Esther and Mordecai have pulled off the first step of a rescue operation by discovering and removing an obstacle to God’s plans for the remaining children of Israel. Mordecai had conceived a diabolical plan, a final solution to the “Jewish problem.” Of course, the language has similarities to Nazi Germany, and the problem was not a Jewish problem but rather a Gentile problem. Their problem was race hatred aka ethnocentrism. The key person in this ancient story was a governmen

God is in the middle of a long sermon that he is preaching through the prophet Jeremiah. And ‘No’ God doesn’t care if you are out of church by noon. God has a lot to say about the ungodly behavior of the nation of Judah. Moreover, God places the blame for the people’s failures directly on the shoulders of the leaders of the nation. God’s understanding of what leaders should be doing is not the same as the common understanding today. What is God’s sense of the primary duties

The cat is out of the bag. What was hidden has seen the light of day. The king flushes so hot with anger that he goes outside into the garden to cool down a bit. Now he has a real problem; his chief advisor may implicate him in a personal plot to endanger a certain group of people. Further, it turns out that Queen Esther is a member of that group. What can he do? ” The king rose from the feast in wrath and went into the palace garden, but Haman stayed to beg his life from Qu

Jeremiah’s message has been generic in the sense that he seems to address any and all kings who sit on the throne. He does follow up with some current kings and they will appear later in this sermon (next week). This sermon began back in 21:11, but like the wandering preacher that he is, Jeremiah repeats himself as we begin Chapter 22. Jeremiah 22:1-4. Thus says the LORD: Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and speak there this word, and say: Hear the word of the LORD

No one can hide from God’s judgment. After giving a warning and a prophecy, Jeremiah under God’s direction speaks some specific words for the leaders of Judah, the remaining descendants of the house of David. Remember that somewhere in this line of descent there is a strand that will lead to Joseph, the adoptive father of Jesus, who therefore is also of the house of David. The future of the house of David balances on a knife blade, one step could end the line. The stakes ar