 18:2 says, "With a mighty voice he shouted: 'Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great! She has become a home for demons and a haunt for every evil spirit, a haunt for every unclean and detestable bird.'" That verse symbolizes the fall of the Antichrist at the end of the Great Tribulation, and in Isaiah 14:5-11, Isaiah prophetically wrote a taunt against the king of Babylon that may also apply to the Antichrist in that day. When the Bible speaks against the Antichrist or against the king of Babylon, it is often expressing sentiments either directly or indirectly against Satan, and that was probably true of Isaiah when he wrote Isaiah 14:12-14. In Ezekiel 28:11-17, the Prophet Ezekiel wrote against the king of Tyre, and those verses may also have applied either directly or indirectly to the devil. They certainly described many of his attributes, and they were consistent in many ways with other parts of the Bible.

Who would have thought that God would someday use the winner of a beauty contest to protect His people from evil? But that is precisely what He did during the days of Mordecai and Hadassah. According to Esther 2:1-23, the two had been taken to Babylon into captivity with Jehoiachin king of Judah by King Nebuchadnezzar, and they were about to serve there as slaves. But God had different plans for both of them that He would soon work out in His own time.

People often look for the Lord in the big things of life. But He many times works through simple commonplace events, and He is often found in the gentle whisper. I Kings 19:12 says, "After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper." God was not in the earthquake or in the fire, but He was in the small, gentle whisper. In the life of Hadassah, who was also called Esther, He would not be saving His people through some kind of mighty battle, but He would instead be working on their behalf through the commonplace event of a simple beauty contest.

In Joshua 24:1-13, Joshua called together the elders, the leaders, the judges, the officials, and all the people so that he could review Israel’s brief history with them. He began with Abraham’s father, Terah, and said that he had been an idolator. He continued with Israel’s captivity in Egypt, with their deliverance from that captivity, and with their subsequent deliverance from each of their enemies. He told them that the Lord had given them great victories over the Egyptians, the Amorites, the Moabites, and all the Canaanite nations, and he also pointed out that the Lord had protected them from Balaam when that prophet had tried to place a curse on them.

By sharing their history with them, Joshua wanted the people to see that the Lord had watched over them throughout their lives and also through all their difficulties. People sometimes have the tendancy to think that they are self-sufficient and that they do not need anything or anyone. But God is still on His throne, and He is still attending to human affairs. Even though His presence may not always be obvious to everyone at all times, He is still around and still looking after those that are trusting in Him. Psalm 86:15 says, "But you, O Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness." Joshua wanted to convey the Lord’s faithfulness to the people so that he could challenge them to be faithful back.

Saul was the first king in Israel, but he had made some serious mistakes in the early going on his reign. For that reason, the Lord chose to remove him and his family from being king and to instead find someone else to lead the nation. Saul was not pleased with that decision, but he was even more upset when he realized that his son, Jonathan, would probably never be the king. Like many fathers, he had wanted to leave a good inheritance to his own flesh and blood, but the throne of Israel would not be included among his possessions to leave.

When God took the throne from Saul’s family, He selected David, the son of Jesse and a lowly shepherd boy, to become the new king. While David did not immediately take over for Saul, the Prophet Samuel did anoint him to someday become the king. Once Saul realized that David was to be his replacement, he was very eager to have him killed so that his own son, Jonathan, could still inherit the throne. Saul knew God’s will concerning the future leader of Israel, but he was determined to see his son become the king anyway. The part of the drama that he had not anticipated, though, was that Jonathan and David had become very close friends and that they would stick together no matter what.

In Genesis 6:1-7, Moses wrote about the times of Noah. He indicated that the people were extremely wicked and that their hedonistic lifestyle had greatly displeased the Lord. He also wrote about the Nephilim, and though he did not elaborate on their precise identity, they were probably the men from the godly line of Seth. They were having sexual relations and producing children with the ungodly women of that time, and their sinful behavior was why God had become so upset. Genesis 6:5-6 says, "The LORD saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain."

In Genesis 6:8-13, God looked for someone that had not fallen into sin with those ungodly women, and He found Noah. Genesis 6:8 says that Noah found favor with the Lord, and Genesis 6:9 says that he was righteous and blameless before others. Therefore, when God decided to destroy the life on earth, He chose Noah and his family to preserve the godly line of Seth, to save the animal life, and to start civilization again. Genesis 6:14-22 listed the detailed instructions that He gave Noah for building an Ark. He then caused it to rain for forty days and forty nights, and everyone outside the Ark was drowned.

Facing one’s enemies can be very difficult if the person feels that they are stronger and better able to engage in conflict. In Numbers 13:1-25, Caleb, Joshua, and ten other Israelites explored the land of Canaan, and they encountered that very challenge. Moses had sent a single person from each of eleven of the twelve tribes to check out the land and report back. An individual from the Levite tribe had not been included, but the tribe of Joseph was represented twice because of Manasseh and Ephraim.

When they returned, in Numbers 13:26-33, the twelve had quite a story to tell. Numbers 13:27 says, "They gave Moses this account: 'We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit.'" However, their excitement over the goodness of the land and over its fruit was overshadowed by something else that they had seen. In Numbers 13:28, they spoke about the powerful people that possessed the land, and in Numbers 13:31, they said, "We can't attack those people; they are stronger than we are."

When His good friend, Lazarus, became sick unto death, Jesus was probably about one day’s journey from Lazarus’ town of Bethany. John 11:6 says that He stayed where He was for two more days, and John 11:17 says that Lazarus was buried four days before Jesus arrived. The likely scenario is that the messenger, that had been sent to tell Jesus the news about His friend, had taken one day to get to Him. Jesus probably received the message on the same day or the day before that Lazarus was being buried, and despite the urgency, He waited two more days before He left for Bethany. By the time that He arrived, it was already too late for Him to do any human good because Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. In John 11:21, Martha told Jesus that her brother would have lived if only He had come sooner. But John 11:8-11 says that He had originally left Judea to avoid being stoned to death and that it was primarily for the sake of His friends that He was even willing to return.

In Genesis 19:36-38, Lot's two daughters both became pregnant by their father, and that event, which was one more low point in a man's life that was filled with low points, was disgraceful and shameful. Abraham was his uncle. But he had once chosen the best land for himself over his uncle, and he had also chosen to live in the sinful, wicked town of Sodom. On one occasion while in Sodom, he had even offered his own daughters to some men that had wanted to seize two men visitors that were in his house. But fortunately, the two men visitors were really angels, and they caused the Sodomite men to be blinded and rendered helpless. Despite that, though, Lot would have still given his daughters to a band of men that were up to no good. So, when the Bible spoke of his grandsons, Moab and Ben-ammi, one would not expect much to come from them or their families. Yet, years later, Jesus would be incarnated into this life, and He would have a trace of Moabite blood in Him.

In Leviticus 23:33-43, God described to Moses the Feast of Tabernacles, which was to be observed each year by the nation of Israel. That feast, which would be on the fifteenth day of the seventh month and last for seven days, was intended to celebrate Israel’s divine deliverance from Egypt and to remember their protection and preservation for their forty years while in the wilderness. Also, the people were to live in booths for the seven days of the festival because their ancestors had lived in booths for their forty years in the wilderness. In John 7:1-53, Jesus had just attended the Feast of Tabernacles in Judea, and following that celebration, in John 8:1-11, the teachers of the Law and the Pharisees brought to Him a woman that had been taken in adultery. The likely scenario is that she had been caught in the act of adultery while at the Feast of Tabernacles and that the Jewish leaders were, then, bringing her to Jesus to see what He would do.

During His earthly ministry, Jesus told many parables. Once, when asked why He so often communicated that way, in Matthew 13:10, "He replied, 'The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them.'" In Matthew 13:13, He said, "This is why I speak to them in parables: 'Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand.'" In Jesus’ days, not everyone received His words. While He spoke simply enough in parables that a child could understand and receive His message, the religious leaders and the ungodly were often stumped and angered by the simplicity of His teachings. He spoke in parables so that they would not be able to understand the subtle messages of His words, and in this present world, those groups still have difficulty with the things that He said.

One could say that Esau and Jacob were not very close as brothers and that neither had much zeal for the Lord or for doing what was right. In Genesis 25:29-34, Jacob was cooking some lentil stew, and his brother came to him and was starving to death. Both men were adults, but in that episode, they acted like a couple of kids. Jacob would not give his hungry brother food until Esau first pledged to him his birthright. Esau, on the other hand, was very dramatic, and he said that his birthright would not do him any good if he starved to death. So, he gave in to Jacob’s demand and sold his birthright to him for some bread and a bowl on lentil stew. Jacob was not a very good brother to Esau, and Esau was clearly not mature or rational enough to recognize the value of his birthright. So, at this point in both of their lives, neither man had that much going for himself.

Life is often very difficult for people, and it was especially difficult for the family of Elimelech, Naomi, and their two sons, Mahlon and Kilion. A famine in Bethlehem, Judah, which was where they lived, had driven them from their homeland into the land of the Moabites. But while they were living in Moab, tragedy struck the family because Ruth 1:3 says that Elimelech died. After his death, Naomi remained in Moab with her two sons, and each son married a Moabite woman. But then, in Ruth 1:4-5, after having lived in Moab for about ten years, more tragedy struck the family because both sons died.

After watching her husband and both of her sons die, Naomi must have felt terribly cursed and betrayed. In fact, the last part of Ruth 1:13 says, "It is more bitter for me than for you, because the LORD's hand has gone out against me," and Ruth 1:20 says, "'Don't call me Naomi,' she told them. 'Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter.'" Naomi was obviously depressed, and she had reason to be. In Ruth 1:21, she said that she had gone to Moab full but that she had come back empty.

In Genesis 2:24, the biblical principle of one man for one woman for one lifetime was described. That verse says, "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh." Being one flesh is difficult and probably even impossible when people have married, divorced, and remarried a few times. From the beginning with Adam and Eve, God always intended for a couple to become like one and to function in the concept and capacity of a unit. Readers of Scripture should not think that the Lord lightened up on His standards when they read that some key Bible character had multiple wives. In such cases, that individual was living below the biblical standard, and most of the time, he had big troubles within his multiple families.

Peter was one of the most unpredictable of the twelve disciples, and in Matthew 16:13-20, he was the key spokesperson in one of the most important passages about the church that can be found in the Bible. One never knew what Peter would be doing next or what he would be saying next, but when he was with Jesus in Caesarea Philippi on the day of the above passage, he did and said exactly what the Lord had wanted.

In Matthew 16:13, Jesus had asked His disciples what people thought about His identity. He said, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?" Jesus was and is the Son of God, but His disciples answered that some people thought that He was John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah, or perhaps one of the other prophets. Then, in surprising fashion, Jesus caught His disciples off guard by asking them about His identity. Some of them may have stammered or hesitated to answer, but without any apparent hesitation, at all, Peter blurted out in Matthew 16:16, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Throughout the New Testament, Peter often put his foot into his mouth, but when he gave the above answer, he was right on target. While many of the crowds had only seen the miracles or heard the sermons, Peter had seen and heard the Lord.

In John 11:38-44, Jesus miraculously raised Lazarus from the dead. After that, in John 11:54, He retreated to a village called Ephraim to wait for the upcoming Passover, and then, in John 12:1-11, He arrived at Bethany where He ate with Lazarus, Mary, Martha, and His disciples. The family was having a special dinner, and He was their guest of honor, perhaps because they had wanted to celebrate that Lazarus had been brought back to life. For Jesus, though, His time to be offered was drawing near, as He was just beginning the final week of His earthly ministry and of His incarnated, human existence. Before the next seven days would pass, everyone in that group that was celebrating with Him, with the exception of Judas, would be weeping over His death in Jerusalem.

Not much is known about Nahum the prophet, but in his Antiquities of the Jews, Book IX, Chapter XI, Section III, the Jewish historian, Josephus, called him a prophet. According to Nahum 1:1, Nahum was an Elkoshite, but not much is known about them, either. However, even though Bible scholars do not know much about Nahum, the man, or much about his origin, they do know about what he was specifically writing, and they do acknowledge that his theme was consistent with other biblical teaching.

In Nahum 1:2-6, the prophet presented a picture of God’s judgment and wrath. He wrote that the Lord, even though He is slow to anger, takes vengeance on his enemies and on those that practice evil. Putting one’s faith in JESUS, the Christ, according to I Thessalonians 1:10, protects a person from God’s wrath and vengeance, but many people have simply chosen to not do that. During Old Testament times, the nations did not know the specific name of the coming Jewish Messiah. But they did know about the God of Israel, and they did have the opportunity to accept Him. The Ninevites, against whom Nahum wrote, were especially guilty because they had turned to the Lord just a few hundred years before under the preaching of the Prophet Jonah. They had turned to God in Jonah 3:5-8, but then, somewhere between that time and the time of Nahum, they had turned away.

Many people think that they can win favor with the Lord and be saved by being a good person and by doing good deeds for others. But Cornelius, in Acts 10:1-8, proved that those beliefs are not correct. According to Acts 10:1-2, Cornelius was a centurion in the Italian regiment, he was a God-fearing man that helped others, and he even prayed to God regularly. But in the matter of salvation and eternal life, he was clearly lacking. Despite all his goodness, all his power, all his prayers, and all that he had done for others, without Jesus as his personal Savior, he was still lost and destined for eternal doom. Acts 4:12 says, "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved."

By identifying Cornelius as a centurion, Luke, the medical doctor and the author of the Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts, showed that he was an important man with power and influence. Being a centurion in the Italian regiment meant that he was an officer and that he had one hundred Roman soldiers in his division. By identifying Cornelius as devout, God-fearing, and generous, Luke showed that those traits alone are not enough to gain salvation if the individual does not have a personal relationship with Jesus as Savior. People frequently think of themselves or others as being good, but Romans 3:10-11 says, "As it is written: 'There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God.'" Cornelius was good in the eyes of others, but he had never received Christ as his personal Savior.

In the Bible, things are not always as they seem that they should be, but they are always as God, in His sovereignty, would have them be. For example, in Deuteronomy 21:15-17, Moses indicated that the firstborn son was to receive a double portion of his father’s inheritance because he was the symbol of his father’s strength. But several times in the Book of Genesis, the firstborn son did not receive the father’s blessing of the double portion. In Genesis 27:27-29, the younger brother, Jacob, received the blessing that had been intended for his old brother, Esau. In Genesis 48:12-22, their grandfather, Jacob, whose name God had changed to Israel, gave the firstborn blessing to the younger brother, Ephraim, instead of to the older brother, Manasseh. In Genesis 49:1-12, Jacob put the blessing of the scepter on his fourth born son, Judah, and Judah became the direct ancestor of Jesus.

In II Samuel 11:1-17, King David failed his Lord, his nation, his family, and himself by having an affair with a woman named Bathsheba and by having her husband, Uriah, intentionally killed in battle. In II Samuel 12:1-10, Nathan the prophet rebuked David for what he had done and told him that the sword would never depart from his house. In David’s case, truer words were never spoken. Children usually learn from their parents, and his kids had learned a lot from watching their dad. His son, Amnon, grew up to have the same low regard for women as his father. In II Samuel 13:1-19, he raped his half-sister, Tamar, and ruined her life. Then, in II Samuel 13:20-31, Tamar’s brother, Absalom, plotted to have Amnon killed. But throughout all of those actions, David did not do anything except become angry. What else could he have done? As a father, he had already lost all his influence over his wayward kids.

Maintaining high standards is important to the Lord, and the Prophet Daniel was always faithful to do so. In Daniel 1:3-21, he and three of his friends, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, who were renamed by a Babylonian official to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, respectively, were in a dilemma. They were part of a group of promising young Jewish boys that had been taken into Babylonian captivity. The idea was for them to be given the best of everything so that they could mature, excel in all of their physical and mental characteristics, and then enter into the king’s service. Part of their dietary regimen was to eat from the king’s food and to drink from his best wine, but Daniel did not think that consuming those elements were good things for a devoted Jewish boy to be doing. So, in Daniel 1:8, he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself in that way.

In II Corinthians 11:1-4, the Apostle Paul wrote to the people in the Corinthian church about their casual acceptance of false teachers. He wrote that his desire was to present them as a pure, chaste church to Christ, but he told them that they were too willing to receive the teachings of those that claimed to be authoritative but really were not. In pointing out the people’s being so gullible, he compared them to Eve. He wrote, in II Corinthians 11:3, "But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent's cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ."

Paul’s reference to Eve went back to Genesis 3:1-7 where Moses had written about Adam and her eating the fruit from the forbidden tree. However, while some of her mistakes were recorded in those verses, what stands out most was how the devil had tricked her. According to Scriptures, God never told her to not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. But in Genesis 2:15-17, He did tell Adam, so she probably received her instructions from him.

In Genesis 2:15-17, God told Adam that he could eat from any tree in the Garden of Eden except from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. But then, in Genesis 3:1-7, he did the very thing that he had been told not to do by eating fruit from that tree, and when he did, he became mankind’s first sinner.

Several observations can be made about that incident when one carefully examines the Hebrew text. First, in Genesis 2:17, when God told Adam that he would surely die if he ate from the forbidden tree, the Hebrew word "muwth" was used two times consecutively. Literally, the Lord was telling Adam that he would "die die" if he ate from the tree, but figuratively, He was saying, "dying, you will begin to die." When Adam ate, he did not instantly die physically. But he did die spiritually, and he began to die physically. Second, by the time of Genesis 3:8, the spiritual death or spiritual separation, about which God had spoken in Genesis 2:17, had already happened. When He came to the garden to see them, they hid from Him because they were afraid, and the lesson is that sin always comes between God and sinners. Third, in Genesis 3:17, when God cursed the ground, He did not do so because He was angry or because He was trying to punish Adam and Eve. Instead, He did it because He knew that a hard, difficult life would point people back to Him, whereas an easy, carefree life often keeps them away. For that reason, the cursed ground was a blessing because it leads people back to God.

Most people are hard pressed by work and family demands, plus many Christians are also burdened by church work. But Christians are still supposed to focus their attention on doing what God wants them to do. In Nehemiah 1:1-11, Nehemiah expressed concern about his brethren in Judah. He had spoken to one of his brothers, named Hanani, and learned that those that had survived the Babylonian exile were in trouble. The wall of Jerusalem had been broken down, and its gates had been burned. Because of the devastation and disgrace, Nehemiah mourned, fasted, and prayed, and while doing that, he also asked God to show him what He wanted him to do about the crisis.

From the above verses, a person can learn how to find the job that God wants him or her to do. The first thing that Nehemiah did, in Nehemiah 1:2, was to show an interest in the situation in Jerusalem. He worked directly for King Artaxerxes while in captivity, and he could have easily focused on his own welfare without showing any feelings or regard for the predicament of others. But instead of doing that, he followed the Holy Spirit’s leading, and that leading caused him to show his concern for God’s people. The second thing that he did, in Nehemiah 1:4, was to weep, mourn, fast, and pray. He asked the Lord to hear his prayer, and he, then, confessed his own sins and the sins of Israel. The third thing that he did, in Nehemiah 2:1-8, was to recognize God as great and awesome, and he trusted Him when confronted by the king.

When one studies the life of King David, some contradictory behaviors can be seen. On the one hand, he defeated the mighty Philistinian warrior, Goliath, and won a great battle for his people. But on the other hand, he stayed back from battle in II Samuel 11:1-5 and had an illicit affair with Bathsheba. On the one hand, in Acts 13:22, he was called a man after God’s own heart. But on the other hand, he essentially did nothing when one of his sons raped one of his daughters. Being a parent can be very difficult because it requires a selfless attitude by human beings who are, in general, usually very selfish and self-centered. When someone is responsible for a young person’s welfare, he or she must put that young person’s needs and wants ahead of his or her own. So, while David may have been a very successful king, he did not show the same capacity for making good decisions as a parent.

Based on Genesis 12:11-20, Genesis 20:1-18, and Genesis 26:1-17, one must conclude that, during ancient days, a man that had a beautiful wife was not completely safe when traveling through foreign lands. In Genesis 12:11-20, Abram, who was later to be renamed Abraham by God, was about to enter Egypt, so he told his wife, Sarai, to pretend to be his sister. Genesis 12:13 says, "Say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake and my life will be spared because of you." From that statement, whether the threat was real or not, one can see that Abram actually feared for his life. Later, in Genesis 20:1-18, when he and she were traveling through Gerar, this time as Abraham and Sarah, he again instructed Sarah to pretend to be his sister, and in Genesis 20:2, he actually told King Abimelech that she was his sister.

Some years later, in Genesis 26:1-17, after Abraham and Sarah had died, their son, Isaac, and his wife, Rebekah, were also traveling through Gerar. Like his parents before them, they also encountered King Abimelech, and again like them, they passed themselves off as brother and sister. In Abraham’s case, though, according to Genesis 20:12, Abraham and Sarah really were half-brother and half-sister, but that was not true of Isaac and Rebekah. God had chosen these people, and Isaac was even Abraham’s promised seed. Yet, they still told outright lies to foreign kings and apparently got away with it.

II Kings 22 is one of the most fascinating chapters in the Bible, and it bears out two truths about God that were revealed by the Prophet Isaiah. Isaiah 55:8 says, "'For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,' declares the LORD." Through His prophet, the Lord indicated that He was not on the same level as humans, and for that reason, they would never be able to figure Him out. Christians must simply walk by faith and trust that He will do what He has said that He would do in His Word.

Three unique aspects of God are present in II Kings 22:1-20. First, Romans 13:1 says that all governing authorities are put into power by God, and in II Kings 22:1, He was content to put an eight year old boy into power. Josiah was made king of Judah while still a child, but the biblical record shows that he was a good king. According to II Kings 22:2, he did right before the Lord, and he did not stray from a godly lifestyle. The second unique aspect of the chapter appeared in II Kings 22:14-19 when a female prophet was consulted to get an answer from God. Many men view women as second-class citizens and as being incapable of holding important positions. But the Lord does not see them that way, and He often uses them to do His important work on earth.

Mordecai was a faithful, stubborn Jew who was also faithful to the very king that held him in captivity. His cousin’s name was Hadassah, and because her parents had died, he acted as her guardian. In the Mede-Persian Empire, where she also lived in captivity with her cousin, she was known as Esther, and she was very beautiful. In Esther 2:5-20, when the king searched his kingdom to find a new queen, she was one of the chosen finalists. But at Mordecai’s insistence, she did not reveal the fact that she was Jewish or that her real name was Hadassah, and she easily won the competition and became the new queen.

In Esther 2:21-23, two of the king’s officers, named Bigthana and Teresh, had become angry with the king, and they had plotted to assassinate him. But when Mordecai learned of the plot, he told Queen Esther who then told the king. As a result, the assassination plot was thwarted, and when Esther told the king the source of her information, Mordecai’s name was added to the king’s record books as having shown favor to the king. Mordecai was faithful to the king, but he was also very stubborn. In Esther 3:1-6, after the king had honored a man in his kingdom named Haman, everyone at the king’s gate bowed and paid homage to Haman except Mordecai. Then, to add insult to injury, Mordecai told everyone that he was Jewish, and that infuriated Haman even more. Haman wanted to kill Mordecai, but he decided to do so by killing all the Jews in the Mede-Persian Empire.